R. Bates was born around 1855 in North Carolina. Bates worked as a laborer and resided in Rutherford County, North Carolina. Bates was charged with larceny on March 25, 1878, and sentenced to three years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Bates was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 2628. Bates was twenty-three years old when he was arrested. Bates was noted as being able to read. During his incarceration, Bates was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He died while working on the Western North Carolina Railroad on September 15, 1880.