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  The next morning, we were joined by Ray’s wife, Anna. She had been an NBC courtroom artist sketching scenes at the trial following Ray’s escape attempt in 1976, apparently was smitten with him, and began to visit him regularly. They eventually were married by Martin’s old friend, Jim Lawson, who shared Mark Lane’s belief that Ray was not the killer. (In March 1993, James and Anna divorced acrimoniously.)

  Around 10:00 that morning we set out for Petros, the remote home of Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary. Mark Lane, Ralph Abernathy, Dr. Howard Berens and I visited with James in a small interview room outside the maximum security area. From what I had read about him I was prepared to meet a racist, hardened criminal whose tendency for violence lay not far below the surface. I was very surprised. He seemed serious and shy, almost diffident, and shook hands weakly. He was trim but exceedingly pale, for he had been doing much of his time in solitary “for his own safety” as a result of an escape attempt. By that time he had been in prison for eight years and seven months. He sat down at the head of a small table, and after Dr. Berens and I arranged the tape recorders, Abernathy began the session with a prayer.

  Ralph’s prayer did little to ease the tension that had been building from the moment we passed through the prison gate. As a result of my research I leaned toward the belief that Ray had not killed Dr. King; I hoped that he would be able to convince us of his innocence. I suppose that this hope stemmed, at least in part, from an unwillingness to accept that such a singular life and work as Dr. King’s could be snuffed out so unceremoniously by a “lone nut” who was by all appearances a nonentity. I knew, however, that if Ray’s answers didn’t measure up and we came to believe he was guilty, then Ralph would have to declare as much in his statement to the media. To do or say anything else would be like spitting on Martin’s grave.

  10

  James Earl Ray’s Story: October 17, 1978

  THE STORY WE GOT FROM JAMES EARL RAY THAT DAY, confirmed by him over the years, is significantly different from the one that would be embodied in the conclusions of the HSCA.

  When Ray escaped from Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson in 1967, he had escaped by concealing himself in a bread box, being taken out with the delivery to the prison farm. When he left he had approximately $1,250 in cash, a small transistor radio, and a social security number in the name of John L. Rayns that his brother John had given him.

  He eventually made his way to Chicago, where he found a job working at the Indian Trail restaurant in Winnetka. Under the Rayns name he obtained some identification papers, bought an old car, and acquired a temporary driver’s license. During this period he was in contact with his brother Jerry.

  Concerned about staying too long in the area, Ray left the job after approximately six weeks and decided to go to Canada to get a false passport and then leave the country. He got a pistol from an ex-con he knew, sold his car, bought another, and drove to Montreal. Upon arriving in Canada, Ray began using the name Eric S. Galt (he wasn’t clear as to how he came to choose the name).

  In Montreal, he robbed a brothel of $1,700. Soon after, he called a travel agency to find out what documents were necessary to get a Canadian passport. He was told he had to have someone vouch for him who had known him for two years, which he later found not to be true. He intended to travel to a country in Africa or South America from which he could not be extradited. He also started hanging out around the docks and local bars, seeking passage out of Canada on a freighter, or perhaps hoping to find some drunken sailor from whom he might steal merchant marine documents.

  One of these waterside taverns was the Neptune Bar at 121 West Commissioner’s Street. Here in August 1967 he met the shadowy character Raul, who Ray insists was to coordinate and direct his activity from that day through April 4, 1968. The meeting at the Neptune was the first of eight or ten. Eventually, Ray told Raul that he needed identification and passage out of the country. Raul replied that he might be able to help if Ray would help with some smuggling schemes at the U.S. border. Ray had no way of contacting Raul at this time. They simply made arrangements to get together, usually at the Neptune. (Over the years, Ray’s description of Raul has varied slightly, but he has basically described him as being of Latin extraction, weighing between 145 and 150 pounds, about 5'9" tall, and having dark hair with a reddish tint.)

  Eventually discarding the idea of finding a guarantor, Ray resumed meeting with Raul and tentatively agreed to help smuggle some unspecified contraband across the border from Windsor to Detroit. Raul promised him travel papers and money for this service. Ray said he expected to receive only a small payment for the operation, but he never negotiated or even asked about his fee. This was typical of Ray’s behavior throughout. He didn’t believe he was in a position to ask questions—he was being paid to follow instructions.

  Ray was told by Raul that if he decided to become further involved he would have to move to Alabama, where Raul would buy him a car, pay his living expenses, and give him a fee. In return, Ray would be expected to help Raul in another smuggling operation, this time across the Mexican border.

  Shortly afterward he met Raul at Windsor, and in two separate trips smuggled two sets of packages across the border to Detroit. He thought the first trip was a dry run to test him. On the second trip he was stopped at customs, but the inspector was interrupted by his superior and sent elsewhere. The second official discontinued the search and simply had him pay the $4.50 duty for a television set he had declared.

  When he got to Detroit, Raul nervously asked why he had been delayed. Ray showed him the receipt from the customs officer. Raul gave him about $1,500 and a New Orleans telephone number where a message could be left. He told Ray that if he would continue to cooperate, he would eventually obtain not only travel documents but more money as well.

  Raul told Ray to get rid of his old car and go to Mobile, Alabama, where they would meet at a place to be decided. Ray said that he convinced Raul to go to Birmingham instead because it was a larger city and Ray thought he’d be more anonymous there. Raul said that he would send a general delivery letter to Birmingham with instructions on where and when to meet.

  Some time after his arrival in Birmingham, Ray picked up a general delivery letter from Raul that instructed him to go to the Starlight Lounge the same evening. There Raul reminded Ray that he was going to need a reliable car. Ray saw an advertisement in the paper for a used Mustang, and Raul gave him $2,000 in cash to buy it.

  After this, Raul asked him to buy some photography equipment. He also gave Ray a new number in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which he could call for instructions as a backup to the New Orleans number. Raul gave him $1,000 for the photography equipment and his living expenses, and at Raul’s request Ray gave him a set of keys to the Mustang. He ordered the photography equipment by mail from a Chicago firm but didn’t understand why Raul wanted it.

  Ray had previously received his driver’s license and a set of Alabama tags under the name of Eric S. Galt. He kept the old Rayns license in a rented safe deposit box at a local bank, along with some of the cash Raul had given him and a pistol he had bought through a classified ad two or three weeks after he arrived in Birmingham.

  Some time in late September or early October, Ray received a general delivery letter from Raul asking him to call New Orleans, which he did. This would be the first of several such calls he would make. Raul himself never got on the phone, but Ray instead always talked with a man who knew where Raul was and who relayed instructions. Ray never met the man he spoke to on the phone and didn’t think he could now identify his voice, but he had the impression that the contact kept tabs on persons other than Raul. Ray was told to drive to Baton Rouge and make another phone call to receive instructions for a rendezvous in Mexico.

  When Ray got to Baton Rouge, Raul was gone, having left instructions for Ray to go directly to a motel in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, just across the border. Ray checked in there on October 7. Raul joined him and they went back across the border to the
United States carrying some kind of contraband inside the spare tire. Ray surmised that it was drugs or jewelry. Raul gave him $2,000 and assured him that he would get the travel documents next time, along with enough money for Ray to go into business in another country. Raul gave him a second New Orleans number to replace the first and told him that his next operation would involve transporting guns and accessories. Raul said he would contact him again, when the time came, through general delivery.

  After traveling in Mexico for some time, Ray headed for the California border. Before crossing over, however, he went through the car to see if there was anything that might make customs agents suspicious. Down the left side of the front passenger seat he found a cigarette packet with a business card slipped into it. On the front of the card was printed a name that had been inked out, the name of a city (a two-word name that appeared to be New Orleans), and “L.E.A.A.” Written on the back was the name Randy Rosen. There were some additional letters after Rosen that James couldn’t identify (he later came to believe that the name was Rosenson) and an address, 1180 Northwest River Drive, Miami.

  Ray wasn’t certain how the card got in the car but believed that somehow it was connected to Raul—perhaps the cigarette packet had slipped out of Raul’s pocket. Ray only threw it away in Los Angeles after copying the information. Subsequently Ray’s brother Jerry and others spent a fair amount of time and energy trying to find Rosenson.

  Ray arrived in Los Angeles on or about November 19, believing he was through with Raul. He had given up hope that Raul would get him the travel documents, and he was determined to try to get merchant seaman’s papers on his own. He lived for a while in an apartment on North Serrano Street. He began looking for papers and a job, and he even placed a classified in the Los Angeles Times advertising himself as available for “culinary help.” He didn’t have a social security card, and because seaman’s papers required fingerprints he was worried that his efforts could result in his exposure as a fugitive. He enrolled in a bartending course, took dancing lessons, and had psychological, hypnotic counseling for a period of time, spending about $800 on these activities.

  He also contacted a number of organizations he thought might help him to emigrate. He sent out photographs that weren’t good likenesses (his face appeared fatter than it was), which later would be used by the media to accuse him of being on amphetamines. He also had plastic surgery on his nose to alter his appearance.

  By early December he was short of cash. He called the New Orleans number and the contact suggested he go to New Orleans. Marie Martin, a barmaid at the Sultan Club in the St. Francis Hotel, hooked him up with her cousin, Charles Stein, who wanted a ride to New Orleans and back. Before leaving Los Angeles, Ray dropped Marie Martin and Charles and Rita Stein off at the local George Wallace independent presidential campaign headquarters so they could register to vote. Soon after, Ray and Stein set off. Ray described Stein as a sort of “hippie” type.

  In New Orleans, Ray checked into the Provincial Motel in the Latin Quarter at Stein’s suggestion. He met Raul at Le Bunny Lounge. Raul told him that they would be running guns into Mexico and that Ray could end up in Cuba. There he could book himself passage to anywhere in the world. Raul gave him $500 and said that he would contact him in Los Angeles in a few months.

  After returning to Los Angeles with Charlie Stein around the middle of January Ray moved into the St. Francis Hotel. On March 17, following instructions from Raul, he left for New Orleans, arriving a day late. He found that Raul had gone to Birmingham, leaving word that he would meet him at the Starlight Lounge the next day. Somehow Ray got lost on the way to Birmingham and wound up in Selma. Since it was dark by that time, he spent the night there.

  Ray arrived in Birmingham on the following day, March 23, once again running somewhat behind schedule, and went straight to the Starlight, where he met Raul. Raul seemed to be in a hurry to go to Atlanta, though he didn’t say why. They set out immediately.

  On arriving in Atlanta they drove to the Peachtree and 14th Street area, where Ray rented a room from the very drunk landlord, James Garner. After a meal at a local diner Raul left, saying he’d be back in the morning.

  The next morning, Ray took the room for a week. He was able to get his room free because he convinced Garner that he had paid him in advance the night before. Later, on the telephone, Raul told Ray not to get too far away in case he needed him quickly; he might be required to drive to Miami in a few days. Raul wanted to be able to come and go freely from his confederate’s room without being seen by the landlord or anyone else. Ray was unable to duplicate a door key for him (though he had taken a locksmithing course), so he agreed to leave the side door open. This didn’t work too well, however, because the landlord’s sister kept locking it.

  Raul apparently left town, telling Ray he’d be back in a couple of days. Some six days later he returned, saying he was now ready to put the gunrunning operation into full gear. He instructed Ray to get a large-bore deer rifle fitted with a scope, plus ammunition, and to ask about the price of cheap foreign rifles. Raul originally wanted the gun to be bought in Atlanta, but Ray suggested that he could buy a rifle in Alabama more easily, since he had an Alabama ID. Raul agreed.

  With that part of the operation set, Ray packed up some of his belongings; he left other things behind at the rooming house: his pistol, some clothes, a television set, and a typewriter. He fully expected to return. Raul and Ray drove together to Birmingham, where Ray rented a room in the Travelodge motel. There Raul briefed him further on the gun purchase and gave him money. They went to a tavern, probably the Starlight Lounge, where Raul told him to go to Aeromarine Supply to buy the rifle.

  At Aeromarine Supply, Ray told the clerk he was going hunting with his brother-in-law, looked at a number of rifles, and finally selected one and asked to have a scope mounted on it. He asked the salesman to “throw in” some ammunition. Ray purchased the gun under the alias Harvey Lowmeyer, the name of a former criminal associate in Quincy, Illinois. At the last minute he believed it would be safer to buy the gun under another alias. If the clerk requested identification, he would go elsewhere to purchase the rifle under his verifiable alias, Eric S. Galt.

  He took the rifle back to the motel and showed it to Raul. To Ray’s surprise Raul said it wouldn’t do. Ray had picked up some brochures in the store, so Raul marked the rifle he wanted and told Ray to try to make an exchange. Ray called Aeromarine Supply, said that his brother-in-law didn’t like the rifle, and asked if he might exchange it for another; the store said the rifle could be exchanged but he would have to wait until the next day.

  The next morning, March 30, Ray picked up the new rifle (which we know was a Remington 760 Gamemaster). The salesman threw in some ammunition free of charge. Raul approved. (At the time of our interview, Ray appeared to be genuinely ignorant about the brand, type, and make of the gun bought on the 29th, as well as the one obtained in exchange on the 30th—even now, long after the details have been publicly revealed, Ray seems not to recall these details). Before leaving the motel Raul instructed him to check into the New Rebel Motel on Lamar Avenue in Memphis on April 3 and to bring the gun with him.

  Ray set out from Birmingham and proceeded as instructed toward Memphis at a leisurely pace, spending the night at a motel in Decatur. On the 31st he stayed at another motel in the Tuscumbia-Florence area. On April 1, he spent the night in a motel in Corinth, Mississippi (which he subsequently identified as the Southern Motel). He spent the night of April 2 in the DeSoto Motel in Mississippi, just south of Memphis. (Harold Weisberg told me some years later that in 1974, while working for attorneys Bud Fensterwald and James Lesar in preparation for an evidentiary hearing for Ray, he spoke to the manager and some cleaning staff, who confirmed that Ray was at the DeSoto Motel as he claimed. The manager claimed that the records had been turned over to FBI agents when they visited shortly after the assassination.)

  On April 3, Ray drove across the Mississippi-Tennessee state line and che
cked into the New Rebel Motel in Memphis. Late in the evening, Raul appeared at the doorway wearing a raincoat, and Ray let him in. Ray didn’t know where he came from or how he got there. Raul told him they were going to rent a room near the river. There they would work the first stage of the gunrunning deal.

  At the time, Ray figured that Raul wanted the room in a rundown part of Memphis because they’d be less conspicuous. As usual, he didn’t ask Raul any questions. Raul wanted Ray to rent the room using the Galt alias, but Ray was uncomfortable with this and suggested using an alias he had used previously—John Willard.

  Raul then wrote out the address of a tavern named Jim’s Grill and instructed Ray to meet him there at 3:00 the next afternoon.

  Earlier in the day, Ray had brought the rifle in its box into the room wrapped in a sheet or bedspread. Just before Raul left, Ray gave him the gun, and Raul left with it under his coat. He had no idea why Raul wanted to take the gun. James Earl Ray has remained adamant that after turning the gun over to Raul at the New Rebel Motel on the evening of April 3 he never saw it again.

  After checking out of the New Rebel Motel on April 4, Ray stalled for some time, did some shopping, changed a slowly leaking tire, and then drove downtown. He left the car in a parking lot and proceeded on foot to look for Jim’s Grill. He first went into a tavern on Main Street called Jim’s Club and noticed a fellow in the tavern who looked at him “kind of funny,” then eventually located Jim’s Grill down the street, at 418 South Main Street. Not seeing Raul inside, he retrieved the car and parked it at the curb just outside the grill around 3:30 p.m. By then Raul had arrived. Ray remembers Raul asking him where the car was. Ray pointed to it.

  Ray rented a room in the rooming house above the grill for a week, using the name John Willard. There Raul told him to get a pair of infrared binoculars; the people who were buying the guns wanted them too, he said. When Ray asked for them at the York Arms Store on South Main Street, he was told they could only be bought at an army surplus store, so instead he bought a pair of regular binoculars.