Orders to Kill

by William F Pepper Esq

  Reluctantly, I had to conclude that it had been surreptitiously removed. For some time I had followed the practice of registering in an assumed name. On this occasion, since I was only in Birmingham for one night and only a couple of people knew I was in the city and no one knew where I was staying, I had not taken this precaution. Even though the book contained little relevant or indispensable information, and my writing was often illegible anyway, it was an ominous indication that a closer look was being taken at my activity.

  In addition, one day later a Memphis friend who was holding material from a source for me, told me that the “eyes only” file was missing. These incidents were worrying. Steve Tompkins was concerned but could do nothing except print out another copy. Security would now have to be a more important concern than ever before.

  JUST BEFORE THE COURTS CLOSED for Christmas, attorney Garrison filed a motion in the civil suit on behalf of defendant Jowers asking for the right to test the rifle in evidence. His rationale was that if in fact this was the murder weapon, then he could have no liability since it was the rifle purchased by James. Since we had been trying to have the weapon tested for some time, we did not object. The court said it would consider the motion but at the time of this book going to press no ruling had been made.

  SOME MONTHS BEFORE, Richard Bakst, a Maryland taxi cab driver, had told me about one of his passengers who claimed he knew a Memphis policeman who was on duty in the area of the Lorraine Motel on the day of the killing. The passenger had said that the officer, who was a family friend, had seen, just after the shooting, a man running in the brush area toward South Main Street. He was carrying a rifle. When, shortly afterward, the officer told his superior on the scene about the incident, he was told to forget about it, because they already knew who did it. Bakst had consistently refused to name his passenger, who he said did not want to discuss the matter further.

  On December 17, Bakst finally disclosed the identity of his passenger, Michael. Eventually I spoke with Michael and he agreed to talk to the former MPD officer. In 1968, the policeman was a motorcycle officer and was, Michael believed, assigned to Dr. King’s escort unit. Michael basically confirmed Bakst’s account, including the order from a superior officer to say nothing about seeing a man with a rifle in the bushes. According to Michael, the policeman was willing to talk to me. I left Chastain’s phone number and my own but again as this book goes to press we have not heard from him.

  JIM KELLUM, WHO HAD WORKED with the MPD intelligence bureau, confirmed to me for the first time on December 20, 1994, that he had learned that Reverend Billy Kyles had been an informant during 1967–1968. His source, who had been an administrative aide and secretary in the intelligence bureau, confirmed to me that Kyles had indeed supplied them with information on a regular basis but was unclear as to the precise dates of this service and appeared too nervous about going into detail.

  I NEXT RETURNED TO THE STORY about a rifle having been stored, for a time, in the premises of another Liberto family member’s business where Ezell Smith had worked. We finally learned that Ezell had died. One of his friends (who was also a friend of John McFerren) was O. D. Hester, whose street name was “Slim.” Slim now lived in Illinois, outside of Chicago. John McFerren called him. Slim said he knew all about the rifle kept in this building. “Tango,” who ran a store in the produce-market area, disclosed to John McFerren that he also knew all about the gun being kept in the Liberto business premises. When I met with Tango late one evening in February 1995, he told me that a man named Columbus Jones had told him about a rifle being carried to those premises around the time of the killing, although he did not know any details about the weapon. Jones said his source was Ezell. He said that it was rumored that this was the gun that had killed Martin Luther King. Columbus Jones died in early 1995 before I could speak to him. I did speak with Slim. Ezell had told him that the murder weapon was kept and assembled at the Liberto premises where he worked. He promised to speak with another man who had worked for that business to try to obtain details about the rifle, but he was unable to locate him.

  ON SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 1995, attorney Lewis Garrison, with Loyd Jowers present, began to depose James in a small conference room at the Riverbend Penitentiary. The deposition continued until noon the following day. Throughout the session Jowers listened intently as James gave the usual answers to the questions he had heard a thousand times before. As he left the prison that Sunday afternoon for what was described as a 500 mile drive to his current home, Loyd Jowers seemed to be more amenable than ever before to revealing details which I believed would ultimately establish James’s innocence.

  Jowers agreed to answer some questions about the killing through his lawyer. There would be no recordings of his statement and the attorney Lewis Garrison would take the follow-up questions to him for his response. On March 14, 1995, the process began in Garrison’s 400 North Main Street office. While he provided some new details of the conspiracy, much of what he said confirmed information obtained previously from Betty Spates, Betty’s sister Bobbi Smith, and taxi driver James McCraw.

  At the outset Garrison stressed that the Holt story did not originate with Jowers. He was uncertain whose brainstorm it was, but believed it originated with Willie Akins and Ken Herman. Though he emphasized that it was not concocted by Jowers he had to acknowledge that his client did go along with it for a while.

  Jowers contended that in March 1968 he was first approached by a local businessman who dealt in securities and bonds and whom he had come to know from his gambling activity with Frank Liberto.

  This man told him that because of the location of Jim’s Grill he was going to be asked to provide certain assistance in the carrying out of a contract to assassinate Martin Luther King. In exchange for this assistance he would be paid handsomely.

  On March 15, soon after this conversation, Jowers was approached by produce man Frank C. Liberto to whom he owed a very large gambling debt. This debt would be forgiven, Liberto told him, and he would receive a large amount of money if he would provide the assistance initially mentioned by the messenger. Specifically Liberto said:

  $100,000 would be delivered to him in cash in the bottom of an M. E. Carter vegetable produce box. The money came from New Orleans, as did the contract on King’s life.

  He would be visited by a man who would bring the murder weapon—a rifle—and leave it with him for pickup at the right time.

  There would be a patsy or decoy to distract attention.

  The police—some of whom were involved—would be nowhere in sight.

  Jowers agreed. As Liberto said, a man did come to see him. In fact he met with this man on two occasions before April 4. Jowers thought that he introduced himself as “Raul” or “Royal.” Jowers said he appeared to have a Latin/Indian appearance. He was about 5'9" in height and weighed approximately 145-155 pounds. He had dark hair and appeared to be between thirty-five and forty years old. (This description matched that provided by Cheryl and James.)

  They discussed the plans for the killing. Raul told Jowers that his role would be to receive and hold the murder weapon on the day of the killing until Raul picked it up. After the shooting Jowers would have to take charge of it again and keep it concealed until Raul came to take it away. Jowers was also expected to keep his staff out of the way at all times. He confirmed Bobbi’s story that he instructed her not to follow her usual practice of taking food to Grace Walden.

  On the morning of April 4, sometime around 11:00 a.m. after the rush was over, Raul, according to plan, came into Jim’s Grill, bringing with him a rifle concealed in a box which he turned over to Jowers to hold. Jowers said that Raul told him that he would be back later that afternoon to pick it up. Jowers put the gun under the counter and carried on with his work. He next admitted that he took his nap in the back room sometime around or after 1:00 p.m. when the lunch crowd had gone. He woke and began to work again around 4:00 p.m. Sometime later, Raul returned briefly and took the gun from him and went back
into the kitchen area with it. Jowers claimed to be uncertain as to whether he remained in the rear of the grill, or went upstairs by the back stairway. (According to James’s recollections, Raul was upstairs off and on during the afternoon. It therefore seems more likely that Raul took the gun upstairs to room 5-B and concealed it there).

  Jowers said that sometime before 6:00 p.m. he went out into the brush where he joined another person.

  He did not provide any more details except to admit that immediately after the shot he picked up the rifle which had been placed on the ground and carried it on the run in through the back door of Jim’s Grill. As he ran into the back of the grill, he was confronted by Betty who, as she had said, stood near him as he broke the gun down, wrapped it in a cloth and quickly put it under the counter in the grill itself. Jowers finally confirmed that her recollection of the events was basically correct.

  He also admitted that the next morning between 10 and 11 a.m. he showed the rifle, which was in a box under the counter, to taxi driver James McCraw, thus confirming McCraw’s recollection. Sometime later that morning but before noon, Raul reappeared in the grill, picked up the gun and took it away. He said he never saw the rifle again and had no idea where it was taken or where it is today. (When McCraw was deposed in mid June 1995 Jowers in front of Chastain and Garrison explicitly threatened McCraw just prior to the deposition beginning. He said to McCraw, who was rising to greet him, something like, “You’d better stand up while you can, ’cause if you continue to run your mouth, you won’t be able to stand up again.”)

  The version of events just laid out was completely at odds with the answers Jowers gave in his deposition. Though his most recent statements were consistent with information and accounts of other less self-interested persons it had to be borne in mind that Jowers was aware of many of the other statements.

  ON APRIL 15, 1995, THE United States Attorney General’s office finally replied to my earlier letter requesting a federal grand jury. Basically, the letter said that the federal government could do nothing and that it was well known that a state investigation was in process and a post conviction relief petition pending. I was urged to provide my evidence to the state authorities. I really expected nothing else from the administration which had just taken former Tennessee Governor Ned McWerter to Washington as a special consultant to the president.

  On May 8, 1995, the Tennessee Supreme Court denied our application for Extraordinary Appeal. The Court of Criminal Appeals’s injunction remained in effect, prohibiting trial court judge Joe Brown from issuing any order concerning evidence before his court. The judge was also ordered to issue a final order on our petition. The action of the appellate courts appeared to me to be an unprecedented draconian stripping away of a trial court’s authority. Because the judge’s decision to allow the petitioner an opportunity to put on (proffer) evidence had been reversed by the appellate courts, it was generally assumed that the judge would now have no alternative but to dismiss the petition. I believed that the judge could still order an evidentiary hearing or even a trial. I planned to request a hearing so that full oral argument could take place.

  ON THURSDAY JUNE 1, 1995, a former client of Lewis Garrison whom I will call “Chuck” walked into Garrison’s law offices in Memphis. Some years ago Chuck had injured his leg while working and Garrison had obtained disability benefits for him. He was looking for some additional legal assistance on this matter. In the course of their meeting the subject of the King assassination came up, apparently prompted by a telephone call to Garrison from Loyd Jowers. Chuck told Garrison about something he observed related to the killing. Garrison urged Chuck to talk to me. He was very afraid. Garrison and Chuck’s common-law wife told me that a number of people had told him that he would be killed if he told what he saw. Eventually, under threat of subpoena, he called me and we spoke for nearly an hour.

  He said that in 1968 he was six years old. On April 4 of that year he rode from Tunica, Mississippi, to Memphis with his father who made the journey in order to meet with Dr. King. He did not know why his father was meeting with Dr. King on that day but remembers being excited about the trip. Chuck, now about thirty-five years old, said at that time his hair was in plaits, which were cut off soon after that day. His father drove up to Memphis, eventually reaching Mulberry Street and going south toward the Lorraine. He parked opposite but just south of room 306 in the shade of the trees and bushes just above and behind the wall. (I realized that at that time in the afternoon the sun would have been in the west behind the brush and trees on the wall which would have provided shade in the spot he described). Chuck said his father told him to wait in the car. He said his father went onto the motel property through a southern entrance near the corner of Butler and Mulberry and ascended the southernmost staircase leading to the balcony. He walked north along the balcony to Dr. King’s room 306. Chuck said that after he saw his father enter the room he lay down on the front seat and took a nap. He believed that it was around 4 p.m. He didn’t know how long he slept. When he woke up he sat up on the open window frame of the front passenger door and with a child’s curiosity began to look all around. In a short while his attention was drawn to a man in the brush and trees area above the wall about five or six feet in front (south) of him. He said the man stood looking directly across at the motel. He was a few feet back from the edge of the wall and partially obscured by the trees and bushes. He was of medium build, had dark hair and a black moustache and appeared to be Arab or Mexican. He was dressed in khaki trousers and a short-sleeved shirt and wore an army officer’s style (Garrison) peaked hat. Holding a rifle close in up against his stomach, he stood there for a while looking across at the Lorraine and then disappeared, going back into the bushes and trees. Chuck thought that he was hunting birds. He came from a rural area and was used to seeing people with rifles hunting birds or rabbits, so this did not seem unusual to him. Chuck thought that a long time passed before the man reappeared. He thought it must have been about an hour, but it is obviously difficult for him twenty-seven years later to assess his sense of time when he was six years old.

  He recalled seeing a photographer/reporter walk down Mulberry Street from Butler. The reporter looked at him as he walked right past him. He urged me to find this reporter who he thought would at least be able to establish his presence. I was unable to do so.

  At one point he saw his daddy leave Dr. King’s room and begin to walk toward the same southernmost stairway at the far end of the balcony he had climbed earlier. He also saw Dr. King come out onto the balcony and stand at the railing. Just at this time the man reappeared, clearly visible just a few feet back from the wall, though partially obscured by the bushes. Chuck’s attention was drawn at this time because at that moment birds flew up from the trees, apparently disturbed by the man. The man raised the rifle and took aim and as he did so Chuck said even today he can vividly recall his fear that the man (who he thought was going to shoot at a bird) might hit his daddy because he was pointing his gun in the direction of the Lorraine balcony. The man seemed to take his time. He was facing Chuck who was staring at him from a sloping distance of about twelve to fifteen feet. The man’s right hand held the stock of the gun and his left-hand trigger finger was on the rifle trigger. He fired and Chuck saw two puffs of smoke come from the barrel of the gun and linger even after the man was gone. Strangely, Chuck did not recall hearing the shot. The man moved instantly back into the bushes and disappeared.

  Chuck said that he lost sight of the man but then no more than two to three minutes later, he saw the man run up to a white car parked on the far (south) side of Butler Street, opposite the fire station. (To get there, if the alleged shooter was in front of the fence he would have had to either run along the wall under cover of the bushes, jump down at the back of the fire station and continue running north to Butler, or scale the fence at its lowest point in the corner at the rear of Canipe’s, cut through the parking lot and round the front of the fire station to Butler. If he was be
hind the fence he would already be in the parking lot and follow the latter route. Either route would have put him and the rifle he carried in clear view of any passers-by for a period of time. Chuck specifically stated he did not see him running along Mulberry Street.) Chuck said that having reached the car the man opened the driver’s side front door and threw the rifle across into the passenger’s side of the front seat, then jumped in and drove away heading east on Butler. Glancing behind him he said he saw a white man with a white tee shirt and a big belly standing in the brush area some distance in front of Jim’s Grill. About this time his father, who was running, bent over up Mulberry Street, reached the car and got in, yelling at Chuck to get down on the floor of the car, which he did. His father drove away at high speed.

  Chuck raised the fact that in the famous Joseph Louw photograph showing people on the balcony pointing in the direction of the shot, one person, the young woman Mary Hunt, though pointing straight ahead was looking off to the left—in the direction of Butler Street and the white car. I had tried many years earlier to find Mary Hunt but was unable to do so and eventually learned that she had died of cancer. In any event, since the photograph was not shot immediately after Dr. King was hit, it was likely that the man would have already departed the scene.

  Chuck said that he had told Reverend Kyles about what he saw and Kyles advised him to keep his silence. Kyles told him that the government had Dr. King killed and the elimination of one more black man wouldn’t be a problem for them. Chuck said that a number of people had told him to say nothing if he wanted to remain alive. His daddy had him tell what he saw to several people. Because his father believed that the boy’s life was in danger as a result of his observations, those told were sworn to secrecy. One of those he said he told very many years ago was Ralph Abernathy. If this was true, I wondered why Abernathy had never mentioned or even hinted at the story to me.