Spot where Booth landed

[Ed Steers]

    Brady under orders from Stanton photographed the box as a part of the data collection in preparation for the military tribunal. One of the photos Brady took shows a circle outlined on the floor of the stage beneath the left portal facing the box. Presumably this is whaere Booth landed. The photo appears in Buckingham's book "Reminiscenses and Souvenirs." I enhanced the white circle because the quality of the scan/image in the book is poor. The photo at LMU is much clearer.

[Dave Taylor]

Dr. Steers,

I don't believe that a circle was actually drawn on the Ford's Theatre stage. Rather, I believe the circle that appears on the Buckingham copy of print was either drawn on that specific image or, more likely, it is merely an illusion caused by scratches and artifacts on that print. Here are two other versions of that image, one previously owned by Dr. Lattimer and one from the archives of the National Museum of Health and Medicine, which bear no evidence of a circle.

Dr. Lattimer's copy:





From the archives of the National Museum of Health and Medicine:




Buckingham version:



In addition, the perspective is wrong for this circle to have been drawn on the stage. If it truly were drawn there, it would appear more like a pointy oval from the camera's angle, closer to this:

[KateH.]

Dave,

Not to be immature but you should read the caption on those cropped photos.

Signed,

Just saying

[Dave Taylor]

Kate,

LOL! I can't believe I did that. Talk about a poor cropping job. I honestly did not even notice it until you pointed it out.

It does, however, appear to give some credibility to this clip from Family Guy which provides a different reason for Booth's actions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTSvnvNCUbE

[Ed Steers]

(05-28-2014 08:26 PM)Dave Taylor Wrote:  Dr. Steers,

I don't believe that a circle was actually drawn on the Ford's Theatre stage. Rather, I believe the circle that appears on the Buckingham copy of print was either drawn on that specific image or, more likely, it is merely an illusion caused by scratches and artifacts on that print. Here are two other versions of that image, one previously owned by Dr. Lattimer and one from the archives of the National Museum of Health and Medicine, which bear no evidence of a circle.

Dr. Lattimer's copy:





From the archives of the National Museum of Health and Medicine:




Buckingham version:



In addition, the perspective is wrong for this circle to have been drawn on the stage. If it truly were drawn there, it would appear more like a pointy oval from the camera's angle, closer to this:

Dave, There are several photographs of the box from different angles. Only the LMU image shows the circle. The circle drawn on the stage floor does not appear to be an artifact. The LMU image is clear and does show a circle drawn in white. As I stated, I enhanced the circle due to the poor quality of the Buckingham image. Perhaps we can locate the LMU image and post it. I have a copy somewhere in my files. Ed