suit was finally over, he vowed to prove to the world it really is true that "History is more or less bunk." Fred L. Black 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." Ford instructed Frederick Lee Black (Jan. 26, 1891 – Nov. 7, 1971), business manager of The Dearborn Independent, to locate Finis L. Bates and to begin investigating the validity of the claims in Bates' book. Black did locate Bates and invited him to Dearborn to tell his story, whereupon Bates tried to interest Ford in buying Booth's alleged mummy from him. 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. However, Black at the end of his research concluded that many of Bates' claims were untrue, and advised Ford not to purchase the mummy. Black published some of his findings and conclusions in articles in The Dearborn Independent (primarily in the March, April, and May 1925 issues of the newspaper), and he also wrote a manuscript setting forth his research findings which was never published. An archive of the documents Fredrick Black collected and his manuscript are located in the Kresge Library at Oakland University in Michigan. Death Bates died at his home at 1234 Harbert Street in Memphis, Tennessee, of "cardio-renal" failure on November 29, 1923, and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis. See also Abraham Lincoln assassination References Further reading Evans, C. Wyatt, The Legend of John Wilkes Booth: Myth, Memory, and a Mummy, 2004, University Press of Kansas Frederick L. Black Papers at the Kresge Library, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan A Collection of Articles Concerning Abraham Lincoln Clipped from The Dearborn Independent (Dearborn, Michigan: Ford Motor Company, 1932) (307 p.), Benson Ford Research Center, Main Collection (Call No.: B Li-De), Dearborn, MI External links Finis L. Bates at Find a Grave The Postmortem Career of John Wilkes Booth 1848 births 1923 deaths American conspiracy theorists People from Itawamba County, Mississippi People from Memphis, Tennessee Tennessee