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[BettyO]

Powell had just white socks on to begin with - he didn't wear shoes or boots in prison (a fallacy in The Conspirator which shows him wearing riding boots the entire time until he mounts the scaffold....); Powell's feet had swollen so much under the chafing of his leg irons that he couldn't get boots on so he was provided with clean socks and slippers. He did not wear the slippers to the scaffold; just the socks. Herold wore slippers to the scaffold as did Atzerodt - and it was stated that George's slippers were "blue in color"....

I don't know about Mrs. Surratt - but it seems that the reason that shoes/boots are removed when condemned are hanged was because in the death throes, if they kick their feet around, the shoes/boots would not fly off into the "audience" and strike people! At least that is what I heard....

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