The Spur Question

[L Verge]

Back to the spur: "When Booth fell to the stage, he apparently broke a spur's leather strap." cited in a post by Jim Garrett earlier.

How difficult would it be to break a spur strap? I'm assuming that Dapper Dan Booth was attired in his usual well-kempt style for his grand exit from the stage of history. Therefore, I would also assume that it extended to the tip of his toes with good boots and good spurs/straps that would take a hard amount of wear and tear in the days to come.

I agree that at least one piece of flag or bunting was involved in his landing on the stage (note that witnesses described a piece attached to a spur as he exited so at least one spur was intact, and no one noticed another one missing). I think there was the tear in the baize carpeting also - likely caused by one of his spurs. Has there ever been any mention of damage to the wooden stage itself, however? If we want to speculate that a spur landed with enough force to pop a strap, there should be damage to the floor itself. Such a landing would also seem hard enough or off-kelter enough to pop a small bone.

My other "bone" of contention is the Mudd spur. When Mrs. Mudd turned the boot over to the authorities, why didn't that spur that she later gave to her neighbor go with the boot and the authorities to the War Department? Did Sarah Francis Mudd keep a souvenir of her experience? Did hard times force her to sell it to the neighbor - or did the good doctor want it out of his sight when he returned from prison?

Isn't it fun to speculate - and also consider that hundreds or thousands of other interested people have speculated about the same topics for a hundred years?