Hellhound on His Trail

by Hampton Sides

  224 looked "like a preacher": Blair, Strange Case of James Earl Ray, p. 139.

  225 "to bone up": Ray, Who Killed Martin Luther King? p. 90.

  226 One of his circles A description of the markings found on Ray's Atlanta map are in the FBI summary report of Ray chronology, MURKIN Files, 4143, sec. 52, p. 34. See also Frank, American Death, p. 172, and Posner, Killing the Dream, p. 220.

  CHAPTER 15

  "MARTIN LUTHER KING IS FINISHED"

  227 "losing hold" of his faculties: Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 609.

  228 "just wrong": McKnight, Last Crusade, p. 66.

  229 "All the police would have to do": Beifuss, At the River I Stand, p. 220.

  230 "Make the crowds stop pushing!": Memphis Press-Scimitar, March 29, 1968, p. 15.

  231 "If you were black": Thomas, quoted in Bond and Sherman, Memphis in Black and White, p. 123.

  232 "Turn around!": Honey, Going Down Jericho Road, p. 349.

  233 "Take Dr. King out of the way": Beifuss, At the River I Stand, p. 225.

  234 "never had trouble": Ibid., p. 227.

  235 "the march was abandoned": Honey, Going Down Jericho Road, p. 366.

  236 "We have a war": Holloman, quoted in the Memphis Commercial Appeal, March 29, 1968.

  237 "Until then, King really didn't have any idea": Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 611.

  238 "Get your ass out of Memphis": Honey, Going Down Jericho Road, p. 367.

  239 "'Martin Luther King is dead'": Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 614.

  240 "Ralph, we live in a sick nation": Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, p. 420. Also see Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 612, and Taylor Branch, At Canaan's Edge, p. 734.

  CHAPTER 16

  THE GAMEMASTER

  241 He made his way over to a salesman: My account of Galt's visit to the Long-Lewis hardware store is based on the initial FBI interview with the salesclerk Mike Kopp, April 8, 1968, FBI, MURKIN Files, 2323, sec. 21, pp. 143-44.

  242 "Mr. Sullivan requested": Halter, quoted in Garrow, The FBI and Martin Luther King Jr., p. 196.

  243 "Did Martin Luther King do anything": Sullivan to Halter, memorandum, March 28, 1968, FBI files on the Memphis sanitation strike, doc. 167.

  244 "The fine Hotel Lorraine": G. C. Moore to Sullivan, blind memorandum, March 29, 1968, quoted in Friedly and Gallen, Martin Luther King Jr., pp. 575-76.

  245 "could end in great violence": Sullivan to DeLoach, memorandum, March 20, 1968, quoted in ibid., p. 570.

  246 "Chicken a la King": Memphis Commercial Appeal, March 31, 1968.

  247 "The headline-hunting high priest": Dallas Morning News article reprinted in the Memphis Commercial Appeal, April 2, 1968, p. 6.

  248 "A Judas goat": St. Louis Globe-Democrat article cited in Honey, Going Down Jericho Road, p. 364.

  249 "a man who gets other people into trouble": Senator Robert Byrd news footage reproduced in the Insignia Films documentary Roads to Memphis, produced for the PBS program American Experience, WGBH, Boston.

  250 "a powerful embarrassment": New York Times, March 31, 1968, p. 46.

  251 "like striking a match": Memphis Commercial Appeal, March 30, 1968, p. 1.

  252 took a shower and pulled on some clothes ... just buttoning his shirt: In Beifuss, At the River I Stand, p. 253, the Invader Calvin Taylor is quoted as saying, "Dr. King came in. He had gotten out of the shower." In At Canaan's Edge, p. 737, Branch says, "King emerged just then buttoning his shirt."

  253 warned him of a plot: Honey, Going Down Jericho Road, p. 373.

  254 "What can I do to have a peaceful march?": My description of the conversation in the Rivermont suite between King and the young Invaders is primarily drawn from oral histories recorded in Beifuss, At the River I Stand, p. 254.

  255 "He wasn't raising his voice": Ibid.

  256 large sporting goods store: My depiction of Galt's visit to the Aeromarine sporting goods store is primarily drawn from the initial FBI interviews conducted on April 5, 1968, by Special Agent Neil Shanahan and other agents working out of the Birmingham field office. Among those interviewed were the salesclerks U. L. Baker and Don Wood, as well as the Aeromarine customer John DeShazo.

  257 "I did not run away": King's quotation from the Rivermont press conference are taken from newsreels housed in the Sanitation Strike Collection, Memphis Multi-Media Archival Project, March 29, 1968, reels 35-37.

  258 "It was perhaps his finest performance": Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, p. 422.

  259 "must be called": Lee, quoted in Coretta Scott King, My Life with Martin Luther King Jr., p. 311.

  260 "Can you get me out of Memphis?": Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, p. 422.

  261 dropped King off at the Butler Street YMCA: Ibid.

  262 somber dinner at the Abernathy house: The dinner is described in detail in Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, pp. 423-24. Also in Raines's interview with Abernathy in My Soul Is Rested, pp. 466-67. See also Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 615, and Branch, At Canaan's Edge, p. 741.

  263 Galt returned to Aeromarine: My description of Galt's second trip to Aeromarine is adapted from the aforementioned FBI interviews, conducted in Birmingham on April 5, 1968, with store employees.

  264 "The pump-action aids": Remington company literature describing the Gamemaster 760's attributes is quoted in Huie, He Slew the Dreamer, p. 138.

  265 "wide enough field of view": Specifications and special features of the Redfield scope come from company literature reproduced in McMillan, Making of an Assassin, pp. 292-93.

  CHAPTER 17

  TO LIVE OR DIE IN MEMPHIS

  266 "was a set up": James Orange, quoted in Honey, Going Down Jericho Road, p. 381.

  267 "We are in serious trouble": Branch, At Canaan's Edge, p. 742.

  268 "Memphis is the Washington campaign in miniature": Ibid.

  269 "You guys come up": Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 616.

  270 "Ralph, give me my car keys": My description of the argument and King's abrupt exit from the SCLC meeting primarily derives from Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, pp. 425-27.

  271 "Everything's not going to be all right": Ibid. See also Branch, At Canaan's Edge, p. 743.

  272 "The leader is confused": Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, p. 426.

  273 "We had never seen Martin": Young, Easy Burden, p. 459.

  274 war whoops and hallelujahs: Branch, At Canaan's Edge, p. 744.

  275 one of his mistresses: Ibid. See also Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 617.

  276 "one of the most unjust wars": My depiction of King's sermon comes from the Washington Post, April 1, 1968. See also Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 618; Branch, At Canaan's Edge, p. 745; and Kotz, Judgment Days, p. 409.

  277 "I see an alternative": Kotz, Judgment Days, p. 409.

  278 "I would be glad": Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 618.

  279 "I felt that I was being chased": Goodwin, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, p. 343.

  280 "With the world's hopes": Kotz, Judgment Days, p. 411.

  281 "His air was that of a prisoner let free": Dallek, Flawed Giant, pp. 529-30.

  282 "I never felt so right": Branch, At Canaan's Edge, p. 749.

  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.

  325 they demanded ten thousand dollars: Honey, Going Down Jericho Road, p. 432.149

  326 "Hosea, no one will be on our payroll": Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 622.

  327 "I don't negotiate with brothers": Branch, At Canaan's Edge, p. 760.

  328 Cabbage stormed out: Honey, Going Down Jericho Road, p. 432.

  329 "Got any binoculars?": The passage concerning Galt's purchase of binoculars at York Arms sporting goods store is largely drawn from the initial FBI interview with Carpenter, conducted on April 5, 1968, by Special Agents Robert Goodwin and Ralph Liewer. I also relied on the Memphis Police Department statement "Ralph Meredith Carpenter, Salesman, York Arms Company," April 9, 1968, Hughes Collection.

  330 back at their surveillance post: My account of Redditt and Richmond undertaking surveillance work from inside the fire station is largely drawn from the Memphis Police Department statements "Edward E. Redditt, Detective with the Memphis Police Department," April 10, 1968, and "Ptm. W. B. Richmond, Inspectional Bureau," April 9, 1968, box 5, Posner Papers, Gotlieb Center, as well as my interview with Richmond, December 30, 2009.

  331 They all sat around joking: Author interview with Georgia Davis Powers, May 7, 2008, Louisville, Ky.

  332 decided to call their mother: Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, p. 438; Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 622.

  333 "He really sensed": Author interview with Georgia Davis Powers.

  334 "Senator, you like soul food?": Ibid.

  335 Where you been all day?: Young, Easy Burden, pp. 463-64.

  336 full-scale pillow fight: Ibid., p. 464.

  337 Elizabeth Copeland: Copeland was interviewed by Memphis FBI agents on April 5, 1968, FBI, MURKIN Files, ME, sub. D, sec. 1, p. 18.

  338 Peggy Hurley: The FBI inter
viewed Hurley on April 5, 1968, FBI, MURKIN Files, ME, sub. D, sec. 1, p. 3.

  339 Once inside 5B: Details about what Galt did inside 5B are primarily drawn from the Memphis Police Department and FBI investigations of the room immediately after the assassination. His binocular straps were found on the floor; the dresser had been moved away from the open window; the straight-backed chair was placed in front of the window.

  340 At that moment, King was inside the room with Abernathy: My account of King's last hour is adapted from multiple sources, including Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, pp. 438-39; Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 623; Branch, At Canaan's Edge, p. 765. See also Abernathy's testimony in House Select Committee on Assassinations, Appendix Reports, vol. 1, p. 30.

  341 Magic Shaving Powder: Frank, American Death, p. 66.

  342 "Billy, we're not going to get real soul food": Kyles's recollection of the late afternoon he spent with King and Abernathy at the Lorraine is primarily drawn from his interviews for the Insignia Films documentary Roads to Memphis, produced for the PBS program American Experience.

  343 Richmond, watching through his binoculars: Memphis Police Department statement, "Ptm. W. B. Richmond, Inspectional Bureau," April 9, 1968, box 5, Posner Papers. I also relied on Richmond's report to the Inspectional Bureau of the Memphis Police Department, dated April 4, 1968, and signed "W. B. Richmond," Hughes Collection.

  344 George Loenneke: FBI interview with Loenneke, conducted on April 13, 1968, by Special Agents Edward Quinn and Shields Smith, Hughes Collection. I also consulted the Memphis Police Department statement "George Loenneke, Lieutenant at Fire Station #2," box 5, Posner Papers.

  345 could hear the new roomer's footsteps: FBI interview with Stephens, conducted on April 4, 1968, by Special Agents John Bauer and Stephen Darlington, Hughes Collection.

  CHAPTER 23

  AT THE RIVER I STAND

  346 "I'd feel like a bird in a cage": Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 607.

  347 He wouldn't even let his children carry toy guns: See Dexter King, Growing Up King, pp. 34-35.