Jan. 19, 2026
"THE MAN WHO KILLED A DREAM: JAMES EARL RAY AND THE ASSASSINATION OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR."
Reid Carter marks MLK Day with the story of James Earl Ray, the escaped convict who murdered America's greatest civil rights leader. April 4, 1968: Ray fired one shot from a rooming house bathroom, killing Dr. King on the Lorraine Motel balcony in Memphis. Two-month international manhunt ended at London's Heathrow Airport. Pleaded guilty on his 41st birthday, sentenced to 99 years, recanted three days later. Spent 29 years claiming conspiracy and a mysterious man named "Raoul." The King family believed him. Escaped prison in 1977. Died in 1998 still seeking trial. One bullet. One dreamer. One nation forever changed.
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Callarogu Shark Media. Good morning, I'm reed Carter Monday, January nineteenth,
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twenty twenty six. Martin Luther King Day fifty eight years ago.
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On April fourth, nineteen sixty eight, doctor Martin Luther King
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Junior stepped onto the balcony of Room three six at
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the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. It was six oh
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one in the evening. He was getting ready for dinner
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at the home of a local minister. One hundred feet away,
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across Mulberry Street, a man stood in the bathtub of
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a shared bathroom at Bessie Brewer's rooming house. He studied
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a Remington game Master rifle on the windowsill, lined up
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the scope, and fired one shot. The bullet entered Doctor
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King's right cheek, shattered his jaw, traveled down his spinal cord,
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and severed his jugular vein. He fell backward onto the
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concrete balcony, never spoke again. Pronounced dead at Saint Joseph's
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Hospital at seven o five pm. Martin Luther King Junior
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was thirty nine years old. Nobel Peace Prize winner, leader
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of the Civil rights movement, apostle of nonviolence, shot down
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by a high school dropout and career criminal named James
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Earl Ray. Ray fled Memphis that night, drove to Atlanta,
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then Canada, then London, then Portugal, then back to London.
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The largest manhunt in fby history tracked him across four
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countries and two continents. June eighth, nineteen sixty eight, sixty
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five days after the assassination, Scotland Yard arrested him at
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Heathrow Airport as he tried to board a flight to Brussels.
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March tenth, nineteen sixty nine, his forty first birthday, James
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Earl Ray stood in a Memphis courtroom and pleaded guilty
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to the murder of Martin Luther King Junior. Sentenced to
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ninety nine years in prison. Three days later, he recanted,
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claimed he was innocent, claimed a mysterious man named Raoul
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was the real killer. Spent the next twenty nine years
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trying to get a trial. He died in prison on
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April twenty third, nineteen ninety eight. Never got his trial,
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but by then even the King family believed he didn't
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act alone. I'm reed Carter today on Martin Luther King Day.
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The man who killed the dream James Earl Ray a
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petty criminal who became America's most infamous assassin, the international
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manhunt that caught him, the guilty plea that haunted him,
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and the conspiracy theories that persist to this day. This
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is celebrity trials. James Earl Ray was born on March tenth,
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nineteen twenty eight, in Alton, Illinois, working class town on
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the Mississippi River. The eldest of nine children. His parents,
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George and Lucille Ray, struggled to keep the family fed.
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When Ray was seven, the family fled Alton. His father
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was wanted on forgery charges. They moved to Ewing, Missouri,
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population barely a few hundred, rural poverty, no indoor plumbing,
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no prospects. Ray's childhood wasn't tragic in a way that
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explains murder. It was mundane, unremarkable. He attended a one
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room schoolhouse, wasn't particularly bright, wasn't particularly troubled. His father
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was a harsh disciplinarian. His mother drank the family scraped
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by At fourteen, Ray's criminal career began. Stole a patron's
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trousers from a brothel in Quincy, Illinois, small time stuff,
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testing boundaries, seeing what he could get away with In
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nineteen forty six, at eighteen, Ray joined the Army. Served
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in Germany after World War II ended. Military records describe
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him as a poor soldier, frequent disciplinary problems, general discharge
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in December nineteen forty eight, not honorable, not dishonorable, just
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to sign the Army wanted him gone. After the military,
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Ray drifted Los Angeles, Chicago, back to Illinois, and everywhere
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he went he committed crimes. December nineteen forty nine, arrested
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in California for burglary, stole office equipment from a cafe.
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Three months in jail. Nineteen fifty two. Armed robbery in Chicago.
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Robbed a cab driver at gunpoint, two years in prison.
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Nineteen fifty five, mail fraud in Hannibal, Missouri. Stole money
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orders from the post office. Four years in federal prison
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at Leavenworth, Kansas. Nineteen fifty nine, armed robbery again, two
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grocery stores in Saint Louis, one in Alton. Twenty year
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sentence at Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. Here's the pattern.
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James Earl Ray was a career criminal, but not a
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successful one. Every crime he committed he got caught every
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scheme he hatched, it failed, bungling robberies, getting arrest, going
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back to prison, rinse and repeat. He wasn't smart, wasn't organized,
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wasn't capable of complex planning. That's why the conspiracy theories
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would later seem so compelling. How could this bumbling, small
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time crook pull off the assassination of the century and
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evade capture for two months across four countries. But in
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nineteen fifty nine, James Earl Ray was just another number
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in the Missouri prison system, serving twenty years for armed robbery.
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Forgotten by everyone except his brothers, who visited occasionally. He
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tried to escape twice November nineteen sixty one March nineteen
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sixty six, both times caught, both times punished, sent to
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the state hospital for psychiatric evaluation. After the second attempt,
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doctors found nothing remarkable, just a persistent, not particularly bright
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criminal who wanted to be free. April twenty third, nineteen
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sixty seven, Ray finally succeeded. He hid in a box
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of bread in the back of a delivery truck lee
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the prison bakery, Crouched among the loaves, held his breath
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as guards checked the vehicle. They missed him. The truck
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drove through the gates. James Earl Ray was free. He'd
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served seven years of his twenty year sentence. Now he
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was an escaped convict with no money, no plan, and
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no future, or so it seemed. What happened over the
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next eleven months remains the subject of intense speculation. Ray
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traveled extensively Saint Louis, Chicago, Canada, Mexico, Los Angeles, Birmingham, Atlanta.
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He rented apartments, bought cars, took dance lessons, got rhinoplasty,
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a nose job in California. Lived relatively well for a
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man with no visible income. Where did the money come from?
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Who was funding him? Ray would later claim a mysterious
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man named Raoul recruited him in Montreal for a gun
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running operation, gave him money, gave him instructions, set him
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up as the fall guy for King's assassination. Investigators never
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found Raoul, never confirmed he existed. The House Select Committee
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on Assassinations concluded in nineteen seventy eight that Ray was
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likely assisted by someone, but couldn't identify who. The FBI
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maintained he acted alone. The truth we may never know,
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but by March nineteen sixty eight, James Earl Ray was
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on the move and Martin Luther King Junior was in
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his cross hairs. King in Memphis. Eight minutes February first,
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nineteen sixty eight, Memphis, Tennessee, two garbage collectors, Echaul Coal
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thirty six and Robert Walker twenty nine, climbed into the
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back of a malfunctioning garbage truck to escape a rainstorm.
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The compactor activated crushed them both to death. They were
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black men doing the dirtiest job in the city, paid
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sixty five cents an hour, no overtime, no benefits. When
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it rained, they sheltered in the truck because the city
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wouldn't provide them rain gear, and that day the truck
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killed them. Eleven days later, thirteen hundred black sanitation workers
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walked off the job. The Memphis Sanitation strike had begun.
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Their demands were simple recognition of their union, better wages,
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safer working conditions, dignity. They marched through downtown Memphis carrying
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signs that read I Am a man. Simple declaration, radical statement.
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In nineteen sixty eight, in the segregated South, a black
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garbage collector asserting his humanity was an act of defiance
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Mayor Henry Loebe refused to negotiate, called the strike illegal,
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brought in strike breakers. The standoff continued for weeks. Enter
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Martin Luther King Junior. By nineteen sixty eight, King was exhausted,
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depressed under constant surveillance by the FBI, receiving death threats daily.
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The Vietnam War had divided the nation and divided the
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civil rights movement. His advocacy for peace had cost him allies.
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His Poor People's Campaign and ambitious plan to bring poor
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Americans of all races to Washington to demand economic justice,
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was struggling to gain traction, but Memphis needed him. Reverend
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James Lawson, a local minister and longtime King, ally, asked
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him to come support the sanitation workers. King saw the
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strike as a perfect example of what he'd been preaching
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the intersection of racial and economic justice. March eighteenth, nineteen
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sixty eight, King spoke to twenty five thousand people at
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Mason Temple in Memphis, largest indoor gathering the civil rights
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movement had ever seen. Whenever you are engaged in work
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that serves humanity and is for the building of humanity,
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it has dignity and it has worth. King told them all,
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labor has dignity. He promised to return and lead a
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march through downtown Memphis March twenty eighth. King led the march,
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but it descended into chaos. Young militants broke windows, looted stores.
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Police responded with teargas and batons. One sixteen year old,
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Larry Pane, was shot and killed by police. King was
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devastated his philosophy of nonviolence was being tested. Critics pounced,
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called him a failure, said he couldn't control his own movement.
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The FBI used the violence to further discredit him, but
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King refused to give up on Memphis, refused to let
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the sanitation workers fight alone. On April third, he returned
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that night despite a severe thunderstorm. Thousands packed Mason Temple.
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King was exhausted, running a fever, sent Ralph Abernathy in
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his place, but Abernathy called him from the church. The
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crowd wanted King, so King came spoke without notes extemporaneously.
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What came out was prophecy. We've got some difficult days ahead,
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but it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've
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been to the mountaintop the crowd roared, and I've looked over,
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and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get
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there with you, but I want you to know tonight
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that we as a peace we'll get to the Promised Land.
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His voice broke, tears streamed down his face. He stumbled
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to his seat. Those who were there said they'd never
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seen anything like it. Andrew Young, Jesse Jackson, Ralph Abernathy.
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They all noticed. It was the last speech Martin Luther
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King Junior ever gave. Less than twenty four hours later
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he was dead. We'll be right back with April fourth,
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nineteen sixty eight, The assassination, the evidence, and the two
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month manhunt across four countries that ended at Heathrow Airport.
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April fourth, nineteen sixty eight, Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray
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checked into Bessie Brewer's rooming house at four hundred twenty
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two and a half South Main Street around three point
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thirty in the afternoon. Used the name John Willard, paid
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eight dollars and fifty cents for a week room five B,
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small dingy overlooking the back of the building. Across the
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street and one block down sat the Lorraine Motel Black owned,
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where black travelers stayed in the segregated South, where Martin
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Luther King Junior was staying in Room three oh six.
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Ray had been stalking King for weeks, followed him from
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city to city Atlanta, Selma, Los Angeles, Memphis, kept newspaper
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clippings about King's movements, circled locations on maps, planned, and waited.
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Around four pm, Ray walked to the York Arms Sporting
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goods store bought a pair of Bushnell binoculars for forty
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one dollars and fifty five cents. Returned to the rooming house.
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The bathroom at the end of the hall had a
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window with a direct line of sight to the Lorraine
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Motel balcony. King spent the day in meetings planning the
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next march, talking strategy. Around six p d he stepped
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onto the balcony to head to dinner at the home
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of Reverend Billy Kyles. Several people were in the courtyard below,
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Jesse Jackson Ben Branch, a musician who was going to
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perform at that night's rally. King called down to Branch
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asking him to play take my hand, precious Lord at
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the meeting. Play it real, pretty, King said. Those were
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his last words. Six o'clock one pm. One shot. Ray
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stood in the bathtub of the shared bathroom, steadied his
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Remington seven to six to zero Gamemaster rifle on the windowsill,
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aimed through the scope, squeezed the trigger. The bullet traveled
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approximately two hundred feet hit King in the face. He
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crumpled backward. Ralph Abernathy rushed to his side cradled him.
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King's eyes were open but unseeing. Within minutes, police found
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a bundle on the sidewalk near the rooming house, a
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Remington rifle, Bushnell binoculars, a radio, toiletries, all bearing James
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Earl Ray's fingerprints. Ray had fled immediately after the shot.
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Witnesses saw a white man running from the rooming house.
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A white Ford Mustang Rai's car was seen speeding away.
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By seven h five pm, Martin Luther King Junior was
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pronounced dead at Saint Joseph's Hospital. He was thirty nine
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years old. Within hours, America erupted the Holy Week uprising.
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More than one hundred cities burned Washington, d C, Chicago, Baltimore,
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Kansas City, Detroit, Newark, forty three people killed, more than
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three thousand injured, twenty seven thousand arrested, fifty thousand federal
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troops deployed, the largest domestic military operation since the Civil War.
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In Washington, flames rose within blocks of the White House.
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President Lyndon Johnson ordered the eighty second Airborne to guard
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the Capitol. Machine gun nests on the steps of the
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building where Congress met. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley ordered police
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to shoot to kill any arsonist and shoot to maime
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or cripple anyone looting. Eleven people died in Chicago alone.
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The man who had preached nonviolence his entire life was
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mourned with violence. The irony was not lost. On anyone
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April ninth, Atlanta, more than one hundred thousand people followed
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a mule drawn wagon carrying King's casket through the streets.
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World leaders attended, presidents, past and future, civil rights icons,
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ordinary citizens who just needed to say goodbye. At Ebenezer
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Baptist Church, where King had co pastored with his father,
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they played a recording of his drum major sermon from
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two months earlier. King had asked that when he died,
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no one mentioned his awards or honors, just say he
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tried to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, love, and
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serve humanity. Meanwhile, the largest manhunt in history was under way.
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James Earl Ray had vanished. Ray fled Memphis within minutes
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of the shooting. Drove his white Mustang south then east,
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eleven hours of driving through back roads, avoiding highways. By
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early morning April fifth, he was in Atlanta. He abandoned
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the Mustang in a housing project parking lot. Police found
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it six days later inside more fingerprints, more evidence linking
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Ray to the crime, but by then Ray was gone.
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April eighth, Ray arrived in Toronto, Canada, rented a room,
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obtained a Canadian passport under the name Ramon George Snead,
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a real person whose identity Ray had stolen. May sixth,
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Ray flew from Toronto to London on a British Overseas
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Airways flight. May seventh, London to Lisbon, Portugal, tried to
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