Confronting Bad History: How a Lost Cause and Fraudulent Book Caused the John Wilkes Booth Exhumation Trial

by Francis J. Gorman

498 pages, Paperback

Published January 23, 2025

Reviews

[Thomas F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book shows how history is up close and part of current events. The author takes us on a journey to 1865 and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, to a book published in 1907 that states that John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin did not die at Richard Garrett's farm, but instead lived into the twentieth century. This belief, reinforced over the years led to a 1995 trial in which petitioners hoped to exhume the body interred at Green Mount cemetery to show that Booth was not there. Attorney Gorman who defended the cemetery takes the reader through the trial to its conclusion and how facts prevailed.

[Harwood Nichols · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frank Gorman has written an historically important book about President Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth. Specifically, Booth’s 1995 exhumation trial in Baltimore, Maryland. As lead attorney for the defense, he was in a unique position to develop and analyze the multifaceted aspects of the case. The assassination is of course fundamental to the American historical story and the outline well known to many if not most Americans, having been taught as school children early on in their education.
However, a lesser well-known story is the legend and facts surrounding the capture, death and burial of his infamous assassin John Wilkes Booth. Over the decades a variety of historians and buffs have conjured up a number of scenarios surrounding events following the murder in Ford’s Theatre on the night of April 14th, 1865. These renditions have been espoused in lecture halls, played out in television productions, published in popular publications, and turned into bestselling books.

However, it wasn’t until an interesting collection of Booth descendants, forensic anthropologists and historians banded together to petition the Maryland authorities to exhume the body of John Wilkes Booth , resolve the associated mysteries, and lay out the facts in a court of law.

Gorman’s preliminary history lessons are unique. For example, his prodigious research delves into the Finis Bates book and reviews historical claims of Booth sightings over the years. His final analysis of the myriad details presents a compelling argument.
Rarely do we have the chance to put history under the microscope of the law’s disciplines. Gorman has given us that chance. It is a little bit like having a time machine to visit the facts rather than the musings of a journalist, diarist or bureaucrat of the time.
Gorman thoroughly discusses Booth history. Personal, family and public records are all arrayed to set the stage for the formalities of the court room. When the court room comes alive the drama settles in like a Perry Mason episode. Gorman takes in everything. His description of the lead characters, petitioners, and scientists are cross-examined as to their expertise and experience.

Gorman is at his best in the court room. For those seeking the immediacy of a legal venue, blended with the forensic science left to us by history, will be richly rewarded by Gorman’s efforts. An unexpected bonus is the book’s index which includes a transcript of the four-day trial.