The Spur Question

[L Verge]

After I posed the subject of the spurious spurs, Rick visited me on Friday at work. Unfortunately, I was running out the door for an appointment, but I did manage to ask him a question about one detail that was bothering me. I thought I knew the answer, but Rick confirmed it.

I wanted to know how spurs are attached to the boot, and the answer that Rick gave was via a strap. It seems to me that, unless that strap was severely worn out, it would have been difficult for either the floor cloth or the flag to have caused that spur to come off at Ford's Theatre -- unless the metal spur itself broke. I suspect that the dandy Mr. Booth never wore things that were defective - especially knowing what his travels would be like in the near future.

Without being able to prove a thing, my gut instinct is to say that the best provenance for the two spurs leads to the one that Oldroyd bought from Mrs. Dr. Mudd (then a widow and if it had been taken off the boot before the troops confiscated the boot in 1865)) and the one retrieved at Garrett's farm. However, the fact that the spur at the Naval Academy has been broken and repaired (when and by whom?) does lend credence to the break occurring when Booth landed wrong on the stage - and contributed to his broken leg???

Or, if we believe that the leg was broken when Booth's horse fell somewhere outside the city, could the weight of that horse or the angle of the fall have also broken or dislodged the spur? There's too much to speculate on once again, and that's what keeps the assassination story alive.