Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin (80 page)

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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

BOOK: Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin
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647
"raise" the numerals:
See Shaw, "Are You Sure Who Killed Martin Luther King?"

648
agents soon found a brother, John Ray:
My description of the FBI's initial contact with John Ray is primarily based on FD-302 reports of interviews in St. Louis Files, Hughes Collection.

649
"seal his lips forever":
Interview with John Ray conducted on May 2, 1968, by Special Agents Jack Williams and Patrick Bradley, FD-302 report, Hughes Collection.

650
"What's all the excitement about?":
The FBI's initial interview with John Ray, conducted on April 22, 1968, by Special Agents Harry C. Jun and Robert Hess, FD-302 report, Hughes Collection.

651
John Ray would boast:
See Ray and Barsten,
Truth at Last
, p. 109.

652
"hottest man in the country":
Jerry Ray, quoted in the
Chicago Sun-Times
, May 3, 1968.

653
"He sure didn't have any love":
Jerry Ray, quoted in
Life
, May 3, 1968.

654
"A supermarket":
Ray, quoted in McKinley, "Interview with James Earl Ray," p. 134.

655
found him in the rear of the store:
For a good account of the incident at Loblaws, see Frank,
American Death
, p. 317.

656
beheld a rotund man:
Ibid.

657
"I should have pulled a holdup":
Posner,
Killing the Dream
, p. 249.

CHAPTER 42
RESURRECTION CITY

658
"the greatest nonviolent demonstration":
Young, quoted in McKnight,
Last Crusade
, p. 84.

659
"the idea of rebirth":
Young,
Easy Burden
, p. 481.

660
Lurleen Wallace's body lay in the rotunda:
Carter,
Politics of Rage
, pp. 320-21.

661
electric lines, water lines:
For plans and preparations for the Poor People's Campaign, see Abernathy,
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down
, pp. 500-506, and Young,
Easy Burden
, pp. 484-85.

662
"one of the bigger tasks":
McKnight,
Last Crusade
, p. 85.

663
"hurt the president--
deeply
hurt him":
Ramsey Clark, quoted in McKnight,
The Last Crusade
, p. 110.

664
"Mecca for migrants":
Ibid., p. 87.

665
"one of paranoia":
Clark,
Crime in America
, p. 235.

666
The Ray clan had a hundred-year history:
For background on the Ray family, I relied largely on McMillan's psychological study,
Making of an Assassin
, and documents in the McMillan Papers.

667
cannibalize their own house:
Posner,
Killing the Dream
, p. 85.

668
"I made it to keep my sanity":
Life
, May 3, 1968.

669
"He liked being clean":
Newsweek
, April 29, 1968.

670
William Duncan and James Duffey:
FBI interview with Jerry Raynes conducted in Center, Missouri, by Duncan and Duffey on April 17, 1968, FD-302 report, Hughes Collection.

671
"He was thinking all the time":
McMillan interview with Jerry Raynes, March 20, 1969, box 1, McMillan Papers.

672
"those people will poison you":
Ibid.

673
"All politicians are thieves":
Ibid.

674
"I don't hate niggers":
Ibid.

675
"People try to get too much out of life":
McMillan interview with Ray's father, Oct. 20, 1969, box 1, McMillan Papers.

676
ship bound for Angola:
Ray,
Tennessee Waltz
, pp. 86-87.

677
second floor of the Hotel Portugal:
My descriptions of Sneyd's hotel and its Lisbon environs are drawn from O'Neil, "Ray, Sirhan--What Possessed Them?" and my own visit to the hotel in July 2007.

678
Gentil Soares:
In this section I chiefly relied on FBI reports prepared in collaboration with the Portuguese International and State Security Police in Lisbon. These reports include interviews (with customs officials, hotel personnel, nightclub employees, and prostitutes who had contact with Sneyd) conducted in Lisbon on June 8-12, 1968, and distilled in a thirteen-page document titled "Lisbon Files," Hughes Collection.

679
Gloria Sausa Ribeiro:
Ibid.

680
"He did not know any Portuguese":
Ibid.

CHAPTER 43
A RETIREMENT PLAN

681
"What appealed to Jimmy about Hitler":
George McMillan interview with Jerry Ray on April 1, 1972, box 5, McMillan Papers.

682
"was unreasonable in his hatred":
Rife, quoted in McMillan,
Making of an Assassin
, p. 147.

683
"retirement plan":
This passage concerning Curtis is primarily drawn from "Raymond Curtis Interviews, Whitfield County Jail, Dalton, Georgia," box 1, McMillan Papers. See also McMillan,
Making of an Assassin
, pp. 175-85; Frank,
American Death
, p. 183; and Posner,
Killing the Dream
, p. 136.

684
John Sutherland:
The passage here on Sutherland and the alleged fifty-thousand-dollar bounty to kill King is chiefly drawn from "Evidence of a Conspiracy in St. Louis," House Select Committee on Assassinations (hereafter HSCA),
Final Assassinations Report
, pp. 359-75. I also relied on the testimony of Russell Byers in HSCA,
Appendix Reports
, pp. 177-310.

CHAPTER 44
PLAGUES

685
declared open for business:
My passage on the Poor People's encampment on the Mall is primarily drawn from daily coverage in the
Washington Post
throughout May and June 1968, as well as from McKnight,
Last Crusade
, pp. 107-39; Risen,
Nation on Fire
, pp. 235-36; Abernathy,
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down
, pp. 494-539; and Young,
Easy Burden
, pp. 477-92.

686
"plague after plague":
Abernathy, quoted in McKnight,
Last Crusade
, p. 130.

687
"Resurrection City was flawed":
Abernathy,
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down
, pp. 503, 516.

688
"megalomania":
McKnight,
Last Crusade
, p. 116.

689
"just another fish-fry":
Ibid., p. 126.

690
"Ralph was frustrated":
Young,
Easy Burden
, p. 490.

691
"The gray skies poured water":
Abernathy,
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down
, p. 517.

692
"document such things as immorality":
Hoover memo quoted in McKnight,
Last Crusade
, p. 128.

693
"some grotesque soap opera":
McKnight,
Last Crusade
, p. 134.

694
"almost a perfect failure":
Ibid., p. 107.

695
"Lincoln smiled kindly":
Clark,
Crime in America
, p. 236.

CHAPTER 45
A BANK WITHDRAWAL

696
Charles J. Sweeney:
My depiction of Sweeney's task force is drawn from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Files, Hughes Collection. See also Posner,
Killing the Dream
, p. 43.

697
Doris Catherine Westwood:
Westwood statement in the sixty-three-page compendium document Scotland Yard Files, Hughes Collection.

698
Maurice Isaacs and his wife:
This passage is drawn from various accounts in the London papers--including the
Times
and the
Telegraph
--and my own visit to the jewelry store address near Paddington Station. I also benefited from an interview with the Isaacses' son, Vincent Isaacs, June 27, 2008, London.

699
Robert Wood:
From Royal Canadian Mounted Police Files, Hughes Collection.

700
Ian Colvin:
My recounting of Sneyd's calls to Colvin is primarily drawn from Colvin's article "Dr. King Suspect Here 3 Weeks, Mystery Calls to the Daily Telegraph,"
London Daily Telegraph
, June 10, 1968, p. 1. See also Frank,
American Death
, p. 320.

701
"He was nervous":
Nassau, quoted in Huie,
He Slew the Dreamer
, p. 166.

702
Trustee Savings Bank in Fulham:
My account of Sneyd's robbery is largely drawn from Scotland Yard interviews with the bank employees, in Scotland Yard Files, Hughes Collection. See also Posner,
Killing the Dream
, p. 249; Huie,
He Slew the Dreamer
, p. 166; and Frank,
American Death
, p. 321.

703
"Mr. Sneyd, on April 4":
My depiction of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police interrogation of Ramon Sneyd is primarily drawn from "Statement of Ramon George Sneyd, Born October 8, 1932, Cautioned by: R. Marsh, Detective Sergeant, Metro Toronto P.D.," Royal Canadian Mounted Police Files 1, Hughes Collection.

704
"He seemed ill":
My depiction of Sneyd's stay at the Pax Hotel in Pimlico is drawn from "The Man in Locked Room,"
Evening Standard
, June 10, 1968. See also Huie,
He Slew the Dreamer
, p. 167.

705
"I was in a daze":
Young,
Easy Burden
, pp. 486-87.

706
"We were all still trying":
Ibid.

707
"I haven't heard from Major Wicks":
Colvin, "Dr. King Suspect Here 3 Weeks," p. 1. See also Posner,
Killing the Dream
, p. 248.

708
"many criminals seeking refuge":
Butler's obituary,
Times
(London), April 21, 1970.

709
"We knew that the fugitive":
DeLoach,
Hoover's FBI
, p. 249.

CHAPTER 46
I CAN'T THINK RIGHT

710
"He was so neurotic":
This passage is chiefly derived from "Statement of Anna Elizabeth Thomas, Hotel Proprietress, Pax Hotel," Flying Squad Office, New Scotland Yard, Hughes Collection. See also Huie,
He Slew the Dreamer
, p. 167.

711
"Passport please":
My account of the Heathrow Airport encounter between Sneyd and Human is drawn from "Statement of Kenneth Leonard Human, Immigration Officer, London Airport Heathrow Terminal Two," taken on June 10, 1968, at the Flying Squad Office, New Scotland Yard, Hughes Collection.

712
Philip Birch:
My depiction of Birch's initial questioning of Sneyd is adapted from "Statement of Philip Birch, Detective Sergeant, Special Branch," taken on June 10, 1968, at the Flying Squad Office, New Scotland Yard, Hughes Collection.

713
Thomas Butler arrived:
This passage concerning Butler's interrogation of Sneyd comes from "Statement of Thomas Butler, Detective Chief Superintendent, Flying Squad, New Scotland Yard," taken on June 10, 1968, Hughes Collection. I also relied on "Statement of Witness, Kenneth Thompson," Scotland Yard Files, Hughes Collection.

714
"As a result of inquiries":
"Statement of Thomas Butler," Hughes Collection.

715
"Yes, I shouldn't say":
Ibid.

CHAPTER 47
THREE WIDOWS

716
DeLoach was making late Saturday morning pancakes:
This passage is primarily drawn from DeLoach,
Hoover's FBI
, p. 249.

717
"Every muscle in my body relaxed":
Ibid.

718
"Dammit, man":
Ibid., p. 250.

719
"Fine--prepare the press release":
Ibid.

720
At St. Patrick's Cathedral:
My account of the scene outside St. Patrick's is largely drawn from the coverage of Robert Kennedy's funeral in the
New York Times
and the
Washington Post
, June 9, 1968.

721
in good taste to wait:
Author interview with Clark, Oct. 9, 2008, New York City. See also Richard Gid Powers,
Secrecy and Power
, p. 422, and Gentry,
J. Edgar Hoover
, pp. 606-7.

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