After leaving Los Angeles, Ray drove toward Atlanta, making several stops before going back to Birmingham, where he had stayed briefly after his escape from a Missouri prison that caged him for seven years for robbing a grocery store. While in Birmingham, Ray purchased the rifle he used to kill Marin Luther King, Jr.
rooted in racism. a lot of people didn t want king in memphis. they felt it was a distraction. well, i was one of those that felt that we needed to stick with the poor people s campaign. king overruled his staff and flew to memphis to speak to an overflow crowd on the night of march 18th. if one black person is down, we are all down. he was talking, man, he would set you on fire. then we got greedy. what about coming back and leading a march? a snowstorm postponed the march planned for the end of the week. king headed for middle alabama instead. that friday night, march 22nd, driving east from los angeles, james earl ray stopped here at this motel in selma, alabama. he registered as eric galt. the motel was just past the edmund pettus bridge, where three years earlier state troopers had attacked civil
did he mean you? were you in birmingham that day? no, that was just a figure of speech, i guess. because at that time i had never been in the state of birmingham. this is the rifle james earl ray would buy. a powerful .30-06 remington bushmaster hunting rifle with a magnifying scope. a gun found just five days later left at the murder scene in memphis. ray bought that rifle using another alias. harvey lowmeyer. ray also bought a box of high-velocity soft-nosed bullets. the total cost for the gun and ammunition came to just under $250. ray paid in cash. once again, he used $20 bills. back in atlanta, reeling from the failed protest march, king was in a bleak mood. it was the only three or four days or week that he never smiled, he never laughed, he didn t say anything. when he said something, it was in real anger and bitterness.