What if Boston Corbett had not fatally shot Booth?

[Randal]

He is handsome, and about 5 ft. taller than me also! (well, maybe 2')

[J Madonna]

I think Booth could have been taken alive had the soldiers not forced the issue by firing the barn. In their defense they were tired, many having been in the saddle for 18 hours and had no sleep for some time.

Booth's situation was hopeless as even Herold recognized. He was a wounded and trapped animal who was desperate. Had the soldiers relieved the pressure and calmly informed him that the story he had to tell would have made him a star again, things may have turned out differently.

[Randal]

   I mentioned the 12 days quote from the last paragraph of your post # 12 because I can't see how it matters. I believe he was drinking on the 14th. and may have even been drunk, judging from Crawford's statement, but I've never heard of him drinking at Garretts.
     Unless I'm missing something (it happens to me a lot here), the autopsy report states the ball traveled downward and to the rear. If it entered from the right side or front, it's entirely possible that Booth shot himself.

X-rays taken in 1979 of Booth's vertebrae show tansverse bullet hole with fragments of lead in the bullet track. Bones are broken, but their fragments are still in place. The bullet was traveling a little more from back to front and very slightly downhill, but mostly sideways through Booth's spine, cutting his spinal cord.
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology