Robert Arnold's Book The Conspiracy Between John Wilkes Booth and the Union Army

[mikegriffith1]

(10-26-2018 05:38 PM)AussieMick Wrote:  Mike, I really dont know why you continue with the issue of the bullet transiting downwards as if it proves the man was not Booth and Corbett couldnt have shot him. ( The issue of pistol or rifle is something else that I dont have enough knowledge to discuss ... except to say ... "So what? Can we be sure Corbett didnt have a rifle? )

As I have posted before its more than likely that Booth, or whoever it was, was stumbling or on his knees or even crawling in desperation to get out of the barn. So any bullet fired at his head would ... transit downwards.

The descriptions that we have as to what happened immediately before the shot lack any real detail (as far as I have read anyway). Corbett would have been under pressure to explain why he fired and wouldnt want to admit killing a crippled man on his knees.

Corbett said that the man was standing up, that the man was raising his weapon, and that that's why he shot him. Every account that we have from the people who were there says the man was standing up. Every newspaper depiction of the man published in the aftermath of the event, based on those accounts, showed him standing up.

Plus, there's the ballistics and forensic problem that the bullet was originally labeled a rifle bullet and that the damage to the spine is clearly indicative of the damage caused by a high-velocity rifle bullet, which is probably why the bullet was originally labeled as a rifle bullet. Having researched bullet behavior extensively in my research on the JFK case (e.g., http://miketgriffith.com/files/forensic.htm), I know a thing or two about this issue, and Dr. Arnold is on very solid ground in noting the indications that the damage must have been done by a high-velocity rifle bullet.