The Plot to Kill King

by William F. Pepper

  At first glance, what a strange statement.

  She recalled that there were many MPD officers and army people milling about, in addition to men in suits.

  She said that she was bringing medical instruments in and out of the emergency room—which was her job—where Dr. King was lying on a bloodied gurney. She saw the huge hole in the lower left side of his face, but heard one of the ER doctors say that he had a pulse. The ER doctors had performed a tracheotomy and inserted a breathing tube.

  She said that in a while, the head of surgery (who appears to have been Dr. Breen Bland—the Adkins’ family doctor and collaborator discussed earlier) came into the emergency room with a couple of men in suits and shouted at the staff working on Dr. King, “Stop working on the nigger and let him die. Now, all of you get out of here, right now. Everybody get out.”

  Johnton said that his mother told them as she was leaving, she heard three sounds of the men gathering or sucking up saliva in their mouths—and then she heard two or three spitting sounds. This caused her, on the way out, to glance back over her shoulder, and see that the breathing tube had been removed and Dr. Bland put a pillow on and over the face of Dr. King. She said that she believed that he was still alive, however barely. Without a doubt, if he was alive—as he appeared to be—he would have been suffocated.

  Johnton Shelby repeated his full recollection of his mother’s heartfelt disclosures under oath in a deposition I took of him in July 2014 (see Appendix N).

  At an earlier point (as noted above), one of the doctors on the scene, Dr. Causeway, told me that he had asked the neurosurgeon, Dr. Gioia, why he was not taking Dr. King to the operating room for treatment. He said that he was told that he was being treated. In fact, he was being allowed to die. Dr. Causeway said he was shocked that no major surgical effort was made to save him.

  Ron Adkins Tyler, under oath, told me that Dr. Breen Bland, who, remember, was also the Adkins’ family doctor, was in fact, the head surgeon at the hospital. His medical office was about fifty yards from the hospital. He said he was present and overheard conversations between his father and Dr. Bland, and then, following his father’s death, between his brother (Russell Junior), Police and Fire Director Frank Holloman, and Dr. Bland about the importance of Dr. King being taken to St. Joseph’s if he was still alive. Ron recalls that Dr. Bland was prepared to give him a certain lethal injection if it became necessary. He said that the last conversation took place around the middle of March 1968, just weeks before the assassination.

  From what Johnton Shelby recalls his mother saying, the removal of the breathing tube and the use of the pillow replaced the fatal injection.

  Ron Adkins Tyler has no doubt that they were determined to make certain that Dr. King would never leave the emergency room at St. Joseph’s Hospital alive. Though he did not know the details of the final cause of death, it appears that he was correct.

  Johnton said his mother joined in a strike at the hospital (staff were seeking to unionize) sometime after the assassination and never returned there to work.

  I made an effort to speak with any of the medical personnel who were named as having been, at one time or another, in the emergency room or the area around the room. The list included Drs. Jerome Barasso, John Reisser, Rufus Brown, Julian Fleming, and Joe Wilhite. Barasso, Reisser, Brown, and Fleming had passed away. Some years ago, I managed to have a conversation with Dr. Fleming, an internist who was called in. He confirmed the extensive military presence in the hospital but remembered little else. Dr. Reisser’s son, John, also a doctor, remembered the event but said that his father never talked to the family about it, and so he had no information.

  Dr. Wilhite, very kindly, called me back, and though his memory was sketchy, he confirmed that he had, for a time, been in the ER. He noted that most of the emergency work was done by Drs. Barasso and Brown. He believed that Dr. Barasso performed the tracheotomy. He did not recall any intervention but said he believed that Dr. Bland may have looked in at one point. He also recalled that, at least for a time, Ralph Abernathy was in the room sitting quietly in the corner. He was not able to be specific about the movements of the medical team but did recall the presence of considerable number of MPD officers, who locked down the hospital. Unlike Dr. Causeway—who was specific about their presence and degree of knowledge about the staff on duty—he strangely did not recall the military presence.

  After our conversation, Dr. Wilhite somewhat nervously called me back and asked me to give him a note that would justify him having spoken to me about that event. As counsel to the King family in the civil action, which Judgment had been renewed, I agreed to do so as we were still in a post-judgment discovery process allowed under Tennessee law.

  I also managed to speak with eighty-seven-year-old Dr. Dorothy Bryant, Lula Mae Shelby’s cousin. She was on the staff at St. Joseph’s hospital but off on that evening. Johnton Shelby thought that his mother might have mentioned her observation to her. He said that she might be afraid that her pension—her sole means of support—might be in danger if she revealed anything, but I engaged her. She claimed that she did not know or remember anything, and she said that they were all told not to say anything or their jobs would be lost. Shortly afterward, she simply hung up the phone.

  The sadness arises in the possibility that, of at least five medical doctors—each one of whom became prominent and respected practicing physicians in Memphis, Shelby County, and the State of Tennessee—none saw or heard anything untoward taking place in the St. Joseph’s emergency room on the evening of April 4, 1968. Perhaps there was nothing—no violation of the criminal law or their medical ethics—that took place. Then again, perhaps one or another were simply not in a position at the time to see or hear the acts Lula Mae Shelby recounted the morning after—that also appear to have credibility based upon the planning conversation Ron Tyler Adkins overheard some weeks prior involving the Adkins family doctor, Breen Bland.

  I forwarded a copy of the autopsy report to Dr. Cyril Wecht, one of the world’s leading forensic pathologists, along with two queries:

  • Could Dr. King have conceivably survived that wound?

  • If he could have survived what would have been his physical and mental condition?

  Dr. Wecht responded that he does not believe that Dr. King would have survived, but there was no way that the doctors on the scene could have known about the severity of the wound, and the ER doctors seem to have been doing all they could to save him. This was what was happening when Bland—who also could not have known about the severity of the wound—ordered them to stop working and leave the ER. (See Appendix O for a copy of my request to Dr. Wecht along with a copy of the autopsy report and Dr. Wecht’s response.) Dr. Wecht’s opinion was based upon his reading of the autopsy report prepared by Medical Examiner Dr. Jerry Francisco.

  Dr. Francisco reported that he found that Dr. King’s spinal cord had been severed and that there were several arterial lacerations caused by the fatal bullet that re-entered the neck and proceeded downward into the spinal area before becoming lodged in his back.

  According to the King HSCA panel, the medical examiner, Dr. Jerry Francisco, confirmed that he did not trace the full track of the bullet, explaining that he believed to do so would require unnecessary mutilation of the body. The decision resulted in some significant ramifications.

  According to the HSCA Medical Panel, it mitigated against a more precise ascertaining of the origin of the shot.

  I find this very curious because in his testimony at the 1999 Civil Trial (some twenty-one years later), when I asked him if he had traced the path of the bullet from entry to its lodging in Dr. King’s back, Dr. Francisco contended that he did conduct the tracing procedure.

  Whether this was in reaction to the earlier criticism and an effort to mitigate against the earlier, closer-to-the-event admission, and cover up that failure, is, of course, uncertain—but obviously worrying. Perhaps, more importantly, according to the testimony of Dr. Michael Ba
den (the medical examiner of New York City, who headed the panel), on the basis of the medical information they had, including x-rays and notes of the ER doctors, they could not confirm that Dr. King’s spinal cord had been severed.

  Neither could they conclude, specifically, the blood tissue or arterial damage. Also, the names of two examiners were on the autopsy report—Dr. Francisco and Dr. Sprunt. In fact, Dr. Sprunt was not present. Dr. Francisco performed the autopsy on his own.

  Dr. Sprunt was the Head of the Pathology Department of St. Joseph’s Hospital and had no official connection with the medical examiner’s office. It was explained that his name was routinely added to some autopsy reports.

  Dr. Wecht found this to be a strange practice and wondered why another official from the ME’s Office was not present. It is important to confirm that Dr. Wecht believed it to be highly unlikely that Dr. Francisco would falsify the vital information in his report. If he had done so, it would have served the purpose of ruling out any question of Dr. King surviving the attack, thus eliminating any consideration of the possibility of any adverse intervention during treatment at the hospital.

  Having said that, we know that the wound was very serious and most likely fatal even though those present would not have known the actual extent of the injuries. I am constrained to note that Dr. Francisco was a long-time medical examiner who appeared to have a good working relationship with the local law enforcement and prosecutorial officials.

  It must also be stated that Dr. Wecht was not, and could not have been, aware of the more recent facts uncovered (and discussed above) by our investigation, which have led me to conclude that in this case, nothing is precluded.

  Finally, at Dr. Wecht’s suggestion, I spoke with Dr. Michael Baden, who led the HSCA Medical Panel. He needed some time to review his notes and then graciously called me back on June 25, 2014.

  He agreed that it was unlikely that Dr. King could have survived that bullet wound, but also agreed that the doctors in the ER could not have known the extent of the spinal injury. He said that the Panel did have a question about whether or not the spine was transected (severed) but there was no doubt that there was spinal injury.

  He also found it strange and unusual that Dr. Sprunt’s name was on the report when he was not associated with the medical examiner’s office and also not present at the autopsy. He noted that, in fact, Dr. Francisco told them that he did not trace or track the bullet, thereby eliminating the possibility of drawing any conclusions concerning the origin of the shot. He was surprised to learn that in his testimony at the civil trial in 1999, twenty-one years later, in response to my question, Dr. Francisco changed his story and contended that he had tracked the bullet.

  In light of all that we have learned, I ask the reader to understand why I have come to believe that with respect to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., no act, no matter how heinous, by any public official is unthinkable.

  Finally, Ralph Abernathy’s self-serving account during these last moments of Dr. King’s life is quite different and should be noted. He said that he insisted on remaining in the emergency room though they tried to get him and Bernard Lee to leave (Dr. Wilhite did confirm that he, alone, was sitting in a corner of the room for a while). Strangely, though, Ralph said he saw a hole in Dr. King’s chest, large enough for me to put both of my fists in.

  That observation, of course, makes no sense at all. Dr. King took the bullet above the lower left chin area of his face. The slug exited his head and reentered his neck, proceeding to a point just below his left shoulder blade, emerging as a visible lump just inside the skin. The hole in his jaw and neck was, indeed, a gaping wound, but no entry was through the chest, so I have no idea about what Ralph claims he saw.

  He also stated that as Dr. King was dying in the emergency room, he embraced him and felt his last breath. In terms of everything we have learned, this clearly did not take place.

  Ralph’s description of his visit to the morgue also does not conform to another account. Memphis Detective Barry Neal Linville, whom I came to know quite well, told me in 1992 that he vividly recalled a number of Dr. King’s colleagues, including Abernathy, entering the morgue in a group to pay last respects before the autopsy began, Linville, who had no reason to lie about his observations, said he wished he had a camera. He was behind some lockers and said the group had to pass by the morgue/autopsy table in single file; one behind the other, with Ralph in the lead.

  He said that when Ralph reached the head of the table, he patted Dr. King’s head, with his hands on the side of his face, and said, “Good-bye old friend.” Linville said that as he spoke those words, Dr. King’s old friend was grinning from ear to ear.

  Obviously, Barry Linville’s observation can only be taken at face value. He was a good old country boy who would come to work in the city. I found him to be transparent and not capable of fabricating such a scenario.

  If one takes a statement along with the clear inaccuracies and omissions of Ralph’s other inexplicable accounts of events, as set out in his book And the Wall Came Tumbling Down (FN5), it presents a worrying picture. I have spent long hours trying to reconcile the number of inconsistencies in statements by Ralph, who was a friend for over twenty-five years. Sadly, I have failed in this effort.

  In my view, one should be concerned about his omissions, particularly that of the heavy military presence, already ensconced in the hospital when Dr. King, accompanied by Ralph and Bernard Lee, arrived.

  Ron Tyler Adkin’s account also needs to be taken into serious consideration because though he was not present at the scene; his recollection of the conversations he heard between his father, MPD Police and Fire Director Holloman, and Dr. Breen Bland, reinforce the credibility of the statements made by Lula Mae Shelby to her family on the morning of April 5.

  The wound resulting from a single rifle shot was almost certainly fatal, requiring no intervention in the emergency room at St. Joseph’s Hospital. Having said that, from Ron Adkins Tyler’s recollections, which have to qualify as admissions against personal interest, preparations were in place to ensure that Dr. King would never leave that hospital alive. It must, however, also be noted that another doctor on ER duty, Dr. Ted Gaylon, stated that he did not recall seeing Dr. Bland in the emergency room area, and also that he did not know Lula Mae Shelby. A cynic might observe that Dr. Gaylon (similar to the rest of the doctors involved with Dr. King in the last moments of his life) is a lifelong practitioner in the Memphis area with all the connections, associations, and personal success that such a career entails, so his version and recollection might well reflect this reality, whereas Lula Mae Shelby and certainly Russell Adkins Tyler had every reason not to disclose what they saw, heard, and knew. To be kind, however, Dr. Gaylon, and the others, perhaps, may not individually have been in a position to observe the activity in the ER during the closing minutes of Dr. King’s life.

  On balance, this entire St. Joseph’s Hospital incident appears to be yet another indication that Dr. King was not going to be allowed to leave Memphis alive.

  Chapter 22

  THE FINAL SUMMATION AND AFTERWORD

  When it happened, I was shocked

  How naïve were we then,

  Thoughts of conspiracy openly mocked

  Again the sword above the pen.

  Half a lifetime later, the truth appears

  And darkness yields to light,

  Long gone and dried are all the tears,

  Dawn follows our longest night.

  A painful truth takes its turn,

  Without relief or solace,

  Even justice, for which we yearn

  Can never compensate the loss.

  So, what was it for this long endeavor?

  The expensive trial for family and love,

  And why this tie I could not sever?—er—ver—?

  As though being driven from above.

  But all journeys must one day end,

  So it is with this one,


  Confronting the loss of a dear friend

  Now, nearly half a century gone,

  Punishment is not the goal,

  Of a mission driven by love

  Each involved has a personal soul,

  Without any respite from above.

  It has indeed taken nearly fifty years for the fundamental truth to emerge. Over this time, as noted earlier, we have probably acquired more detailed knowledge about this political assassination than we have ever had about any previous historical event.

  This is largely because I have been unwilling to leave this case to history’s official dustbin. As a result, witnesses have come forward, evidence has emerged, and a formidable truth has been nurtured.

  It may be useful to summarize the relevant events that took place during the last hour (or thereabouts) of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life:

  • The shooter arrives in the area and leaves the red and white Chevrolet convertible belonging to the fireman friend of Strausser in the parking area of the fire station.

  • Rifle-range janitor Lenny Curtis tries to call a pastor he knows to alert him to his suspicions about what he has observed. He does not make contact.

  • Sixteen-year-old Ron Adkins Tyler heads to Memphis on a new Honda bike, carrying what may well be a back-up gun, which he turns over to his brother. He rides around the area for some time and then stops his Honda, as instructed, around 5:50 p.m. near the corner of Butler on Mulberry by the fire station.