The Assassination of Martin Luther King, Pt. 3 Quiz

Answer: Eric Starvo Galt

Why Ray chose the alias of Eric Starvo Galt is unknown. He never denied having used the name. Yet, at the same time, he denied that he had killed Dr. King.

Answer: Atlanta, Georgia

Although Memphis police knew what kind of car the killer had fled in, sttangely they did not immediately inform police in adjoining states to be on the lookout for a white Ford Mustang being driven by a young white man. The Arkansas border is a mere 15 minutes from Memphis, the Mississippi border less than an hour away. Yet Memphis police chose not to issue bulletins on the car to any agency other than their own.

Answer: Raymond George Sneyd

How Ray came up with his aliases is unknown. Leon Czolgosz--I have no idea what his middle name really was--assassinated President William McKinley. And, obviously Ray Earl James is just the killer's name written in backwards order.

Answer: Two months

The international search for Ray included looking for him not only under his real name, but under his aliases as well. He was identified, under the alias Eric Starvo Galt, immediately after the assassination. He had used that name to rent a room in the boarding house from where he fired the shot that killed Dr. King. Police identified him under his own name around one week later.

Answer: He was trying to catch a flight to Belgium.

Ray was apparently desperate to get out of the United Kingdom. Running low on cash, he went back to his previous profession of trying to rob banks and small business establishments, with little success. But, his forays back into the petty criminal world were being noticed in London. He was apparently afraid that he would be arrested for the robberies, not for killing Dr. King.

Answer: Indianapolis

Kennedy learned while flying to Indianapolis that King had been shot. Just before landing, he learned that King was dead. Then-Indianapolis Mayor Richard Lugar (who later was elected to the U.S. Senate) begged Kennedy not to give any speech. So did others. Kennedy, however, insisted he was going to talk and said he realized that he would be the person informing the supporters who had been waiting for him that Dr. King was dead.

He was taken to the place where he was set to speak and announced to the crowd, in a strangled voice, that Dr. Martin Luther King had been shot and killed in Memphis by a white man.

After that, in the only instance where Kennedy publicly referred to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, he told the crowd he knew exactly how they felt. "My brother, too, was murdered.

But he was murdered by a white man," Kennedy said, in the only known incident where he publicly called JFK his "brother", rather than "President Kennedy" after Dallas. The heartbroken crowd left the area sobbing, returning to their homes.

Answer: Robert Kennedy

Robert Kennedy's funeral mass was held in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. After the mass, Kennedy's coffin was loaded aboard a special train, where a raised platform inside the train allowed people along the train route to view it. The train was filled with Kennedy family members and close friends. Because of the huge crush of people lining the railroad tracks, the train was forced to proceed at a very slow speed.

It did not arrive in Washington until dark. Once there, the casket was placed in a hearse, with the mourners all following in limousines to Arlington National Cemetery. Kennedy was buried near his brother.

The day-long funeral procession overwhelmed all of the U.S. media. While Ray's capture was reported, it was not until the next day that it received the intense spotlight from the media.

Answer: F. Lee Bailey

F. Lee Bailey was famous for obtaining an acquittal for Dr. Sam Sheppard in the murder of his wife. In his first trial, Sheppard had been found guilty, although he remained adamant that he didn't do it. This case became the basis for both the television show and move "The Fugitive". Bailey gained even more fame for himself in handling the criminal case against Patty Hearst for bank robbery, a case which a majority of legal scholars said he botched.

Then he became known again to a different generation when, as one of the "Dream Team" lawyers for O.J. Simpson, he got Det. Mark Fuhrman to admit he had used a racial epithet. Johnnie Cochran, who headed that Dream Team, was still a young, little-known lawyer in 1968.

The same could be said of Robert Shapiro, a third member of the Dream Team. Melvin Belli was a very well-known attorney at the time, but was never approached by Ray.

Answer: 54 hours (2 days, 6 hours)

Ray and Tennessee prison authorities apparently learned nothing from this escape, because in 1979 he escaped again. On November 9, 1979, Ray escaped again. This time, it only took a matter of hours for him to be recaptured.

Answer: 39

It is amazing to realize that someone who died so young could have accomplished so much to change the face of his country.