Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin (72 page)
Authors: Hampton Sides
Tags: #History: American, #20th Century, #Assassination, #Criminals & Outlaws, #United States - 20th Century, #Social History, #Murder - General, #Social Science, #Murder, #King; Martin Luther;, #True Crime, #Cultural Heritage, #1929-1968, #History - General History, #Jr.;, #60s, #United States, #Biography & Autobiography, #Ray; James Earl;, #History, #1928-1998, #General, #History - U.S., #U.S. History - 1960s, #Ethnic Studies, #Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - Histor
53
keen on learning ... local Mexican dances:
Ibid.
54
"I seriously considered the trade":
Ray,
Tennessee Waltz
, p. 61.
55
"He said many insulting things":
A good overview of the incident at Casa Susana is in HSCA,
Final Assassinations Report
, pp. 328-29.
56
"I'm going to kill them":
This and other details of the confrontation with the black sailors are in an official interview with Medrano, HSCA,
Appendix Reports
, vol. 4, p. 158. Also p. 174.
57
he straddled Elisa:
McMillan,
Making of an Assassin
, p. 269.
58
He had a mirror:
Huie,
He Slew the Dreamer
, p. 97.
59
"I couldn't accomplish anything":
Ray,
Tennessee Waltz
, p. 61.
60
"I don't believe you can live in Mexico":
Ray interview, HSCA,
Appendix Reports
, vol. 9, p. 488.
61
in the direction of Tijuana:
Ray,
Tennessee Waltz
, p. 62.
CHAPTER 4
ANATHEMA TO EVIL MEN
62
Burrhead--that was one of his many names:
Garrow,
FBI and Martin Luther King Jr.
, p. 106.
63
"Based on King's recent activities":
Ibid., p. 182.
64
weird phobias:
Gentry,
J. Edgar Hoover
, p. 280.
65
"mental halitosis":
DeLoach,
Hoover's FBI
, p. 67.
66
"a mythical person":
Buchwald, quoted in Richard Gid Powers,
Secrecy and Power
, p. 395.
67
"Are you familiar":
Capote, quoted in Hersh,
Bobby and J. Edgar
, p. 464.
68
"You must understand":
Gentry,
J. Edgar Hoover
, p. 501.
69
"Watch the borders":
DeLoach,
Hoover's FBI
, p. 95.
70
Helen Gandy:
Ibid., p. 109.
71
"high and distant and quiet":
Hugh Sidey,
Life
, May 12, 1972.
72
"transformed the FBI":
Jack Anderson,
Washington Post
, May 3, 1972.
73
"dangerous and rather a psycho":
Robert Kennedy, quoted in Richard Gid Powers,
Secrecy and Power
, p. 397.
74
"I'd rather have him":
Ibid., p. 393.
75
"J. Edgar Hoover is a hero":
President Johnson, Executive Order 11154, May 8, 1965, quoted in Ralph de Toledano,
J. Edgar Hoover: The Man in His Time
(New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1973), p. 301.
76
"is a pillar of strength":
Johnson, quoted in Gentry,
J. Edgar Hoover
, p. 611.
77
"the most notorious liar":
Newsweek
, Nov. 30, 1964.
78
"They had to dig deep":
Richard Gid Powers,
Secrecy and Power
, p. 416.
79
"top alley cat":
Garrow,
FBI and Martin Luther King Jr.
, p. 121.
80
"I am amazed":
Ibid., p. 121.
81
"There are as many Communists":
King 1965 interview in
Playboy
, quoted in Dyson,
I May Not Get There with You
, p. 231.
82
"a tom cat":
Richard Gid Powers,
Secrecy and Power
, p. 417.
83
"narrow his eyes":
DeLoach,
Hoover's FBI
, p. 203.
84
"saw extramarital sex":
Ibid.
85
"if the country knew":
Hersh,
Bobby and J. Edgar
, p. 386.
86
"I don't understand":
Ibid., p. 379.
87
"King, look into your heart":
Richard Gid Powers,
Secrecy and Power
, p. 420.
88
"They are out to break me":
Garrow,
FBI and Martin Luther King Jr.
, p. 134.
89
"Hoover is old":
Ibid., p. 124.
CHAPTER 5
DIXIE WEST
90
the Cicero of the Cabdriver:
The reporter James Dickenson, quoted in Lesher,
George Wallace
, p. 395.
91
"bit himself":
Ibid., p. 401.
92
"the surly orphan":
Frady,
Wallace
, p. 253.
93
"pointy-headed intellectuals":
Carter,
Politics of Rage
, p. 313.
94
"the nigra would still be in Africa":
Ibid., p. 161.
95
"Let 'em call me a racist":
Frady,
Wallace
, p. 9.
96
"a fraud, marching and going to jail":
Lesher,
George Wallace
, p. 184.
97
"who could go to bed":
Ibid., p. 199.
98
"the blood of our little children":
New York Times
, Sept. 17, 1963, pp. 1, 25.
99
"how costly Wallace":
Abernathy,
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down
, p. 357.
100
"He has just four [speeches]":
King to Dan Rather, quoted in Carter,
Politics of Rage
, p. 156.
101
"In both the North and South":
Life
, Aug. 2, 1968, pp. 17-21.
102
"The capital of Alabama":
Wall Street Journal
, Dec. 7, 1967.
103
"political ventriloquism":
Carter,
Politics of Rage
, p. 294.
CHAPTER 6
THE GRADUATE
104
"A nice fellow":
This "graduation" scene is primarily drawn from FBI interviews with Tomas Lau and former students at the bartending school. See "Investigation of International School of Bartending, Los Angeles, Attended by Galt from January 19, 1968, to March 2, 1968," FBI, MURKIN Files, 2325, sec. 22, pp. 135-36. I have also relied here on Huie,
He Slew the Dreamer
, p. 117; Posner,
Killing the Dream
, p. 214; and Ray, "20,000 Words," in House Select Committee on Assassinations,
Appendix Reports
, vol. 12.
105
St. Francis Hotel:
My description of the St. Francis Hotel is drawn from Huie,
He Slew the Dreamer
, p. 99, and my own visit to the former hotel--now an apartment house--on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.
106
he had amphetamines:
There are several telltale signs that Ray continued his amphetamine use after escaping from Jeff City, including the discovery, several months later, of a syringe in his bed-and-breakfast room in London. Charles Stein, an acquaintance of Ray's in Los Angeles, told the FBI that Ray may have been "a pillhead." See FBI interview with Stein, May 5, 1968, MURKIN Files, 2751-2925.
107
fizzly neon sign:
The large orange neon sign outside the St. Francis is mentioned in multiple documents and books, including Posner's
Killing the Dream
, p. 210.
108
recently bought himself a set of barbells:
Frank,
American Death
, p. 168.
109
"I don't think that a man":
McKinley, "Interview with James Earl Ray," p. 174.
110
"to get his knob polished":
McMillan,
Making of an Assassin
, p. 267.
111
"I find myself attracted":
McKinley, "Interview with James Earl Ray," p. 76.
112
"He was the withdrawn type":
My rendering of Galt's lessons at the National Dance Studio is largely drawn from the FBI report "Investigation at National Dance Studio, Long Beach, California, Where Galt Attended Classes, December 1967 to February 1968." Also, FBI interview with Arvidson, National Dance Studio, April 13, 1968, MURKIN Files, 1051-1175, sec. 9, pp. 276-77.
113
"overcome his shyness":
My account of Ray's visits with Freeman is primarily drawn from the journalist George McMillan's transcription of his interviews with Freeman, box 9, McMillan Papers.
114
"He had the old power idea":
Frank,
American Death
, p. 308. Also, Posner,
Killing the Dream
, p. 196.
115
"He was a good pupil":
McMillan,
Making of an Assassin
, p. 275. See also FBI interview with Freeman, April 19, 1968, Los Angeles field office.
CHAPTER 7
SURREPTITIOUSNESS IS CONTAGIOUS
116
"a moral crusader":
Clark,
Crime in America
, p. 151.
117
"Here we all were biting our nails":
Author interview with Clark, Oct. 9, 2008, New York City.
118
"We must create a reverence":
Clark,
Crime in America
, p. 95.
119
"a humane and generous concern":
Ibid., p. 8.
120
"the Jellyfish":
Hersh,
Bobby and J. Edgar
, p. 486.
121
"What kind of person is
that?":
See Gentry,
J. Edgar Hoover
, p. 599.
122
"I describe our relationship":
Ibid., p. 601.
123
"by the excessive domination":
Clark,
Crime in America
, p. 65.
124
"Surreptitiousness is contagious":
Ibid., p. 271.
125
"more than a mere dirty business":
Ibid., p. 276.
126
"Hoover had three":
Gentry,
J. Edgar Hoover
, p. 500.
127
"a man of monstrous ego":
DeLoach,
Hoover's FBI
, p. 11.
128
"crotchety, dictatorial":
Ibid., p. 111.
129
"you were not so much":
Ibid., p. 24.
130
"Such behavior":
Ibid., pp. 202-3.
131
"like the biblical mustard seed":
Ibid., p. 200.
132
"We need this installation":
Garrow,
FBI and Martin Luther King Jr.
, p. 184.
133
"A.G. will not approve":
Ibid.
134
"There has not been an adequate":
Ibid.
CHAPTER 8
A BUGLE VOICE OF VENOM
135
Galt told a representative:
Posner,
Killing the Dream
, p. 194.
136
"Several recruits":
Carter,
Politics of Rage
, p. 310.
137
"The Rockefeller interests":
Ibid., p. 311.
138
stock car track:
My description of the Burbank rally for Wallace is primarily drawn from Carter,
Politics of Rage
, pp. 314-15.
139
"He has a bugle voice of venom":
New Republic
, Nov. 9, 1968.
140
"the heat, the rebel yells":
Lesher,
George Wallace
, p. 410.
141
he wrote to the American-Southern Africa Council:
Ray's correspondence is reprinted in House Select Committee on Assassinations (hereafter HSCA),
Appendix Reports
, vol. 13, p. 252.
142
the Friends of Rhodesia:
Ray's letter is reproduced in ibid., vol. 4, p. 116.
143
reader of the
Thunderbolt:
Ray is thought to have read the
Thunderbolt
while in prison; after his arrest for King's assassination, he eventually hired J. B. Stoner as his attorney, and his brother Jerry Ray served as Stoner's personal bodyguard.
144
"Invariably the bastard":
See Carter,
Politics of Rage
, p. 165.
145
archly effeminate organizer:
Ibid., p. 166.
146
"the last chance":
Lesher,
George Wallace
, p. 301.