In case any of you failed to notice I’ve lost interest in
blogging about 9/11, which is not to say I might not post about it in the future.
Recently I’ve become interested in the conspiracy theories surrounding the Martin
Luther King Jr. assassination. As with the deaths of Lincoln, JFK and Robert Kennedy
one can speculate about various ‘what ifs’ had they survived. James Earl Ray pled guilty to the assassination
but recanted 3 days later.
A few hours before the murder Ray rented a room in a
flophouse with a view of Dr. King’s motel room. Moments after the shot was
fired a white man ran from near Ray’s room and sped off in white Mustang. The
next morning Ray dumped his white Mustang in Atlanta. There were however two
such cars parked on the block. Ray and his defenders claim he drove off in his before
King was shot and that the man who fled after was an imposter. The evidence
however indicates the opposite; the ‘other’ was driven off about 30 minutes before
the assassination and the man who fled did so in Ray’s car, and thus almost certainly
was Ray himself.
At about 3 PM April 4, 1968 the day Martin Luther King Jr.
was assassinated, escaped convict, James Earl Ray inquired about rooms at
Bessie Brewer’s rooming house on South Main St. in Memphis TN. Mrs. Brewer first
offered him room 8 but after looking inside he said he was not interested, it
had a stove and refrigerator and he did not need cooking facilities, or so he
said. She next showed him room 5B he looked inside, said he would take it and
registered under an alias. Room 8 did
not have a view of the Lorraine Motel on Mulberry St. where Dr. King was
staying, 5B did. You could only see the motel from Ray’s room if you sat or
stool right next to the wall at an acute angle to window. The communal bathroom
only a few feet down the hallway had an almost head on view. The rooming house
occupied the 2nd floors of two separate buildings, the ground floors of which
were occupied by [from north to south] Jim’s Grill (a bar and grill), Cohn
& Co. and Canipe’s Amusements (a jukebox company that sold used 45s) [see
chart below].
King was killed by a single rifle shot at 6:01 PM, police
who happened to be at a fire station around the corner responded quickly.
Witnesses indicated, and the coroner later confirmed, that the shot came from
the general direction of the flophouse. Moments after shot a man carrying a
long bundle ran from hallway Ray’s room was on down to Main St., dumped the
bundle in front of Canipe’s and sped off in a white Mustang.
Willie Anschutz from room 4B looked out into the hallway
after he heard the shot and said he thought the man who fled ran from 5B but he
was not sure. He said the man covered his face with his arm so he could not ID
him. Charlie Stephens from 6B, who had seen Ray when he arrived, said the man
who fled looked like the man from 5B. Stephens whose room was between 5B and
the bathroom said he heard the man from 5B make frequent extended visits to
bathroom but only ran water or flushed the toilet once and that the last visit
was shortly before the shot. He was sure the shot came from the bathroom. Several witnesses said he was drunk a few
said he was not.
The bundle was discovered to contain several of Ray’s
possession including a rifle he had bought a few days earlier, a pair of
binoculars he had bought a few hours earlier and a newspaper indicating King
was staying at room 306 of the Lorraine Motel. The rifle had the same general
rifling characteristics as the slug that killed King but the latter was too
badly damaged for a definite match. Ray abandoned his white Mustang in Atlanta
the next morning and fled to Toronto, then London then Lisbon and finally back
to London where he was captured and extradited to the US.
He initially denied the charges, then claimed he was sitting
in his car when “Raoul” – a mysterious character who he said got him involved
in smuggling – jumped in hid under a sheet, told him to drive off and got out a
few blocks away. He eventually pled guilty and signed a document with over 50
stipulations including that he had shot King from the bathroom. Three days
later he recanted his confession but was never granted a new trial.
Witnesses indicated that in addition to the one about 20
feet south of Canipe’s there was another white Mustang parked in front of
Jim’s. Ray claimed the latter was his and that he drove off at about 5:30 to a
gas station blocks away to get a flat fixed and was there when King was shot.
He said when he tried to return to Brewer’s the street was full of cops; he
thought “Raoul” had been busted, since he was wanted he drove off. The details
of his accounts have varied quite bit but he said when he heard on the radio
that King had been assassinated and police were looking for a white man driving
a white Mustang figured he had been set up a decided to get rid of the car and
flee the country. Ray was represented by several attorneys before he died in
1998; the last was William Pepper who wrote two books about the case.
Pepper and others who do not believe Ray shot King accept
his claim he was trying to get a flat tire in his trunk fixed at the time of
the assassination and point the accounts the other Mustang. The evidence does
indeed suggest there were 2 late-model out-of-state white hard-top Mustangs
parked on the east side of S. Main near the flophouse that afternoon. At least
half a dozen witnesses saw one parked in front of Jim’s Grill and a similar
number saw one just south of Canipe’s. The chart below from Pepper’s book
Orders to Kill corresponds pretty closely to the witness accounts. However
based on their descriptions of it, the Mustang in front of the bar almost
certainly was NOT Ray’s thus “black suit man” (BSM) almost certainly got into
Ray’s car and thus almost certainly was Ray himself.
[ 1]
Ray’s Mustang recovered in Atlanta
Ray’s 289 HP hardtop 1966 Mustang recovered in Atlanta a few
days after the assassination had several distinctive features:
- All the
tires except the right front were whitewalls. Ray had changed a flat, the black
wall was the spare, there was a flat white wall in the trunk. AFAIK we have
only Ray’s word that he got the flat before the assassination. He dumped the
car less than 400 miles away [ 2] over
14 hours after the assassination [ 3]
so on the afternoon of April 4, 1968 all 4 tires might have been whitewalls.
- the
wheels had very distinctive wire spoke hubcaps
- The
interior was bright red
- Ray had
recently visited Mexico, it had two distinctive Mexican tourist pass stickers,
one on the passenger side of the windshield and the other on the rear right
window - they were even noticed by a young boy at the housing project were the
car was dumped, “her son Johnny Niesen 13 became curious about the car he
noticed it had two Mexican stickers and a lot of cigarette ashes” [ 4]
[ 5]
 |
| Photo of Ray’s car from a recent auction[ 6] |
 |
| Bright red interior of Ray’s Mustang |
 |
| Mexican ‘Turista’ sticker -Note that the seats are red as well |
 |
|
Mexican ‘Turista’ sticker -Note that the seats are red as
well
|
Fox 13 video of car: http://rcvideos.magnify.net/video/James-Earl-Rays-Mustang-Goes-to
The Mustang in front of Jim’s Grill
Six witnesses gave descriptions of the Mustang parked in
front of the bar and grill to the FBI and MPD:
LOYD JOWERS
The first of those witnesses to see the car in front of
Jim’s was the bar’s now infamous proprietor Loyd Jowers:
LOYD JOWERS, owner, Jim's Grill, 418 South Main Street, advised that at approximately 3:55 p.m. on April 4, 1968, he arrived at the Grill, and parked directly in back of a white Mustang that was parked on the street directly in front of his Grill. He stated that he believed that the car had Mississippi license plates on it because they were of an orange or orangish-yellow color. [FBI] [ 7] He said that his first impression was that they were Mississippi license plates they were light in color, but he wasn't sure about the state….[MPD] [ 8]
An “orange or orangish-yellow” license plate? As Pepper
pointed out “Ray's car, of course, had Alabama plates with white letters on a
red background. So Mr. Jowers seems not to have seen Ray’s car.
Backers of the ‘Ray was a patsy’ theory will of course
object that decades later Jowers
“confessed” he had been part of the plot and thus anything he said in 1968 was
suspect. The Civil Rights Division of
the DoJ however made a very strong case that Jowers later claims were BS, he
told an essentially consistent story for over 25 years, then told various
inconstant and implausible tales of a complex conspiracy which he eventually
recanted and described as “b***s***”. His ‘confession’ was apparently part of a
scheme to try and get a book or movie deal [
9]. Also from early on he had
said he thought the sound of the shot came from the kitchen or behind his bar.
For example according to the Memphis PD Homicide Report “around 6:00
PM [Jowers] said he was standing
at the cash register, which is
in the front
end of the
building, when he heard
a loud noise,
which wounded like
it came from
the rear of
the building, or
the kitchen…[he] asked
Harold Parker [who was sitting in
the back] if he had
heard the noise in
the kitchen, and
Parker told him he
had.” [ 10] Jowers was one of the
few, if not the only, person who said they had heard the shot come from behind
his grill, Parker told the FBI (emphasis mine) ‘he told JOWERS he had NOT heard
any shooting…he definitely DID NOT hear any shot fired while he was in Jim's
Grill’ [ 11]. Why would Jowers have said
this it he was part of a plot to frame Ray? Even if we dismiss his account The
other witnesses described details inconsistent with Ray’s Mustang.
DAVID WOOD
Mr. DAVID M. WOOD…advised he left work at approximately 5:00p.m., on April 4, 1968, and walked alone to Jim's Grill…He said he walked down Huling Street to South Main and crossed South Main diagonally toward Jim's Grill. He said he would estimate it was approximately 5:05 p.m., when he walked in front of a Mustang automobile whichwas parked close to Jim's Grill…He said he felt thatthis was a white car that appeared to be dirty and not recentlywashed. He said this car did not have hubcaps, had blacktires, but he did not notice the interior of the car. He saidhe did not look at the license, but glanced down and there wasno front license plate. He said also he noticed in the windowthere was no city of Memphis sticker in this window… [FBI] [ 12]…he noticed that it did not have a license plate in the front and there were no stickers, city or Inspection, on the windshield. As he stepped up on the sidewalk, he stated he glanced over his right shoulder to observe the size of the engine in theMustang and saw it to be a 289 emblem on the front fender [MPD] [ 13]
Black tires? No hubcaps? He looked and noticed “there were
no stickers, city or Inspection, on the windshield” but not did see the large
and conspicuous Mexican tourist sticker? Also since he passed by the front hood
car and looked at the windshield it is hard to imagine he would have failed to
notice an attention grabbing red interior. So Mr.Wood seems not to have seen
Ray’s car.
STEVE CUPPLES
Mr. GILBERT STEPHEN (STEVE) CUPPLES…stated he left work at approximately 5:03 p.m., drove his 1959 white Chevrolet Impala, and parked it immediately across the street from Jim's Grill …[he] stated he recalls seeing a white Mustang that could have been a 1967 or possibly 1968 model parked directly in front of JOWERS' Cadillac. He said this Mustang had black wall tires and believes it had large hubcaps. He said when he entered Jim's Grill he walked behind JOWERS' Cadillac and, therefore, he did not notice very many details of the Mustang…He said he got the impression the Mustang was dirty or not freshly washed… [FBI] [ 14]
Cupples was the only witness to say the car had hubcaps but
like several of the others he said it had black wall tires. He could have been
mistaken but said it was ’67 or ’68 model, Ray’s was a ’66. So Mr. Cupples
seems not to have seen Ray’s car.
KENNETH W. FOSTER
Mr. KENNETH W. FOSTER… advised he left work at approximately 5:00 p.m., with BILLY HOARD, picked up his car and drove to a parking space immediately across the street from Jim's Grill…it was approximately 5:05 p.m., when he entered Jim's Grill with BILLY HOARD. He stated he recalls specifically that he walked between a white Mustang and a white Cadillac …he noticed the Mustang had black tires, but does not recall if it had hubcaps. He added he does not recall looking to determine if the Mustang had stickers on the window or it had a local license. [FBI] [ 15]
Foster like the others said the car had black wall tires,
Ray’s hubcaps were fairly attention getting but Foster didn’t notice any. So
Mr. Foster seems not to have seen Ray’s car.
.JAMES WALKER
Mr. JAMES A. WALKER, JR….advised he left work about 5:05 p.m., on April 4, 1968, and…arrived at the area of Jim's Grill at approximately 5:20 p.m., and attempted to park in his usual parking place that is near the entrance to Jim's Grill. He said when he pulled up he noticed .LOWERS' Cadillac parked in the first parking space Just north of the fire hydrant that is near the entrance of Jim's Grill, He said he usually parks in the next parking space, but found that it was occupied by a white Mustang…Mr. WALKER stated he recalls that this was a 1966 white Mustang hardtop. He said the interior of the car was dark possibly red or black he said he did not see the license on the car, but looked at the windows to see if these were any stickers. He said he was particularly aware of stickers because he has a habit of looking in the windows of cars to see if they belonged to a particular college fraternity. He said he does not recall seeing any stickers or antenna on the car. He said, however, there could' have been an antenna that he did not notice. He said he did not look at the tires or the hubcaps and cannot furnish any other information concerning tires or stickers other than, as he recalls, the car appeared to be slightly dirty or at least not recently washed. He stated he does not recall looking into the car, but is certain that he would have seen a sticker especially on the rear window if there had been any stickers on the window of this Mustang. [FBI] [ 16]
Walker’s description comes closest to describing Ray’s car a
1966 white hardtop with a possibly red interior but it’s hard to imagine
describing the color of the interior or Ray’s car as ‘dark’. Walker however
said he looked specifically for stickers and didn’t see any. It also would have
been hard to miss the rather large antenna on Ray’s Mustang. So Mr. Walker
seems not to have seen Ray’s car.
RAY HENDRIX and BILL REED
Hendrix and Reed, both of whom were staying at the Fox Hotel
just around the corner from Main St on Vance Av. two blocks north of Jim’s,
they told the FBI (respectively) “they left the grill at approximately 5:30
p.m.” or “between 5:15 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.” Just after they left Hendrix
remembered that he had forgotten his jacket in Jim’s so Reed waited for him
outside while he retired it. Reed said that while his friend was retrieving his
jacket he,
…saw a white Mustang was parked near the entrance of Jim's Grill. Mr. Reed stated he does not have a car and is in the market for a car and was considering buying a Mustang and therefore he looked this car over. He said he believed the car was an off white color, that it was not dirty, but was not exactly clean either. He said he believes this car had not been recently washed. He said he does not recall the color of the interior, but believes that it was a dark color. He said he does not recall seeing anything inside the car other than five cartons lying on the back seat. He described these cartons as being the size of a tin package cigarette carton. He said these cartons were red and white in color, but does not remember any lettering on the cartons nor does he remember whether the white or the red was dominant. He said when he saw these cartons he feltthat the owner of this car was probably a traveling salesman …Mr. Reed stated he does not know whether or not any stickers were in the window of this car and he did not look at the license… [FBI] [ 17]
Though many butts were found in his car Ray claimed he was
not a smoker and said nothing about having any cigarettes - let alone five
cartons, i.e. 50 packs – in it. It is hard to imagine Reed would have noticed
that the cigarette cartons were “red and white” but failed to notice the seat
they were lying on like the rest of the interior was bright right and then gone
on to describe interior as being “a dark color”. It is equally had to imagine
he could have failed to notice the prominent Mexican tourist stickers
especially when looking through the right side windows at the back seat. So Mr.
Reed seems not to have seen Ray’s car.
Reed and Hendrix both said that as the got to the corner of
Vance and Main a white Mustang turned the corner heading east on Vance:
He [Reed] said he does not know if this is the same car he saw parked in front of Jim's Grill but added it seemed to be the same car. He said he did not see who was in the car but believes it was a white male with a white shirt… [FBI] [ 18]
So Reed who had just “looked [the] car over” about 2 minutes
before thought it was the same Mustang, but not having seen the one near
Canipe’s might simply have assumed that was the case. Confirmation that the Mustang in front of
Jim’s was the one that passed Hendrix and Reed came from taxi driver James McCraw.
Ray 'investigator' Harold Weisberg said the cabby told him when he came to pick
up resident Charlie Stephens he double parked next to Jowers’ car and the
“white Mustang was not there.”[ 19]
Decades latter however McCraw told Pepper and others he saw two Mustangs near
the flophouse [ 20]. But he was a
friend Jowers and seems to have part of his attempted scam [ 21].
It’s also significant that Reed said the driver had a white
shirt. Several people who saw Ray when he rented the room in the flophouse 3 -
3:30 said he was wearing a black suit. At 6 PM, about 30 minutes after Reed saw
the driver, MLK left his room already wearing a jacket and his chauffeur told
him "It's cold outside, put your topcoat on," and he replied,
"O.K., I will" [22 ] so it is
unlikely Ray would have removed his jacket at this time.
The Mustang south of Canipe’s
THE MEN IN CANIPE’S
According to Guy Canipe and two customers in his store at
about 6:00 PM a white man dropped a bundle - later found to full of James Earl
Ray’s possessions including a rifle he had bought a few days earlier, a pair of
binoculars he had bought a few hours earlier and a newspaper indicating King
was staying at room 306 in the Lorraine Motel – in front of Canipe’s store,
walked south and drove off in a white Mustang. The MPD/FBI/HSCA/DoJ/Shelby Co.
prosecutors said the man was Ray and the Mustang was his. Based on the accounts
of the witnesses who described the car in front of Jim’s Grill that almost
certainly was the case. Ray defenders
however insist that the car was not Ray’s and that the man was part of a
conspiracy to frame him for the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
GUY CANIPE:
…a white male, who CANIPE described as tall, a little on the heavy aide, wearing dark colored possibly black suit, a shirt and tie, having dark colored hair possibly black, moments before had deposited these articles in the doorway and had then run south on Main Street [FBI] [ 23] After hesitating momentarily, Mr. CANIPE walked out onto the sidewalk, looking in both directions to see what happened to the man who obviously had dropped this bundle. As he did this, a white small car, possibly a compact, pulled away from the curb on the cant side of Main Street at a point just south of his store. There was only one man in the car, namely the driver. [FBI] [ 24]Mr.Canipe further advised Lt .Ghormley that he noticed a white Mustang leave at a high, rate of speed north on Main. [MPD] [ 25]
BURNELL FINLEY:
As his attention was attracted to this box or package, he also saw a man walking rapidly SOUTH on the sidewalk on the east side of Main, it being obvious that this was the person who had dropped or thrown the package in front of CANIPE's store, there being no one else around in that area and the box or package not having been there earlier…Just about the time that Mr, CANIPE started out of the front door of the store, Mr, FINLEY heard the "screech" of tires and looked up to see a white Mustang speeding north on Main past CANIPE's store. [FBI][ 26]
JULIUS GRAHAM:
Mr. JULIUS L. GRAHAM…accompanied Mr. BERNELL FINLEY from their place of employment to Canipe Amusement Company… they arrived about 5:30 P.M. …He also recalls that as they were looking for a parking space there definitely were two white cars in the parking spaces in front of and to the south of Canipe Amusement Company. The second of those two white cars, or the one slightly south of the CANIPE store was definitely a white Mustang. He believes the other white car, the one in front of CANIPE's store, was probably a white Rambler. He cannot remember a third car being parked behind the Mustang. The Mustang he saw as they approached the store looking for a parking place was the ordinary variety of Mustang rather than the late model "Fastback" variety. He did not notice the license plates on this Mustang… […]Mr. GRAHAM heard tires "screech" and observed a white Mustang to speed north on Main…Mr. GRAHAM is positive that the car which sped away was white Mustang and there is no question in his mind but what it was the same Mustang he had seen earlier… [FBI] [ 27]Upon hearing the sound of the package falling, he [Graham] turned and viewed the man turning the corner of the building in a southerly direction. He saw him only from the back, and immediately after he passed the doorway, a white late model Mustang pulled off from the curb hurriedly. [MPD][ 27]
MRS. HURLEY AND HER COWORKERS:
At the time of the assassination Seabrook Wallpaper was
across the street from Canipe’s, its work day ended at 4:30. On April 4, 1968
two employees, Frances B. Thompson and Elizabeth Copeland were looking out the
window looking for their rides home when they saw a white car driven by a white
man pull up between 4:30 and 4:45. Mrs. Copeland told Peggy Hurley another
coworker her husband Charles Hurley had arrived. Mrs. Hurley told her friend
that the car was not her husband’s it was a Mustang and he drove a Falcon. Mrs.
Copeland said the man had dark hair and she believed he had a dark coat (which
would match Ray). She said when her husband arrived at approximately 5:20 the
car was still there but the man was gone [
28]; this fits with Graham saying he saw the Mustang at 5:30 but made no
mention of seeing any one in it.
MR. HURLEY:
Mr. Hurley arrived a few minutes after the Mustang and
parked behind it while waiting for his wife. He told the press and FBI within
days of the assassination and repeated under oath at King v. Jowers that he
believed the Mustang had an “Arkansas license plate, because the numerals were
red and the background was white” [
29]. Additionally according to his FBI interview summary ‘he looked at
the license plate of the Mustang and believed…the first two letters being
"AL." Mr. HURLEY said he could not be positive of the two letters
"AL" on the license, but he believed these letters did appear on the
license…” [ 30] But as his defenders
point out Ray’s car had an Alabama plate that had white numbers (1-38993) on a
red background. It is interesting to note that he thought he saw letters AL on
what was probably an ALabama license plate, did his mind simply play a trick on
him?
At the trial he testified that he had arrived around 4:45
-4:50 and that the car was “right there” in front of Jim’s Grill [ 31], so it is tempting to cite him as yet
another witness who gave a description of the car parked there that was
inconsistent with Ray’s vehicle. However numerous witnesses said Jowers’ car
was almost bumper to bumper behind the Mustang and Hurley acknowledged “That
has been a long time” [ 32] seemingly
indicating that after over 30 years he was not sure about the location.
In 1988 he told Pepper the car was occupied by “a young man
wearing a dark blue windbreaker”. Ray’s lawyer took this as additional
confirmation this was NOT Ray’s car as he noted “Ray was dressed in a dark
suit, white shirt and dark tie on that afternoon.” [ 33] Hurley’s recall of the details however
is questionable, unless there were THREE white Mustang’s on the block (one of
which was not seen by anyone) either the six witness who saw the car in front
of the bar were wrong or he was and by 1999 he had misremembered the location
of the car. The part about the blue wind breaker was also contradicted by
Canipe who said the man running to the car after the shooting “wearing dark
colored possibly black suit.” Additionally Hurley had only seen the man from a
car length away through two car windows and only would have seen the part of
his jacket above the top of the seat. The day after the assassination he told
the FBI ‘it was too dark in the man's car to enable him to get a good look at
the man’ and tell them anything other than he was white [ 34]. It does not even make sense, if the man
in the Mustang was supposed to be a stand in for Ray why have him wear such an
obviously different jacket? Why have him sit in the car for several minutes
where people could see him? Why have him show up about 45 minutes before Ray
drove away?
Conclusion
Pepper and other Ray apologists unquestioningly accept
Charles Hurley’s account but as noted above either Jowers AND Wood AND Cupples
AND Foster AND Walker AND Reed were all wrong or Hurley was mistaken. His
account is not corroborated by anyone. On the other hand except for one saying
it had hubcaps and another saying it did not the six men who saw the Mustang in
front of Jim’s Grill gave very consistent descriptions, it was not very clean,
it had black wall tires, it didn’t have front license plate, it didn’t have
stickers, it had a dark interior, Jower’s Caddy was parked tightly behind it, a
Lincoln Continental was in front of it etc. Though a few of the details they
recalled were consistent with Ray’s car each of them mentioned one or more
details that were not.
Ray’s defenders could say both tires on the right side of
the car were partially obscured by the sidewalk and perhaps only the rear one
was a white wall, but most of the witnesses said the first saw the car while
crossing Main St. and thus would have had an unobscured view of the left side
of the car.
I drew the witness statements from their FBI interview
summaries and the MPD Homicide report, Pepper et. al. could argue that these
documents did not fairly represent the statements of the witnesses but I doubt
that is the case because they included some comments that undermined the case
against Ray, for example much of Hurley’s description of the ‘south’ Mustang
and Walkers’ description of the ‘north’ one plus Cupples’ comment about the
hubcaps and Woods’ about the 289 emblem and Jowers’ about the noise from the back
etc. They could also argue that the south Mustang being Ray’s would not prove
that he was the man who dumped the bundle in front of Canipe’s or even the one
who ran from his room let alone that he was the assassin. It would however
indicate that Ray’s had lied for decades about his whereabouts at the time of
the assassination. It would roughly fit his first alibi that he was waiting for
Raoul in front of Jim’s when the latter jumped in the car. The problem is that
after decades of trying Ray and his advocates have yet to come up with any
credible evidence of the supposed mystery man’s existence, let alone that he
had any contact with Ray.
Ray’s gone to gas station alibi already lacked any
credibility. If Ray really had a witness who could have placed him blocks away
at the time of the assassination why didn’t he tell his original attorney
Arthur Hanes? As the HSCA pointed out his claim he was going to wait for trial
to bring this up is too ludicrous to be taken seriously, it would not have
given his lawyer enough time find the gas station attendant. Ray said he came
not to trust Hanes but if he had a solid alibi it should have been one of the
first things Ray told his defense attorney. This coupled with the witness
statements discussed above and the facts there is no credible evidence
supporting Ray’s supposed alibi and that he seems never to have said where the
supposed gas station was or even what brand it was diminish the gas station
story to the status of a fable only true believers could believe. In 1976 Ray
told Playboy “there's a filling-station attendant and some others who'll say
they remembered the car” [ 35], but 44
years after the assassination not one credible witness has said that saw him
there. Two did come forward, one later admitted he had lied and was not in town
at the time, the other even Pepper said was not credible.
It simply is not credible that Ray would not have remembered
the brand of the service station. He claims that shortly after leaving it he
heard news on the radio indicating he was a prime suspect in the shooting so he
should have been saying to himself, ‘no I was at the Getty/Esso/Texaco
station’. He supporters cannot claim he had a poor memory, according to Pepper
he remembered the names of the motels he
had spent one night each in on his way to Memphis [ 36] even though this had little bearing on
his case.
Postscript
The two Mustangs were very similar. Both were dirty, white,
late-model hard-tops from states (or a state) that differently from Tennessee
did not use front license plates. Ray’s was a 1966 289 HP and the one in front
of Jim’s appears to have been a 1966 - 8 289 HP as well. There are two possible
explanations, coincidence or conspiracy. However unlike Pepper I don’t think
the latter would point to the FBI, CIA, DoD, MPD or Mafia let alone a
combination of these groups. Quite to the contrary, certainly either one of
them would have been capable of getting two cars without the differences noted
above, getting Ray to scrape off those Mexican stickers and parked the 2nd one
in Ray’s spot after he pulled out. If this was more than an incredible
coincidence it seems to have organized by a not very capable group of people
perhaps some of Ray’s acquaintances or some KKK types, certainly not men like
Richard Helms, J. Edgar Hoover, Carlos Marcello and Frank Holloman among
others.
Endnotes
1] Orders to Kill http://www.american-buddha.com/martin.orderskill.19.htm
2]
3] FBI description
of car (includes time and location of dump)
4] ‘The Strange Case
of James Earl Ray ’,The Owosso Argus-Press - Jan 23, 1969 http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1978&dat=19690123&id=xgYuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Z6sFAAAAIBAJ&pg=749,2280839
5] Auction site
description and photos:
http://www.barrett-jackson.com/application/onlinesubmission/lotdetails.aspx?ln=372&aid=303&pop=0
FBI description of car:
http://register.shelby.tn.us/media/mlk/mlkviewimage.php?imgtype=pdf&image=ray_material_2011-02-08/fbi_investigative_report/0377-0506.tif#ray_material_2011-02-08/fbi_investigative_report/0377-0506.tif
6] Auction site
description and photos:
http://www.barrett-jackson.com/application/onlinesubmission/lotdetails.aspx?ln=372&aid=303&pop=0
7] FBI 4/5/68:
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Canipes-Jowers%20Lloyd/Item%2001.pdf
, 1968 Mississippi plates were indeed yellowish, http://platedepot.com/index.php?_a=product&product_id=3901
8] MPD http://www.paperlessarchives.com/FreeTitles/MPDMLKHomicide.pdf
9] “Jowers’
Allegations”, DoJ: http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/crm/mlk/part3.php
10] MPD http://www.paperlessarchives.com/FreeTitles/MPDMLKHomicide.pdf
11] FBI -4/15/68
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Canipes-Jowers%20Lloyd/Item%2008.pdf
12] FBI 4/13/68:
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Canipes-Jowers%20Lloyd/Item%2009.pdf
13] MPD:http://www.paperlessarchives.com/FreeTitles/MPDMLKHomicide.pdf
14] FBI 4/13/68:
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Canipes-Jowers%20Lloyd/Item%2017.pdf
15] FBI 4/13/68]:
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Canipes-Jowers%20Lloyd/Item%2010.pdf
16] FBI 4/13/68:
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Canipes-Jowers%20Lloyd/Item%2013.pdf
17] FBI 4/13/68]:
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Canipes-Jowers%20Lloyd/Item%2015.pdf
18] FBI 4/13/68]:
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Canipes-Jowers%20Lloyd/Item%2015.pdf
19] UNSOLVED MYSTERIES – "MARTIN LUTHER KING": INT. WITH
HAROLD WEISBERG: pg 11 http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/U%20Disk/Unsolved%20Mysteries%2003-31-93/Item%2004.pdf
20] Orders to Kill :
http://www.american-buddha.com/martin.orderskill.15.htm
21] “Jowers’ Allegations”, DoJ: http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/crm/mlk/part3.php
22] “Martin Luther
King Is Slain in Memphis; A White Is Suspected; Johnson Urges Calm”, NYT,
4/5/68
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0404.html
; FBI 4/12/68 http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/L%20Disk/Lorraine%20Motel%20Leaks/Item%2026.pdf
23]
FBI Ghormley interview 4/16/68:
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/G%20Disk/Ghormley%20Judson%20E%20Lieutenant/Item%2002.pdf
24] FBI 4/5/68]
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Canipes-Jowers%20Lloyd/Item%2004.pdf
25] MPD: http://www.paperlessarchives.com/FreeTitles/MPDMLKHomicide.pdf
26] FBI 4/5/68]
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Canipes-Jowers%20Lloyd/Item%2005.pdf
27] FBI 4/5/68]
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Canipes-Jowers%20Lloyd/Item%2006.pdf
28] MPD: http://www.paperlessarchives.com/FreeTitles/MPDMLKHomicide.pdf
29] Melanson,
Phillip H., The Martin Luther King Assassination http://books.google.com.br/books?id=4FbgiGjR-TgC&pg=PA115
30] King v. Jowers
trial transcript: http://www.thekingcenter.org/sites/default/files/KING%20FAMILY%20TRIAL%20TRANSCRIPT.pdf
31] FBI 4/5/68:
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Canipes-Jowers%20Lloyd/Item%2026.pdf
32] King v. Jowers trial transcript: http://www.thekingcenter.org/sites/default/files/KING%20FAMILY%20TRIAL%20TRANSCRIPT.pdf
33] King v. Jowers
trial transcript: http://www.thekingcenter.org/sites/default/files/KING%20FAMILY%20TRIAL%20TRANSCRIPT.pdf
34] Orders to Kill :
http://www.american-buddha.com/martin.orderskill.15.htm
35] FBI 4/5/68:
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Canipes-Jowers%20Lloyd/Item%2026.pdf
36] "Playboy's History of
Assassination, Part VI -- Death Crosses the Color Line" by James McKinley,
June 1976 – http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/White%20Materials/White%20Magazines%20And%20Articles/Playboy%20History%20of%20Assassination%20in%20America%20Part%206/Item%2001.pdf
pg. 216, PDF pg. 10
37] Orders to Kill :
http://www.american-buddha.com/martin.orderskill.10.htm
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