"We'll get him a pardon"
REPRESENTING JAMES EARL RAY
"We'll get him a pardon"
|
There are many holes in the State's case. I'll tell you of just one other event.
|
|
|
William Bradford Huie showed up again. One morning I received a call from Thomas Nelson Publishing Company: Would I meet with Mr. Huie in the Conference Room? I would indeed.
Comes the day, and at the far end of a conference table about 50 yards long sits a little red-headed man surrounded by a squad of men in black. |
|
I am introduced, and while the attendants hover, I ask, "What can I do for you?"
"I will give James Earl Ray twenty-five thousand dollars for exclusive rights to his story." Pause. |
|
"What story? He's telling his story every day now to the Congressional Select Committee. Maybe you can do something with that."
"The story I want, Mr. Kershaw, is how he and he alone shot and killed Martin Luther King." "What use will Ray have for all that money? He's in the pen!" "We will get him a pardon immediately." "That's very well for Tennessee, but what about Missouri? He escaped from the pen there, you know." "We will get that too, Mr. Kershaw." |
|
"Well, Mr. Huie, I will convey your offer, but I must remind you that Ray insists that his story is that there is a conspiracy and he is just a fall-guy. It does occur to me that if I were rich and powerful, and I wanted to silence talk of a conspiracy, I would employ the services of a great and gifted writer - someone like yourself, perhaps - to make just such an offer."
Mr. Huie made no response. I was already on my way to the door. |
|
|
"I'll let you know what my client decides. Goodbye."
Ray refused the deal. He also refused an offer Mr. Huie later made through Ray's brother, Jerry, of two hundred and twenty thousand dollars. |
