Page 388 also a racist, was allegedly connected with the late Leander Perez, Louisiana political boss and virulent segregationist. A confirmed racist and small-time criminal, James Earl Ray began plotting the assassination of revered civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in early 1968. Under the sub-head Communist Exposed, the paper went on to reveal more about ODell: King was forced to get rid of Hunter Pitts ODell in October, 1962, when several newspaper articles exposed ODells connection with SCLC and his communist affiliations. By that time I was classified as incorrigible. His perceived inability to deal successfully with those problems led to an overwhelming defeat in his bid for reelection. Warren Mass has served The New American since its launch in 1985 in several capacities, including marketing, editing, and writing. Ray was also Stoner's bodyguard and chauffeur. In 1967, he returned to the United States (Los Angeles) from Mexico and took dancing classes in a bartending school. James Earl Ray. He even changed his family name to Raynes in order to avoid the law enforcement agencies. Anyone who remembers the looks on their faces, their resolve and their anger would have to concede that it would have required nothing short of cold hard facts. 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. After the King shooting, one person living at the rooming house where the shot was fired described the assassin as heavy set with receding hair. I don't recall that your name's ever been submitted, sir. Each day the prison's bakery would bake enough bread to feed not only the 2,300 men at Jeff City, but also the convicts housed at Church Farm and Renz Farm (two satellite honor farms, where most of the prison's food was grown and raised). But they are unanimous on one key point: James Earl Ray did not kill Martin Luther King.. Over several decades, federal investigators have routinely concluded that Raoul doesnt exist. Jimmy Carter, in full James Earl Carter, Jr., (born October 1, 1924, Plains, Georgia, U.S.), 39th president of the United States (1977-81), who served as the country's chief executive during a time of serious problems at home and abroad. James. Jerry Ray had moved in with Stoner, and shot an intruder who broke into Stoner's office which was in the same building as the living quarters. Somehow, Ray managed to escape from prison on two different occasions. He shot. During the six years that James Earl Ray was an inmate at the Missouri State Penitentiary, he kept primarily to himself and, other than for the fact that he attempted to escape on more than one occasion, he had only one conduct violation during that entire time and that was for the possession of three packages of cigarettes, a ball point pen and one pound of coffeeIn addition, you might be interested to know that prior to the Governor's receiving your Mailgram, I personally discussed the allegations and conclusions in the, Shortly after Ray pled guilty to the King murder, Clay Blair's book. He later joined the American army at the end of the Second World War and served in Germany. 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. In the five decades since Martin Luther King Jr.was shot dead by an assassin at age 39, his children have worked tirelessly to preserve his legacy, sometimes with sharply different views on how best to do that, an article in the March 30 Washington Post said. He believed that King was a serious threat to the dominance of white people in the USA and wanted to stop him through any means. In 2011, the only irony greater than the left blaming right wing rhetoric for the violence perpetrated by an individual having no affiliation with the right, might be that the rhetoric of some very powerful people on the left may have had a direct role in the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. That is, of course, if one applies the logic of the left. The bureau wiretapped his phone and monitored his movements, taking advantage of times when he seemed particularly upset or depressed. But after HBO conducted a televised mock trial about the assassination in 1993in which Ray gave his first public testimony and was found not guiltyJowers declared that hed been part of a conspiracy to kill King, and that Ray had been set up to take to fall. 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. One of Kings principal advisors is Stanley David Levison. Over the years, parties other than Ray have filed additional lawsuits related to the assassination. In September 1961, I tried to escape and pulled six months in E-Hall, a 100-year-old building whose third floor was for solitary confinement. Ray, a hardened thief, robber and a sometimes-moody liar, assassinated the Rev. Just before Ray's escape from Jeff City he was visited by his brother. It wasn't until November 9, 1970--years after Ray escaped from Jefferson City--that inmates were allowed to purchase small black-and-white television sets, which they could keep in their cells. Starting with his contribution to the presidential campaign of Wallace, Ray developed a strong animosity towards Martin Luther King Jr. Even though he immediately pleaded guilty to the murder of King, Ray tried all his life to reverse his sentence. But a restaurant owner from Memphis was brought to the civil court in the year 1999 for being a part of the murder conspiracy. The same NSRP member said there were plans to kill Martin Luther King. While he was still in Los Angeles, Ray had the desire to immigrate to Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe) where a white minority regime declared independence from England in the year 1965. 10 Disturbing and Unexplained Facts About James Earl Ray, MLK's Assassin. Then, the (U.S.) House Assassinations Committee spent two years and $2.5 million investigating the case. Los Angeles was the site of Ray's first arrest, for burglary, in 1949, and he ended up serving 90 days in jail. And, although the FBI later claimed to have interviewed every convict in Jefferson City who had served time with Ray, they never tried to interview me, or Davis, or Laster, or Westberg or anyone I knew. King was one of the worst enemies my people ever had. Her reference to my people was to her race, since she was black. His law license was entered on the disability inactive list (suspending his ability to practice law in Tennessee), and the discipline case was placed on indefinite hold until such a time as Brown is healthy enough to face the complaint. The Ray brothers, however, are too unsophisticated to have pulled off the assassination of King, and Ray's subsequent escape to England. 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. An egregious example of shoddy workmanship is the book The Making of an Assassin by George McMillan. The ballistics tests proved to be inconclusive and Ray remained in prison. Benny taught me how to type. He was a democrat. Benny was fascinated with the idea of escaping, although he never actually tried while inside the walls. It endangers the premise of the place. It is clear why tyrants wish to keep people from learning about Price and reading the powerful words he wrote defending freedom and Is Christianity the enemy of science? Undercover Agent, was an undercover agent for the FBI in the Cleveland area. He reacted as if King's remarks were directed at him personally. 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. Absence of witnesses to corroborate Raoul's existence, Rental of room 5-B at Bessie Brewer's roominghouse, Irreconcilable conflicts of interest of Foreman and Hanes, Foreman's failure to investigate the case, Coercion by Foreman and the Federal Government, Ray's belief a guilty plea would not preclude a new trial, How to File a FOIA Request for Archival Records. It is known that, after escaping from Jeff City, James Earl Ray went to Chicago, where Jerry Ray was living. That caused the Reverend Emanuel Cleaver, then executive director of the Kansas City Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (and now Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri) to send a request to Missouri Gov. He was right, but he would never be that man. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). I went to Memphis to deliver a rifle to this man called Raoul, Ray told me. (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. James Earl Ray. The Q64 bullet was a .30-06 caliber bullet of Remington-Peters manufacture. Brown was sentenced to five days in jail,[7][15] but was later released on his own recognizance. His prints were found all over the hotel room in Memphis where the shots that killed King were thought to have come from, and they covered the murder weapon -a Remington hunting rifle he purchased in Birmingham, AL. Levison has spent the major part of his life advancing communist interests. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Who Was James Earl Ray? B. Jerry began to follow my lead, and that became a source of friction among me, Laster and Westberg. All the seven prisoners who escaped from the prison were recaptured within two days and sent back to the prison. One thing never mentioned about Ray's time in Jefferson City is the fact he had a nearly exemplary conduct record, with the exception of the two escape attempts. From the viewpoint of a man who served time with Ray in prison, then went on to become a journalist, and continued to follow the case, with some emphasis on Ray's mentality, how he escaped from prison, and why there is reason to believe white supremacists may have been behind King's murder. Martin Luther King Jr.family that James Earl Ray did not kill this nations most prominent civil rights leader. The US will celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr on Monday, January 18, 2021, remembering all of the tremendous strides the activist-led in promoting civil liberties for all Americans. Ray pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. At the same time I was getting more involved in art, and my thoughts were turning away from escape and toward trying to make parole. In 1964 the prison started a computer programming class (so inmates could write programs for state computers). Julia Brown, author of I Testify: My Years as an F.B.I. PRPhotos. What would it have taken for the Goldmans and the Browns to have believed Orenthals story that he was innocent? James Earl Ray, an escaped American convict, is arrested in London, England, and charged with the assassination of African American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. On April 4,. But what do you know about James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King? The day after the trial ended, Coretta King held a press conference in Atlanta to praise the decision. In the 1950s, Ray became notorious as a petty criminal, and by the end of the decade he was a failed pornographer who had served some jail time and successfully completed a prison escape. It seems clear to me that there was a conspiracy to murder King, and that James Earl Ray was involved. The facts tend to be the same, G. Robert Blakey, a law professor at Notre Dame University, told me on April 8, 1998 during an interview as I worked as a columnist for The Tennessean. Sometime before 4:00 p.m. on April 4, 1968, James Earl Ray parked his white Mustang on South Main Street and, under an assumed name, rented a room in the second floor rooming house directly above the grill. 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). Benny Edmondson thought it was hilarious that William Bradford Huie thought he was "Raoul." He simply hounded you (not that Ray was a coward, or afraid to fight, but he wasn't the type to start the fight). The damage to Dr. King's clothing, when tested microscopically He said that another person he met in Canada by the name Raoul was the actual person who plotted the murder and ultimately pulled the trigger. He made the FBI Most Wanted List before his recapture. While attending law school, Brown worked as a substitute teacher. Although Ray had two attempted escapes on his record, he did not have nearly as much heat on him as Westberg. The restaurant owner named Memphis Police . James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to killing Dr. King; he challenged the plea and failed. But a check by United Press International found him still employed by Kings organization. To believe that the King family was motivated exclusively by publicity, one must believe that all of its members were involved in selling out the truth of their loved ones assassination for three figures. Judge Horne did have the authority to hold him in contempt. 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. 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. Based on the results of a civil trial in 1999, Byrds speech would have almost necessarily have played an even more direct role if the verdict is to be accepted. If it hadn't been for the two escape attempts, Ray would almost certainly have been paroled by the time he actually did escape. Martin Luther King Jr., and there should be no question about that fact. He was immediately extradited to USA. "Somebody's gotta get him," Ray would say, his face drawn with tension, his fists clenched. There was, however, some question in our minds about Ray's coordination. There are records of Ray receiving plastic surgery in Los Angeles about a month before Kings murder in Memphis. On January 26, 1976, My findings are that there is nothing whatsoever to substantiate any conclusion that James Earl Ray financed either his escape or his activities after his escape through any means while he was an inmate at the Missouri State Penitentiary. James Earl Ray could easily have placed complete faith in Stoner. James Lawson, a Memphis pastor and civil rights institution who helped mentor King, said he began visiting Ray in the Memphis jail in 1969 when Ray complained about being held in solitary. James Earl Ray was white. Unfortunately, the scene described by McMillan could not have happened. In the year 1977, Ray escaped from the prison for the second time along with six other convicts from the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary located in Petros, Tennessee. Davis and Laster were both shot during that attempt. There were those who joked about Ray, because of the nature of his attempted escapes. I spent virtually all of 1962 in solitary. 2023 www.tennessean.com. In 1977, New Times magazine suggested that Jerry Ray and "Raoul" were one and the same. He was named after the church where his father held his first pastorate. King was visiting Memphis to settle a strike by garbage workers. After Ray was arrested for the assassination of Martin Luther King, it was widely believed that those erroneous prints were proof that the King conspiracy began in Jefferson City, and that someone employed at the prison was involved. Kings convicted killer, James Earl Ray, pled guilty to his murder, received a life sentence, and died in prison of natural causes 29 years later. When Ray pled guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in prison, his role in the assassination was a matter of serious dispute. When authorities caught him in London, hed been planning to travel to Rhodesia, a former African state ruled by a white minority in present-day Zimbabwe. Simpson was found guilty of killing his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman - in a civil trial. After his escape, Early Ray was continuously on the move and travelled across USA, Canada, and Mexico. Dexter King went so far as to name Memphis Police Department Officer, Lt. Earl Clark as his fathers assassin. Two weeks later, after Kennedy had been slain in Dallas, Milteer told the same informant, "everything ran true to form," and the right wing was in the clear because Lee Harvey Oswald . Stoner had trouble getting into the case, however . He is a former Shelby County, Tennessee Criminal Court judge and a former arbiter of the arbitration-based reality court show Judge Joe Brown. UN Pushing New Age Spirituality on Schoolchildren, Arizona Poised to Make Pledge of Allegiance Mandatory in Schools. This list details the strange, unstable life of James Earl Ray, a man who confessed to and then spent his life denyingthe murder of Martin Luther King Jr. Guys told me he would hound you relentlessly if you owed him a quarter, but he wouldn't threaten you with violence. After the assassination, King's family did not trust the findings of the FBI, which had harassed the civil rights leader while he was alive. 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. Lee Harvey Oswald James Earl Ray Sirhan Sirhan . and other allegedly exculpatory evidence are not worthy of belief. So, even if I conceded the possibility that Ray had sold drugs, it would have been in small quantities, and for a brief period of time. When prominent people die violently, they become martyrs in some peoples eyes, and there is a reluctance on their part even to consider anything that blemishes the heroic image they have formed of the individual. In June 1977 Ray escaped from Brushy Mountain (Tennessee) Prison and remained at large for 54 hours before being recaptured in a massive manhunt. Then Benny was transferred to L-Hall, an honor unit just outside the walls of the main penitentiary. He also founded his own white supremacist party. The House Assassinations Committee examining evidence in the killing of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images). James Earl Ray (born 1965) is listed at 42036 Queen Anne Ct Northville, Mi 48167 and has no known political party affiliation. 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 In the 1960s John Larry Ray (another brother) owned a tavern in St. Louis, and that tavern was an unofficial headquarters for the Wallace for President campaign. A Democratic Senator from West Virginia delivered an extremely incendiary speech on the Senate Floor that was directed specifically at President Lyndon Johnson, also a Democrat. Westberg was involved in several more escape plots, but he had so much heat on him he could never personally use the routes he discovered. We miss you, James. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. In March 2014, Brown won the Democratic primary for the position of Shelby County district attorney. Soon after his release from prison, he was again convicted for mail fraud in Hannibal, Missouri and served three prison sentences at the Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. the result of a conspiracy that involved Jowers, not Ray, as well as ''others, including governmental agencies. Each year, the third Monday in January is a celebration to commemorate the life and accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr., the tireless civil rights activist who was gunned down in Memphis, TN, in 1968. Different convicts had different hustles to make money. These claims led Kings estate to sue Jowers in 1999 for a symbolic $100 in a wrongful death civil action. This claim got some support from the 1978 special congressional committee which opined that Ray might not have acted alone in the assassination as it required meticulous planning. And by the way, what is that, Magistrate, sir, with due respect. 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.'. Dexter and his family too believed that he did not commit the crime and urged the government to grant a new trial to Ray. it near 424 South Main Street, It is highly probable that James Earl Ray stalked Dr. King for a After this Ray was on the run and was captured in the UK. On July 19, he returned to U.S. and the following March he pleaded guilty to murdering King. He employed such Communists as Bayard Rustin and Hunter Pitts ODell; and he worked closely with Carl Braden and James Dumbrowski. Benny and I studied programming together, and in 1966 we worked in the programming office together. I watched my parents tough it out on a daily basis, and I saw that what really kept them going was making a difference to others. On March 28th, riots took place in Memphis and King was present; on March 29th, Democrat Senator Byrd threw down the gauntlet with Democrat president Lyndon Baines Johnson by delivering a fiery speech on the Senate Floor intended to get the president to stop Kings march; Johnson announced on March 31st that he would not seek reelection; a bullet would take the life of King days later on April 4th, one year to the day after delivering what many viewed as an incendiary speech at the time. King said he liked the idea. I served my six months, got out and was put right back in for using amphetamine. Findings on Martin Luther King, Jr. In the meantime James Earl Ray had also heard about the bread box, probably through Westberg. nitrites would have indicated a close-range discharge). For the first 25 years after Kings death, Jowers did not claim any involvement in the murder. Back in Memphis, Ray pleaded guilty, forfeiting a trial, and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Never afraid to share his political views, Grammer is known for his conservative values. When I tried to mail my review to The Star, the prison officials refused to allow it to leave the prison. I got to know him better when he came to Jeff City with a sentence for robbery. James Earl Ray did it, case closed! As the paper notes: Through Levisons influence, other subversives were attracted to SCLC [The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King helped found]. The new trial was never granted. Ray, who was on escape from a Missouri prison in 1968 claimed, however, that he had gone to a service station to get a tire repaired when the shot was fired. This is why I believe they steered FBI investigators toward convicts who really didn't know anything. Assassination. 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. During the six years that James Earl Ray was an inmate at the Missouri State Penitentiary, he kept primarily to himself and, other than for the fact that he attempted to escape on more than one occasion, he had only one conduct violation during that entire time and that was for the possession of three packages of cigarettes, a ball point pen and one pound of coffeeIn addition, you might be interested to know that prior to the Governor's receiving your Mailgram, I personally discussed the allegations and conclusions in the Time magazine article with the author himself, Mr. George McMillan. [7] He lost the general election to Republican incumbent Amy Weirich by 65% to 35%, after making comments about her sexuality. It stated that King had allied himself with black nationalist groups that planned to seize the initiative and escalate the nonviolent demonstrations into violence. It continued: King has met with black nationalists and attempted to solicit their support. Davis and I became friends; and because of Davis I was also close to Laster and Westberg. On Feb. 17, 1997, while working for The Tennessean, I sat in the office of ReverendKings youngest son, Dexter, then chairman, president and chief executive officer of the King Center for Non Violent Social Change in Atlanta, as he told me why his family felt Ray should have a new trial. Further information about this communist was found in the book, Its Very Simple: The True Story of Civil Rights, by the late author and speaker Alan Stang. On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. William Francis Pepper (born August 16, 1937) is a U.S. lawyer formerly based in New York City who is most noted for his efforts to prove government culpability and the innocence of James Earl Ray in the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Pepper has also been trying to prove the innocence of Sirhan Sirhan in the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Stoner is one of the most investigated people in America. I'll be out of here very shortly on a Petition for Habeas Corpus and I'll bring up all these problems and guess what, you might not be operating tomorrow. This tribunal on a General Sessions Court's authority is insufficient to establish you. 9 A staff report, An Analysis of James Earl Ray's Trip to New Orleans, December 15-21, 1967, appears in XIII Appendix to the HSCA-MLK hearings (hereinafter referred to as staff report: New Orleans trip). 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. I have respect for the King family, however, as thousands of people converge on Memphis and in other places on Wednesday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of MLKs death, the King family is dead wrong. It was important for the government to have a lone killer-since blacks across the nation were rioting, and proof of a white conspiracy to kill the black civil-rights leader would have caused a racial explosion. As a reporter and columnist for this newspaper, I had the chance to interview the incarcerated Ray numerous times before his death on April 23, 1998. I've seen it happen again and again. it from Birmingham, Ala., to Memphis, Tenn., where he rented a room at 422 1/2 South Main Street, and moments after the assassination, he dropped Each day he would go to the state capital to work as a programmer. Brown has spoken about how his upbringing shaped his philosophy. The date was November 9, 1963. In order to hang onto your drugs, people had to know that you would kill them without hesitation. The first time I saw James Earl Ray, he had just arrived at the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. 14. In order to hang onto your drugs, people had to know that you would kill them without hesitation. Ray, whose previous history as a criminal was notable only for its ineptness, fled to Canada after the killing, assumed a new identity complete with credentials, then fled to England where he was arrested trying to fly out to another country. "Somebody's gotta get him.". Very few conservatives are aware of the pledge's socialist origins. In one instance, the FBI sent him a tape that allegedly contained audio of him having an affair. This is the real thing and as an officer of the court he should have known better. There is an important flaw in that logic as well; the defendant was only sued for $100, which he was ordered to pay. My review took issue with many assumptions in the book, such as those centering on Ray's involvement with drugs in prison, and how he escaped from Jefferson City. It was a clear case of arson, and five people from Marlborough were duly convicted of the crime. Happy 300th Birthday, Richard Price! For some 50 years, the federal government has maintained that James Earl Ray was the gunman who assassinated King that day. A bartending school conservative values as well as `` others, including marketing, editing, there... And urged the government to grant a New trial to Ray bullet of Remington-Peters manufacture he... Out and was sentenced to five days in jail, [ 7 ] 15. Socialist origins had also heard about the bread box, probably through Westberg, robber and a former Shelby,... Been submitted, sir, with due respect to improve this article ( requires login ) as. 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