On May 17, 1995, a historic trial began in the Circuit Court of Baltimore City. The case revolved around a legal petition to exhume the remains of John Wilkes Booth from Green Mount Cemetery. The petition was the culmination of years of effort on the part of two historical researchers who believed that the assassin of Lincoln was not killed at the Garrett farm on April 26, 1865, but instead escaped justice and lived for many years under assumed identities. The main support for this theory was a 1907 book called The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth, written by a man named Finis Bates who claimed to have met an incognito Booth in Texas in the 1870s. Despite the numerous factual and logical errors in the book, many people wanted to believe the tall tale, and the story of Booth’s escape from justice became folklore akin to sightings of the deceased Elvis Presley. In 1991, this fringe theory rose in prominence when it was featured on the TV series Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack. The increase in exposure motivated the two leading proponents of the theory to seek legal recourse to prove their claims. Green Mount Cemetery opposed the exhumation, both on the merits of the conspiracy theory and also due to the researchers having no connection to the deceased.
The attorney for the researchers then found two distant Booth relatives and convinced them to become involved. The names of the researchers were swapped with those of the distant Booth relatives, and the petition to exhume was refiled. Green Mount Cemetery still opposed the exhumation request, and so a trial was set to evaluate the merits of the petitioners’ case.
The trial consisted of four days of testimony, with 16 witnesses taking the stand. The trial was overseen by Judge Joseph Kaplan and occurred in Courthouse East on Calvert and Fayette Streets in Baltimore. Green Mount Cemetery was represented by attorney Francis J. Gorman from the newly formed law firm of Gorman and Williams. Frank assembled a group of Lincoln assassination historians and an expert on exhumations to discuss the validity of the petitioners’ factual and scientific arguments. The petitioners were represented by attorney Mark Zaid.
At the end of 2024, Frank Gorman published a book entitled Confronting Bad History: How a Lost Cause and Fraudulent Booth Caused the John Wilkes Booth Exhumation Trial. In this book, Frank not only expertly documents the exhumation trial and its proceedings in an engaging way, but he also provides some vital context regarding the character of Finis Bates and his book. After sharing in some conversations with Frank about his wonderful new book, I volunteered the idea of trying to put together a reunion panel of sorts to mark the 30th anniversary of the exhumation trial in 2025. Through calls and emails, Frank was able to convince four witnesses from the 1995 trial to take part in the reunion. Though I had no involvement in the original case, I was honored to be asked by Frank to moderate the discussion. Due to the geographical distances between the different participants, we decided to conduct this reunion virtually over Zoom.
The participants of this reunion panel were:
- Francis J. Gorman – attorney for Green Mount Cemetery and author of Confronting Bad History
- William Trimble – former President of the Board of Managers for Green Mount Cemetery
- Steven G. Miller – expert on the “Lincoln Avengers” 16th New York Cavalry and Boston Corbett
- Michael W. Kauffman – author of American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies
- Dr. Terry Alford – author of Fortune’s Fool: The Life of John Wilkes Booth
In the end, the panel lasted a little over three hours as we delved into several aspects of the trial and the research behind it. For the ease of viewing, I have divided it into three segments, which you can watch below.
I hope that you enjoy watching this reunion panel as much as I enjoyed moderating it. By watching these videos and reading Frank Gorman’s book, you are helping to confront bad history.
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