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Eva Elisabeth · 06-02-2013, 08:19 AM

Dr John Frederick May?

RJNorton · 06-02-2013, 08:21 AM

Correct, Eva! Very good!!

Gene C · 06-02-2013, 08:33 AM

Speaking of Dr. May, how credible of a witness (at Booth's autopsy) is he considered to be?

Eva Elisabeth · 06-02-2013, 08:36 AM

To be honest, it was just because you mentioned him on another thread today.

06-02-2013, 08:30 PM

(06-02-2013 08:33 AM)Gene C Wrote: Speaking of Dr. May, how credible of a witness (at Booth's autopsy) is he considered to be?

He said the body was Booth in 1865, then years later said it wasn't.

RJNorton · 06-03-2013, 04:39 AM

Dr. May inexplicably got the leg wrong when he wrote the Mark of the Scalpel in 1887. Like Mr. Hess said he identified Booth in 1865 by the scar on his neck.

What I am curious about is how Dr. May got called to the Montauk in the first place. How in the world did they know that a doctor had operated on Booth's neck two years earlier? If the scar was obvious how would they know the name of the doctor who performed the operation?

BettyO · (This post was last modified: 06-03-2013 08:39 AM by BettyO.)

According to May, he was "called upon by Government Detectives", and summoned to appear before a "commission of high functionaries of the government"; one of whom was Colonel Lafayette Baker. May claimed that he was summoned because it was known that he had operated on JWB to remove the tumor on the back of his neck. Booth had went to May's office with unnamed "Friend." Does anyone know who this friend was, who accompanied Booth to May's office? Could he have told Federal officials about the scar?

J. Beckert · 06-03-2013, 08:30 AM

I don't know if it was him who went with him, but didn't Herold say he met Booth about the time he had the tumor removed?

BettyO · 06-03-2013, 08:40 AM

Good point, Joe! It could very well have been Herold.... and according to John and Barry, Gardner didn't get to photograph JWB's corpse that day but DID photograph Herold.

Dave Taylor · (This post was last modified: 06-03-2013 09:23 AM by Dave Taylor.)

Matthew Canning, John Wilkes Booth's former manager who accidently shot him, talked about being with Booth when Dr. May operated on him. Canning was arrested on the 15th of April in Philadelphia and could have recounted the story of the surgery to detectives before he was released on April 28th.

Matthew Canning to GATH in 1886:

“Somewhere about 1862 I was playing Booth in Washington City, and he began to have a boil on the side of his neck. It grew more and more inflamed, and at last was discernible from the house, and on his fine, youthful skin it made a bad impression. So I said to him one morning: ‘Come here, John, and take a ride with me. It is none of your business where I am going.’ I drove him to the house of Dr. May, a surgeon, and took him in there. May looked at his neck and said: ‘Why, this is a tumor. You will have to submit to an operation to be relieved of it.’ Booth said he would sit right down there and have it cut out. The doctor said to him: ‘Young man, this is no trifling matter. You will have to come when we are ready for you, when I have an assistant here.’

‘No,’ said Booth, ‘You can cut it out right now. Here is Canning, who will be your assistant.’ He threw himself across a chair and leaned his head on the chair-back so as to throw up his neck. ‘Now cut away,’ said he. The doctor told me that if I was to assist in the operation that I must pull back the skin or flesh as he cut. The first wipe he made with his knife nearly made me fall on the floor fainting. The black blood gushed out, and he seemed to have cut the man’s neck partly off. Booth did not move, but his skin turned as white as the wall. The doctor continued to cut, and notified me that I was a remarkable assistant for an amateur. Meantime my stomach was all giving away. The first thing that happened was I rolled over and fell on the floor, and Booth from loss of blood reeled and fell off the chair. When he came to the doctor told me that I was not as much of an assistant as he thought I was going to turn out to be. Booth was laid up for about a month…”

More on Canning: http://boothiebarn.com/2012/07/11/shooting-booth/

RJNorton · 06-04-2013, 08:30 AM

Who is this lady?

RJNorton · 06-04-2013, 02:50 PM

Hint #1: She passed away in 2008 at the age of 92.

Dave Taylor · 06-04-2013, 03:01 PM

Shot in the dark here: a Mudd descendant of some kind?

BettyO · 06-04-2013, 03:39 PM

Another shot in the dark.... a Rathbone descendant?

Laurie Verge · (This post was last modified: 06-04-2013 04:06 PM by Laurie Verge.)

I had not seen Margaret Bearden for years before her death, but could it be her? It bears some resemblance.