Hellhound on His Trail

by Hampton Sides

  CHAPTER 30

  A SUMMONS TO MEMPHIS

  479 Lockheed Jetstar taxied: My account of the initial trip to Memphis made by Clark and DeLoach on April 5 derives from multiple sources. I especially relied on DeLoach, Hoover's FBI, pp. 228-30, as well as my own interview with Clark, Oct. 9, 2008, New York City. I also gained valuable insights from Wilkins, A Man's Life, pp. 211-12, and Risen, Nation on Fire, pp. 95-97. See also DeLoach's testimony in House Select Committee on Assassinations (hereafter HSCA), Appendix Reports, vol. 7, pp. 18-117, as well as Clark's testimony, HSCA, Appendix Reports, vol. 7, pp. 120-63.

  480 fugitive named John Willard: DeLoach, Hoover's FBI, p. 228.

  481 Now he opened his briefcase: Wilkins, A Man's Life, p. 212. See also Risen, Nation on Fire, p. 95.

  482 "At daybreak I stopped for gas": Ray, Tennessee Waltz, p. 80.

  483 location he had scoped out: FBI agents later discovered that the map Ray left behind in his Atlanta rooming house bore a circle on it, presumably made by Ray, at the location of the Capitol Homes project--which seemed to indicate that he had investigated the location prior to abandoning his car there.

  484 Mary Bridges: My depiction of Galt's abandoning his Mustang at the Capitol Homes project on the morning of April 5 is adapted from varied sources. I especially relied on a thirty-four-page FBI report titled "Eric Starvo Galt, Bureau File #44-38861" prepared by Special Agent Alan G. Sentinella of the Atlanta field office, filed on April 18, 1968, Hughes Collection. This report contains a detailed description of the Mustang's location and condition (with accompanying photographs) as well as interviews with the various Capitol Homes tenants (including Mary Bridges) who saw the Mustang and its driver. I also made use of "Capitol Homes Stirred Up by That Mustang," Atlanta Constitution, April 22, 1968.

  485 United Cab Company driver: FBI interview with Stephens conducted on April 12, 1968, by Special Agent Thomas J. Barrett, Hughes Collection.

  486 "This is one of the darkest days": Abernathy's comments at the morning press conference at the Lorraine Motel were reprinted in the Atlanta Constitution, April 6, 1968.

  487 had hired a public relations agent: Kenneth R. Timmerman, Shakedown: Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson (Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2002), pp. 9-10.

  488 "To prostitute and lie": Bevel, quoted in Frady, Jesse, p. 230.

  489 "was somehow in shock": Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, p. 449.

  490 Shanahan walked through the door: FBI interview with Wood, conducted on April 5, 1968, by Shanahan out of the Birmingham field office. Shanahan's FD-302 report of the interview, along with a copy of the receipt showing the rifle's purchase, is in the Hughes Collection.

  491 "He wasn't drunk": FBI interview with DeShazo, conducted on April 7, 1968, by Special Agents Robert Barrett and William Saucier out of the Birmingham field office, Hughes Collection.

  CHAPTER 31

  LOOPS AND WHORLS, LANDS AND GROOVES

  492 At the FBI Crime Lab: My passages here concerning the FBI lab's initial examination of the bundle from Memphis are primarily drawn from "Report of the FBI Laboratory, FBI, April 17, 1968, Evidence Recovered in Front of 424 So. Main St. April 4th, 1968," Hughes Collection. I also relied on "Scientific Report on the Subject of Analysis of Fingerprint Evidence Related to the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by the Fingerprint Panel," House Select Committee on Assassinations (hereafter HSCA), Appendix Reports, vol. 8, pp. 109-21.

  493 esoteric profession: For a good overview of the history, lore, science, and shortcomings of fingerprint analysis, see Michael Specter, "Do Fingerprints Lie?" New Yorker, May 27, 2002.

  494 Frazier spent the morning: "Testimony of the Firearms Panel," HSCA, Appendix Reports, vol. 4, pp. 78-111.

  495 Annie Estelle Peters: This passage on Galt's picking up his laundry in Atlanta on the morning of April 5 is primarily drawn from the FBI's initial interview with Peters, conducted on April 16, 1968, by Special Agents Charles Paul Rose and Robert Kane working out of the bureau's Atlanta field office. The FD-302 report of this interview is in the Hughes Collection. I also relied on Peters's testimony in HSCA, Appendix Reports, vol. 3, pp. 302-514.

  496 "satisfied there was no unusual activity": Ray, Tennessee Waltz, p. 80.

  497 wad of bills: Ray, in his book Who Killed Martin Luther King? says, on p. 100, that upon his arrival in Toronto the following day, he was "down to $1,200 or so."

  498 dashed off a short note: My description of Galt's actions at the rooming house on April 5 are primarily drawn from the FBI's interviews with Garner, conducted on April 14 and 15, 1968, by Special Agent Roger Kaas of the bureau's Atlanta field office. FD-302 reports of these interviews are in the Hughes Collection.

  499 "There was so much to do": Garry Wills, "Martin Luther King Is Still on the Case," reprinted in The New Journalism, ed. Tom Wolfe, p. 393.

  500 "The body appeared unblemished": Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, p. 448.

  501 "We all wanted to be there": Young, Easy Burden, p. 469.

  502 "It will spoil the makeup job": Wills, "Martin Luther King Is Still on the Case," reprinted in New Journalism, p. 394.

  503 "I wish it was Henry Loeb": Ibid., p. 395.

  504 "Why'd this happen to you": My description of the public viewing at the R. S. Lewis Funeral Home on the morning of April 5 is drawn from the Memphis Commercial Appeal, April 6, 1968, as well as from Beifuss, At the River I Stand, pp. 315-16.

  CHAPTER 32

  ONE MAN ON THE RUN

  505 "I thought it was a provocation": Author interview with Clark, Oct. 9, 2008, New York City.

  506 "What a message that was": Ibid.

  507 "To see these men": Roger Wilkins interview, Roads to Memphis, an Insignia Films documentary produced for the PBS program American Experience, WGBH, Boston.

  508 "gracious in a Southern kind of way": Ibid.

  509 "He was just about out on his feet": Beifuss, At the River I Stand, p. 325.

  510 "I had not a scintilla": Holloman's testimony in House Select Committee on Assassinations, Appendix Reports, vol. 4, p. 332.

  511 "All of our evidence": Clark's comments from his Memphis press conference were printed in the Memphis Press-Scimitar, April 5, 1968, and the Memphis Commercial Appeal, April 6, 1968.

  512 "In view of Mr. Hoover's": DeLoach, Hoover's FBI, p. 229.

  513 "courageous and calm": Wilkins, Man's Life, p. 212.

  514 "a bloated and faded version": Ibid.

  515 "We'll do everything we can": DeLoach, Hoover's FBI, p. 229.

  516 "We aren't so much concerned": Andrew Young, in Roads to Memphis.

  517 "Why, it's sitting right out there": FBI interview with Capitol Homes tenants in "Eric Starvo Galt, Bureau File #44-38861" prepared by Special Agent Alan G. Sentinella of the Atlanta field office, filed on April 18, 1968, Hughes Collection. I also adapted material here from "Capitol Homes Stirred Up by That Mustang," Atlanta Constitution, April 22, 1968.

  CHAPTER 33

  1812 REDUX

  518 "Please know that I join you": King senior to Johnson, telegram, quoted in Risen, Nation on Fire, p. 89.

  519 "If I were a kid in Harlem": Busby, Thirty-first of March, p. 238.

  520 "Help us, Lord": Ibid., p. 239.

  521 "take as many white people": Stokely Carmichael, quoted in Risen, Nation on Fire, p. 93.

  522 "Gentlemen, I think you better see this": Busby, Thirty-first of March, p. 239.

  523 Morris S. Clark: Here I consulted the FBI Crime Lab's initial fiber analysis in "Report of the FBI Laboratory, FBI, April 17, 1968, Evidence Recovered in Front of 424 So. Main St. April 4th, 1968," p. 9, Hughes Collection.

  524 quickly dispatched to Rompage: See Frank, American Death, p. 142.

  525 tiny tag was made of white tape: Here I primarily consulted the eighteen-page FBI report "Investigation to Trace the Laundry Marks Found on Underwear Abandoned near the Scene of the Shooting of Dr. King," Hughes Collection.

  526 "I thought of
the brittle smile": Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, p. 450.

  527 "Martin was unworried": Ibid.

  528 "Daddy is lying down in the back": Coretta Scott King, My Life with Martin Luther King Jr., p. 325.

  529 "I'd look around": Dexter Scott King, Growing Up King, p. 52.

  530 "Mother knew I was avoiding": Ibid.

  531 "looked so young and smooth": Coretta Scott King, My Life with Martin Luther King Jr., p. 325.

  532 "Uncle Andy, this man": Young, Easy Burden, p. 470.

  533 buying a one-way ticket: My account of Ray's bus trip north is drawn from his statements and testimony in House Select Committee on Assassinations (hereafter HSCA), Appendix Reports, vol. 3, p. 245, as well as from his two books, Tennessee Waltz, p. 81, and Who Killed Martin Luther King? p. 98. I also consulted Ray's own account for his lawyers, "20,000 Words," Hughes Collection.

  534 DR. KING SHOT: Atlanta Constitution, April 5, 1968, p. 1.

  535 checked his suitcase in to a locker: HSCA, Appendix Reports, vol. 3, p. 245.

  536 boarded a second bus: Ibid.

  537 bottle of the finest sherry: Oral history with Ramsey Clark, interview 4, conducted by Harri Baker on April 16, 1969, Johnson Presidential Library.

  538 "We had considerably more evidence": Author interview with Clark, Oct. 9, 2008, New York City.

  539 "We are virtually unique": Clark, Crime in America, p. 95.

  540 "to dam the flood": DeLoach, Hoover's FBI, p. 230.

  541 now occupied by federal troops: My depictions of the D.C. riots here are largely drawn from Risen, Nation on Fire, and Gilbert et al., Ten Blocks from the White House.

  542 "the air of a parliament": The columnist Mary McGrory, quoted in Risen, Nation on Fire, p. 127.

  543 "In all my life": Author interview with Clark.

  CHAPTER 34

  HOME SWEET HOME IN TORONTO

  544 coach reached the Motor City: See James Earl Ray's testimony in House Select Committee on Assassinations, Appendix Reports, vol. 3, p. 245, as well as his two books, Tennessee Waltz, p. 81, and Who Killed Martin Luther King? p. 98, and Ray's own account for his lawyers, "20,000 Words," Hughes Collection.

  545 "It is better to overreact": Cavanaugh, quoted in Risen, Nation on Fire, p. 141.

  546 Galt later claimed that he stashed his suitcase: See Huie, He Slew the Dreamer, p. 148.

  547 Mrs. Szpakowski showed him up to the room: My description of Ray's room on Ossington, and his behavior and actions while staying there as a guest, is largely drawn from O'Neil, "Ray, Sirhan--What Possessed Them?" I also relied on a special report, "King Murder Suspect Held--He Hid 1 Month in Metro," Toronto Daily Star, June 8, 1968, p. 1. Finally, I also relied on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Files, a large body of documents concerning Ray's time in Toronto, Hughes Collection.

  548 Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte: See Poitier, This Life, pp. 319-20.

  549 "I didn't want to face Coretta": Georgia Davis Powers, I Shared the Dream, p. 233.

  550 "Sorry for what?": Ibid., p. 234.

  551 didn't leave his room: See Huie, He Slew the Dreamer, p. 149, and Posner, Killing the Dream, pp. 239-40.

  552 He was in Baltimore: See Gentry, J. Edgar Hoover, p. 606.

  553 "This man, in the full prime": Lawson, quoted in Honey, Going Down Jericho Road, pp. 473-74.

  554 "I noticed how worried": Huie, He Slew the Dreamer, p. 149.

  CHAPTER 35

  THEN EASTER COMES

  555 Coretta Scott King wore a bittersweet smile: My account of the April 8 march in Memphis is adapted primarily from page-one articles in the Memphis Press-Scimitar, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, the New York Times, and the Atlanta Constitution. I also relied on newsreels in the Mississippi Valley Collection. See also Beifuss, At the River I Stand, pp. 340-43; Honey, Going Down Jericho Road, pp. 474-82; Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, pp. 458-60; and Coretta Scott King, My Life with Martin Luther King Jr., pp. 327-29.

  556 "The people were kind": Dexter Scott King, Growing Up King, p. 53.

  557 "We gave Dr. King what he came here for": Memphis Commercial Appeal, April 9, 1968, p. 1.

  558 "Each of you is on trial today": Flyer prepared by Lawson, quoted in Honey, Going Down Jericho Road, p. 476.

  559 "once you reach Main Street": Ibid., p. 478.

  560 "the spilling of one man's blood": Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, p. 458.

  561 "I guess it was my mother": Memphis Commercial Appeal, April 11, 1968. See also Honey, Going Down Jericho Road, p. 475, and Beifuss, At the River I Stand, p. 341.

  562 Now the agents pulled their bureau sedan: This passage about the FBI's initial investigations at the New Rebel Motel is based largely on my own interview with the former FBI agent Stephen Darlington, May 15, 2009. I also relied on FD-302 reports of the interview Agents Darlington and Bauer conducted at the New Rebel on April 8, 1968, Hughes Collection.

  563 made his way down to the offices: My depiction of Galt's efforts to gather aliases in the reading room of the Telegram is primarily adapted from Ray's own accounts in Tennessee Waltz, p. 84, and Who Killed Martin Luther King? p. 99. Other accounts suggest he actually visited the newspaper microfilm archives at a public library in Toronto. See also Posner, Killing the Dream, p. 240.

  564 "I'd read somewhere": Ray, Who Killed Martin Luther King? p. 98.

  565 "Teenagers are adopting": Royal Canadian Mounted Police Files, a compendium of police investigations into Galt's movements while in Toronto, Hughes Collection.

  566 brief expeditionary detour: See Posner, Killing the Dream, p. 240.

  567 "Until we have justice": Memphis Commercial Appeal, April 9, 1968, p. 10.

  568 "Mayor Loeb will somehow be dragged": Reuther, quoted in Beifuss, At the River I Stand, p. 343.

  569 "It's not the quantity": The entire text of Coretta Scott King's speech in Memphis is reprinted in her memoir, My Life with Martin Luther King Jr., pp. 344-47.

  570 "If Mrs. King had cried": Honey, Going Down Jericho Road, p. 481.

  571 "When Good Friday": Coretta Scott King, My Life with Martin Luther King Jr., p. 345.

  572 Neil Shanahan and William Saucier: This passage is drawn from the FD-302 report of the April 8, 1968, interview that Shanahan and Saucier conducted with the rooming house proprietor, Peter Cherpes, Hughes Collection.

  CHAPTER 36

  THE MAN FURTHEST DOWN

  573 For three and a half miles: My depiction of King's funeral in Atlanta is drawn primarily from newspaper coverage in the Atlanta Constitution and the New York Times that appeared on April 10, 1968. I also relied on photographs and other displays at the King Center in Atlanta. Finally, I consulted memoirs of participants, including Young, Easy Burden, pp. 477-78; Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, pp. 460-65; Coretta Scott King, My Life with Martin Luther King Jr., pp. 329-36; Martin Luther King Sr., Daddy King, pp. 190-91; and Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, p. 203. I benefited from Risen's vivid account in Nation on Fire, pp. 205-13.

  574 had suggested that King arranged: See Risen, Nation on Fire, p. 208.

  575 "leaning toward each other": Newsweek, April 22, 1968.

  576 "There was a powerful mood": Ibid.

  577 "I believed in your father": A letter I viewed in January 2009 from a collection of correspondence on exhibit at the King National Historic Site in Atlanta.

  578 "if they catch the guy": Ibid.

  579 "There were many fingers": Time, March 21, 1969.

  580 Galt was in his room on Ossington Avenue: My account of what Galt did in his room on April 9 is primarily drawn from newspaper and magazine interviews with the landlady, Mrs. Feliksa Szpakowski. See especially O'Neil, "Ray, Sirhan--What Possessed Them?"

  581 nightclub called the Silver Dollar: Ibid.

  582 "time to play detective": Ray, Who Killed Martin Luther King? p. 99.

  583 "Yes, hello": My account of the telephone conversation between Ray and Bridgman is derived both from Ray's ow
n recollection in his memoirs and from Toronto police interviews with Bridgman in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Files, Hughes Collection.

  584 Paisley's place of work: This passage is drawn primarily from the FD-302 report of the interview that Shanahan and Barrett conducted with Paisley on April 9, 1968.

  585 "If you are going to do something illegal": James Earl Ray statement to investigators, House Select Committee on Assassinations, Appendix Reports, vol. 9, p. 430.

  586 "I make bold to assert": King eulogy by Benjamin Mays, quoted in the Atlanta Constitution, April 10, 1968, p. 1.

  CHAPTER 37

  THE MURKIN FILES

  587 "It was a huge operation": Author interview with Clark, Oct. 8, 2009, New York City.

  588 "We are continuing": Memo signed by J. Edgar Hoover, MURKIN Files, sec. 2, which the author viewed on microfilm at Stanford University.

  589 "A racist": DeLoach, Hoover's FBI, p. 233.

  590 "Tips" arrived from all points of the compass: All these various leads are taken from the opening weeks of the manhunt and are in the MURKIN Files, sec. 2.

  591 "Shoot the son-of-a-bitch": See Frank, American Death, p. 143.

  592 woman in Memphis called Holloman's office: From a Memphis police report investigating the footage taken by WMC-TV Channel 5, the NBC affiliate in Memphis, dated April 10, 1968, box 5, Posner Papers, Gotlieb Center.

  593 call came from the Mexican consulate: Memphis Press-Scimitar, April 19, 1968.

  594 white male American tourist: Frank, American Death, p. 188.

  595 Mrs. John Riley had been thinking: This passage is drawn largely from "Capitol Homes Stirred Up by That Mustang," Atlanta Constitution, April 22, 1968.

  596 president was signing into law: See Kotz, Judgment Days, p. 421, and Dallek, Flawed Giant, p. 534.

  597 Brown's Theatrical Supply Company: See Huie, He Slew the Dreamer, p. 154.