Ray did serve in the Army for about two years from shortly after the end of WWII til December 1948 when he received a less-than-honorable general discharge for ''ineptness and lack of adaptability to military service.'' He had served three months at hard labor for drunkenness and resisting arrest. In Birmingham, Alabama on March 30, 1968, he bought a Remington Model 760 Gamemaster .30-06-caliber rifle and a box of 20 cartridges from the Aeromarine Supply Company. He also bought a Redfield 2x-7x scope, which he had mounted to the rifle. So Ray had five days to sight in and practice with the rife. Ray, often said he bought or received the rifle from "Raoul" the man who Ray later says actually killed King. Ray recanted his confession at the advice of his attorney, Percy Foreman, to avoid the sentence of death by electrocution, which would have been a possible outcome of a jury trial. Unbeknownst to Ray, however, a death sentence would have been commuted as unconstitutional under the de facto moratorium in place since 1967 and following Furman v. Georgia. Ray began claiming that a man he had met in Montreal back in 1967, who used the alias "Raoul", had been involved in the assassination, and he asserted that he did not "personally shoot Dr. King" but may have been "partially responsible without knowing it", hinting at a conspiracy. Ray told this version of the assassination and his flight during the following two months to journalist William Bradford Huie. Huie investigated this story and discovered that Ray lied about some details. Ray told Huie that he purposely left the rifle with his fingerprints on it in plain sight at the crime scene because he wanted to become a famous criminal. He was convinced that he would escape capture because of his intelligence and cunning, and he also believed that Governor of Alabama George Wallace would soon be elected to the presidency, so that Ray would only be confined in prison for a short time, pending a presidential pardon by Wallace. Some say Ray wasn’t a raciest then you read reports stating his brother Jerry once described him as an admirer of Hitler, saying ''he would make the U.S. an all-white country, no Jews or Negroes.'' And Mr. Ray's prison friends said that when Dr. King became a national figure, his image on television was enough to send Mr. Ray into a rage. ''Somebody's got to get him,'' he was quoted as saying. ''If I ever get to the streets, I am going to kill him.'' With Ray there are so many different stories its impossible to separate fact from fiction. The one thing that is certain and that is Ray was quite the escape artist. He escaped various prison on three different occasions after his King conviction and several more prior to shooting King.. Ray had been in trouble with the law since he was 12 years old mostly petty theft. At one point Ray was almost killed in prison by three black inmates who stabbed him 22 times. But he survived. I do think Ray killed King and Oswald killed Kennedy but people have a hard time accepting 2 bit losers like Ray and Oswald could end the lives and the promise of two important and charismatic leaders like King and Kennedy.
I would normally agree. I am not a conspiracy theorist by any means. But I can’t deny some things that just don’t make sense. Ray was never known for marksmanship, their is no record of his shooting skills from his time in the Army. And like you said he bought the rifle and scope, a short time before shooting King, as he was driving to Memphis. Now he claims he pulled off the side of the road and practiced. But from my perspective as an expert with a pistol and a rifle, it takes more than a sporadic 5 days to get to the point you can make one shot from 200 feet at an angle. Not saying it is impossible but not likely. Then the other evidence I read about just made me go “Hmmm” and think about it. I did read what you talked about with “Raoul” in that book “The Plot to Kill King” and I am always aware of a bias an author has to push their theory. But it did make me think.
I’m a local historian in Cleveland, Ohio mainly because my family built over half of the housing stock plus many apartment buildings from 1869-1977 I wrote two books so far about the family.
What a phenomenal last speech. Priceless.
It was amazing indeed
Can’t wait to watch! Ray C
Ray did serve in the Army for about two years from shortly after the end of WWII til December 1948 when he received a less-than-honorable general discharge for ''ineptness and lack of adaptability to military service.'' He had served three months at hard labor for drunkenness and resisting arrest.
In Birmingham, Alabama on March 30, 1968, he bought a Remington Model 760 Gamemaster .30-06-caliber rifle and a box of 20 cartridges from the Aeromarine Supply Company. He also bought a Redfield 2x-7x scope, which he had mounted to the rifle. So Ray had five days to sight in and practice with the rife. Ray, often said he bought or received the rifle from "Raoul" the man who Ray later says actually killed King.
Ray recanted his confession at the advice of his attorney, Percy Foreman, to avoid the sentence of death by electrocution, which would have been a possible outcome of a jury trial. Unbeknownst to Ray, however, a death sentence would have been commuted as unconstitutional under the de facto moratorium in place since 1967 and following Furman v. Georgia.
Ray began claiming that a man he had met in Montreal back in 1967, who used the alias "Raoul", had been involved in the assassination, and he asserted that he did not "personally shoot Dr. King" but may have been "partially responsible without knowing it", hinting at a conspiracy. Ray told this version of the assassination and his flight during the following two months to journalist William Bradford Huie.
Huie investigated this story and discovered that Ray lied about some details. Ray told Huie that he purposely left the rifle with his fingerprints on it in plain sight at the crime scene because he wanted to become a famous criminal. He was convinced that he would escape capture because of his intelligence and cunning, and he also believed that Governor of Alabama George Wallace would soon be elected to the presidency, so that Ray would only be confined in prison for a short time, pending a presidential pardon by Wallace.
Some say Ray wasn’t a raciest then you read reports stating his brother Jerry once described him as an admirer of Hitler, saying ''he would make the U.S. an all-white country, no Jews or Negroes.'' And Mr. Ray's prison friends said that when Dr. King became a national figure, his image on television was enough to send Mr. Ray into a rage.
''Somebody's got to get him,'' he was quoted as saying. ''If I ever get to the streets, I am going to kill him.''
With Ray there are so many different stories its impossible to separate fact from fiction. The one thing that is certain and that is Ray was quite the escape artist. He escaped various prison on three different occasions after his King conviction and several more prior to shooting King.. Ray had been in trouble with the law since he was 12 years old mostly petty theft. At one point Ray was almost killed in prison by three black inmates who stabbed him 22 times. But he survived.
I do think Ray killed King and Oswald killed Kennedy but people have a hard time accepting 2 bit losers like Ray and Oswald could end the lives and the promise of two important and charismatic leaders like King and Kennedy.
I would normally agree. I am not a conspiracy theorist by any means. But I can’t deny some things that just don’t make sense. Ray was never known for marksmanship, their is no record of his shooting skills from his time in the Army. And like you said he bought the rifle and scope, a short time before shooting King, as he was driving to Memphis. Now he claims he pulled off the side of the road and practiced. But from my perspective as an expert with a pistol and a rifle, it takes more than a sporadic 5 days to get to the point you can make one shot from 200 feet at an angle. Not saying it is impossible but not likely. Then the other evidence I read about just made me go “Hmmm” and think about it. I did read what you talked about with “Raoul” in that book “The Plot to Kill King” and I am always aware of a bias an author has to push their theory. But it did make me think.
I’m a local historian in Cleveland, Ohio mainly because my family built over half of the housing stock plus many apartment buildings from 1869-1977 I wrote two books so far about the family.
Cool!
My Uncle Father Philip Marquard OFM of Chicago presented Dr. King with the Christian award in 1963, also helped pen the Civil Rights Bill with JFK
No way! What a cool tie to history