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

CHAPTER 18

TARGET PRACTICE AT SHILOH

283 "You must have a goal":Maltz, Psycho-Cybernetics , p. 37.

284 dropped off a bundle of dirty clothes:FBI interview with Annie Estelle Peters, manager of the Piedmont Laundry, conducted on April 16, 1968, by Special Agents Charles Rose and Robert Kane. The Piedmont Laundry's ledger and receipts were taken into evidence.

285 hide his snub-nosed .38 revolver:Ray claimed he buried the revolver in the rooming house basement, which had a dirt floor. Ray, Who Killed Martin Luther King? p. 91.

286 found a secluded place:Ray told his first lawyers, as well as the journalist William Bradford Huie, that he pulled off the road near Corinth, Mississippi, and test-fired the new rifle. See Huie, He Slew the Dreamer , p. 140, and McMillan, Making of an Assassin , pp. 297-98. Years later, before the House Select Committee on Assassinations, Ray changed his story and said that although he indeed drove through Corinth, Mississippi, he never test-fired the rifle.

287 "smoking jungle":Bierce, quoted in Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic , pp. 166, 170.

CHAPTER 19

TORNADO WARNINGS

288 "It was an ordinary goodbye":Coretta Scott King, My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr. , p. 314.

289 "We have a celebrity":Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down , p. 428.

290 "Nobody's going to kill you":Ibid.

291 "We have not fully made up our minds":Honey, Going Down Jericho Road , p. 403.

292 "If I were a man":Ibid., p. 402.

293 "We are fearful": Memphis Commercial Appeal , April 4, 1968, p. 1.

294 "Martin fell silent":Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down , p. 429.

295 "Well, we are not going to be stopped":Beifuss, At the River I Stand , p. 269.

296 Lucius Burch:For a good overview of Burch's multifaceted career, see the fine anthology Lucius: Writings of Lucius Burch .

297 "Dr. King":Beifuss, At the River I Stand , p. 271.

298 "I had no second thoughts":Ibid., p. 272.

299 holding up binoculars:Memphis Police Department official statements, "Edward E. Redditt, MC, 37, Detective with the Memphis Police Department" and "Ptm. W. B. Richmond, MC, 27, Inspectional Bureau," box 5, Posner Papers, Gotlieb Center.

300 "This is the wrong place for you":Ibid.

301 "People started looking at us":Ibid.

CHAPTER 20

NOT FEARING ANY MAN

302 Galt coasted into the parking lot:FBI interview with New Rebel Motel desk clerk Henrietta Hagermaster, conducted on April 11, 1968, by Special Agent John Bauer, out of the FBI's Memphis field office.

303 He got a haircut:Ray told the journalist William Bradford Huie that on April 3 he got a haircut and bought a shaving kit at a Rexall drugstore in Memphis. Stickers from the Rexall drugstore were later found on several of his abandoned items. See Huie, He Slew the Dreamer , p. 142.

304 a six-pack of Schlitz:Several unopened Schlitz beers were later found among Ray's abandoned belongings and, on the basis of Mississippi state liquor tags affixed to the cans, were traced to a bait shop in Southaven, Mississippi, near the city limits of Memphis.

305 "the kind of place where more or less legitimate people's around":"Staff Report: Compilation of the Statements of James Earl Ray," in House Select Committee on Assassinations, Appendix Reports , vol. 3, p. 226.

306 Galt put his money down:FBI interview with Hagermaster, conducted on April 11, 1968, by Special Agent Bauer.

307 "Ralph, I want you to go speak for me tonight":Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down , p. 430.

308 "Something is happening in Memphis":My depiction of King's "Mountaintop" speech at Mason Temple is drawn from Memphis television newsreels, newspaper accounts, and the documentary film At the River I Stand . I've also leaned on accounts in Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down , p. 433; Branch, At Canaan's Edge , pp. 757-58; Honey, Going Down Jericho Road , pp. 415-24; and Beifuss, At the River I Stand , pp. 277-80.

309 "it seemed like he was just saying":Honey, Going Down Jericho Road , p. 424.

310 "It seemed like he reached down":Interviews with striking sanitation workers present at Mason Temple, from the documentary Roads to Memphis , Insignia Films, for the PBS program American Experience , WGBH, Boston.

311 "I was full of joy":Honey, Going Down Jericho Road , p. 425.

312 Ivan Webb:FBI interview with Webb, conducted on April 11, 1968, by Special Agent Bauer, out of the FBI's Memphis field office.

313 "He was like a kid again":Interview with Kyles, Roads to Memphis .

314 "Senator!":Author interview with Georgia Davis Powers, May 7, 2008, Louisville.

315 "I didn't idolize him":Ibid.

316 "Senator, our time together":Georgia Davis Powers, I Shared the Dream , p. 227.

CHAPTER 21

A ROOM WITH A VIEW

317 "Oh, I'll come back later":FBI interview with the New Rebel Motel laundress Sadie McKay, conducted on April 11, 1968, by Special Agent John Bauer, out of the FBI's Memphis field office, Hughes Collection.

318 "beer house":James Earl Ray's testimony in House Select Committee on Assassinations (hereafter HSCA), Appendix Reports , vol. 1, p. 101.

319 "Soon it will all be over":Interview with James Earl Ray's brother Jerry Ray, in McMillan, Making of an Assassin , p. 299.

320 tumbledown rooming house:My description of Brewer's flophouse is drawn from multiple sources, including Memphis Police Department crime scene photographs, newspaper and magazine accounts from 1968, and Memphis Police Department and FBI interviews with Brewer and her rooming house guests, as well as my own visits to the rooming house, which is now part of the National Civil Rights Museum.

321 "Got any vacancies?":My account of Galt's checking in to Brewer's rooming house is primarily drawn from FBI interviews with Brewer, especially the initial bureau interview conducted on April 5, 1968, by Special Agent Robert Boyle, Hughes Collection. I also relied on a number of Memphis Police Department statements: "Statement of Mrs. Bessie Ruth Brewer," April 4, 1968; "Statement of Jewell G. Ray, Captain of the Memphis Police Department," April 17, 1968; and "Statement of James Vincent Papia, Lieutenant with the Memphis Police Dept.," April 16, 1968. Finally, I drew from my own interviews with Jewell Ray on February 13, 2009, and with James Papia on March 2, 2009.

322 Charlie Stephens:FBI interview with Stephens, conducted on April 4, 1968, by Special Agents John Bauer and Stephen Darlington, Hughes Collection.

323 Grace Walden:FBI interview with Grace Stephens, conducted on April 4, 1968, by Special Agents Bauer and Darlington, Hughes Collection.

CHAPTER 22

THE MAN IN 5B

324 ordered a mess of fried Mississippi River catfish:My account of King's last meal comes from Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down , p. 437. See also Abernathy's testimony in HSCA, Appendix Reports , vol. 1, p. 32, and Abernathy's oral history in Raines, My Soul Is Rested , p. 468.