Hampton Sides - Hellhound on His Trail - The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. And the International Hunt for His Assassin

NOTES

PROLOGUE:

#416-J

1 "bloodiest forty-seven acres in America":This and other details relating to Jeff City prison are adapted from Patrick J. Buchanan, "Jefferson City: The Pen That Just Grew," Nation , Nov. 6, 1964.

2 "He was just a nothing here":McMillan, Making of an Assassin , p. 173, from his personal interview with Missouri corrections commissioner Fred Wilkinson.

3 "an interesting and rather complicated individual":Dr. Henry V. Guhleman (prison psychiatrist) to the Missouri Board of Promotion and Parole, Dec. 20, 1966, Hughes Collection.

4 Librium for his nerves:Ibid.

5 "in need of psychiatric help":Ibid.

6 applying a walnut dye:See the FBI's MURKIN Files, 4441, sec. 56, pp. 4-6.

7 considerable quantities of mineral oil:McMillan, Making of an Assassin , p. 181.

8 "When he was using":George McMillan, interview with the inmate Raymond Curtis, box 1, interview notes, McMillan Papers.

9 visitor was his brother:Huie, He Slew the Dreamer , p. 40. See also Ray and Barsten, Truth at Last , p. 72, in which John Ray acknowledges he visited his brother at Jeff City the day before the escape and agreed to assist in his brother's flight (facts that he had denied for years, including while under oath before the House Select Committee on Assassinations).

10 rather astonishing quantity of eggs:This and other descriptions of the escape come from James Earl Ray's own account in Tennessee Waltz , p. 42.

11 two wads of cash:Ray, Who Killed Martin Luther King? , p. 57.

12 he could strut while sitting:James J. Kilpatrick, "What Makes Wallace Run?" National Review , April 18, 1967.

13 "backlash against anybody of color":Wallace on Meet the Press , April 23, 1967, quoted in Lesher, George Wallace , p. 389.

14 "This is a movement of the people":Ibid., p. 390.

15 "If the politicians get in the way":Ibid.

16 gave it all to the chickens:FBI, MURKIN Files, 3503, sec. 39, p. 9.

17 "I looked at the stars a lot":This quotation and other first-person depictions of Ray's flight from prison are drawn from James Earl Ray's "20,000 Words," House Select Committee on Assassinations, Appendix Reports , vol. 12.

18 called his brother:Ray and Barsten, Truth at Last , p. 73. John Ray admits that his brother called him and that he picked up the fugitive at a tavern in central Missouri and then drove him back to St. Louis.

19 hopped an eastbound freight train:Ray, Tennessee Waltz , p. 45.

CHAPTER 1

CITY OF WHITE GOLD

20 all the secret krewes:The 1967 Cotton Carnival details here are drawn from Magness, Party with a Purpose , p. 242. The description of the 1967 Royal Barge and other carnival atmospherics is drawn from newspaper coverage in the Memphis Commercial Appeal and Memphis Press-Scimitar , April and May 1967.

21 Memphis was built on the spot:For details on the early history of Memphis, see Capers, Biography of a River Town; Roper, Founding of Memphis; Magness, Past Times; and Harkins, Metropolis of the American Nile .

22 Front Street, cotton's main drag:Details here on the business of cotton are drawn from Bearden, Cotton , and Yafa, Big Cotton . I also relied on collections displayed at the Cotton Museum in Memphis.

23 a yellow fever epidemic:For a vivid account of the 1878 yellow fever epidemic, see Crosby, American Plague .

24 "was built on a bluff":Wills, "Martin Luther King Is Still on the Case."

25 Marcus Brutus Winchester:Weeks, Memphis , pp. 25-34.

26 Ida B. Wells:For anyone curious about the courageous life of this civil rights matriarch, I recommend her excellent memoir, Crusade for Justice .

27 renouncing the Klan:Jack Hurst's fine biography, Nathan Bedford Forrest , deftly traces Forrest's evolution, in his later years, toward racial moderation. See esp. pp. 359-67.

28 masked green jesters:See Magness, Party with a Purpose , pp. 205-10.

CHAPTER 2

GOING FOR BROKE

29 "For years, I labored with reforming":King interview with David Halberstam, quoted in Dyson, I May Not Get There with You , p. 39.

30 "My own government": Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. , p. 338.

31 "The good and just society":Washington, Testament of Hope , p. 630.

32 "It didn't cost the nation":Kotz, Judgment Days , p. 382.

33 "I'm on fire":Branch, At Canaan's Edge , p. 652.

34 go on a brief sabbatical:Garrow, Bearing the Cross , p. 602.

35 "I'm tired of all this traveling":Ibid., p. 572.

36 "I feel discouraged":Ibid., p. 592.

37 "The Southern Christian Leadership Conference":Branch, At Canaan's Edge , p. 656.

38 "represents moral irresponsibility":Garrow, Bearing the Cross , p. 583.

39 "This is a kind of last, desperate demand":Ibid.

CHAPTER 3

THE MONTH OF THE IGUANA

40 On an empty beach:This scene is primarily drawn from interviews with Manuela Medrano, in House Select Committee on Assassinations (hereafter HSCA), Appendix Reports , vol. 4, pp. 157-58.

41 bought a Kodak Super 8:McMillan, Making of an Assassin , p. 263.

42 Visibly upset:HSCA, Appendix Reports , vol. 4, pp. 157-58.

43 modest but respectable enough place:On a research trip to Puerto Vallarta, I visited the Rio, still a popular downtown hotel, and viewed archival photographs from the 1960s.

44 "publisher's assistant":See Huie, He Slew the Dreamer , p. 94, and McMillan, Making of an Assassin , p. 266.

45 "idyllic":Ray, Who Killed Martin Luther King? p. 78.

46 "everybody there wanted":Ray, "20,000 Words," HSCA, Appendix Reports , vol. 12, p. 69.

47 erotic feedback loop:William Bradford Huie visited this whorehouse in 1968 and describes it in some detail in his book He Slew the Dreamer , pp. 95-96.

48 Galt began frequenting:My description of Ray's favorite bordello is drawn from the summary of the time he spent in Mexico in HSCA, Appendix Reports , vol. 4, as well as in Huie, He Slew the Dreamer , pp. 94-95.

49 He complained of headaches:McMillan, Making of an Assassin , p. 270.

50 He rarely tipped:Huie, He Slew the Dreamer , p. 97.

51 which he called his "equalizer":Ray, Tennessee Waltz , p. 66.

52 trips into the hills:HSCA, Appendix Reports , vol. 4, p. 159.

53 keen on learning ... local Mexican dances:Ibid.

54 "I seriously considered the trade":Ray, Tennessee Waltz , p. 61.