1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:04,840 Speaker 1: Cool Zone media. 2 00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 2: Right around this time of year fifty eight years ago, 3 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 2: it was pouring rain in Memphis, Tennessee. You could hear 4 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:19,799 Speaker 2: the wind rapping at the windows and occasional peals of thunder. 5 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 2: In the recording of doctor Martin Luther King Junior's final speech. 6 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,480 Speaker 2: He arrived in the city around lunch time on April 7 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:33,920 Speaker 2: third and checked into the Lorraine Motel. He was exhausted 8 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:36,560 Speaker 2: and starting to come down with something, and the weather 9 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,479 Speaker 2: was getting worse by the moment, but he gave the 10 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:40,200 Speaker 2: speech anyway. 11 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:42,199 Speaker 1: That night, he. 12 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 2: Addressed a crowd of over two thousand people packed into 13 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:50,880 Speaker 2: the Mason Temple. It was, of course, a moving speech, 14 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:56,959 Speaker 2: they always were, and his words were about more than 15 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:01,320 Speaker 2: just the Memphis Sanitation workers strike. They were about the 16 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 2: struggle for freedom everywhere across all of human history, from 17 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 2: the Book of Exodus to the churches in Alabama. Bull 18 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:12,039 Speaker 2: Connor hadn't turned them around in Birmingham, not with dogs, 19 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:15,199 Speaker 2: not with fire hoses, and they wouldn't be turned around now. 20 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:23,760 Speaker 2: They'd keep struggling and they'd win one day. Maybe not today, 21 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 2: but one day. Speeches don't have titles, not when you 22 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 2: write them. But this speech is remembered today as his 23 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:39,199 Speaker 2: I've been to the mountaintop speech, because that's how it ends. 24 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:44,400 Speaker 2: He knows the struggle ends in victory, even if he 25 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 2: won't be there with him at the end. The speech 26 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 2: ends with what sounds like a prophecy now in hindsight, 27 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 2: Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. 28 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:08,560 Speaker 3: Longevity has its place, but I'm not concerned about that now. 29 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:11,960 Speaker 1: I just want to do God's will. 30 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:16,640 Speaker 2: And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain, 31 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 2: and I've looked over and I've seen the promised Land. 32 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:28,800 Speaker 1: I may not get there with you, but I want 33 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: you to know the night that we as a people 34 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: will get to the promised Land. So I'm happy to night. 35 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,360 Speaker 1: I'm not worried about anything. 36 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 2: I'm not fearing in a man mine eyes have. 37 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: Seen the glory, all the coming of the Lord. 38 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:03,640 Speaker 2: The very next day, he was dead shot by an 39 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:10,080 Speaker 2: assassin as he was leaving his motel room. I'm Molly Conger, 40 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 2: and this is weird, little guys. Doctor Martin Luther King 41 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:35,880 Speaker 2: Junior was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, a little after six 42 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:41,840 Speaker 2: pm on April fourth, nineteen sixty eight. This isn't an 43 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:47,880 Speaker 2: episode about that moment in history. Not really, not directly, 44 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:51,240 Speaker 2: but it was an odd surprise as I sat down 45 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 2: to write this week when I realized what day it was. 46 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 2: I was reading and writing about these supporting characters in 47 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 2: the conspiracy theories about King's assassination on the anniversary of 48 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 2: his death. I'm trying to spend less time online. I 49 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:12,360 Speaker 2: think that's something we should all aspire to. But I 50 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 2: saw an interesting post on Blue Sky that day from 51 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 2: a user I'm not familiar with, but their display name 52 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 2: is I to B Wells Winchester Rifle. The post was 53 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:28,599 Speaker 2: about when we celebrate doctor King. Martin Luther King Junior. 54 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 2: Day is in January. 55 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:32,160 Speaker 1: It's on his birthday. 56 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,080 Speaker 2: And even as someone who routinely bumps up against some 57 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 2: element of the story of his death and the course 58 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 2: of my work, I don't think I could confidently tell 59 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 2: you what day he died. 60 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:49,040 Speaker 1: I mean, right now. 61 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:51,599 Speaker 2: I could, but any other time of year, if you 62 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 2: caught me by surprise and said what day was King assassinated? 63 00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:59,160 Speaker 2: I wouldn't bet money on my ability to come up 64 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 2: with a date. A fourth nineteen sixty eight, And the 65 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:07,919 Speaker 2: gist of the post is that this is intentional. We 66 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:11,480 Speaker 2: celebrate on his birthday as part of this project of 67 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 2: whitewashing his legacy, because if we celebrated him on the 68 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:20,800 Speaker 2: day of his death, it would raise questions, it would 69 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:26,159 Speaker 2: make us reckon with that death. How did he die? 70 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:32,640 Speaker 2: He was murdered, he was assassinated. He wasn't just a nice, 71 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 2: peaceful spokesman of polite nonviolence. He was a dangerous man 72 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 2: if you were in the business of maintaining the political order. Anyway, 73 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:50,159 Speaker 2: he didn't die. They killed him. And if all you 74 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 2: have is a vague recollection of I have a dream, 75 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:58,839 Speaker 2: you might think that's all. It was a passive dream 76 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:02,919 Speaker 2: of a possible better world. But he was dreaming of 77 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 2: a world he was willing to die for, one that 78 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:10,839 Speaker 2: he did die for. It's a dream that's dreamt in 79 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:14,800 Speaker 2: milliseconds behind eyes squeezed shut against the blast of a 80 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:17,800 Speaker 2: fire hose in Birmingham. And whether you were conscious of 81 00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:20,600 Speaker 2: it or not, it's the same dream that so many 82 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:23,720 Speaker 2: of you have had when you squeezed your eyes shut 83 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:26,280 Speaker 2: in a cloud of tear gas on the street in 84 00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 2: Minneapolis or Ferguson or your own hometown. So, as I 85 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,520 Speaker 2: was writing this week, I took a moment to really 86 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 2: hear that final speech, to hear his words about developing 87 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:48,960 Speaker 2: a kind of dangerous unselfishness, about rising up with greater readiness, 88 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 2: with greater determination, about struggling through the darkness because we 89 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,359 Speaker 2: believe that what's on the other side is something so 90 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:02,480 Speaker 2: beautiful that it's worth fighting for. He'd been to the mountaintop. 91 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:07,680 Speaker 2: He had an unshakable faith that the promised land really 92 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:12,200 Speaker 2: does lie ahead if we're willing to keep going, even 93 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 2: if we know, as he did, that we're planting trees 94 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:21,920 Speaker 2: whose shade we'll never rest him. It's an important message today. 95 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:26,120 Speaker 2: I think it's not what this episode is about at all, 96 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:30,320 Speaker 2: But as I'm assembling the details about these terrible men 97 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 2: and trying to position them in their proper context, I've 98 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 2: actually really enjoyed giving myself the kind of education about 99 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 2: the civil rights movement that I just don't think I 100 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:47,200 Speaker 2: was getting in school. I've found some comfort in that 101 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:49,920 Speaker 2: speech this week, in the darkness of the work that 102 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:54,000 Speaker 2: I do and the world that we're living in. I 103 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:56,720 Speaker 2: am going to tell you about a strange little racist 104 00:07:56,760 --> 00:08:02,760 Speaker 2: I promise I always do, but it's sometimes to remember 105 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 2: they're not the whole story. Turning to the topic at hand, though, 106 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:11,360 Speaker 2: the reason I was thinking about doctor King in the 107 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:15,640 Speaker 2: first place is because I was reading some vintage pornography 108 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 2: again this week that didn't come out right. 109 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:19,440 Speaker 1: Let me explain. 110 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:23,720 Speaker 2: This is a continuation of the story from last week. 111 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 2: We are still talking about Jack Kershaw, the man who 112 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:34,319 Speaker 2: made the world's ugliest Confederate monument. His twenty five foot 113 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:38,480 Speaker 2: tall polyurethane love letter to Confederate general and clan wizard 114 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:42,880 Speaker 2: Nathan Bedford. Forest stood next to the highway outside of Nashville, Tennessee, 115 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:46,000 Speaker 2: until twenty twenty one, when it was taken down by 116 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:51,600 Speaker 2: its new owner. Jack Kershaw died in twenty ten at 117 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:56,720 Speaker 2: nearly one hundred years old, and when he died, there 118 00:08:56,760 --> 00:09:01,720 Speaker 2: were three facts about him in every new story he 119 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:05,520 Speaker 2: made that fucked up statue. He co founded the neo 120 00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:09,560 Speaker 2: Confederate secessionist group, the League of the South, and he 121 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:15,280 Speaker 2: was a lawyer. More specifically, though those articles all have 122 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 2: the same exact single fact about his career as an attorney, 123 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:27,560 Speaker 2: he once represented James Earl Ray. That's why I was 124 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:34,560 Speaker 2: reading that old softcore pornomag. I finally understand now that 125 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 2: old joke about reading it for the articles, because this 126 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:41,680 Speaker 2: is the third time now that for some episode of 127 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:44,800 Speaker 2: this show I have had to hunt down an issue 128 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:49,480 Speaker 2: of a nineteen seventies Newty magazine. First it was the 129 00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:52,480 Speaker 2: Hustler spread that drove a Nazi serial killer to start 130 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:55,560 Speaker 2: plotting to kill Larry Flint. Then it was an old 131 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:58,679 Speaker 2: penthouse interview with the Alabama Attorney General who indicted a 132 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:05,360 Speaker 2: church bomber. And now the September nineteen seventy seven issue 133 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:09,600 Speaker 2: of Playboy magazine featuring the results of a polygraph test 134 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:16,000 Speaker 2: administered to James Earl Ray in prison. James Earl Ray 135 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:19,640 Speaker 2: died in prison in nineteen ninety eight while serving a 136 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:22,160 Speaker 2: ninety nine year sentence for the murder of doctor Martin 137 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 2: Luther King Junior. Today won't be the day we get 138 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:32,640 Speaker 2: into all of the competing overlapping and contradictory conspiracy theories 139 00:10:32,679 --> 00:10:36,640 Speaker 2: about the exact level of his responsibility for that crime. 140 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:43,840 Speaker 2: But he did confess, plead guilty, recant his confession, try 141 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:47,360 Speaker 2: and fail to get new trials, and seed some of 142 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:51,120 Speaker 2: those alternative theories of the case himself. Over the course 143 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:53,320 Speaker 2: of the three decades he spent in prison. 144 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:53,520 Speaker 1: For the crime. 145 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,480 Speaker 2: That's all you really need to know for the purposes 146 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:04,520 Speaker 2: of this article in Playboy Magaze. And I mean, you 147 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:07,400 Speaker 2: know how I feel about the idea that something like 148 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:10,160 Speaker 2: this could have been the work of a lone wolf, 149 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:15,000 Speaker 2: you know. But I have a stack of very unhinged 150 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:19,719 Speaker 2: books by conspiracy theorists of varying degrees of sincerity and 151 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:22,800 Speaker 2: contact with reality that I want to read before I 152 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:30,560 Speaker 2: try to navigate that minefield. We've butted up against hearts 153 00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:35,160 Speaker 2: of this story before, though, after King's murder, James Earl 154 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:37,600 Speaker 2: Ray was on the run for two months before his arrest. 155 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:41,920 Speaker 2: He confessed and pleaded guilty in March of nineteen sixty nine, 156 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:45,960 Speaker 2: and then, almost immediately after being convicted for the crime 157 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:50,280 Speaker 2: he confessed to, he recanted the confession and hired church 158 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:53,960 Speaker 2: bombing enthusiast JB. Stoner to represent him in an attempt 159 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:59,600 Speaker 2: to reverse his guilty plea that was obviously unsuccessful, and JB. 160 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:02,040 Speaker 2: Stone Or didn't stay on the case for very long, 161 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:05,720 Speaker 2: although he did keep James Earl Ray's brother Jerry, on 162 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:10,880 Speaker 2: his personal payroll for years After that and throughout the 163 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:15,079 Speaker 2: nineteen seventies, James Earl Ray burned through attorneys like wildfire 164 00:12:16,559 --> 00:12:19,920 Speaker 2: so in nineteen seventy seven he hired a new one, 165 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:28,400 Speaker 2: Jack Kershaw. So that's why I was reading Playboy, because 166 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:31,680 Speaker 2: it was Jack Kershaw who arranged for the magazine to 167 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:35,600 Speaker 2: interview his client in prison, allowing them to conduct a 168 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:40,160 Speaker 2: polygraph examination just days after Ray was returned to custody 169 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:44,960 Speaker 2: after a brief escape. If you did recently listen to 170 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:48,960 Speaker 2: these series of episodes about Joseph Paul Franklin, parts of 171 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:52,920 Speaker 2: this timeline will ring a bell if you didn't, don't 172 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:55,719 Speaker 2: worry about it. I'm trying to be more mindful that 173 00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:00,200 Speaker 2: any episode could be someone's first, so I should stop 174 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:02,840 Speaker 2: writing like you've all got an encyclopedic memory of all 175 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:07,240 Speaker 2: the tangential lore from old episodes. So if you didn't 176 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:10,200 Speaker 2: just listen to that three month long series of episodes 177 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:15,520 Speaker 2: about the Nazi serial killer. In nineteen seventy seven, Congress 178 00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:19,880 Speaker 2: was starting to hold hearings on the King assassination. The 179 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:23,520 Speaker 2: United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations had 180 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:26,840 Speaker 2: been established the year prior, and they were going to 181 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 2: investigate the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin 182 00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:35,280 Speaker 2: Luther King Junior. I'll go ahead and spoil this one 183 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:38,760 Speaker 2: for you. The seven hundred page report that came out 184 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:44,160 Speaker 2: a few years later essentially concludes in both cases that 185 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 2: the fatal shots were fired by the guy we got 186 00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:51,160 Speaker 2: for it. Lee Harvey oswaldfired the shot that killed Kennedy. 187 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:53,680 Speaker 2: James Lray was the shooter who killed King. 188 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:55,400 Speaker 1: That's what they decided. 189 00:13:57,440 --> 00:14:01,680 Speaker 2: But the committee determined that it was kind of likely 190 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:09,480 Speaker 2: that neither man had actually truly acted alone. But we 191 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:13,520 Speaker 2: can't really say what the conspiracy was. Just we're pretty 192 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:15,760 Speaker 2: sure it wasn't a foreign government, and it definitely wasn't 193 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 2: our government. So maybe there was a conspiracy, but who 194 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:26,000 Speaker 2: can really say incredible conclusions. Make of that what you will. 195 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:28,960 Speaker 2: I'll link the report in the show notes if you're 196 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,080 Speaker 2: interested in losing your minds. 197 00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:32,680 Speaker 1: I guess. 198 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:34,480 Speaker 3: So. 199 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:38,080 Speaker 2: In nineteen seventy seven, James Earl Ray is in prison. 200 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:42,280 Speaker 2: He's not quite a decade into his ninety nine year sentence, 201 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:46,520 Speaker 2: and he's starting to hear that he's going to get 202 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:50,560 Speaker 2: hauled in front of a congressional committee. They were going 203 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:53,840 Speaker 2: to ask him some hard questions, questions that he had 204 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:57,760 Speaker 2: managed to avoid up to that point. I mean, at 205 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 2: this point, he is crying foul and claiming his innocence, 206 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:05,240 Speaker 2: But when he originally entered that guilty plea, the whole 207 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:10,000 Speaker 2: point had been to avoid a trial, to avoid any 208 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:13,280 Speaker 2: more questions about who might have helped him kill Martin 209 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:18,560 Speaker 2: Luther King Junior, and whether or not there was a 210 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:23,560 Speaker 2: giant conspiracy involving both of his brothers. It makes perfect 211 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:26,240 Speaker 2: sense to hire a lawyer if you think you're going 212 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:31,600 Speaker 2: to get a congressional subpoena. He already had a lawyer, 213 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:36,600 Speaker 2: of course, but the lawyer he had was not making 214 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:39,520 Speaker 2: any progress on the impossible task of getting him a 215 00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:43,040 Speaker 2: new trial, and he was in the middle of threatening 216 00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:45,000 Speaker 2: to sue the lawyer he'd had before that one, and 217 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 2: so he was in the market for new representation. In 218 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:53,920 Speaker 2: early nineteen seventy seven, James Earl Ray's attorney was a 219 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:58,160 Speaker 2: man named James Lasar. Lasar had been working on Ray's 220 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 2: case for almost seven years, and when he heard about 221 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:07,600 Speaker 2: the Congressional Committee, he advised his client not to voluntarily 222 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:12,360 Speaker 2: comply with the House investigation. There wasn't a whole lot 223 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:15,560 Speaker 2: anybody could do about a congressional subpoena if one were 224 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:19,240 Speaker 2: to come, but at this stage the committee was just 225 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:22,240 Speaker 2: hoping he would agree to talk, and they made several 226 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:28,120 Speaker 2: attempts to interview him in prison, and initially he refused, 227 00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:34,200 Speaker 2: which was his right. He and his lawyer were initially 228 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:37,920 Speaker 2: on the same page about this. Say no to this, 229 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:42,400 Speaker 2: don't have a voluntary conversation with an investigator. There's nothing 230 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:47,360 Speaker 2: to gain from this. It's all downside pretty much. Any 231 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:50,560 Speaker 2: good lawyer will tell you to say as little as 232 00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:57,560 Speaker 2: possible in almost any situation. But James Earl Ray had 233 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:01,360 Speaker 2: his own plans, and after an initially refusing to speak 234 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 2: to the committee, he wrote a letter to the New 235 00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:07,840 Speaker 2: York Times that he'd changed his mind and he was 236 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:12,760 Speaker 2: interested in a conversation. His lawyer heard about this from 237 00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:15,560 Speaker 2: the New York Times reporter, who called him for a comment, 238 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:20,200 Speaker 2: and then in March of nineteen seventy seven, Ray sent 239 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:24,639 Speaker 2: a letter directly to the Congressional Committee informing them that 240 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:27,080 Speaker 2: he no longer agreed with the advice of his attorney, 241 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:30,800 Speaker 2: James Lazar, and if the committee had any further inquiries 242 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:35,280 Speaker 2: for him, they should contact his new lawyer, Jack Kershaw. 243 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:41,879 Speaker 2: This too was news to James Lazar, who told reporters 244 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:45,760 Speaker 2: that this Jack Kershaw character hadn't even asked him for 245 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 2: access to the case files. Lazar told a reporter from 246 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:53,919 Speaker 2: the Associated Press that he thought Ray was making a 247 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 2: big mistake, saying, quote, one of the difficulties is that 248 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:02,000 Speaker 2: Ray's passed at turn jorneys have been clearly motivated by 249 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:06,200 Speaker 2: financial gain or publicity reasons, and he enters the case 250 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:10,040 Speaker 2: again in a manner which suggests that history is repeating itself. 251 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:20,680 Speaker 2: He was right, of course, Jack Kershaw wanted money and fame. 252 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:27,879 Speaker 2: He may have hoped to get something else to Several 253 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:32,080 Speaker 2: articles about the negotiations between Kershaw and the Congressional committee 254 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:37,120 Speaker 2: about the terms of Ray's potential cooperation mentioned that he 255 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:43,000 Speaker 2: was very insistent on receiving access to FBI files. One's 256 00:18:43,119 --> 00:18:48,960 Speaker 2: quote dealing with King's enemies. The reason he gave was 257 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,359 Speaker 2: that this would help him conduct his own investigation into 258 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:55,439 Speaker 2: the real killer. He needed to see these files so 259 00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:58,160 Speaker 2: he would know who else might have had a motive 260 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:04,920 Speaker 2: to kill King, and at face value, that seems reasonable. 261 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:08,639 Speaker 2: He's a defense attorney, and a defense attorney wants to 262 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,399 Speaker 2: be able to present an alternative theory of the crime 263 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:17,320 Speaker 2: to a jury. But there is no jury because this 264 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:22,960 Speaker 2: isn't a trial, and his client's already been convicted, so 265 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:25,920 Speaker 2: that actually kind of falls apart. Why does he want 266 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:31,880 Speaker 2: to see these files? I wonder if he wanted access 267 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:35,240 Speaker 2: to those files because he wanted to see what the 268 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 2: FBI knew about his own associates, not specifically as it 269 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:44,360 Speaker 2: pertained to the King assassination. 270 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:44,720 Speaker 3: Right. 271 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:50,119 Speaker 2: I'm not saying Ray wasn't the shooter. Probably was, But 272 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:55,320 Speaker 2: the investigation into the King assassination was very wide ranging. 273 00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 2: Even once they'd identified and arrested the shooter, they kept 274 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:05,840 Speaker 2: investigating the possibility of a wider conspiracy. And you won't 275 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:11,399 Speaker 2: be surprised to hear that a lot of white supremacists 276 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:15,160 Speaker 2: who were active in the nineteen sixties had made public 277 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:19,360 Speaker 2: threats on King's life, threats that were serious enough now 278 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:23,240 Speaker 2: that he's dead they warranted some follow up from the FBI. 279 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:29,879 Speaker 2: I've actually spent a lot of time with the redacted 280 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 2: versions of these files that have been publicly released, and 281 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:37,640 Speaker 2: I can very easily imagine that the scores of racists 282 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:41,800 Speaker 2: whose associates were interviewed by the FBI would have loved 283 00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:47,160 Speaker 2: to know what they said. There was information in those files, 284 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:52,080 Speaker 2: but a lot of guys Jack Kirshaw knew some close 285 00:20:52,119 --> 00:21:12,600 Speaker 2: friends and maybe some rivals. Now it's entirely possible that 286 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:15,840 Speaker 2: Jack Kershaw was just a fucking idiot who didn't see 287 00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:19,639 Speaker 2: any problem with letting his client be interviewed repeatedly for 288 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:23,080 Speaker 2: hours at a time about a crime he'd already confessed to. 289 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:26,199 Speaker 2: Even as he's promising this client that he's going to 290 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:30,880 Speaker 2: get him a new trial. I can't imagine what kind 291 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:34,360 Speaker 2: of lawyer would think that's a good idea, But I'm 292 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:37,320 Speaker 2: willing to leave open the possibility that he really was 293 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:41,919 Speaker 2: just dumber than a box of hair. More likely, though, 294 00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:45,720 Speaker 2: he had absolutely no intention of winning this fight to 295 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:48,679 Speaker 2: get Ray a new trial. He just wanted to be 296 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:53,760 Speaker 2: a part of this process for his own reasons, and 297 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:57,119 Speaker 2: within his first full month as Ray's attorney, he had 298 00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:01,800 Speaker 2: allowed investigators from the Congressional Committee to spend four full 299 00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:08,199 Speaker 2: days grilling his client in prison. Kershaw told reporters that 300 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:11,320 Speaker 2: he was exploring the possibility of civil lawsuits that he 301 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:15,040 Speaker 2: could file on Rai's behalf that would afford them access 302 00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:19,280 Speaker 2: to classified government documents on Martin Luther King Junior and 303 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:24,840 Speaker 2: the investigation into those who had a motive to kill him. 304 00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:29,240 Speaker 2: In May, Kershaw's wife, Mary nol Kershaw wrote and recorded 305 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:36,080 Speaker 2: a ballad called They Slew the Dreamer. It's as weird 306 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 2: as you might expect. Mary nol Kershaw has been dead 307 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:43,200 Speaker 2: since nineteen eighty nine, but the guy who co wrote 308 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:48,520 Speaker 2: the song is still alive and extremely online, so I 309 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:50,560 Speaker 2: won't play it here. The last thing I need is 310 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:54,120 Speaker 2: a copyright case from this weirdo, but if you're curious, 311 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:58,040 Speaker 2: you can find it online. And part of the chorus 312 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:04,120 Speaker 2: includes these lyrics, they slew the Dreamer, Let a dreamer 313 00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:08,800 Speaker 2: take the fall. They turned the courtroom into a costume ball. 314 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:14,600 Speaker 2: Elsewhere in the song, the lyrics referenced the mysterious Raoul, 315 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:18,560 Speaker 2: a made up guy that James Earlraay claimed was the 316 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:22,520 Speaker 2: real mastermind and actual shooter behind King's murder. 317 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:26,000 Speaker 1: Raoul was a. 318 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:33,280 Speaker 2: Blonde Cuban French Canadian who did not exist. And then, 319 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 2: in June of nineteen seventy seven, Jack Kershaw arranged for 320 00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:41,440 Speaker 2: his client to spend the day with someone else who 321 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:46,240 Speaker 2: wanted to talk to him. Not an FBI agent, not 322 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:51,639 Speaker 2: someone from the DOJ, not an investigator with the Congressional Committee, 323 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:59,359 Speaker 2: but a man named James McKinley, a writer for Playboy, magazine. 324 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:02,840 Speaker 2: The interview took place over the course of several separate visits, 325 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:07,080 Speaker 2: with one visit having to be rescheduled due to raise 326 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:10,920 Speaker 2: escape from prison. He was one of seven men who 327 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:14,679 Speaker 2: escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petrust, Tennessee, on 328 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:20,040 Speaker 2: June tenth, nineteen seventy seven. He was about eight miles 329 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,960 Speaker 2: away when tracking dogs caught up to him fifty four 330 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:27,480 Speaker 2: hours later. And a fun side note here for any 331 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:33,000 Speaker 2: outdoors extreme sports enthusiasts, this is the origin of the 332 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:38,000 Speaker 2: Berkley Marathons. That's the annual one hundred mile ultra marathon 333 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:40,400 Speaker 2: that takes place in the woods in Tennessee every year. 334 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:46,400 Speaker 2: So a regular marathon is twenty six point two miles 335 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:49,480 Speaker 2: because that's how far a Greek messenger had to run 336 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:51,760 Speaker 2: to get to Athens to deliver the news the Battle 337 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:56,440 Speaker 2: of Marathon. So why is this eight mile journey into 338 00:24:56,440 --> 00:25:01,119 Speaker 2: the woods the inspiration for a one hundred mile ultra marathon. 339 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:06,200 Speaker 2: The man who designed the course, ultra runner Gary Cantrell, 340 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:08,840 Speaker 2: had spent quite a bit of time in that area. 341 00:25:09,119 --> 00:25:11,240 Speaker 2: He liked to hike in the area that is now 342 00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:14,840 Speaker 2: Frozen Heads State Park, and he says when he heard 343 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:19,320 Speaker 2: the story of Ray's escape, he thought to himself, killing 344 00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:21,560 Speaker 2: me in it eight miles, I bet I could do 345 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:27,800 Speaker 2: at least one hundred, so he did. In its current form, 346 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:30,399 Speaker 2: the race has been held almost every year since nineteen 347 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:33,800 Speaker 2: ninety five, and only twenty people have ever finished it. 348 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:38,119 Speaker 2: That doesn't have anything to do with this story. I 349 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:40,760 Speaker 2: just have to respect a guy who heard about James 350 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:43,679 Speaker 2: Earl Ray getting lost in the woods and wanted to 351 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:45,720 Speaker 2: see how much better he could do it running through 352 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:51,560 Speaker 2: the same woods. Interestingly, James Olray didn't die until nineteen 353 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:56,199 Speaker 2: ninety eight, so he could conceivably have been aware that 354 00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:59,040 Speaker 2: ultra runners were gathering in the woods every year just 355 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:03,040 Speaker 2: to clown on him. But I couldn't find anything specific 356 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:08,000 Speaker 2: about whether anyone told him about it. I hope they did. 357 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:16,919 Speaker 2: Back in nineteen seventy seven, though, he was, as I said, 358 00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:23,240 Speaker 2: very quickly recaptured and the prison immediately allowed the interview 359 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:27,800 Speaker 2: to continue. They resumed the interview the day after he 360 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:31,159 Speaker 2: was returned to custody. I mean, you would assume he 361 00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:34,800 Speaker 2: would be placed in lockdown or something, right, he was 362 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:37,159 Speaker 2: just allowed to get right back to hanging out with 363 00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:41,520 Speaker 2: the guys from Playboy In the second half of the interview, 364 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:45,720 Speaker 2: he's complaining about having poison ivy because he just got 365 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:49,520 Speaker 2: back from hiding in the woods for two days. I mean, 366 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:52,159 Speaker 2: maybe things were just different in the seventies, but it 367 00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:53,119 Speaker 2: seems very weird. 368 00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:55,240 Speaker 3: And so. 369 00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:58,320 Speaker 2: On their third visit with Ray, it says, after he's 370 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:02,359 Speaker 2: returned from escaping from prison, the Playboy team brought someone 371 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 2: else along, Douglas Wicklander, a polygraph examiner from John E. 372 00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:12,919 Speaker 2: Reid and Associates. John E. Reid and Associates is a 373 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:17,280 Speaker 2: polygraph examination company named for its founder, John Reid, the 374 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:23,320 Speaker 2: Chicago cop whose read technique of police interrogation is notorious 375 00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:30,080 Speaker 2: for producing false confessions. And a polygraph is an interesting thing. 376 00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:35,119 Speaker 2: Not that you asked me, but if you did ask me, 377 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 2: I would say, don't ever take a polygraph examination. They 378 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:45,800 Speaker 2: aren't admissible in court because they aren't science. The machine 379 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:49,920 Speaker 2: can't tell if you're lying. That's not something a machine 380 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:56,679 Speaker 2: can measure. It measures things that are measurable, like your pulse, 381 00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:01,760 Speaker 2: your respiration rate, your blood pressure, your galvanic skin response, 382 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:04,360 Speaker 2: which is just a fancy way of saying the machine 383 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:08,679 Speaker 2: can tell if you're sweaty. It doesn't measure the truth. 384 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:15,480 Speaker 2: It measures physiological signs of stress. Do some people start 385 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:16,880 Speaker 2: sweating when they're nervous? 386 00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:20,760 Speaker 1: Okay? Do a lot of people. 387 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:25,520 Speaker 2: Get nervous when they lie? Sure, But a lot of 388 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:29,040 Speaker 2: people get nervous when they're being honest too, if we're 389 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:32,760 Speaker 2: talking about something kind of stressful, like whether or not 390 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:36,280 Speaker 2: you're going to go to prison. I mean, every doctor 391 00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:38,680 Speaker 2: I've ever seen thinks I have a very high heart 392 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:40,920 Speaker 2: rate because I get nervous when they take my pulse 393 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:44,680 Speaker 2: and they're not even asking me a question. There's just 394 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:51,120 Speaker 2: no scientific support for this. It's not reliable, it's not consistent, 395 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:55,880 Speaker 2: it's totally subjective. The exact same results can be read 396 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:59,640 Speaker 2: differently by different examiners, and the same subject can have 397 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:04,800 Speaker 2: two wildly different examinations depending on whether they had breakfast, 398 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:07,960 Speaker 2: or if it's hot, or if they really have to pee. 399 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:09,160 Speaker 1: It's fake. 400 00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:13,800 Speaker 2: There's no scenario where passing a lie detector test is 401 00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:16,960 Speaker 2: going to help you, and it could end up hurting you, 402 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:20,600 Speaker 2: even if it can't be admitted as evidence in court. 403 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,440 Speaker 2: I know you didn't ask me for my advice, but 404 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:28,240 Speaker 2: if you're ever in some kind of situation, get a 405 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:31,120 Speaker 2: lawyer and shut up and don't let them put electrodes 406 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:35,000 Speaker 2: on you, for God's sake. So what I mean is 407 00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:38,760 Speaker 2: the actual results of this test administered by a guy 408 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:42,720 Speaker 2: hired by Playboy magazine or irrelevant. We don't believe in this. 409 00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:49,880 Speaker 2: It's not real, but if you are curious. The examiner 410 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:55,400 Speaker 2: concluded that James Earl Ray showed quote significant emotional disturbances 411 00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:59,880 Speaker 2: indicative of deception when he denied murdering Martin Luther King, 412 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:05,440 Speaker 2: but the examiner said he appeared to be telling the 413 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:08,360 Speaker 2: truth when he said no one paid him to do it. 414 00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:28,480 Speaker 2: When the article was published, the prison warden was pretty upset. 415 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,280 Speaker 2: I mean, it seemed so weird that Ray was allowed 416 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:34,720 Speaker 2: to hang out with the reporter from Playboy all day, 417 00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:40,120 Speaker 2: just hours after he got back from his prison. Ray right, well, 418 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:44,680 Speaker 2: according to the warden, he was not allowed to be 419 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 2: doing that. Warden Stannie Lane says Ray was placed in 420 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:55,680 Speaker 2: administrative segregation after the escape and he was only allowed 421 00:30:55,720 --> 00:31:00,440 Speaker 2: to have contact with his lawyer. Warden Lane says, raised 422 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:04,680 Speaker 2: lawyer Jack Kershaw told him that the reporter was an 423 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:08,480 Speaker 2: investigator and the polygraph examiner had been hired to work 424 00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:12,240 Speaker 2: on the case. We got Houdini, That's what we got, 425 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:16,080 Speaker 2: the warden told an Associated Press reporter in August, shortly 426 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:20,000 Speaker 2: before the interview was published in Playboy's September issue. We 427 00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:22,480 Speaker 2: didn't know until this afternoon that Playboy had been here. 428 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,120 Speaker 2: I went through the ceiling up there today. I couldn't 429 00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:32,120 Speaker 2: believe it. Prison officials had apparently not actually asked the reporter, 430 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:37,800 Speaker 2: his editor, or their polygrapher for any kind of identification. 431 00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:42,320 Speaker 2: Jack Kershaw told him he'd hired them to investigate the case, 432 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:47,520 Speaker 2: and they took his word for it. But the warden 433 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:49,720 Speaker 2: wasn't the only one who was upset about how it 434 00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:54,600 Speaker 2: turned out. They didn't get the results they were hoping for, 435 00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:59,280 Speaker 2: and Kershaw seemed surprised and furious that the polygraph examiner 436 00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:03,600 Speaker 2: concluded that was lying about killing King. So he went 437 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:06,320 Speaker 2: to the press and called the examination faulty and blamed 438 00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:08,520 Speaker 2: the results on the room being too hot and Ray 439 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:11,960 Speaker 2: not being allowed to have an aspirin for a headache. 440 00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:12,960 Speaker 1: And before the. 441 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:16,760 Speaker 2: Article was even published, Ray tried to file a lawsuit 442 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:19,760 Speaker 2: against Playboy, but he didn't do it through his lawyer. 443 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:22,840 Speaker 2: He wrote it himself and mailed it from prison, and 444 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:26,760 Speaker 2: then his lawyer went to the press and said just kidding. 445 00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:31,160 Speaker 2: We're retracting that. And I don't really know where that 446 00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:36,360 Speaker 2: suit ended up. I guess nowhere, but his representation of 447 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:41,440 Speaker 2: Ray didn't last much longer after that. The Playboy interview 448 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:46,360 Speaker 2: had not worked out well for anyone except Playboy, and 449 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:49,800 Speaker 2: within months of the issue appearing on newsstands, James Earl 450 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:55,400 Speaker 2: Ray did file a lawsuit, not the initial one he 451 00:32:55,480 --> 00:33:00,200 Speaker 2: contemplated against Playboy Magazine. He was suing his own lawyer, 452 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:06,080 Speaker 2: and Jack Kershaw responded by countersuing Ray and filing suit 453 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:10,440 Speaker 2: against the new attorney Ray had hired to replace him. 454 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:14,280 Speaker 2: Those lawsuits must have fizzled out, because when Ray filed 455 00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:17,320 Speaker 2: a second lawsuit against Kershaw over the same issue four 456 00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:20,840 Speaker 2: years later in nineteen eighty two, none of the reporting 457 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:24,200 Speaker 2: I could find mentioned that there had been a prior lawsuit, 458 00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:30,160 Speaker 2: so they must have been dismissed pretty quickly. Ray's second lawsuit, 459 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,040 Speaker 2: the one he filed in eighty two, was against both 460 00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:39,160 Speaker 2: Kershaw and the magazine. He claimed the rigged polygraph test 461 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:43,320 Speaker 2: was hurting his chances of getting a new trial. The 462 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:47,200 Speaker 2: only comment Playboy gave to the press was we never 463 00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:50,880 Speaker 2: pay for interviews, and they denied they'd paid Kershaw the 464 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:53,800 Speaker 2: eleven thousand dollars to arrange the prison meeting with Ray. 465 00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:59,040 Speaker 2: I couldn't actually find any original court documents in this case, 466 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:02,560 Speaker 2: not the time that I had this week, and it 467 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:05,440 Speaker 2: seems to have faded away before anybody really had to 468 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:09,040 Speaker 2: make a bunch of sworn statements in court. So all 469 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:12,520 Speaker 2: I have is that comment Playboy gave the press about 470 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:16,200 Speaker 2: how they don't pay for interviews. I don't know if 471 00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:18,360 Speaker 2: they would have made the same statement in court, because 472 00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:23,759 Speaker 2: I don't think that's true. Kershaw himself admitted in filings 473 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,120 Speaker 2: he made in the first lawsuit, one where Playboy wasn't 474 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:31,680 Speaker 2: a named party, that he had absolutely received that money. 475 00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:34,399 Speaker 2: The fact that he received the money was not an 476 00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:38,320 Speaker 2: issue in the lawsuit between Kershaw and Ray. The only 477 00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:42,560 Speaker 2: facted issue was whether or not Kershaw had told Ray 478 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:46,680 Speaker 2: about the money and whether that money went into Ray's 479 00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:53,640 Speaker 2: legal defense fund or Jack Kershaw's pockets. Again, everybody's seeing 480 00:34:53,680 --> 00:34:55,600 Speaker 2: each other, and I don't think any of it ever 481 00:34:55,640 --> 00:35:00,680 Speaker 2: made it very far. And in the end, Jack Kershaw 482 00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:04,120 Speaker 2: only worked for James Olray for eight months or so. 483 00:35:05,719 --> 00:35:08,000 Speaker 2: In one of his lawsuits he called it close to 484 00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:12,320 Speaker 2: a year. But we're talking March of nineteen seventy seven 485 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:17,000 Speaker 2: through some time later that fall, after the Playboy issue 486 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:22,240 Speaker 2: came out, and most of what he did was arranged 487 00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:26,719 Speaker 2: for other people's access to his client. There were interviews 488 00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:30,040 Speaker 2: with reporters that he got paid for, and half a 489 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:33,880 Speaker 2: dozen interviews with investigators from the Congressional Committee on Assassinations. 490 00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:37,320 Speaker 2: No progress was made on getting Ray a new trial, 491 00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:41,600 Speaker 2: and it's not clear to what extent he was successful 492 00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:45,200 Speaker 2: in accessing any non public information about the King assassination. 493 00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:50,440 Speaker 2: This was the highest profile case of his career, but 494 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:54,240 Speaker 2: if he ever actually entered a courtroom as a result, 495 00:35:54,560 --> 00:35:57,000 Speaker 2: it would have been when he and his former client 496 00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:02,960 Speaker 2: were suing each other. Not long before his death, in 497 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:08,280 Speaker 2: twenty ten, Jack Kershaw was interviewed by controversial true crime 498 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:13,960 Speaker 2: writer Sondra London about his involvement with King's assassin. The 499 00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:18,920 Speaker 2: word controversial is doing some heavy lifting here. It's the 500 00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:23,560 Speaker 2: word that's used on her Wikipedia page. I might choose 501 00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:26,960 Speaker 2: a harsher one. I've talked a bit in the past 502 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:30,720 Speaker 2: about my own fraud relationship with a genre of true crime, 503 00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:33,799 Speaker 2: but I think even if you're a diehard fan of 504 00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:39,080 Speaker 2: the form, you have to agree it was not consistent 505 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:43,160 Speaker 2: with what you might call journalistic ethics for her to 506 00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:47,200 Speaker 2: get engaged to the Gainesville Ripper while she was writing 507 00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:50,680 Speaker 2: a book about the incarcerated spree killer who brutally raped 508 00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:55,400 Speaker 2: and murdered five women. I don't know, so it's not 509 00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:57,640 Speaker 2: surprising to me that she seems to have given a 510 00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:01,600 Speaker 2: pretty softball interview to an elderly racist who was still 511 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:06,760 Speaker 2: peddling MLKA conspiracy theories in his old age. The interviews 512 00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:09,440 Speaker 2: she did with Kershaw appears to have been a longer 513 00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:13,799 Speaker 2: conversation that just doesn't exist online anymore. I can only 514 00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:16,800 Speaker 2: find a short clip of it. But in the clip 515 00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:20,880 Speaker 2: that I found, she asks him how he got involved 516 00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:23,240 Speaker 2: in the James Earl Ray case in the first place, 517 00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:27,839 Speaker 2: which is a question I would actually really like to 518 00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:33,800 Speaker 2: know the answer to. Unfortunately, he doesn't answer the question. 519 00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:44,760 Speaker 2: He does, though, immediately tell a very strange lie. 520 00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:45,319 Speaker 3: As I recall, James L. Rage helped him out of 521 00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:50,759 Speaker 3: the blue, and that in noun that he wanted me 522 00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:56,640 Speaker 3: to represent him, and so I hadn't been practicing law 523 00:37:56,680 --> 00:37:59,520 Speaker 3: too long at the time, and I was very much 524 00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:05,040 Speaker 3: interested in the case, and so I ringed an interview, 525 00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:08,680 Speaker 3: and he told me his story. 526 00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:20,360 Speaker 2: By nineteen seventy seven, he'd been a lawyer for fifteen years. 527 00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:23,759 Speaker 2: I mean, I know, he's a very old man. He's 528 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:27,880 Speaker 2: about to die in twenty ten, and I imagine the 529 00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:31,360 Speaker 2: years sort of start to run together at a certain point. 530 00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:35,840 Speaker 2: But I think he would have some idea, even in 531 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:39,520 Speaker 2: his nineties that he was closer to the end of 532 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:42,960 Speaker 2: his legal career than the beginning of it in nineteen 533 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:46,719 Speaker 2: seventy seven. I mean, he was sixty four years old 534 00:38:46,719 --> 00:38:49,239 Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy seven, and he all but retired just 535 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:52,879 Speaker 2: a few years later. So it's a very odd thing 536 00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:58,520 Speaker 2: to say. Most write ups about Kershaw's life, articles written 537 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:02,440 Speaker 2: before and after his death, tend to focus on just 538 00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:06,239 Speaker 2: this one case, just this one client. You only ever 539 00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:08,840 Speaker 2: hear about the case he took on in nineteen seventy 540 00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:13,480 Speaker 2: seven when he worked for James ol Ray. And I 541 00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:16,400 Speaker 2: had a sort of passing familiarity with Jack Kershaw. I 542 00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:18,880 Speaker 2: always kind of figured, yeah. 543 00:39:18,719 --> 00:39:20,760 Speaker 1: Who's a lawyer. Who's always a lawyer. 544 00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:24,839 Speaker 2: I knew that he was a lawyer and that he 545 00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:27,000 Speaker 2: was a racist, and that he made use of those 546 00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:29,520 Speaker 2: two things together, But the fact that he was a 547 00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:33,200 Speaker 2: lawyer in the first place didn't factor into my understanding 548 00:39:33,239 --> 00:39:36,879 Speaker 2: of him as a person. So the fact that all 549 00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:40,759 Speaker 2: of these stories leave out any additional detail about how 550 00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:44,960 Speaker 2: he came to be a lawyer, I think that misses 551 00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:50,160 Speaker 2: the real story. He didn't start practicing law until he 552 00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:55,440 Speaker 2: was fifty years old. He was in late midlife when 553 00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:59,040 Speaker 2: he decided to become a lawyer so he could get 554 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:05,080 Speaker 2: better at racism. Representing James Earl Ray as a flashy headline, 555 00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:09,360 Speaker 2: but he didn't accomplish much in that case. Ray's victim 556 00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:13,359 Speaker 2: was already dead. He was just wasting everyone's time and 557 00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:19,440 Speaker 2: getting a little more attention. It's convenient shorthand maybe to 558 00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:24,279 Speaker 2: say Jack Kershaw represented James Earl Ray. It communicates very 559 00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:28,640 Speaker 2: quickly something that is true. He was a lawyer, and 560 00:40:28,719 --> 00:40:31,560 Speaker 2: he was a racist, and he engaged in the practice 561 00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:34,680 Speaker 2: of law as part of his ideological commitment to racism. 562 00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:37,960 Speaker 2: And what's more emblematic of that than representing the man 563 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:42,399 Speaker 2: who killed Martin Luther King Junior. But all of these 564 00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:46,640 Speaker 2: stories represent his legal career just by telling you about 565 00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:49,799 Speaker 2: the few months he spent arranging media interviews with James 566 00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:52,880 Speaker 2: Earl Ray, and they ignore the fact that his actual 567 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:59,440 Speaker 2: legal career was dedicated to fighting school desegregation. He signed 568 00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:02,680 Speaker 2: up for classes at the YMCA Law School because he 569 00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:06,319 Speaker 2: got so angry about the Supreme Court decision in Brown 570 00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:09,799 Speaker 2: versus Sport of Education, and that says a lot more 571 00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:12,560 Speaker 2: about who he was and what he spent his life doing. 572 00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:18,840 Speaker 2: I'm gonna stop making promises about how long a story 573 00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:22,319 Speaker 2: might be, because there's really no point pretending. I know. 574 00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:30,480 Speaker 2: Just one more, I swear, because it's just so interesting 575 00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:34,440 Speaker 2: to me that I can draw a straight line from 576 00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:37,600 Speaker 2: a guy getting so mad about school integration in nineteen 577 00:41:37,680 --> 00:41:41,720 Speaker 2: fifty five that he made it his whole personality too. 578 00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:45,960 Speaker 2: Decades later, members of the organization he would later found 579 00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:49,240 Speaker 2: using money from the foundation he named after his dead wife, 580 00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:52,920 Speaker 2: beating my neighbors in the streets in August of twenty seventeen, 581 00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:57,399 Speaker 2: years after he was dead and buried. When I see 582 00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:02,320 Speaker 2: all these stories are just pieces of one larger, singular story, 583 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:06,280 Speaker 2: I really mean it. The guy who made the racist 584 00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:09,360 Speaker 2: statue out of old bathtubs is part of this long 585 00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:13,160 Speaker 2: chain of events that led to me being the person 586 00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:17,280 Speaker 2: who is obsessed with connecting those events telling you about them. 587 00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:22,799 Speaker 2: You know, So, even though I did promise that this 588 00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:25,719 Speaker 2: was going to be the end of this story. I 589 00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:31,000 Speaker 2: spent way too much time proving exactly which Nashville area 590 00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:33,160 Speaker 2: shown these A bunch of old racists used to meet 591 00:42:33,239 --> 00:42:34,000 Speaker 2: up out every week. 592 00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:51,800 Speaker 1: To skip this part of the story. 593 00:42:53,719 --> 00:42:56,680 Speaker 2: Weird Little Guys Say production of Coolshoe Media and iHeartRadio. 594 00:42:57,239 --> 00:43:00,759 Speaker 2: It's researched, written and recorded by me, Molly Hunger. Our 595 00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:04,319 Speaker 2: executive producers are Sophie Lectremant and Robert Evans. The show 596 00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:07,239 Speaker 2: is edited by the wildly talented Worry Gagan. The theme 597 00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:10,120 Speaker 2: music was composed by Brad Dickert. You can email me 598 00:43:10,239 --> 00:43:12,360 Speaker 2: at Weird Little Guys podcast at gmail dot com. I 599 00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:14,480 Speaker 2: will definitely read it, but I probably won't answer it. 600 00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:18,040 Speaker 2: It's nothing personal. You can exchange conspiracy theories about the 601 00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:20,480 Speaker 2: show with other listeners on the Weird Little Guys subreddit 602 00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:24,200 Speaker 2: and right now. Don't forget to submit your questions either 603 00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:27,319 Speaker 2: on the subreddit or by email for the upcoming Q 604 00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:28,440 Speaker 2: and A episode. 605 00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:31,480 Speaker 1: But as always, just 606 00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:33,080 Speaker 2: Don't post anything that's going to make you one of 607 00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:34,120 Speaker 2: my Weird Little Guys