F.L. Bates, Author

Years after the death of David E. George, Finis L. Bates, pictured above, arrived in Enid, Oklahoma, and identified the mummified body as that of his friend John St. Helen. Because no one else claimed the body, Bates took it and began showcasing it as the body of John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Lincoln. Thus began the long and curious traveling exhibition of the mummified body, known simply as “John” within circus and side-show circles. Bates leased the mummy to different people, including William “Bill” Evans, the “Carnival King of the Southwest”. In 1920, the mummy was on a circus train to California when the train wrecked, killing eight people and many of the circus animals. The mummy, however, remained intact and Evans was able to recover it. Shortly after that, someone kidnapped the body. Evans offered a $1000 reward for its return, and the kidnapper himself claimed the reward and returned the body to Evans. After Bates’ death in 1923, his widow sold the mummy to Evans. Evans and his business partner, James N. Wilkerson, continued to exhibit the body across the country. Wilkerson spent a huge amount of time researching the assassination and trying to prove that the mummy was that of John Wilkes Booth. He intended to write a book on the subject, but never did. His research, including letters, photographs, affidavits, and notes, resides in the Lincoln Collection as the “James N. Wilkerson Collection”.