Finis Langdon Bates (August 22, 1848 – November 29, 1923) was an American lawyer and author of The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth (1907).

In this 309-page book, Bates claimed that John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln, was not killed by Union Army Soldiers on April 26, 1865, but successfully eluded capture altogether, and lived for many years thereafter under a series of assumed names, notably John St. Helen and David E.

Finis Bates studied law in Carrollton, Mississippi, and in the 1870s he and his family moved to Texas, where he met John St. Helen.

[13] He had purchased the strychnine from the Watrous Drug Store, telling the clerk, Frank Corry, that he wanted "to poison a dog" who had kept him up the night before.

"[13][19] Shortly after George's death, Dr. R. W. Baker examined the body and X-rayed it, but refused to reveal his results on "ethical grounds".

On December 31, 1902, George had drawn up a will with local lawyer Niles Houston, and it was filed with Judge Milton C. Garber on January 16, 1903.

[13] Penniman had tied the body to a chair, opened its eyes, and placed a newspaper in its lap, creating a spectacle for passersby in the Enid downtown.

As a young boy, writer Marquis James led dime tours into the funeral home to view the mummified body where it lay on a shelf.

[14][18] According to Penniman, 10,000 people viewed George's body during its time in Enid, including a few who clipped hair, buttons, and one even attempted to remove his ear.

[14] Bates stored it in the garage of his home located at 1234 Harbert Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee, and toured the alleged mummy of Booth in circus sideshows until after World War I.

[14] William B. Evans (died May 19, 1935) – a charter member of the Showmen's League of America (which is headquartered in Chicago) who was known as the "Carnival King of the Southwest" – rented the mummy in 1920, paying Bates $1,000 every five months.

[9][19] Evans moved to a potato farm in Declo, Idaho, where he displayed George's body in a Pullman train car.

[9] Ultimately, in 1937, Harkin teamed up with Jay Edward Gould's Million-Dollar Spectacle, which displayed "John" for 25 cents admission.

The book was published as The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth with several variations of the following subtitle, The First True Account of Lincoln's Assassination, Containing a Complete Confession by Booth Many Years After the Crime, Giving in Full Detail the Plans, Plot and Intrigue of the Conspirators, and the Treachery of Andrew Johnson, then Vice-President of the United States.

We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's dam is the history we make today ...[28] About a month later the Chicago Daily Tribune printed an editorial by Clifford Samuel Raymond who wrote:Inquiry at the Henry Ford offices in Detroit discloses the fact that employees of Ford who are members of or recruits in the National Guard will lose their places.

Their wages will stop, their families may get along in any fashion possible; their positions will be filled, and if they come back safely and apply for their jobs again they will be on the same footing as any other applicants.

The case dragged on for about three months, and the jury finally delivered its verdict on August 14, 1919, finding in favor of Ford and awarding him nominal damages of six cents.

During Ford's eight days on the witness stand he was asked to clarify the meaning of the statement he had made to Charles N. Wheeler that "History is more or less bunk."

Ford's explanation to the court of what he had meant by this statement provoked extreme ridicule, not only from representatives of the Chicago Daily Tribune but from many observers of the trial proceedings worldwide.

Ford became so annoyed over the public response to his explanation of his now-famous statement, that in September 1919 after his libel suit was finally over, he vowed to prove to the world it really is true that "History is more or less bunk."

Bates' 1907 book on Booth had come to Ford's attention and in September 1919, Ford decided to vigorously explore the idea that if Bates' claims about John Wilkes Booth could be proven to be true by groundbreaking and exhaustive research, it would lend great credibility to his statement that "History is more or less bunk."

Between 1919 and 1923, Black, amidst his many other duties for Ford, conducted extensive research, not only into Bates' specific claims as presented in his 1907 book, but into many other controversial topics connected with the Lincoln assassination as well.