King is aware of the possibility of violence because one of his aides proclaimed recently to the press, Jail will be the safest place in Washington this spring.. "Somebody's gotta get him," Ray would say, his face drawn with tension, his fists clenched. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. It was a theory she maintained until her death in 2006 that has so far never been proven. King was shot by Earl Ray when the former was standing in the balcony of his motel room. The crisis at the Democratic National Convention marked a . The bread box would have to pass through the truck tunnel, where all incoming and outgoing vehicles were searched. Search for the Killer (April 4- June 8, 1968), the Young & Morrow rooming house Examine the rooming house where James Earl Ray stayed on the day of the assassination, the bathroom window documented as the site of the fatal shot, evidence recovered at the scene, and evidence leading to the capture and arrest of James Earl Ray. When ODell was again exposed, King went through the same routine of announcing his dismissal. James Earl Ray Sirhan Sirhan Jack Ruby. Ten years after his death, Rays brother John Larry Ray wrote a book along with writer Lyndon Barsten called Truth At Last: The Untold Story Behind James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. He knew we viewed Ray as a not-too-bright hillbilly. Warden Swenson of the Jeff City prison immediately issued an edict that convicts could no longer correspond with editors. rear of a roominghouse at 422 1/2 South Main Street, Memphis, Tenn. James Earl Ray purchased the rifle that was used to shoot Dr. King and transported The jury awarded the money to the estate, deciding that Kings assassination had likely beenthe result of a conspiracy that involved Jowers, not Ray, as well as ''others, including governmental agencies.''. When, without warning, Ray was allowed to plead guilty and was sentenced to 99 years, without a public trial, millions of people suspected a cover-up. Even though he immediately pleaded guilty to the murder of King, Ray tried all his life to reverse his sentence. James. The massive publicity surrounding Benny's capture caused Gold Medal Books to contact him and ask him to write 20,000 words of autobiographical data, so they could bring out an "instant" paperback book about him. Dwight Lewis served in a variety of roles at The Tennessean, including reporter and columnist, from 1971 to 2011. There was one week in 1968 when much happened. For the television series, see, "I left the Demo Pty Plantation long ago I'm an Independent", "Voters verdict: Weirich over TV's Joe Brown", "TV's Judge Joe Brown Arrested In Tennessee", "Former TV Judge Joe Brown Stumbles In Bid To Become Tennessee District Attorney", Judge Joe Brown uncorks a shocker taunting Weirich about her sexuality Memphis Flyer Jackson Baker July 2, 2014, "District Attorney Weirich sails to victory over challenger Joe Brown", "Judge Joe Brown in Jail for Contempt of Court", "Former TV judge Joe Brown can't practice law in Tennessee", "MSCS Chairwoman Michelle McKissack considers mayoral run", "Judge Joe Brown: The rant, the mugshot, the jokes", "TV's Judge Joe Brown jailed by real judge after courtroom argument, court says", "TV judge Joe Brown begins 5-day jail term", "Judge Joe Brown: Hear What He Said That Got Him Arrested", "Judge Joe Brown Begins Jail Sentence for Contempt of Court After 2014 Courtroom Outburst", "Joe Brown loses appeal over juvenile court outburst", "After the Campaign - Memphis Daily News", "Was Judge Joe Brown's Arrest A Publicty Stunt? FBI investigators at the time traced the shot to a rooming house across the street, and witnesses directed them to a large bundle dropped on the sidewalk after the shooting. The restaurant owner named Memphis Police . For some 50 years, the federal government has maintained that James Earl Ray was the gunman who assassinated King that day. Ray replied that he did not commit the crime. Ostensibly only a New York City attorney and businessman, Levison is, in fact, a shrewd, dedicated communist. He was transferred to the maximum security facility called Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility in Nashville which had hospital facilities. When ODells position as a member of the National Committee of the Communist Party was revealed in 1961, King supposedly fired him. (In the period 1963-64, there were 550 serious assaults inside Jefferson City, including hundreds of stabbings, which is why, An egregious example of shoddy workmanship is the book. (In the period 1963-64, there were 550 serious assaults inside Jefferson City, including hundreds of stabbings, which is why Time magazine called it the "bloodiest 47 acres in America." Kershaw and Ray approached the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations and got approval for the conduct of ballistics tests. But even if Ray had help, the evidence strongly pointed to him pulling the trigger. Ireland. Indeed, a former agent from the FBIs field office in Atlanta said the bureaus tracking of King was second only to the way they went after Jimmy Hoffa. In 1975, a group of former FBI agents called on Congress to investigate this harrassment. He was sentenced to 99 years at the State penitentiary. As one example, Dan Smoot, a former FBI agent, was a steadfast anti-Communist who became associated with The John Birch Society and wrote for the societys American Opinion and The Review Of The News magazines. There it was once again: A belief from the Rev. As the paper notes: Through Levisons influence, other subversives were attracted to SCLC [The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King helped found]. In the year 1968, Earl Ray brought a Remington Model 760 Gamemaster .30-06-caliber rifle and a box with 20 cartridges. Don told me later he was stunned; but he knew if he hesitated too long, a guard would catch Ray. But, having tried to escape from the maximum-security prison, we both had joined a small list of convicts who would be watched at all times by the guards. No vehicle traffic would have been allowed in or out until he was found. There is an important flaw in that logic as well; the defendant was only sued for $100, which he was ordered to pay. In March 2014, Brown was arrested in Memphis, Tennessee, and charged with five counts of contempt of court and getting "verbally abusive" during a child support case overseen by Magistrate Harold Horne. As an indication of just how much Robert Welch, the Founder of The John Birch Society, was on top of Kings communist connection, he wrote the following words for May 1968 John Birch Society Bulletin just two months after the FBI report, which had been classified as secret: During this career of a brief dozen years, [King] was constantly surrounded by, and associated with, Communists. In my interviews with him, I've found him to be eerily unflappable. Their goal was to cover all aspects of true crime: Read More, Contents Copyright 1998-2020 by Crime Magazine | J. Patrick O'Connor Editor | E-mail CrimeMagazine.com, Designed by Orman. For years convicts had dreamed of escaping in the bread box, but everyone assumed it was searched in the truck tunnel (that they would poke steel rods through the garbage, for example). James Earl Ray, who pleaded guilty to assassinating King, was renting a room above Jower's establishment and was allegedly an unwitting scapegoat. I've seen it happen again and again. McMillan, and through him Time magazine, are also the primary sources for the general belief that Ray financed his after-escape activities with money earned in Jeff City. His body was cremated and his ashes were flown to the land of his forefathers, viz. Tray after tray of bread would be stacked into a large box, and then the box would be loaded onto a pickup truck and hauled to the farms. For years after Ray's capture there was a close association between Stoner and Jerry Ray, James Earl Ray's brother. So Westberg, who was assigned to work in the kitchen at that time, figured a man could get in the bread box, have a tray of bread placed on top of him, and pass right out of the prison (the box also had a lid over the top tray of bread). There were always convict clerks assigned to the reception area, and the fingerprints could have been switched--either because Ray had paid someone to do it, or, just as likely, because some convict wanted to help Ray beat the system. Therefore, ironically, the society that King intended to bear the cost for his civil disobedience was to be ablack society. James Earl Ray. Dexter King, son of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., meeting with James Earl Ray the man who confessed to killing King. Senator) that an investigation be conducted into the allegations. Was James earl ray white? Each day he would go to the state capital to work as a programmer. He was named after the church where his father held his first pastorate. James Earl Ray had traveled to Montreal while on the run, and claimed that he'd met a man named "Raoul" in Montreal, and that Raoul had furnished him with money, and eventually masterminded the King assassination-using Ray as the fall-guy. The explanation is much simpler. On April 4, 1967 a year to the day prior to Kings assassination King delivered his Beyond Vietnam speech at Riverside Baptist Church in New York City. He also founded his own white supremacist party. [17] In audio obtained by WREG[18] and an available transcript on eonline.com,[19] Brown can be heard arguing that the judge didn't have the authority to sit on the bench. The Q2 rifle-had general class characteristics of six lands and ''. King vs. Loyd Jowers and conspirators unknown. Its important to note that this verdict was not a criminal conviction, as is sometimes erroneously implied when this case surfaces online. USA.gov, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration If this self-seeking rabble-rouser is allowed to go through with his plans here, Washington may well be treated to the same kind of violence, destruction, looting, and bloodshed.1. In no uncertain terms, Byrd was calling on Johnson to stop Kings march on D.C. In her autobiography, Coretta Scott King wrote how glad she was that both Dexter and young Martin Luther King, III, had a chance to go with their father on . Of the 2,500 men in the prison, fewer than 20 had ever tried to escape from inside the walls. Such a conclusion must be drawn from a premise that the King family was willing to publicly, wrongfully, and unjustifiably vindicate Ray in order to accuse others simply to gain notoriety. He escaped from the prison hiding in a truck that was transporting bread from the prison bakery. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.[3]. Jerry Ray told me in the 1970s he had taken pictures of the countryside around the prison and had sent them into James Earl Ray. On June 8 he was apprehended by London police at Heathrow Airport as he was about to embark for Brussels; the FBI had established him as the prime suspect almost immediately after the assassination. After his capture, his sentence was extended by one more year to 100 years. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Juris Doctor from UCLA School of Law. Stoner is one of the most investigated people in America. In the early 1990s, he started suggesting that the government might be behind the assassination. He was a founder and the long-time chairman of the National States' Rights Party as well as the publisher of its newsletter, The Thunderbolt. This time, Ray rented an apartment for $100 a month at 1535 N. Serrano Ave., a. We miss you, James. 15. Most of my friends were people I'd known in reform school, or people I'd met through them. While taking dancing classes, he was attracted to the presidential campaign of George Wallace. Speech of Senator Robert C. Byrd, Senate Journal, Appendix Two, March 29, 1968. Raised in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles, Brown graduated as valedictorian[full citation needed] from Dorsey High School. He guided King in deciding whether to accept or reject public appearances. That was a bunch of baloney. It was even rumored that on the second attempt he'd gotten tired of hiding out, and had deliberately set off an alarm so he could get caught and get something to eat. Meanwhile, William Bradford Huie, gathering information for his book, One of the most intriguing aspects of the, John Wayne Gacy Confessed to Killing Dozens (December 22, 1978). He might have eked out enough money to meet his basic needs (he didn't smoke), but not much more than that. Laster made several more desperate attempts to escape, including one attempt to saw out of death row (during which a guard captain was blinded). 10 Disturbing and Unexplained Facts About James Earl Ray, MLK's Assassin. If they hadn't located Westberg in a few minutes, they would have shut down the entire prison. in the Q2 rifle. A year before, hed escaped from Missouri State Penitentiary while serving a 20-year sentence, and was on the lam at the time King was shot. As the paper continued, it provided documentation that what King planned for after the civil disobedience would not be so innocuous. B. At the Tag Plant I met Jerry Ward Davis, an Oklahoman who'd been shot in 1959 after kidnapping several guards (along with Rollie Laster and Ronnie Westberg) during an attempted escape that involved the use of zip-guns. The prison officials knew that Ray's escape, and involvement in the King assassination, would forever blemish their professional records as penologists. Declassified FBI Paper Reveals Communist Associates of Martin Luther King, UN Biodiversity Beijing-Wall Street Convergence. Said Byrd: Yesterday, Mr. President, the Nation was given a preview of what may be in store for this city by the outrageous and despicable riot that Martin Luther King helped to bring about in Memphis, Tenn. King was one of the worst enemies my people ever had. Her reference to my people was to her race, since she was black. The only thing publicity could do was further humiliate them. assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.: The assassin: James Earl Ray, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Earl-Ray, James Earl Ray - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Page 388 also a racist, was allegedly connected with the late Leander Perez, Louisiana political boss and virulent segregationist. He escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary on April 23, 1967; and in Memphis, Tennessee, nearly a year later, on April 4, 1968, from a window of a neighbouring rooming house, he shot King, who was standing on the balcony of a motel room. Ray confessed to the crime on March 10, 1969 and received a 99-year prison sentence, which increased to a 100-year sentence after he briefly escaped in 1977. Wardens and guards know that an escape artist is a threat to their livelihood; more guards and wardens have lost their jobs because of escapes than for any other reason. I got to know him better when he came to Jeff City with a sentence for robbery. Now confident that he could not be recognized, he again began a cross-country drive to Atlanta, Georgia. What would it have taken for the Goldmans and the Browns to have believed Orenthals story that he was innocent? But within a few days of confessing, Ray began to claim his innocence, arguing that that he had been set up by a man he knew only as Raoul. It was Raoul, Ray said, who had directed him to buy the gun and the binoculars, and rent the room across the street from the motel. Once, while pulling a robbery, the victims refused to give Ray the money, and he fell out of a window and damned near killed himself. That year, Kings son Dexter Scott King visited Ray in prison to draw attention to the familys push to appeal his case. it near 424 South Main Street, It is highly probable that James Earl Ray stalked Dr. King for a He is the one who sits in leadership and is the most powerful person of a country. The paper stated that King had announced that this action would disrupt the normal course of business and, in fact, close down the nations capital. Now he is presumed to be guilty until he proves his innocence. Over the years, as book after book has been published on the King case, numerous conspiracy theories have been advanced: that the FBI was involved; that the CIA feared King would come out in opposition to the Vietnam War; that rival black leaders felt King's non-violent approach was a hindrance to black progress; that white supremacists wanted him out of the way for obvious reasons. James Earl Ray was the assassin of American Baptist minister and civil rights activist, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ray was born in on March 10, 1928 in a poor Irish-American family of Alton, Illinois, and was raised a Catholic. "Excuse me, on what authority do you sit by the way? Among the first to rear his head in Ray's defense was J.B. Stoner, a lawyer who was also head of the National State's Rights Party (and who would later be charged with the bombing of a Birmingham church in which several children died). Ray said he wasnt in the room when King was shot, but he was unable to consistently explain where he had been, or keep other important details in his story straight. James Earl Ray, (born March 10, 1928, Alton, Illinois, U.S.died April 23, 1998, Nashville, Tennessee), American assassin of the African American civil-rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Ray had been a small-time crook, a robber of gas stations and stores, who had served time in prison, once in Illinois and twice in Missouri, and received a suspended sentence in Los Angeles. While serving in the military, Ray was often charged with drunkenness and breaking arrest. In the year 1959, he was caught stealing $120 from a Kroger Store in St. Louis. I first met Benny Edmondson at the Algoa Reformatory in 1956, where he was teaching typing at the school. The cells that I was associated with in Cleveland were continually being asked to raise funds for Martin Luther Kings activities. She also said, Mr. That is why he could never have been a major drug dealer. Four days after that, Martin Luther King, Jr. was dead. Among the evidence was a recording of Jowers in which he suggested he was interested in fabricating his story for financial gain. That investigation declassified scores of memos detailing the bureaus abusive behavior, but did not reveal any evidence that the FBI had formally plotted his death. The date was November 9, 1963. Jack Kershaw Is Dead at 96; Challenged Conviction in King's Death. Simpson was found guilty of killing his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman in a civil trial. In June of 2008, Harding spoke at Stanford University and said the following: Many people within the movement said, Martin, you cannot raise your voice against Johnsons war because Johnson is our man and if you raise your voice against Johnsons war, Johnson being Johnson, is not going to like it.'. Indeed, to them the perception is reality. (Emphasis in original.). 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