1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to the MLK Tapes, a production of I Heart 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:07,200 Speaker 1: Radio and Tenderfoot TV. The views and opinions expressed in 3 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,399 Speaker 1: this podcast are solely those of the podcast author or 4 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:14,120 Speaker 1: individuals participating in the podcast, and do not represent those 5 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:18,599 Speaker 1: of I Heart Media, Tenderfoot TV, or their employees. Listener 6 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:25,599 Speaker 1: discretion is advised. We received a letter Dear Mr Haynes, 7 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: I'm here in jail. I've been accused of a murder. 8 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: I don't know anything about it. Will you please come 9 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: help me? Signed Raymond George Snead in England. We couldn't 10 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:40,839 Speaker 1: talk to Ray without a police officer right there with us, 11 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:43,960 Speaker 1: so as far as we were concerned, he was Raymond 12 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:47,800 Speaker 1: George Snead. And when he came back to the United States, 13 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:50,240 Speaker 1: he was brought down on a charter flight with FBI 14 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:54,640 Speaker 1: agents and all of that, and came in late late 15 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: one evening. It was dark, and they landed at the 16 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:02,279 Speaker 1: far side of the airport, and police cars and vans 17 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: came to the airplane to get the Great Mystery Man, 18 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:08,840 Speaker 1: because there was some doubt as to his identity in 19 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:12,880 Speaker 1: the first place, and certainly there was doubt as to 20 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: whether he was the leader of a Revolutionary Army, or 21 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 1: or what was going on. The great mystery Man was 22 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:25,680 Speaker 1: grabbed from his aeroplane, put in a caravan of vans 23 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:29,759 Speaker 1: and police cars, and taken to the Shelby County, Tennessee jail. 24 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: And in that jail there was a special floor that 25 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:37,800 Speaker 1: had not been developed yet, old concrete floor. And on 26 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:41,480 Speaker 1: that floor in the jail was a jail within a jail. 27 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:45,520 Speaker 1: It was a cage. It was a four sighted cage 28 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: with the heavy traditional iron bars. When he got there 29 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:53,520 Speaker 1: that night, my dad and I went to see him 30 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 1: for the first time in the United States. By then 31 00:01:56,680 --> 00:02:00,240 Speaker 1: the whole circumstances were such that there was probably doably 32 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 1: rightly a bit of paranoia on the defense side. My 33 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:09,520 Speaker 1: dad was a very savvy man. He deemed the most 34 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:13,520 Speaker 1: secure place in the jail was the shower stall. So 35 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 1: the first time we met Ray in the United States, 36 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: my dad Ray and I. We're sitting need a knee 37 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 1: on the floor of that shower stall. And the first 38 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 1: thing out of anybody's mouth was my Dad looking at 39 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:37,080 Speaker 1: this client of ours and saying, who are you? I 40 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:39,920 Speaker 1: called the Union Hall. I said, it's a matter of 41 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 1: life and death. I said, I think these people are 42 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:47,359 Speaker 1: planning to kill Dr King. The authorities were parade. Oh, 43 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:50,240 Speaker 1: we found a gun that James L. Ray bought in 44 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:54,679 Speaker 1: Birmingham that killed Dr King. Except it wasn't the gun 45 00:02:54,720 --> 00:03:00,160 Speaker 1: that killed Dr King. James L. Ray was upon in 46 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:04,560 Speaker 1: the official story from My Heart Radio and tender Foot TV. 47 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: The plan was to get King to the city because 48 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:12,720 Speaker 1: they wanted it handled in memphisfore dead in Nam cat 49 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: Hamon and I've lived with it alone, mansieur, and they 50 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:20,720 Speaker 1: skied for me. The lawd told me to not the word. 51 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 1: I've been wanting to tell it all my life. I'm 52 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: Bill Claiburn and this is d MLK tapes. At the 53 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: top of the episode, you heard Judge Arthur Haynes Jr. 54 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:43,160 Speaker 1: Describing the first time he met James Earl Ray, the 55 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 1: man accused of killing Martin Luther King. Haynes grew up 56 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: in Birmingham, Alabama, and after high school, he went to 57 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: Princeton and then the law school at the University of Alabama, 58 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: where he graduated in the spring of nineteen He then 59 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: joined his father's law practice. Art Haynes, Sr. Was a 60 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: fierce segregationist who had been mayor of Birmingham from nineteen 61 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,680 Speaker 1: sixty one to sixty three. In his first year in office, 62 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:12,320 Speaker 1: he closed over a hundred parks, playgrounds, and swimming pools 63 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: rather than integrate them as required by a federal court order. 64 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:20,120 Speaker 1: He was also mayor when Sheriff Bull Connor said dogs 65 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:24,000 Speaker 1: and fire hoses on peaceful demonstrators, many of them children. 66 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:27,480 Speaker 1: Haynes was by a narrow vote put out of office 67 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:30,359 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty three, and he began a practice in 68 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:35,600 Speaker 1: criminal law. In nineteen sixty civil rights activist Viola Leozzo 69 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: was shot dead while driving participants back and forth in 70 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 1: the Selma to Montgomery Freedom March, and three clan members 71 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:46,239 Speaker 1: were charged with the murder. When their first attorney died, 72 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: Art Haynes assumed their defense and won the case by 73 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:51,920 Speaker 1: way of a hung jury, though the men were later 74 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: convicted in a federal court a year later. Art Haynes Jr. 75 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:59,160 Speaker 1: Would Join his father, and in June of nineteen sixty 76 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: eight they idle letter from James Earl Ray in London 77 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:07,159 Speaker 1: asking for help. As a criminal defense attorney. More often 78 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:10,280 Speaker 1: than not, you defend criminals. In the case of our 79 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: Haynes and his father, they defended some of the worst, 80 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,359 Speaker 1: including Bob Chambliss, who murdered four little girls when he 81 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 1: blew up the sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. But 82 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: Chambliss would be the very last criminal that our junior 83 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:26,320 Speaker 1: would defend. The whole thing made him so sick inside 84 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:29,200 Speaker 1: that he turned his back on criminal law, left his 85 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: father's practice and went on to have a distinguished legal career. 86 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:36,440 Speaker 1: He served eighteen years as a judge in Alabama, and 87 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:39,000 Speaker 1: when he left the bench, he became an adjunct professor 88 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:42,400 Speaker 1: at the University of Alabama Law School, and he began 89 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: a civil practice that specializes in arbitration. I sat with 90 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: him in his law office in Birmingham. I'm here to 91 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:55,040 Speaker 1: talk to you today because at a particular moment in time, 92 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:59,080 Speaker 1: you and your father, the late Arthur Haynes, Sr. Became 93 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:02,359 Speaker 1: the defense attorne is for one James Earl Ray. You 94 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 1: graduated from law school in sixty seven, and one year 95 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:10,840 Speaker 1: later found yourself representing the man who's accused of murdering 96 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: Martin Luther King. I was very well aware that uh 97 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:20,640 Speaker 1: I was part of history. I also knew that statistically, 98 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: at any rate, I would outlive all the other participants. 99 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:27,559 Speaker 1: Haynes then told me the story you heard about getting 100 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:30,400 Speaker 1: the letter from some guy in London asking for help 101 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: with a murder. He knew nothing about. The man writing 102 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:36,040 Speaker 1: the letter turned out to be James Earl Ray, and 103 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 1: the man murdered was Martin Luther King. Not having any 104 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: idea of where this story would lead, Haines father and 105 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:47,280 Speaker 1: son decided to take the case over the next four months. 106 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 1: They would be the ones and the only ones in 107 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:53,039 Speaker 1: contact with Ray, and they would be the ones getting 108 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:55,719 Speaker 1: the first look at the evidence, which is why what 109 00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:59,279 Speaker 1: ar Hanes Jr. Has to say about it today is important. 110 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,479 Speaker 1: I asked him about Ray. Was he the person you 111 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:06,799 Speaker 1: expected to meet? What what were your impressions of him? 112 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 1: Ray is every man and no man. He was invisible. 113 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: He was remarkably nondescript. You could dress him in a 114 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:19,720 Speaker 1: tuxedo and send him to a debutante ball, or dress 115 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:22,720 Speaker 1: him in in ragged sweat clothes and send him to 116 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:26,200 Speaker 1: a homeless camp, and he would be equally in place 117 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 1: at either place, a remarkably colorless person. Did Ray ever 118 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 1: say to you that he shot Martin Luther King? Never? 119 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:39,320 Speaker 1: He denied it. From day one, moment one until the 120 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: last moment he did wind up pleading guilty, But he 121 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:46,600 Speaker 1: told me later that he had done that because he 122 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:50,480 Speaker 1: realized that the lawyer who took over for us had 123 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:53,880 Speaker 1: done nothing to prepare the case for trial. Did you, 124 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:56,400 Speaker 1: when you took over the case begin your own investigation? 125 00:07:56,480 --> 00:08:00,800 Speaker 1: Did you interview witnesses? Oh? Absolutely good, gracious, we had 126 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:03,840 Speaker 1: a complete trial file. I guess I probably talked to 127 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 1: every one oh in Memphis. So we worked on that 128 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:12,320 Speaker 1: case from his arrest in June of solidly until the 129 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:16,520 Speaker 1: trial in the fall of and you thought you had 130 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 1: a pretty good chance going to trial. We were absolutely confident. 131 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:24,360 Speaker 1: What was the evidence that the authorities had that they 132 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:27,480 Speaker 1: say proved that James el Ray murdered Martin with the King? 133 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:30,680 Speaker 1: We'll see, that's the problem. There was a lot of talk. 134 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: For instance, the authorities would parade, Oh, we found a 135 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:38,560 Speaker 1: gun that James ol Ray bought in Birmingham. There's no 136 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:40,680 Speaker 1: doubt about it. It was the rifle that Ray bought 137 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 1: in Birmingham. It simply wasn't the gun that killed Dr. King. Moreover, 138 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 1: perhaps the only legitimate witness in the whole area was 139 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:55,680 Speaker 1: a man named Knips, who ran the amusement shop where 140 00:08:55,720 --> 00:09:00,439 Speaker 1: the package was thrown down. Mr Knips was prepared justifi 141 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:04,600 Speaker 1: that the package was thrown down that contained the rifle 142 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:10,439 Speaker 1: before the shot that killed Dr King was fired. When 143 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:13,760 Speaker 1: Judge Haynes refers to the package, he's talking about a 144 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: strange collection of things, including some books, cans of beer, 145 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:21,760 Speaker 1: a small radio, underwear, and a rifle with raised fingerprints, 146 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:24,360 Speaker 1: all of it tied up in a bedspread and found 147 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:26,839 Speaker 1: on the street in front of a small store owned 148 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:31,200 Speaker 1: by Mr Guy Knipe. When you talked to Mr Knight, 149 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 1: did he have a clear recollection of the package? Well, 150 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:40,160 Speaker 1: sure is, and he said that he believes it was 151 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:43,920 Speaker 1: ten minutes before the shot that the package was dropped off, 152 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:46,160 Speaker 1: and that would make sense because the street would be 153 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 1: empty then and somebody could do that and not be seen. 154 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:52,559 Speaker 1: Do you believe he was sincere? Oh? I absolutely, He 155 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: had no motive or stake in it, and truthfully was 156 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:00,559 Speaker 1: not particularly excited to be involved, but he was willing 157 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:05,920 Speaker 1: to be. You'll see the fire station overlooks the Lorraine Motel. 158 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:13,520 Speaker 1: That fire station was packed with city policeman, federal agents, 159 00:10:13,559 --> 00:10:17,920 Speaker 1: of spectators, curiosity seekers and others who were looking out 160 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:21,320 Speaker 1: over the Lorraine Motel to see the activities of Dr 161 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:25,360 Speaker 1: King and his entourage. The moment the shot was fired 162 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:31,240 Speaker 1: and Dr King went down, that fire station erupted like 163 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:37,720 Speaker 1: a beehive, police going in all directions. The very idea 164 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:43,679 Speaker 1: that someone could fire that shot stopping a room, very 165 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:48,480 Speaker 1: carefully wrapped that package, put the gun in it, and 166 00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:52,920 Speaker 1: tie it and then drop it is, in our way 167 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:57,720 Speaker 1: of thinking, simply preposterous and unbelievable. When they put their 168 00:10:57,760 --> 00:10:59,959 Speaker 1: so called trial on, which wasn't a trial at all, 169 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:02,840 Speaker 1: It was just a show where they brought forth what 170 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:05,559 Speaker 1: evidence they said they would have brought forth had there 171 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 1: been a trial, And in that proceeding they referred to 172 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:15,520 Speaker 1: their eyewitness, one Charlie Stevens. Oh, good, gracious, Charlie Stevens 173 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:18,840 Speaker 1: was drunk as a goat when Dr King was killed. 174 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:23,760 Speaker 1: We had a taxi driver who was going to testify. 175 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:29,079 Speaker 1: Stevens had called a cab and the cab driver refused 176 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:32,319 Speaker 1: to lead him in the cab because he was too 177 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:35,120 Speaker 1: drunk to ride in a cab. So if your star 178 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:38,520 Speaker 1: witness is too drunk to ride in a cab, we 179 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:42,400 Speaker 1: felt his testimony was worth nothing. Tell me what was 180 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:46,120 Speaker 1: the official authorities, what was their official motive? What did 181 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:49,559 Speaker 1: Ray kill King? According to them, We were never quite 182 00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:52,160 Speaker 1: clear on that there was some noble that there was 183 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:56,480 Speaker 1: a convict in Missouri who was going to say that 184 00:11:56,640 --> 00:12:01,679 Speaker 1: Ray had made some racist comments years before. But it 185 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:08,439 Speaker 1: was a very very weak and probably untrue declaration. Had 186 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:12,040 Speaker 1: Bray ever done engaged in violence that you know of? 187 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:14,840 Speaker 1: Nothing we know of he He was, of course a 188 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: petty criminal. He had no history of violence that we 189 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:22,520 Speaker 1: were aware of. We should note that James Earl Ray 190 00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:25,320 Speaker 1: did own a pistol, though we did not carry it 191 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:28,959 Speaker 1: around in his everyday life. He might brandish the weapon 192 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:31,280 Speaker 1: during a hold up, but there was no record of 193 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:35,960 Speaker 1: him ever shooting someone. Now back to our hands, I'm 194 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:40,240 Speaker 1: telling you, Bill, Martin Luther King was not on James 195 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:44,040 Speaker 1: Earl Ray's radar screen, part of his life or his 196 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:50,079 Speaker 1: interest at all. A convict doing time is interested in 197 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:54,280 Speaker 1: his daily bread and survival. That was James Earl Ray. 198 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:58,439 Speaker 1: He had had no interest in politics, or world affairs 199 00:12:58,559 --> 00:13:02,040 Speaker 1: or anything. We tried everything in the world to evoke 200 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:08,040 Speaker 1: any kind of reaction from Ray, arranging from ductr King 201 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:13,960 Speaker 1: deserved to die to whoever killed him should be summarily executed. Nothing, 202 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:20,920 Speaker 1: no reaction one way or the other. Ray told art 203 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:23,480 Speaker 1: Hanes from the start that he did not shoot King, 204 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:26,800 Speaker 1: and Haines was unable to find in Ray even the 205 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:30,080 Speaker 1: semblance of a motive for such a crime. Of course, 206 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:32,400 Speaker 1: the press found it easy to brand him as a racist, 207 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:34,439 Speaker 1: and when they wanted to put a little frosting on 208 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 1: the cake, they would say he was a hardened criminal. 209 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:40,960 Speaker 1: In that regard, it might be useful to review rays 210 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:46,480 Speaker 1: rap sheet. Discharged from the army for failure to adapt 211 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:52,200 Speaker 1: to military life. Sentenced to ninety days for stealing a typewriter, 212 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:57,240 Speaker 1: two sentenced to two years in prison for stealing eleven 213 00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:01,760 Speaker 1: dollars from a cab driver. Five served three years, and 214 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:07,240 Speaker 1: Leavenworth for stealing money orders nine sentenced to twenty years 215 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:11,400 Speaker 1: Missouri State pen for stealing a hundred dollars from a supermarket. 216 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:15,880 Speaker 1: That's it, except for a bunch of escape attempts. A 217 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:18,319 Speaker 1: rap sheet, of course, is not a complete record of 218 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:21,680 Speaker 1: a person's criminal activity. It's just the record of crimes 219 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:24,600 Speaker 1: he's been caught at. So we can assume from this 220 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: list that Ray pulled off other robberies and hold ups. 221 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:31,120 Speaker 1: But the list does illustrate the kinds of crimes he 222 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:34,920 Speaker 1: was inclined to commit. And nowhere does it appear that 223 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:38,360 Speaker 1: he wants to be a famous criminal. And why would 224 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:42,480 Speaker 1: that matter? It would matter because of what William Bradford 225 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:45,600 Speaker 1: Huey said in an article for Look magazine following Raised 226 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:48,840 Speaker 1: plea of guilty. Hughie had been putting up money for 227 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:52,280 Speaker 1: Raised defense, and in return he got the inside track 228 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:55,520 Speaker 1: on race story by way of handwritten accounts by Ray 229 00:14:55,640 --> 00:14:57,920 Speaker 1: of where he had been and what he had done. 230 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:01,840 Speaker 1: Hughie had written two previous articles for Look where he 231 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:03,920 Speaker 1: said he would show that there was a conspiracy to 232 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:08,880 Speaker 1: assassinate King, but Hughie suddenly changed course and in his 233 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:13,200 Speaker 1: final article said that James Ray alone had murdered King. 234 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:17,800 Speaker 1: But why did Ray kill King? Did he hate black people? 235 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:23,040 Speaker 1: Did he hate King? No? According to hue Ray felt 236 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:26,680 Speaker 1: insecure about his position in the world, so he wanted 237 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:28,920 Speaker 1: to make sure that everyone knew that he was the 238 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:32,400 Speaker 1: one who killed King. This was the explanation that the 239 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:35,320 Speaker 1: nation received by way of Look magazine from a man 240 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:39,320 Speaker 1: who had inside information from Ray himself. But Ray never 241 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:42,080 Speaker 1: told him that. Huie just came to it on his own. 242 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:45,600 Speaker 1: But Hughie never spent any time at all with Ray. 243 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:50,000 Speaker 1: But Judge Haynes had spent many hours with him, what 244 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:54,240 Speaker 1: did he think? Did Ray ever demonstrate anything to you 245 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:57,080 Speaker 1: to indicate that he wanted to be known as the 246 00:15:57,120 --> 00:15:59,720 Speaker 1: man who killed King? Why? Certainly not. He did not 247 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:03,440 Speaker 1: it vehemently from the beginning. He was an escaped con 248 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:06,240 Speaker 1: He didn't care. He just didn't want to go back 249 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:09,560 Speaker 1: to the penitentiary. So how was it that Ray came 250 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:13,320 Speaker 1: to Memphis. Well, his brother Jerry and Ray himself are 251 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 1: about to tell us. And we gave up real boring 252 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:36,080 Speaker 1: journey at in person plays. We lived out of them. 253 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:43,720 Speaker 1: These are the words of Jerry Ray, James Earl Ray's 254 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:48,480 Speaker 1: younger brother, testifying at the civil trial. In the court 255 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: recording here was muddy. So we've taken the liberty of 256 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 1: reading Ray's words from the trial transcript. We came up 257 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:58,240 Speaker 1: real poor during the depression days. We lived out on 258 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:00,880 Speaker 1: a far most of the time. But back there in 259 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:05,200 Speaker 1: the depression, everybody had it bad. James had been born 260 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: in ninety eight in Alton, Illinois, the oldest of eight. 261 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:13,399 Speaker 1: His mother, Lucille, was nineteen. James was followed by his 262 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:17,440 Speaker 1: sister Marjorie, brother John, and then Jerry there were seven 263 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:21,280 Speaker 1: years between Jerry and James asked if he had noticed 264 00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:24,360 Speaker 1: any signs of racial hatred, and his brother Jerry said 265 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:28,840 Speaker 1: he hadn't. No, he never did, have no hostility towards 266 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:32,639 Speaker 1: any race, not only Blacks, but Hispanics or anybody. The 267 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:35,639 Speaker 1: one thing he tried to do is live and let live. 268 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:38,040 Speaker 1: Before he went into the army. He was a hard 269 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:41,440 Speaker 1: worker and he just lived a life of crime after that. 270 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:44,800 Speaker 1: It's true that James Earl Ray did not have an 271 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:47,800 Speaker 1: arrest record before entering the army in nineteen forty six, 272 00:17:48,560 --> 00:17:52,040 Speaker 1: but he was already traveling a difficult road. He had 273 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:54,800 Speaker 1: to do first grade twice because of some forgery trouble 274 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:57,639 Speaker 1: where the family had to leave town. His father was 275 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:01,480 Speaker 1: frequently drunk and his mother was always signet. She gave 276 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:04,200 Speaker 1: birth eight times and lost Marjorie when the six year 277 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:07,960 Speaker 1: old caught fire standing next to a stove. James left 278 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:10,480 Speaker 1: school in the middle of eighth grade and went to 279 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:13,640 Speaker 1: live with his grandparents, where he would sometimes spend evenings 280 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:16,880 Speaker 1: with his uncle Earl. Evenings had often ended up at 281 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:20,480 Speaker 1: Big Marie's brothel, where Ray would sometimes run errands for 282 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:24,160 Speaker 1: the girls, as he called them. The behavior he fell 283 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:28,600 Speaker 1: into is what he had seen all his life. Jerry 284 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:31,919 Speaker 1: Ray watched his older brother from a distance of seven years, 285 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:35,159 Speaker 1: but he did have one insight about James that is 286 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:40,200 Speaker 1: worth mentioning. If he uh makes friends with somebody, he's 287 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:45,240 Speaker 1: easily led around, easily led around. That's what his brother 288 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:48,920 Speaker 1: said about him. According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, 289 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:51,800 Speaker 1: James met a guy named Rife who had stolen some 290 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: postal money orders. Rife recruited Ray to help cash them 291 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:59,639 Speaker 1: until they got caught. James went to federal prison in Leavenworth. 292 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,480 Speaker 1: He got out three years later and ran into a 293 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:05,480 Speaker 1: guy named Owens, and they robbed a grocery store for 294 00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:08,720 Speaker 1: a hundred and twenty dollars, but they were caught twenty 295 00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:11,760 Speaker 1: minutes later because a witness notified the police about his 296 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:16,960 Speaker 1: vehicle for that robbery. Ray was sentenced to twenty years. 297 00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:22,679 Speaker 1: James hated prison life, and his record is filled with 298 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:25,919 Speaker 1: various attempts to escape, which always put more years on 299 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 1: enough so that in the spring of nineteen sixty seven, 300 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:32,880 Speaker 1: after having served six years, he still had eighteen years 301 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:36,120 Speaker 1: left on his twenty years sentence. But James came up 302 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:39,040 Speaker 1: with yet another scheme and he rode out of Jefferson 303 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:42,000 Speaker 1: City Prison in style, hidden under loads of bread in 304 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:45,639 Speaker 1: a bakery truck. It required the help and probably the 305 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:48,760 Speaker 1: permission of some people on the inside, and James would 306 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:52,760 Speaker 1: never say who those people were. After his escape, Ray 307 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:55,480 Speaker 1: said that he walked along a railroad for six days 308 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:58,920 Speaker 1: until his feet were swollen and bloody. Then he caught 309 00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:01,480 Speaker 1: a bus to Chicago and met with his brothers, John 310 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:05,440 Speaker 1: and Jerry. It is also possible, perhaps likely, that Ray 311 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:08,080 Speaker 1: was picked up by his brother John somewhere along the way, 312 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 1: and the two of them drove to Chicago, where the 313 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:13,920 Speaker 1: brothers gave him some money and James answered an ad 314 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:17,000 Speaker 1: for work at a restaurant. Ray took the work under 315 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:20,160 Speaker 1: his brother's name, John Raynes, and he used his brother 316 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:23,760 Speaker 1: social Security number. The plan was to earn enough money 317 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:28,320 Speaker 1: to buy an old car and drive to Canada. James 318 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:31,200 Speaker 1: worked hard at the Indian Trail restaurant and one of pay, 319 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:34,560 Speaker 1: raise and the respect of the owners, Clara and Harvey Klingman. 320 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:38,880 Speaker 1: There was something about him that they liked. After Ray 321 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:42,560 Speaker 1: had been captured and brought back to Memphis, Clara Klingman 322 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:44,919 Speaker 1: was shocked to hear that the person she knew as 323 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:49,040 Speaker 1: John Raines was really James L. Ray, the man who 324 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:52,800 Speaker 1: had murdered Martin Luther King. She could not believe that 325 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:56,600 Speaker 1: he had harbored such invisible hatred. She had seen none 326 00:20:56,600 --> 00:21:00,359 Speaker 1: of it. Whatever he is and whatever he is done, 327 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:03,639 Speaker 1: she would say, while he was here, we saw a 328 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:08,960 Speaker 1: spark of dignity in John Raines doing so well. Ray 329 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:11,320 Speaker 1: might have stayed on at the restaurant, but he was 330 00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:14,800 Speaker 1: a wanted man and a social Security number was not his. 331 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:18,960 Speaker 1: So after eight weeks he left, bought an old car 332 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:22,040 Speaker 1: and went to Montreal, where he hoped to discover what 333 00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:25,840 Speaker 1: he needed to get a Canadian passport. Ray had been 334 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:28,440 Speaker 1: in Montreal just a couple of days. When he was 335 00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:32,359 Speaker 1: sitting at a table in a neptune bar, a man approached, 336 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:36,920 Speaker 1: pulled out a chair and sat down. From this point 337 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:39,760 Speaker 1: on the voice of James Earl Ray that you will 338 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:44,560 Speaker 1: hear is from a deposition he gave in and answers 339 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:50,960 Speaker 1: to questions asked by Attorney Lewis Garrison. Where you first 340 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:59,879 Speaker 1: met in Montreal, Canada and a place called bar in Montville, 341 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:03,879 Speaker 1: East Mark, Yo. And what was your unforted person going 342 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: in my drawways? Your tune to do when you got there, 343 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:09,119 Speaker 1: I try to get try to get some tel dipars 344 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:11,920 Speaker 1: and leave the counting. How long would you been there 345 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:15,600 Speaker 1: when you met raw at this Neptune bar. It's just 346 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:17,600 Speaker 1: day exactly been all right? He hadn't been over it. 347 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:20,680 Speaker 1: I said week, last, a week wheter week? It probably 348 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:23,040 Speaker 1: have wait six seven days. I wouldn't want to get 349 00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:26,720 Speaker 1: hit down. Just how many days? And when he came in? 350 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:29,080 Speaker 1: What what attracted you to him? Or how did you 351 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:31,760 Speaker 1: get the current sation? Started him? I didn't started conversation 352 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,280 Speaker 1: and in in sit down started conversation maybe just talking about 353 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:38,520 Speaker 1: general things and and you and this gentle start up 354 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:41,000 Speaker 1: the conversation general things such as a weather or something 355 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:44,880 Speaker 1: like that. And how long did you said to you? Really? Well, 356 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:46,639 Speaker 1: I don't know. I wan't too long. I mean, I 357 00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:49,440 Speaker 1: mean i've been how are you conversation bars feed less? 358 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:51,720 Speaker 1: What you just get some kind of teach you? But 359 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:53,880 Speaker 1: we didn't sit there too long, and I don't think 360 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:56,320 Speaker 1: we just started talking and I was can you tell 361 00:22:56,400 --> 00:23:01,439 Speaker 1: us just about to row about sad person? Was was 362 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:05,639 Speaker 1: a fast with ten uh traffic? Leven or half of 363 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:09,880 Speaker 1: found where it really taller you or short in you well, 364 00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 1: but with Tana, I just simon the ground and five 365 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:16,080 Speaker 1: with a year nine or maybe somewhere in that general 366 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,360 Speaker 1: or again that it's hard to estimated bet with weight, 367 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:22,600 Speaker 1: but I didn't think it would be any can't wait 368 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:25,240 Speaker 1: a whole lot, but I've got any waited by earn 369 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:29,040 Speaker 1: forty or forty five pounds. I just can't can't leave 370 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:32,080 Speaker 1: start on someone weight like that cod here here, I 371 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:36,800 Speaker 1: had a kind of a it's a dark hair dark 372 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:42,040 Speaker 1: which I called a slight red tanda. The talk like 373 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:45,000 Speaker 1: you have been someone who had been uh Ripken, Canada, 374 00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:49,560 Speaker 1: or Detroit or someone in uh tweople of Mississippi or 375 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:54,240 Speaker 1: told you what was your intrusion on? Well, yes, some 376 00:23:54,359 --> 00:23:56,800 Speaker 1: much spanis accident. And I had a lot of association 377 00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:00,119 Speaker 1: with Mexican that been in Mexico before and that and 378 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:07,160 Speaker 1: les was a lot of time, so I certainly used 379 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:15,240 Speaker 1: that person. Ray said that in their first meeting he 380 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 1: had mentioned that he wanted travel documents. Raoul said he 381 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:20,960 Speaker 1: might be able to help with that. They agreed to 382 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:22,840 Speaker 1: meet again, and did so a day or two later. 383 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:27,200 Speaker 1: When the conversation became specific, Raoul told Ray that he 384 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:30,240 Speaker 1: could help him get a Canadian passport and other documents 385 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:33,719 Speaker 1: he might need, but it would take some time. In 386 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:36,320 Speaker 1: the meanwhile, he had some work to offer if Ray 387 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,720 Speaker 1: were interested. It involved carrying some things across the border 388 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:43,320 Speaker 1: and race car. According to Ray, Raoul's promised to get 389 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:45,919 Speaker 1: him the documents he desired was the very thing he 390 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:48,760 Speaker 1: most wanted to hear, so he ended up crossing the 391 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:51,439 Speaker 1: border a couple of times carrying things hidden under the 392 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:55,520 Speaker 1: back seat of his car. Ray didn't know what he 393 00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:58,800 Speaker 1: had been transporting for Raoul, but he was well paid 394 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:03,400 Speaker 1: for his time. However, the promised documents were not produced, 395 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:07,080 Speaker 1: but they were still being offered. So when Raoul said 396 00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:09,800 Speaker 1: he wanted ready to go to Alabama, where he would 397 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:11,960 Speaker 1: buy Ray a much nicer car to be used for 398 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:16,680 Speaker 1: a few errands, Ray agreed. So one day in late August, 399 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,639 Speaker 1: Jerry Ray got a call from James and agreed to 400 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:22,439 Speaker 1: meet him in Chicago, where James said he'd give Jerry 401 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:25,239 Speaker 1: his sixty two Plymouth and that Jerry could put him 402 00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:29,439 Speaker 1: on a train south. Here's Jerry's memory of that meeting. 403 00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:33,040 Speaker 1: And we spent a Nightingale had pratice together, and he 404 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:35,720 Speaker 1: was thought maybe he was all happy and earliers. He 405 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:38,840 Speaker 1: had plenty money on him, so he said, I'm gonna 406 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:41,879 Speaker 1: move down to Birmingham and by a late model Paris. 407 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:45,280 Speaker 1: He had as he said written and Mr Raol, I 408 00:25:45,359 --> 00:25:48,240 Speaker 1: get decided to remember Ala Raoul came and I work 409 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:52,359 Speaker 1: for again named Raoul or something like that. Didn't I 410 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:56,880 Speaker 1: sure go out? There was no over carman and suddenly 411 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:00,400 Speaker 1: I didn't know what it was. And uh he said 412 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:03,880 Speaker 1: he worked as uh he as a guy go rabul 413 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:08,280 Speaker 1: that um to get that money. Un So you get 414 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:10,399 Speaker 1: out of the will get out of the Canada and 415 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 1: the United States boat he ever mentioned. Dr Hardin came 416 00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:19,080 Speaker 1: gaging that the game came name never came up and 417 00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:22,240 Speaker 1: uh the last name name that was mad about was 418 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:26,480 Speaker 1: you know Jackson or Gang or Candier ended held he 419 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:29,919 Speaker 1: though he was drying to stay out of rot. So 420 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:32,960 Speaker 1: James went to Birmingham, where he said Raoul gave him 421 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,120 Speaker 1: two thousand dollars to buy a white sixties six Mustang. 422 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,880 Speaker 1: What followed was weeks of crazy trips in and out 423 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:43,840 Speaker 1: of Mexico, spare tires that were exchanged for other spare tires. 424 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:47,639 Speaker 1: James believed that he was running drugs and money, but 425 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:50,399 Speaker 1: he didn't know. He just did as he was told. 426 00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:53,639 Speaker 1: Then the trips dried up, and James ceased to believe 427 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:56,800 Speaker 1: that there were any travel documents coming his way. So 428 00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:59,320 Speaker 1: he told Raoul, who seemed fine with it, that he 429 00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:01,760 Speaker 1: planned to go to Los Angeles, And so he went 430 00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:04,359 Speaker 1: to l A, where he stayed from November to March, 431 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:12,720 Speaker 1: taking dance lessons and a course in har Attending. Some 432 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:15,320 Speaker 1: months later, Ray said he got a letter from Raoul 433 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:18,880 Speaker 1: saying he wanted to meet in New Orleans. According to Ray, 434 00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:21,439 Speaker 1: he met with Raoul who said he wanted him to 435 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:24,679 Speaker 1: come back East. Ray was running low on money, so 436 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:28,320 Speaker 1: we agreed. When Ray got to Birmingham, Raoul said there 437 00:27:28,359 --> 00:27:30,439 Speaker 1: was some sort of gun deal coming down and he 438 00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:32,840 Speaker 1: needed Ray to purchase a rifle to show to a 439 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:35,840 Speaker 1: prospective customer. And while none of this made a lot 440 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:38,560 Speaker 1: of sense, one must remember that Ray had already done 441 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:41,359 Speaker 1: some number of things for Raoul that didn't seem to 442 00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:44,719 Speaker 1: make sense, but he hadn't asked questions and he had 443 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:48,119 Speaker 1: always been paid. So in pursuit of the needed rifle, 444 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:52,959 Speaker 1: Ray goes to a sports store in Birmingham named Aero Marine. Again, 445 00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:57,840 Speaker 1: here's Ray and Louis garrison. Did he take what kind 446 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:02,119 Speaker 1: of well when he wants you to take a look at? Well? 447 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:06,000 Speaker 1: When I got there, I asked for a deare a 448 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:10,200 Speaker 1: rival than it was? Wonn't you us for it? That's 449 00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:12,199 Speaker 1: the type of ros used. But I don't know too 450 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:14,800 Speaker 1: much about the roding? So what kind of right would 451 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:17,720 Speaker 1: you take you look at? He probably gave me some drives, 452 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:21,679 Speaker 1: but it wasn't good enough for I could say exactly 453 00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:24,360 Speaker 1: what I wanted? Did you writeing man? Did I? Did 454 00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:28,560 Speaker 1: he write him man for you? No? No? Not so 455 00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 1: you walked in and did that? What kind of rival? 456 00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:32,919 Speaker 1: You won't him want a brand? What caliber? Want anything? 457 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:34,280 Speaker 1: You just said, I want to hear up? Yeah, I 458 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:36,400 Speaker 1: told him I was gonna out there is my brother 459 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:38,600 Speaker 1: law and not like looks at vibes and he said, 460 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:40,960 Speaker 1: he said, this is what you want. This is about 461 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:43,200 Speaker 1: the best thing. Ay said, where is that effect? And 462 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:47,320 Speaker 1: I said, okay, that's about more So. The store mounted 463 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:49,280 Speaker 1: a scope on the rifle, which turned out to be 464 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:53,160 Speaker 1: a quite fine two forty three Winchester. Gray left the 465 00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:55,960 Speaker 1: store with that gun. Because when you get back to 466 00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:58,160 Speaker 1: the hotel, are you waiting for you? Yes? Get one 467 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:01,840 Speaker 1: with him? No? And do you take the guy in? Yes, 468 00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:04,800 Speaker 1: What do you say about it? I think he said 469 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:08,040 Speaker 1: was wrong type of trap or on caliber? On brand? Wrong? 470 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:11,360 Speaker 1: What I think he said? This wan type? It was 471 00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:13,880 Speaker 1: his word. What do you what do you meant? So 472 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:16,000 Speaker 1: they don't What do you really wanted? No? I didn't. 473 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:19,880 Speaker 1: I had brochure. The Salesmenking a brochure, So I just 474 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:22,960 Speaker 1: brochure to take out what he wanted, and I go 475 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:27,960 Speaker 1: back and rochure Sara Hees. Raoul pointed to a certain gun, 476 00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:30,400 Speaker 1: and Ray called the store and asked if he could 477 00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:33,360 Speaker 1: make the exchange. They said yes, but that he should 478 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:36,680 Speaker 1: come in the following day. According to Ray, the next 479 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:39,360 Speaker 1: time he met Raoul was at the New Rebel Motel 480 00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:42,720 Speaker 1: just outside of Memphis on the stormy night before King 481 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:46,120 Speaker 1: was killed. Raoul left with a gun, and Ray says 482 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:52,280 Speaker 1: he never saw it again. So what to make of this? 483 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:56,160 Speaker 1: In many ways, it's a quintessential James Earl Ray story. 484 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,800 Speaker 1: It doesn't make sense, none of it. If there was 485 00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 1: a un deal, what purpose would be served to show 486 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:04,920 Speaker 1: up with a rifle that anyone could buy in a store? 487 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:08,080 Speaker 1: And was Ray really such a dope when it comes 488 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:11,760 Speaker 1: to guns? It seems that he was. Bill Pepper talked 489 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:15,280 Speaker 1: to the guy who sold Ray the rifle. I spoke 490 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:20,080 Speaker 1: to the Don Woods who managed the story. Told Donald 491 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:24,800 Speaker 1: again about three or four months ago. He said, this 492 00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:31,480 Speaker 1: guy absolutely nothing about is incredible. Yeah, nothing. So some 493 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:33,960 Speaker 1: guy who knows nothing about guns comes in to buy 494 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:36,480 Speaker 1: a rifle and he's pleased to take whatever is offered 495 00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:39,760 Speaker 1: and leaves the store happy as a clan. But then 496 00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:42,520 Speaker 1: an hour or so later he calls and says he 497 00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:46,960 Speaker 1: needs to exchange the gun. But why. In the official 498 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:50,040 Speaker 1: version of the crime, Ray was completely on his own, 499 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:54,280 Speaker 1: So who was unhappy with the gun? For ten years, 500 00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:57,560 Speaker 1: no one even tried to answer this question. But to 501 00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:01,920 Speaker 1: their credit, the House Committee finally solve the problem. Gun 502 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:05,320 Speaker 1: number one, they said, being exchanged for gun number two 503 00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:11,520 Speaker 1: showed quote significant signs of unwitting aid or knowing complicity 504 00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:17,560 Speaker 1: in the assassination itself. So finally, this crazy gun exchange 505 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:21,479 Speaker 1: story merits the interpretation that there was at least another person, 506 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:25,000 Speaker 1: and the House Committee had a suspect in mind, and 507 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:29,520 Speaker 1: it wasn't Raoul. It was raised brother Jerry and supported 508 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,560 Speaker 1: this idea. They offered a few casual comments that James 509 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:36,640 Speaker 1: had made along the way in California, James apparently told 510 00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:38,800 Speaker 1: the woman he was going east to see his brother, 511 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:41,920 Speaker 1: and later at the gun store, he told the salesman 512 00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:44,719 Speaker 1: that he was going hunting with his brother. But of 513 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:48,440 Speaker 1: course neither of these statements is evidence of anything, and 514 00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:51,160 Speaker 1: Jerry Ray was working in Chicago then, and for all 515 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:54,640 Speaker 1: this to work, he kind of needed to be in Birmingham. 516 00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:57,520 Speaker 1: To their credit, the House Committee did try to deal 517 00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:00,480 Speaker 1: with this. They said in their report that every Ray 518 00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:03,840 Speaker 1: work from eleven pm to seven a m. And if 519 00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:08,080 Speaker 1: he had Thursdays off, he could, quoting here conceivably have 520 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:11,600 Speaker 1: gone to Birmingham, given advice on the initial rifle purchase 521 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:15,320 Speaker 1: on Friday afternoon, and returned to Chicago in time to 522 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:19,040 Speaker 1: be on the job by eleven pm that night. So 523 00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:22,280 Speaker 1: apparently it was possible. It just seems like a lot 524 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:24,800 Speaker 1: of trouble to go to to advise your older brother 525 00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:27,360 Speaker 1: on a gun purchase, and it must have felt the 526 00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:29,640 Speaker 1: same way to the House Committee, because a couple of 527 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:33,160 Speaker 1: sentences later they suggest that perhaps Jerry didn't come down 528 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:37,360 Speaker 1: to Birmingham after all, that maybe the entire advising consent 529 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:40,560 Speaker 1: took place over the phone. They then leave it to 530 00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:47,760 Speaker 1: us to imagine the conversation. If we were to set 531 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:50,800 Speaker 1: the House Committee solution to this riddle aside for the moment, 532 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:55,960 Speaker 1: and we're to accept james explanation that includes Raoul, then 533 00:32:56,000 --> 00:33:00,640 Speaker 1: what does wrong type or wrong gun mean? Well, the 534 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:04,080 Speaker 1: first rifle was a two forty three Winchester, an excellent 535 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:07,440 Speaker 1: hunting gun and perfectly adequate for killing a human if 536 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:11,280 Speaker 1: that's what you wanted to do. The second, a Remington 537 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:15,120 Speaker 1: thirty six game Master, fired a larger bullet, so in 538 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:19,000 Speaker 1: this instance might be considered more ideal for killing a person. 539 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:22,800 Speaker 1: But is that what Raoul meant when he said wrong gun? 540 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:27,920 Speaker 1: Doesn't seem likely, because if Raoul and others were involved, 541 00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:31,760 Speaker 1: the murder was a planned event, And if it was 542 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:35,960 Speaker 1: a planned event, then the shooter, whoever he was, which 543 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,200 Speaker 1: surely not agreed to a plan that relied upon the 544 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:41,360 Speaker 1: arrival of a weapon to be purchased the day before 545 00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:45,800 Speaker 1: by some guy. Seems a little casual for the importance 546 00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:49,400 Speaker 1: of the event. So if the newly bought gun is 547 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:52,600 Speaker 1: not going to be the murder weapon, wrong gun takes 548 00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:55,880 Speaker 1: on a different meaning. If the purpose of the gun 549 00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:59,040 Speaker 1: Ray bought is to connect Ray to the murder. Then 550 00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:02,200 Speaker 1: the two forty three Winchester is truly the wrong gun. 551 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:06,240 Speaker 1: If King was to be killed by a thirty caliber bullet, 552 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:09,320 Speaker 1: a throwdown weapon that could not fire such a bullet 553 00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:12,560 Speaker 1: would give up the game. Though he did not know 554 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:15,520 Speaker 1: why Ray had to go back and change the gun. 555 00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:38,920 Speaker 1: Where were you reported decision? I wasn't understand, say Ray 556 00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:42,520 Speaker 1: told Attorney Lewis Garrison that on the evening of April third, 557 00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:45,000 Speaker 1: Raoul stopped by to see him at the New Rebel 558 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:49,280 Speaker 1: Motel just outside of Memphis. Raoul took the new rifle 559 00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:51,960 Speaker 1: that Ray had purchased and told Ray to meet him 560 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:54,960 Speaker 1: at three thirty the next day at Jim's Grill, which 561 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:58,759 Speaker 1: was two and a half south Maine. The address was 562 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:02,239 Speaker 1: a little funny, so Ray wrote it down. Then he 563 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:06,000 Speaker 1: spoke of the next day on April fourth, I think 564 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:09,520 Speaker 1: I checked out the motel. I just guessed about let 565 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:12,239 Speaker 1: him fly. Pointever, they running out of the places, just 566 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:16,160 Speaker 1: too early to go to have his mates set on 567 00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:18,759 Speaker 1: the outside of Memphis, asked her some Mephiles say I 568 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:22,440 Speaker 1: had I was getting ready to come back and have 569 00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:25,640 Speaker 1: his meeting room. I had a flat tire, so I 570 00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:29,640 Speaker 1: hadn't think said, so, where were you going? There's some 571 00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:31,920 Speaker 1: words out in there. I'm not certain his works there, 572 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:36,200 Speaker 1: Race said. He removed the tire and put on the spare, 573 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:39,920 Speaker 1: and then drove into Memphis. It took a little exploring 574 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:43,040 Speaker 1: and he had to ask for directions, but he did 575 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:46,239 Speaker 1: end up at Jim's grill, and Raoul was not there. 576 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:49,560 Speaker 1: Ray had left his car some distance away and thought 577 00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:53,319 Speaker 1: to retrieve it. When he returned, he parked it right 578 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:56,200 Speaker 1: outside the grill. And then when I went in this time, 579 00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:59,399 Speaker 1: la Raoul, wasn't it this time? You see main name 580 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:02,560 Speaker 1: rising sting. So when when when I went out the door, 581 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:05,000 Speaker 1: it uh. He wanted to be rear a room upstairs 582 00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:08,239 Speaker 1: to saidy laid up there with some start learned. Name 583 00:36:08,280 --> 00:36:11,000 Speaker 1: is Bessy Brower, I toold. I want I like to 584 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:13,480 Speaker 1: wear a room for room a week, I think it was. 585 00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:18,080 Speaker 1: She had two rooms, so she showed me two different rooms. 586 00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:20,759 Speaker 1: One of was a sleeping room and one on was 587 00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:24,359 Speaker 1: some type of ring where you're cooking. So I told 588 00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:26,400 Speaker 1: her I was just interested in sleeping room. So she 589 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:29,120 Speaker 1: practice she ran into the sleeping room. I would like 590 00:36:29,239 --> 00:36:31,880 Speaker 1: her too long. Rob would come up there and uh 591 00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:35,120 Speaker 1: and started talking He said that we might be around 592 00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:38,200 Speaker 1: her two three days, a couple of days. And he said, 593 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:41,520 Speaker 1: I should winging in my clothing everything I had to 594 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:47,520 Speaker 1: put in the room. But I didn't do that. But 595 00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:49,960 Speaker 1: I didn't wing an overnight case up there, and U 596 00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:53,640 Speaker 1: and I think I bought a something that sleep on, 597 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:57,920 Speaker 1: something thin sheet or something. Raoul then sent rayan and 598 00:36:58,080 --> 00:37:01,040 Speaker 1: Errand to buy a pair of infrared binoculars, the inference 599 00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:03,960 Speaker 1: being that this was somehow part of the gun deal. 600 00:37:04,719 --> 00:37:08,160 Speaker 1: But the store Ray was sent to only had common binoculars, 601 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:10,560 Speaker 1: so Ray bought a pair of those, and when he 602 00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:13,960 Speaker 1: returned to the room, Raoul didn't seem to care. It 603 00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:17,879 Speaker 1: was approaching six o'clock and Raoul suggested that Ray clear 604 00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:21,440 Speaker 1: out for a while, maybe go see a movie. So 605 00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:26,400 Speaker 1: Ray left. From this point on in the story, you 606 00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:29,880 Speaker 1: can flip a coin. According to the House Select Committee, 607 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:33,759 Speaker 1: Ray told his lawyer Art Haynes Sr. That quote. At 608 00:37:33,760 --> 00:37:37,279 Speaker 1: approximately six pm on April four, he was sitting in 609 00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:39,960 Speaker 1: his park Mustang in front of four twenty two and 610 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:43,359 Speaker 1: a half South Main Street when Raoul came running out 611 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:45,640 Speaker 1: of the rooming house, jumped in the back of the car, 612 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:48,480 Speaker 1: threw a white sheet over himself and told Ray to 613 00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:52,400 Speaker 1: drive away. After they had driven a few blocks, Raoul 614 00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:56,480 Speaker 1: jumped out, never to be seen again. But according to Ray, 615 00:37:56,719 --> 00:38:00,160 Speaker 1: that was a false story. He had become distrustful of 616 00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:03,239 Speaker 1: Bradford Huey, the writer who was paying for access to 617 00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:06,520 Speaker 1: a story, because Ray felt that he was sharing everything 618 00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:09,879 Speaker 1: Ray said with the FBI. So Ray decided to throw 619 00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:12,520 Speaker 1: him a curveball and made up the story of driving 620 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:15,800 Speaker 1: away with Raoul. Perhaps not the smartest thing to do, 621 00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:21,120 Speaker 1: but it was for Ray certainly in character. What really happened, 622 00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:23,399 Speaker 1: according to Ray, was that he went to the gas 623 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:26,600 Speaker 1: station looking to fix his tire, and I gotta think 624 00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:29,759 Speaker 1: about had flat tire earlier that day, so I am 625 00:38:31,719 --> 00:38:33,840 Speaker 1: I thought to get clixed. I woke back down to 626 00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:37,160 Speaker 1: the room house and got the must night and then 627 00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:43,160 Speaker 1: I thought I was road waiting, probably a game girls. 628 00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:47,319 Speaker 1: Several blocks I turned right, you know, I think I went, 629 00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:49,439 Speaker 1: you know, one or two, blocked down and turn right again. 630 00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:53,080 Speaker 1: My attention trying to get tik clax and the park 631 00:38:53,160 --> 00:39:00,720 Speaker 1: where right where it was? Evidence does this to support 632 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:05,839 Speaker 1: Ray's gas station account. In five years after the murder, 633 00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:08,480 Speaker 1: Bill Pepper found at the bottom of a drawer in 634 00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:11,960 Speaker 1: the police files, evidence that had never been chaired with anyone. 635 00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:16,080 Speaker 1: They were official statements made to the FBI by two men, 636 00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:20,600 Speaker 1: Ray Hendrix and Bill Reid on the day King was killed. 637 00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:23,520 Speaker 1: The two men were at Jim's grill late in the afternoon. 638 00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:27,799 Speaker 1: They left together at around five thirty. Both of these 639 00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:31,080 Speaker 1: statements were read into the record at the civil trial. 640 00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:34,239 Speaker 1: What we will do here is read the statement given 641 00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:38,759 Speaker 1: to the FBI by Mr Hendrix. Mr Hendrix commented that 642 00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:41,640 Speaker 1: when he left Jim's grill, he forgot his jacket and 643 00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:44,560 Speaker 1: had to return for the jacket. He said he learned 644 00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:47,359 Speaker 1: later that while he was getting his jacket, Bill Reid 645 00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:49,640 Speaker 1: looked at a white Mustang that was parked almost in 646 00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:53,600 Speaker 1: front of jim Scroll. He stated, however, when he and 647 00:39:53,719 --> 00:39:56,840 Speaker 1: Bill Reid approached the intersection of Vance in South Main Street, 648 00:39:57,160 --> 00:39:59,520 Speaker 1: Bill Reid pulled him back from the curb because the 649 00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:02,359 Speaker 1: car was turning the corner. He said that this car 650 00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:06,239 Speaker 1: was a white Mustang, and after the car turned the corner, though, 651 00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:08,880 Speaker 1: Read commented to him that this was the Mustang that 652 00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:11,520 Speaker 1: was parked in front of Jim's grill which he looked 653 00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:16,840 Speaker 1: at while he Hendrix was retrieving his jacket. Neither Hendrix 654 00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:20,279 Speaker 1: nor Reid could say who was driving, though both said 655 00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:23,080 Speaker 1: there was only one person in the car, and Reid 656 00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:26,080 Speaker 1: said that the driver was not young, but not old. 657 00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:30,120 Speaker 1: Reid also described the color of the Mustang as off white, 658 00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:33,440 Speaker 1: which would be a strong indication that it was raised 659 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:37,080 Speaker 1: off white Mustang that he saw making the turn, the 660 00:40:37,239 --> 00:40:39,640 Speaker 1: same car that he looked at in front of Jim's grill. 661 00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:43,520 Speaker 1: The best estimate of the encounter on Band Street would 662 00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:48,240 Speaker 1: be somewhere near five. This would conform with Ray's account 663 00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:51,920 Speaker 1: of driving to a guess station at that time. There 664 00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:55,200 Speaker 1: has never been any explanation as to why this evidence 665 00:40:55,239 --> 00:40:58,600 Speaker 1: had been kept hidden by law. It should not have been, 666 00:40:59,320 --> 00:41:02,279 Speaker 1: and if James hil Ray had had a trial, such 667 00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:06,120 Speaker 1: evidence might have been sufficient to establish the reasonable doubt 668 00:41:06,719 --> 00:41:15,800 Speaker 1: required for Ray's acquittal. And what about the tire? According 669 00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:18,440 Speaker 1: to Ray, he never got to fix that day. When 670 00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:20,640 Speaker 1: he got to the gas station and talked to the attendant, 671 00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:23,440 Speaker 1: the man said he didn't have the time just then, so, 672 00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:26,600 Speaker 1: according to Ray, he headed back to Main Street. But 673 00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:29,320 Speaker 1: when he got there he saw all kinds of commotion 674 00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:33,120 Speaker 1: from the place he had just come from. I lived 675 00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:36,480 Speaker 1: down manistrate and looked like three more in vaga replacement 676 00:41:36,640 --> 00:41:38,840 Speaker 1: running around on her and I think had labor squad, 677 00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:42,160 Speaker 1: bar police cars, black later sectionary, black office street. So 678 00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:44,799 Speaker 1: something looked like the way around. So waiting his arm 679 00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:48,520 Speaker 1: around impossible way to big los Aires turned less, turning right, 680 00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:55,400 Speaker 1: I find that come out a manastrate ray was an 681 00:41:55,520 --> 00:41:59,719 Speaker 1: escaped convict. Any contact with the police was unwelcome, so 682 00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:02,319 Speaker 1: we did not need a lot of incentive to drive 683 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:06,040 Speaker 1: away and ask questions later, and his radio in the 684 00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:09,440 Speaker 1: car was on. His vote came over radio saying that 685 00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:13,359 Speaker 1: Reverend Martlin's King and shots. So I didn't take too 686 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:16,200 Speaker 1: much canse on that, but I kept on driving. Was 687 00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:18,960 Speaker 1: too long I have heard and said, uh, they were 688 00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:21,040 Speaker 1: looking for a white man and white mustang and the 689 00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:25,080 Speaker 1: next one the shooting reverend King. So I decided him 690 00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:28,200 Speaker 1: that you know, did have died, So it's back. So 691 00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:33,359 Speaker 1: instead of magnate phone calls, I just kept going going 692 00:42:33,480 --> 00:42:36,520 Speaker 1: south in the Mississippi of returning from there, I went 693 00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:39,160 Speaker 1: on into the land. From the land, I went through. Uh, 694 00:42:39,719 --> 00:42:47,960 Speaker 1: they joined him by Canada. Before we move on, I 695 00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:50,320 Speaker 1: think it important to note that there are places in 696 00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:53,600 Speaker 1: race story where he is obviously not telling all he knows. 697 00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:57,959 Speaker 1: As mentioned earlier, Ray always refused to reveal who helped 698 00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:01,640 Speaker 1: him escape from federal prison. According to Bill Pepper, Ray 699 00:43:01,719 --> 00:43:03,799 Speaker 1: had been a convict for most of his adult life 700 00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:06,279 Speaker 1: and he lived by the code that you don't tell 701 00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:09,760 Speaker 1: on people. And while Ray says it was only Raoul 702 00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:12,280 Speaker 1: that he met on his two trips to New Orleans, 703 00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:16,880 Speaker 1: it may have been not just Raoul. Ray's first lawyer, 704 00:43:17,080 --> 00:43:19,880 Speaker 1: Art Haynes, told me about an interesting piece of evidence 705 00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:24,359 Speaker 1: that turned up and raised mustang. A matchbook cover had 706 00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:27,880 Speaker 1: a New Orleans phone number written only he forbad us 707 00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:31,120 Speaker 1: to look into it and go beyond it. Then there 708 00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:33,960 Speaker 1: is the matter of the four excellent false identities that 709 00:43:34,160 --> 00:43:36,239 Speaker 1: Ray used while he was on the run from the law. 710 00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:39,440 Speaker 1: This is the late phil Alanson, who wrote one of 711 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:43,200 Speaker 1: the early books on the murder of King The alias's 712 00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:46,759 Speaker 1: question is crucial because it was unexplained by official investigations, 713 00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:50,040 Speaker 1: and it's obviously central to this case. James ol Ray 714 00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:52,759 Speaker 1: was able to use the names of people who looked 715 00:43:52,800 --> 00:43:55,120 Speaker 1: like him, who were totally innocent, and in the case 716 00:43:55,160 --> 00:43:58,520 Speaker 1: of Mr gald who shared uncanny characteristics with Ray, when 717 00:43:58,640 --> 00:44:00,880 Speaker 1: Ray had no capacity to have gone to Toronto and 718 00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:03,400 Speaker 1: scouted these names out or gotten them from a file. 719 00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:08,279 Speaker 1: Over the years, Ray would offer vague explanations as to 720 00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:11,440 Speaker 1: how he came by these identities, like maybe he got 721 00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:14,360 Speaker 1: them out of a phone book, but someone had to 722 00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:17,480 Speaker 1: have provided them to Ray, and he would never say who. 723 00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:21,879 Speaker 1: Milansen's theory was that Ray, whose role in this crime 724 00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:24,719 Speaker 1: seemed to be that of the fall guy, understood that 725 00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:27,600 Speaker 1: more people involved would not make him look more innocent, 726 00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:32,080 Speaker 1: and beyond that, exposing other people might well get him killed. 727 00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:35,160 Speaker 1: So as we move forward, it is important to know 728 00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:38,520 Speaker 1: that Ray did not tell everything he knew, even to 729 00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:43,640 Speaker 1: proven friends like Bill Pepper. So Ray was arrested in 730 00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:46,279 Speaker 1: Great Britain and then sent back to Memphis, where he 731 00:44:46,400 --> 00:44:49,800 Speaker 1: was kept out of sight. As Judge Hines explained, the 732 00:44:49,920 --> 00:44:52,680 Speaker 1: more familiar he and his father became with the evidence, 733 00:44:53,200 --> 00:44:55,359 Speaker 1: the more certain they were that they would win the case. 734 00:44:56,200 --> 00:45:00,759 Speaker 1: But rays enforced isolation presented a problem because everyone knew 735 00:45:00,840 --> 00:45:03,920 Speaker 1: from all the reports that their client was the monster 736 00:45:04,040 --> 00:45:07,239 Speaker 1: who had shot Dr King, but no one had seen him, 737 00:45:08,040 --> 00:45:10,400 Speaker 1: and as Arthur Haynes said, if they were going to 738 00:45:10,520 --> 00:45:12,920 Speaker 1: have a chance to win the case, they would need 739 00:45:13,040 --> 00:45:17,000 Speaker 1: to change the visuals. He still remained the great mystery man. 740 00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:19,520 Speaker 1: Nobody had ever seen him. There was no picture of him, 741 00:45:19,560 --> 00:45:22,520 Speaker 1: there were no purple walks in those days. You had 742 00:45:22,560 --> 00:45:26,719 Speaker 1: this great mystery Man. All in all, he was being 743 00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:30,279 Speaker 1: crucified in the press of the world, and we felt 744 00:45:30,320 --> 00:45:34,800 Speaker 1: like we needed to do something to at least stem 745 00:45:34,920 --> 00:45:39,000 Speaker 1: the tide. So the lights were on all the time, 746 00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:41,040 Speaker 1: and we talked to Ray about it, and he said, yeah, 747 00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:43,560 Speaker 1: so the hard sleep. So we thought this is a 748 00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:47,360 Speaker 1: great opportunity. Number one to parade out the Great Fiend 749 00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:50,640 Speaker 1: and let the world see that he's just a little 750 00:45:50,680 --> 00:45:54,680 Speaker 1: petty criminal. And number two to start the whole proceedings 751 00:45:55,520 --> 00:45:59,400 Speaker 1: with a lock cinch winning decision. So we followed a 752 00:45:59,520 --> 00:46:03,320 Speaker 1: motion to turn off the lights, that it was cruel 753 00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:06,279 Speaker 1: and unusual punishment, and to turn off the lights so 754 00:46:06,440 --> 00:46:09,600 Speaker 1: that he could sleep at night. Oh, it was a 755 00:46:09,680 --> 00:46:14,239 Speaker 1: great day in Memphis. They had reserved a large room 756 00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:17,000 Speaker 1: for the press. There were no cell phones, of course, 757 00:46:17,760 --> 00:46:22,080 Speaker 1: with telephones, and incomes the Great Fiend to the courtroom 758 00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:25,640 Speaker 1: to hear the motion to turn off the lights. I'll 759 00:46:25,680 --> 00:46:31,400 Speaker 1: never forget it. Ray was on the stand and ultimately 760 00:46:31,800 --> 00:46:35,840 Speaker 1: the crucial question was asked, Mr Ray, are the lights 761 00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:40,359 Speaker 1: on in your cell twenty four hours a day? As 762 00:46:40,360 --> 00:46:46,200 Speaker 1: answered wise, yes they were. And then the Kuda Gras 763 00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:51,080 Speaker 1: was to come and my dad asked him, and how 764 00:46:51,160 --> 00:46:54,600 Speaker 1: does that affect you, Mr Ray, And I will tell 765 00:46:54,640 --> 00:46:59,600 Speaker 1: you word for word his answer, Oh, it doesn't bother me. 766 00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:07,800 Speaker 1: No one a typical James Earl Ray move. And I 767 00:47:08,000 --> 00:47:12,080 Speaker 1: used this example with my trial students because the lesson 768 00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:14,840 Speaker 1: is you can prepare all you want to, but you 769 00:47:14,960 --> 00:47:17,000 Speaker 1: never know what a witness is going to say in court. 770 00:47:18,239 --> 00:47:22,719 Speaker 1: Back in It's November and you've been on the case 771 00:47:22,800 --> 00:47:25,480 Speaker 1: for four months and you're about to go to trial. 772 00:47:26,400 --> 00:47:29,799 Speaker 1: The entire world thinks that James el Ray murdered King. 773 00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:34,480 Speaker 1: But you know the prosecution's eye witness is a fraud. 774 00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:38,920 Speaker 1: Charlie Stephens that the supposed the purported murder weapon is 775 00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:42,879 Speaker 1: most likely a plant, and the motive given to Ray 776 00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:47,640 Speaker 1: is a fabrication. But virtually everyone else in the universe 777 00:47:47,680 --> 00:47:50,000 Speaker 1: thinks the case is a slam dunk for the prosecution. 778 00:47:50,520 --> 00:47:53,960 Speaker 1: You're six, were you ever? Did you have any apprehension 779 00:47:54,200 --> 00:47:57,680 Speaker 1: or any fear? That is the advantage of being a 780 00:47:57,840 --> 00:48:01,360 Speaker 1: twenty six year old lawyer about to make the opening 781 00:48:01,440 --> 00:48:05,080 Speaker 1: statement and the trial of the accused killer of Martin 782 00:48:05,160 --> 00:48:09,040 Speaker 1: Luther King. So all I knew was, of course, we're 783 00:48:09,040 --> 00:48:12,319 Speaker 1: gonna win this one too. We went to the jail. 784 00:48:12,360 --> 00:48:16,560 Speaker 1: I had spent all Friday with Ray getting ready for 785 00:48:16,640 --> 00:48:21,200 Speaker 1: the case. I have learned in retrospect that almost immediately 786 00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:23,759 Speaker 1: upon my leaving the jail on Friday to come back 787 00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:28,279 Speaker 1: to Birmingham, this lawyer from Texas was allowed in the 788 00:48:28,320 --> 00:48:31,279 Speaker 1: one that ultimately spent the weekend in the cell with 789 00:48:31,560 --> 00:48:37,680 Speaker 1: Ray persuading him to change lawyers. We got there and interestingly, 790 00:48:37,840 --> 00:48:41,720 Speaker 1: James Earl Ray and my dad were exactly the same size. 791 00:48:42,840 --> 00:48:46,279 Speaker 1: We had bought two of suits for him to wear 792 00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:49,200 Speaker 1: the trial and ties to go with them, and we 793 00:48:49,320 --> 00:48:51,799 Speaker 1: were going to take him the suits and buck him 794 00:48:51,880 --> 00:48:54,719 Speaker 1: up a little bit on the even before trial when 795 00:48:54,800 --> 00:48:58,840 Speaker 1: we got to the jail, the spitting snow was right cold. 796 00:48:58,920 --> 00:49:01,120 Speaker 1: That night we got the jail, we were handed a 797 00:49:01,239 --> 00:49:06,120 Speaker 1: note and said thanks for all you've done, but I've 798 00:49:06,160 --> 00:49:11,719 Speaker 1: decided to change lawyers. So we left. I mean, we 799 00:49:11,840 --> 00:49:16,400 Speaker 1: were just lawyers. We were lawyers doing our duties. My 800 00:49:16,600 --> 00:49:20,960 Speaker 1: dad wore those suits though for years and we always 801 00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:24,960 Speaker 1: called him, as James Earl Ray suits why was Foreman there? 802 00:49:25,000 --> 00:49:27,480 Speaker 1: And by there, I mean why did Foreman push his 803 00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:30,120 Speaker 1: way into the case. Do you ever wonder about that? 804 00:49:30,840 --> 00:49:34,880 Speaker 1: Did we ever wonder how Foreman got in the case? Only? 805 00:49:35,080 --> 00:49:38,280 Speaker 1: Every day from that day until the day my father died. 806 00:49:39,160 --> 00:49:42,120 Speaker 1: There are a lot of possible answers to that question. 807 00:49:49,600 --> 00:49:51,600 Speaker 1: I'd like to end with something fun, or what I 808 00:49:51,719 --> 00:49:57,040 Speaker 1: think is fun. In January of seventy, Ray is locked 809 00:49:57,120 --> 00:50:00,239 Speaker 1: up for the rest of his life, no trial, and 810 00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:02,680 Speaker 1: he learns that your dad has been ill and is 811 00:50:02,719 --> 00:50:06,640 Speaker 1: in the hospital. So James el Ray sits down and 812 00:50:06,760 --> 00:50:11,000 Speaker 1: writes to your dad, I'm gonna just read it, dear Arthur. 813 00:50:11,640 --> 00:50:13,239 Speaker 1: I have read in the paper where you have been 814 00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:16,480 Speaker 1: a little under the weather. I trust the young nurses 815 00:50:16,520 --> 00:50:20,799 Speaker 1: will have you back in condition before you receive this letter. Sincerely, 816 00:50:21,480 --> 00:50:25,400 Speaker 1: James el Ray. P s at least you don't have 817 00:50:25,520 --> 00:50:29,960 Speaker 1: Percy Foreman for a doctor. There's something so simple and 818 00:50:30,160 --> 00:50:33,200 Speaker 1: human about that. And he's able to look at I mean, 819 00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:34,880 Speaker 1: he's in jail for the rest of his life, and 820 00:50:34,880 --> 00:50:37,719 Speaker 1: he's chosen the wrong lawyers, and he's been duped again, 821 00:50:38,400 --> 00:50:41,000 Speaker 1: and he's able to sort of make a little joke 822 00:50:41,040 --> 00:50:46,240 Speaker 1: about it. That's exactly it. So why did celebrity attorney 823 00:50:46,280 --> 00:50:49,480 Speaker 1: Percy Foreman at the very last moment push his way 824 00:50:49,520 --> 00:50:53,120 Speaker 1: into the case. As Judge Haines says, not a day 825 00:50:53,200 --> 00:50:56,400 Speaker 1: went by that they didn't wonder about that, and they 826 00:50:56,440 --> 00:50:59,319 Speaker 1: came up with a bunch of possible answers. But as 827 00:50:59,400 --> 00:51:02,560 Speaker 1: we shall see, the closer you look at Foreman, the 828 00:51:02,680 --> 00:51:10,840 Speaker 1: darker those answers become. Next time on the email K tapes. 829 00:51:11,320 --> 00:51:13,400 Speaker 1: The truth of the matter is Percy Foreman was the 830 00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:17,000 Speaker 1: biggest fraud and blow hard I ever encountered in over 831 00:51:17,120 --> 00:51:22,560 Speaker 1: fifty years of practicing law. The jail made He told 832 00:51:22,560 --> 00:51:26,000 Speaker 1: me that if I would this missing him, he wouldn't 833 00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:31,960 Speaker 1: get involved literary contest he might ask. I saw absolutely 834 00:51:32,160 --> 00:51:37,279 Speaker 1: no evidence of any inclination or willingness on his part 835 00:51:37,560 --> 00:51:40,200 Speaker 1: to defend that case as it should have been defended. 836 00:51:40,920 --> 00:51:47,600 Speaker 1: And the Foreman game said this wis at all? Could 837 00:51:47,600 --> 00:51:49,880 Speaker 1: you ever feel that you could ever do more than 838 00:51:49,960 --> 00:51:52,640 Speaker 1: save his life? Never at any time, And so told 839 00:51:52,719 --> 00:51:55,560 Speaker 1: him from the day I came in, and he never 840 00:51:55,680 --> 00:51:58,880 Speaker 1: expected anything else from the first and I never expected 841 00:51:58,920 --> 00:52:02,759 Speaker 1: to accomplish this. You had a government case where ballistics 842 00:52:02,800 --> 00:52:06,040 Speaker 1: were weak, you had a key eye witness who was 843 00:52:06,120 --> 00:52:09,239 Speaker 1: an alcoholic. Doesn't that bring the odds down to a 844 00:52:09,320 --> 00:52:12,560 Speaker 1: little better than Wouldn't that give you a fighting chance 845 00:52:12,600 --> 00:52:22,880 Speaker 1: for a reasonable doubt? Thanks for listening to The m 846 00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:25,040 Speaker 1: l K Tapes, a production of I Heart Radio and 847 00:52:25,120 --> 00:52:28,840 Speaker 1: Tenderfoot TV. This podcast is not specifically endorsed by the 848 00:52:28,920 --> 00:52:31,920 Speaker 1: King Family or the King of State. Damail Ka Tapes 849 00:52:32,000 --> 00:52:34,880 Speaker 1: is written and hosted by Bill Claiper. Matt Frederick and 850 00:52:34,920 --> 00:52:37,799 Speaker 1: Alex Williams are executive producers on behalf of I Heart 851 00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:42,040 Speaker 1: Radio with producers Trevor Young and ben Keebrick. Donald Albright 852 00:52:42,160 --> 00:52:45,000 Speaker 1: and Payne Lindsay are executive producers on half of Tenderfoot 853 00:52:45,080 --> 00:52:49,640 Speaker 1: TV with producers Jamie Albright and Meredith Steadman. Original music 854 00:52:49,719 --> 00:52:52,959 Speaker 1: by Makeup and Vanity Said. Cover art by Mr Soul 855 00:52:53,040 --> 00:52:57,600 Speaker 1: two six with photography by Artemus Jenkins. Special thanks to 856 00:52:57,680 --> 00:53:01,239 Speaker 1: Owen Rosenbaum and Grace Royer at ut A, the Nord Group, 857 00:53:01,600 --> 00:53:06,560 Speaker 1: back Median Marketing, Envisioned Business Management, and Station sixteen. If 858 00:53:06,600 --> 00:53:09,120 Speaker 1: you have questions, you can visit our website the email 859 00:53:09,200 --> 00:53:12,840 Speaker 1: K Tapes dot com. We posted photos and videos related 860 00:53:12,880 --> 00:53:15,360 Speaker 1: to the podcast on our social media accounts. You can 861 00:53:15,480 --> 00:53:18,319 Speaker 1: check them out at the email k tapes. For more 862 00:53:18,400 --> 00:53:21,600 Speaker 1: podcasts from I Heart Radio and Tenderfoot TV, please visit 863 00:53:21,600 --> 00:53:24,480 Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 864 00:53:24,600 --> 00:53:25,640 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows,