On This Date In History

Above: Dance of Death

On this date, October 13, 1978, James Earl Ray, assassin of Martin Luther King, married Anna Sandhu.

James Earl Ray was behind bars. I think this was probably a symbolic wedding because James Earl Ray was to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

When I think of James Earl Ray and the Martin Luther King assassination I think of a day or two after April the 4th, 1968. On radio and TV the FBI told the public it was believed that the assassin of MLK was in a certain color Mustang and was believed to be heading to the Atlanta area. They said to please call a certain telephone if you see the Mustang.

At the time I worked for Sinclair Refining Company. One of my jobs was to keep figures for the company owned service stations in the Atlanta area. We had a station at Peachtree and 14th, right in the middle of the hippie district.

The manager, Barry, who I talked to regularly about business called me and told me just saw the mustang mentioned. What should he do? I told him to call the number they posted.

He said he just wanted authorization and I told him he had authorization, call it! He said he would do it as soon as he hung up.

And those were the last known words spoken by Barry. He disappeared.

After a year his wife had Barry declared legally dead or abandonment, I forgot which, and put his stuff up for sale, including a PV544 Volvo. I bought it.