Report that Booth's Horse Fell on Him

[RJNorton]

I still do not understand why anyone would trivialize Booth’s own statement in his diary that he broke his leg while jumping at Ford's. To refute that you need pretty strong evidence IMO. I am still not seeing it. What is the reason some folks feel Booth lied in his diary? I think Booth and Herold needed an explanation for the broken leg for use along the escape route, and thus the horse-fall story was something they concocted as they rode to Lloyd's. Possibly the horse did fall at some point, so that gave them the story they would use.

[BettyO]

He surmises, based on his interview with an orthopedic surgeon, that a leap fracture would be spiral in nature. It is much more complicated than that since the combination of the various possible vectors of the forces and the various potential positions of the foot at contact could cause any number of shapes, sizes and types of fibula fracture (including a transverse fracture).

Booth also complained of "back pain" at Mudd's house.....could Kauffman have also surmised this "spinal nature" injury from the same source? If he broke his leg at Ford's and then also had his fleeing horse stumble and either throw him or fall on him, then this could account for possible back pain. I don't see back pain coming from jumping 12 feet down upon a stage. He was classed as a "gymnastic" actor - this was more or less a feat which he could perform with apparent ease.

[J. Beckert]

I think jumping the distance he did and landing off kilter would be an excellent way to herniate a disc or two.

[Laurie Verge]

I agree with Joe. I'm sitting at my desk right now looking up at a nine-foot ceiling - which is about three feet lower than the distance from the Presidential Box railing to the stage. You cannot tell me that even an experienced gymnast could make that leap IN HASTE, WITHOUT PREPARATION, catch a spur on a flag or the frame of an engraving, and land evenly (with a drum roll, please) and not twist something in the process.

Do we have any evidence to indicate that Booth's theatrical career ever called for him to make such a jump? What scenery in which play had a twelve-foot cliff for him to jump from? Did he do daily calisthenics to keep in tip-top shape -- epecially during the last six months of his life?

And why do I suspect that I found the orthopedic surgeon amongst us? Wsanto???

[J. Beckert]

John Ford said he'd seen him make higher jumps, but I can't remember the play. Like you said though, he would be prepared and focused, not stabbing backwards as he did and tripping on the flag.

[jonathan]

A 12 foot drop is a pretty long drop. It would be no problem to sustain some kind of injury from that. I can't imagine that a jump from that height or higher would have been performed on any kind of regular basis.

[Jim Garrett]

While he may have made similar jumps, there were certainly the stress and excitement. I doubt that he ever made a jump like that before in over the knee riding boots. When you look at the surviving boot, it looks pretty unforgiving for a stunt like that.

[wsanto]

It is interesting that in the Townsend interview with Dr. Mudd that George Mudd gives his medical opinion on Booth's broken leg. Here we have another contemporary account by a party, intimately involved with the assassination, that recounts how Booth broke his leg in the leap to the stage as a matter of fact (remember Thomas Jones' book also states it as a matter of fact). He goes on to explain his medical opinion as to the mechanism of injury that caused the break. He never even mentions the horse fall as a possibility as this explanation was apparently universally disbelieved at the time of the interview.

It is apparent to me that as of April 28th 1865, when most newspapers were reporting Booth's capture, that the stage leap explanation become widely accepted as the truth. This was before Booth's diary was available to the press.