Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most prominent non-violent activist leaders in the world. His main aim was the establishment of civil rights in America. A very black day befell on April 4th, 1968, when the people of Memphis heard the sound of a gunshot, meant for King.
The incident happened near the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis and by the time people realized what had happened, the American legend was gone. The killing was followed by a police search then went as long as a month for the search of the killer who shot the icon.
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Who Was James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King Jr’s Killer?
James Earl Ray was an escaped convict, a con man, and also a porn director. Ray was born on March 10, 1928, in Alton, Illinois. He has eight siblings. He died on April 23, 1998, when he was 70 years old. A year before Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, James was in a prison. He was sentenced to 20 years in charge of an armed robbery.
He escaped the prison on a bread truck. After escaping the prison he spent a few months in the U.S. before he finally reached Birmingham, Alabama. During his stay there he bought a car possibly under the name “Eric Starvo Galt”. The next thing he brought was a camera and went to Puerto Vallarta Mexico. He was aiming to become a professional porn director. However soon after that, he decided to leave Mexico after a breakup.
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How Did Ray Assassinate Dr. King?
He went to California to work in the presidential campaign of George Wallace. This was happening just before a short time of the assassination. Earl was not only super racist but also greedy. He thought that he would get the good graces of rich Southerners for killing Martin Luther King Jr. Ray went back to Birmingham and bought a rifle going back to stalk Dr. King to Memphis. At the time Martin Luther King Jr was organizing a march for the poor people. Ray saw the opportunity and shot him from the bathroom window of the house across the street from Lorraine Motel.
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Was James Earl Ray Framed?
There have been a lot of doubts and speculations regarding the real killer in this case. A lot of people believe that because Ray was not that literate he would not have managed to get hold of things like a house, a car, and a rifle all by himself. Taking into account the fact that James Earl Ray has been in trouble with the law for a very long time he might have been able to pull off an assassination so big with some kind of help.
He himself pleaded that he had been set up to take the fall by a group of conspirators and the actual killer’s name was Raoul. However, there was and is no evidence for the same and the conspiracy remains unsolved.
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