Identification of Booth's body

[mikegriffith1]

(10-01-2018 07:40 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Why was only one autopsy photo taken of the body? And why did that photo quickly disappear? How do you "lose" such a historic piece of evidence?

Sorry, Mike, but I forgot to comment on the above comment that you made earlier. I don't have the time nor the inclination to find a very important posting regarding researcher John Elliott's discovery of an article by Lawrence Gardner, the son of Alexander Gardner who went with his father aboard the monitor to photograph the prisoners. According to Lawrence, they did not photograph Booth's body. In the famous newspaper sketch of the "autopsy" done later by Alexander Gardner, he actually drew himself into the picture, evidently to indicate that he was not doing any photography.

I guess that you will counter that the government refused to let him photograph Booth's body because they didn't want it known that they had gotten the wrong man. I think it's more likely that the gov't. wanted no reminders left of the villain - reminders that Southern sympathizers could immortalize or Union supporters could desecrate. Such was the reasoning behind the secret burial at the Arsenal and the unmarked grave in Green Mount. Our modern examples of desecration - from Lincoln statues to a slew of Confederate ones - should prove to us that, in 1865, those in command understood human behavior...

James Wardell, the detective who accompanied Gardner, said Gardner took one photograph and that he watched the photo being developed and then took the photo and the plate to Baker.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/d...159798338/

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(10-02-2018 07:49 PM)L Verge Wrote:  

(10-02-2018 05:09 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  Taking a break from cataloguing my books, I stumbled on this discussion. Several years ago when I was researching the life of Everton Conger, I came across an interview that Conger did several years after the capture of Booth. Conger was one of the people who identified Booth's body. Conger said he first knew it was Booth in the barn because he recognized his voice. He later recognized Booth's face because he had seen him in some of the gambling halls of Washington. Steve Miller, my good friend, and the man who has forgotten more about the Garrett Farm Patrol than I'll ever know, never believed that Conger knew Booth because of that, but I remain convinced. The reason? At the time Conger gave the interview, he was in Montana. He had a reputation among his political enemies as an unreformed gambler (he was suspended from the Montana Territorial Supreme Court in part due to his gambling habits). To admit that he was a gambler as far back as the Civil War was ammunition his enemies could have used against him.

Also, someone asked why Byron Baker took Booth's body back against the express orders of Edward P. Doherty. That's easy. Doherty was not in charge of the patrol. He had charge of the volunteers from the 16th New York, but Conger was in charge of the overall patrol, per the man who sent them into the field, Lafe Baker. I discuss this in the article I wrote on the battle for the War Department rewards for the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association.

Finally, on another matter, I received proofs of my article on Tarbell and Lincoln in Indiana from the Indiana Magazine of History. It is still on track to be published in the December issue. When I get a better handle on how I can make copies available, I will let Roger know.

Best
Rob

Rob - Thank you for providing the link to your excellent 2011 article in the Journal. I remember reading it then and thinking how good it was. I hope that other members here will take advantage of your research and click on it now.

Doherty was regular Army, while Baker and Conger were private citizens who had just been temporarily sworn-in as "special detectives," who were temporarily given their old ranks back, and who were directed by Lafayette Baker to accompany Doherty's patrol.

In any case, the fact remains that Luther Baker took off with the body for over three hours. During that time, he also allowed Jett to escape.