Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin (78 page)

⁴⁹⁸
dashed off a short note:
My description of Galt's actions at the rooming house on April 5 are primarily drawn from the FBI's interviews with Garner, conducted on April 14 and 15, 1968, by Special Agent Roger Kaas of the bureau's Atlanta field office. FD-302 reports of these interviews are in the Hughes Collection.

⁴⁹⁹
"There was so much to do":
Garry Wills, "Martin Luther King Is Still on the Case," reprinted in
The New Journalism
, ed. Tom Wolfe, p. 393.

⁵⁰⁰
"The body appeared unblemished":
Abernathy,
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down
, p. 448.

⁵⁰¹
"We all wanted to be there":
Young,
Easy Burden
, p. 469.

⁵⁰²
"It will spoil the makeup job":
Wills, "Martin Luther King Is Still on the Case," reprinted in
New Journalism
, p. 394.

⁵⁰³
"I wish it was Henry Loeb":
Ibid., p. 395.

⁵⁰⁴
"Why'd this happen to you":
My description of the public viewing at the R. S. Lewis Funeral Home on the morning of April 5 is drawn from the
Memphis Commercial Appeal
, April 6, 1968, as well as from Beifuss,
At the River I Stand
, pp. 315-16.

CHAPTER 32
ONE MAN ON THE RUN

⁵⁰⁵
"I thought it was a provocation":
Author interview with Clark, Oct. 9, 2008, New York City.

⁵⁰⁶
"What a message that was":
Ibid.

⁵⁰⁷
"To see these men":
Roger Wilkins interview,
Roads to Memphis
, an Insignia Films documentary produced for the PBS program
American Experience
, WGBH, Boston.

⁵⁰⁸
"gracious in a Southern kind of way":
Ibid.

⁵⁰⁹
"He was just about out on his feet":
Beifuss,
At the River I Stand
, p. 325.

⁵¹⁰
"I had not a scintilla":
Holloman's testimony in House Select Committee on Assassinations,
Appendix Reports
, vol. 4, p. 332.

⁵¹¹
"All of our evidence":
Clark's comments from his Memphis press conference were printed in the
Memphis Press-Scimitar
, April 5, 1968, and the
Memphis Commercial Appeal
, April 6, 1968.

⁵¹²
"In view of Mr. Hoover's":
DeLoach,
Hoover's FBI
, p. 229.

⁵¹³
"courageous and calm":
Wilkins,
Man's Life
, p. 212.

⁵¹⁴
"a bloated and faded version":
Ibid.

⁵¹⁵
"We'll do everything we can":
DeLoach,
Hoover's FBI
, p. 229.

⁵¹⁶
"We aren't so much concerned":
Andrew Young, in
Roads to Memphis
.

⁵¹⁷
"Why, it's sitting right out there":
FBI interview with Capitol Homes tenants in "Eric Starvo Galt, Bureau File #44-38861" prepared by Special Agent Alan G. Sentinella of the Atlanta field office, filed on April 18, 1968, Hughes Collection. I also adapted material here from "Capitol Homes Stirred Up by That Mustang,"
Atlanta Constitution
, April 22, 1968.

CHAPTER 33
1812 REDUX

⁵¹⁸
"Please know that I join you":
King senior to Johnson, telegram, quoted in Risen,
Nation on Fire
, p. 89.

⁵¹⁹
"If I were a kid in Harlem":
Busby,
Thirty-first of March
, p. 238.

⁵²⁰
"Help us, Lord":
Ibid., p. 239.

⁵²¹
"take as many white people":
Stokely Carmichael, quoted in Risen,
Nation on Fire
, p. 93.

⁵²²
"Gentlemen, I think you better see this":
Busby,
Thirty-first of March
, p. 239.

⁵²³
Morris S. Clark:
Here I consulted the FBI Crime Lab's initial fiber analysis in "Report of the FBI Laboratory, FBI, April 17, 1968, Evidence Recovered in Front of 424 So. Main St. April 4th, 1968," p. 9, Hughes Collection.

⁵²⁴
quickly dispatched to Rompage:
See Frank,
American Death
, p. 142.

⁵²⁵
tiny tag was made of white tape:
Here I primarily consulted the eighteen-page FBI report "Investigation to Trace the Laundry Marks Found on Underwear Abandoned near the Scene of the Shooting of Dr. King," Hughes Collection.

⁵²⁶
"I thought of the brittle smile":
Abernathy,
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down
, p. 450.

⁵²⁷
"Martin was unworried":
Ibid.

⁵²⁸
"Daddy is lying down in the back":
Coretta Scott King,
My Life with Martin Luther King Jr.
, p. 325.

⁵²⁹
"I'd look around":
Dexter Scott King,
Growing Up King
, p. 52.

⁵³⁰
"Mother knew I was avoiding":
Ibid.

⁵³¹
"looked so young and smooth":
Coretta Scott King,
My Life with Martin Luther King Jr.
, p. 325.

⁵³²
"Uncle Andy, this man":
Young,
Easy Burden
, p. 470.

⁵³³
buying a one-way ticket:
My account of Ray's bus trip north is drawn from his statements and testimony in House Select Committee on Assassinations (hereafter HSCA),
Appendix Reports
, vol. 3, p. 245, as well as from his two books,
Tennessee Waltz
, p. 81, and
Who Killed Martin Luther King?
p. 98. I also consulted Ray's own account for his lawyers, "20,000 Words," Hughes Collection.

⁵³⁴
DR. KING SHOT:
Atlanta Constitution
, April 5, 1968, p. 1.

⁵³⁵
checked his suitcase in to a locker:
HSCA,
Appendix Reports
, vol. 3, p. 245.

⁵³⁶
boarded a second bus:
Ibid.

⁵³⁷
bottle of the finest sherry:
Oral history with Ramsey Clark, interview 4, conducted by Harri Baker on April 16, 1969, Johnson Presidential Library.

⁵³⁸
"We had considerably more evidence":
Author interview with Clark, Oct. 9, 2008, New York City.

⁵³⁹
"We are virtually unique":
Clark,
Crime in America
, p. 95.

⁵⁴⁰
"to dam the flood":
DeLoach,
Hoover's FBI
, p. 230.

⁵⁴¹
now occupied by federal troops:
My depictions of the D.C. riots here are largely drawn from Risen,
Nation on Fire
, and Gilbert et al.,
Ten Blocks from the White House
.

⁵⁴²
"the air of a parliament":
The columnist Mary McGrory, quoted in Risen,
Nation on Fire
, p. 127.

⁵⁴³
"In all my life":
Author interview with Clark.

CHAPTER 34
HOME SWEET HOME IN TORONTO

⁵⁴⁴
coach reached the Motor City:
See James Earl Ray's testimony in House Select Committee on Assassinations,
Appendix Reports
, vol. 3, p. 245, as well as his two books,
Tennessee Waltz
, p. 81, and
Who Killed Martin Luther King?
p. 98, and Ray's own account for his lawyers, "20,000 Words," Hughes Collection.

⁵⁴⁵
"It is better to overreact":
Cavanaugh, quoted in Risen,
Nation on Fire
, p. 141.

⁵⁴⁶
Galt later claimed that he stashed his suitcase:
See Huie,
He Slew the Dreamer
, p. 148.

⁵⁴⁷
Mrs. Szpakowski showed him up to the room:
My description of Ray's room on Ossington, and his behavior and actions while staying there as a guest, is largely drawn from O'Neil, "Ray, Sirhan--What Possessed Them?" I also relied on a special report, "King Murder Suspect Held--He Hid 1 Month in Metro,"
Toronto Daily Star
, June 8, 1968, p. 1. Finally, I also relied on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Files, a large body of documents concerning Ray's time in Toronto, Hughes Collection.

⁵⁴⁸
Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte:
See Poitier,
This Life
, pp. 319-20.

⁵⁴⁹
"I didn't want to face Coretta":
Georgia Davis Powers,
I Shared the Dream
, p. 233.

⁵⁵⁰
"Sorry for what?":
Ibid., p. 234.

⁵⁵¹
didn't leave his room:
See Huie,
He Slew the Dreamer
, p. 149, and Posner,
Killing the Dream
, pp. 239-40.

⁵⁵²
He was in Baltimore:
See Gentry,
J. Edgar Hoover
, p. 606.

⁵⁵³
"This man, in the full prime":
Lawson, quoted in Honey,
Going Down Jericho Road
, pp. 473-74.

⁵⁵⁴
"I noticed how worried":
Huie,
He Slew the Dreamer
, p. 149.

CHAPTER 35
THEN EASTER COMES

⁵⁵⁵
Coretta Scott King wore a bittersweet smile:
My account of the April 8 march in Memphis is adapted primarily from page-one articles in the
Memphis Press-Scimitar
, the
Memphis Commercial Appeal
, the
New York Times
, and the
Atlanta Constitution
. I also relied on newsreels in the Mississippi Valley Collection. See also Beifuss,
At the River I Stand
, pp. 340-43; Honey,
Going Down Jericho Road
, pp. 474-82; Abernathy,
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down
, pp. 458-60; and Coretta Scott King,
My Life with Martin Luther King Jr.
, pp. 327-29.

⁵⁵⁶
"The people were kind":
Dexter Scott King,
Growing Up King
, p. 53.

⁵⁵⁷
"We gave Dr. King what he came here for":
Memphis Commercial Appeal
, April 9, 1968, p. 1.

⁵⁵⁸
"Each of you is on trial today":
Flyer prepared by Lawson, quoted in Honey,
Going Down Jericho Road
, p. 476.

⁵⁵⁹
"once you reach Main Street":
Ibid., p. 478.

⁵⁶⁰
"the spilling of one man's blood":
Abernathy,
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down
, p. 458.

⁵⁶¹
"I guess it was my mother":
Memphis Commercial Appeal
, April 11, 1968. See also Honey,
Going Down Jericho Road
, p. 475, and Beifuss,
At the River I Stand
, p. 341.

⁵⁶²
Now the agents pulled their bureau sedan:
This passage about the FBI's initial investigations at the New Rebel Motel is based largely on my own interview with the former FBI agent Stephen Darlington, May 15, 2009. I also relied on FD-302 reports of the interview Agents Darlington and Bauer conducted at the New Rebel on April 8, 1968, Hughes Collection.

⁵⁶³
made his way down to the offices:
My depiction of Galt's efforts to gather aliases in the reading room of the
Telegram
is primarily adapted from Ray's own accounts in
Tennessee Waltz
, p. 84, and
Who Killed Martin Luther King?
p. 99. Other accounts suggest he actually visited the newspaper microfilm archives at a public library in Toronto. See also Posner,
Killing the Dream
, p. 240.

⁵⁶⁴
"I'd read somewhere":
Ray,
Who Killed Martin Luther King?
p. 98.

⁵⁶⁵
"Teenagers are adopting":
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Files, a compendium of police investigations into Galt's movements while in Toronto, Hughes Collection.

⁵⁶⁶
brief expeditionary detour:
See Posner,
Killing the Dream
, p. 240.

⁵⁶⁷
"Until we have justice":
Memphis Commercial Appeal
, April 9, 1968, p. 10.

⁵⁶⁸
"Mayor Loeb will somehow be dragged":
Reuther, quoted in Beifuss,
At the River I Stand
, p. 343.

⁵⁶⁹
"It's not the quantity":
The entire text of Coretta Scott King's speech in Memphis is reprinted in her memoir,
My Life with Martin Luther King Jr.
, pp. 344-47.

⁵⁷⁰
"If Mrs. King had cried":
Honey,
Going Down Jericho Road
, p. 481.

⁵⁷¹
"When Good Friday":
Coretta Scott King,
My Life with Martin Luther King Jr.
, p. 345.