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What Ttre Media Ilidntt Tettyou The lfiing l?ial: What ttre Media Ilidntt TettYou By Mike Vinson Immediately,there was chaos DATE: APRIL 4. 1968 everywhere, and it becameknown TIME: APPROXIMATELY6 PM. that the Reverend Manin Luther LOCATION: JIM,S GRILL, BE- King Jr. had been shot and was LOW BESSIE BREWER'S FLOP- mortally wounded. Before the day HOUSE,MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE wasup, rhe Memphis Policeques- Whatin theworld. is a manwho lcoks tioned Loyd Jowers and Betty lihe him doing in a rundown joint like Spates,as well as the other pauons fhis?Bessie Brewer, manager of in Jim's crill thar day.The police BessieBrewer's flophouse,quizzed were searching for a suspect, a herself. Trim, suit, well-groomed,,Iate white male in a white Musrang. 30s, nice-Ioohingfellow, he...jrut seems Neither Loyd, Beny, nor arryof the so out of plare. patrons present inJim's Grill at the "John Willard," the man said, time of King's shooting had any answe ng Mrs. Brewer's question, solid information that would aid aswell as signingthe guestregisrer the police. The police concluded assuch, a forcedsmile betrayinghis that no one in Jim's Grill was in- somber attitude. However, he had volved in King's shooting,nor did good reasonto have a somber atti- any of them have anFhing worth- tude and be putting on a fronti His while to add to the investigation. real name wasJamesEarl Ray white, However, time is a great factor in Grill to 40-years-old,a fugitive on rhe run and an es- checkon her man. Betty had a secrer, any equation, and over a period of time the capeefrom the Missouri StatePenitentiary. consideredtaboo in those days.She was the equation,for one reasonor another,tends !o Typicalfor a spring day in Tennessee,rhe mistressof LoydJowers, white, owner ofJim,s yield a product far removed from the original good temperature was cool-yet the mood hor! Grill. A percentageofboth the white and one. Since rhar histodcally fateful day, the black folks didn't corton ReverendMartin Luther King was back in to whites and blacks theorieshave abounded: James Earl Raydid it mixing. town to lead another march in favor of the Howevet "Mr. Loyd," early forties, continued,on page26 Memphis sanitation workers, the maiority was his own man, had connections,was con- sidered, black-The previousweek's march, also ied by at leastin somecircles, somewhat of King, had resulted in a disaster:one young, a shaker and mover around Memphis, and ,black male fatally shot, and many more blacks Betty was an impressionableand healthy Af- rican-Americanfemale. beat€nand iailed. National Guardsmen on foot Somethings.just had . and in tanks were everywhere. Winos aim- to be, no matter the insult ro the Dublic. It lessly shuffled about, some, in an effort to was around 6 p.m., and Betiy had wan- enjoy their liquid vine in privacy,seeking con- dered back into the kitchen of Jim,s Grill. Strange,Loyd cealmentin the bushesthat lined the back of was nowhere in sighr. Sud- Jim's Grill, just below BessieBrewer,s flop- denly-POP! A firecracker?A b6mb? As house,located on rhe secondfloor aboveJim's though almost appearingout ofthin air, Befty Grill. witnessedJowers,via the backdoor, which led to Betty Spares, an artractive, teenage, Afri- the row of bushes at the reat of the grill, can American girl, as well as working at come into the kitchen. Loyd, appearingpale, disheveled, Seabrook Wallpaper Company, worked as a and nervous, a rifli-in his hand. waitressatJim's Grill, acrossthe street from said to Berry, Youwould.n't d.o anylhing to hurt m4 would Seabrook.About an hour earlier, Betty, so she you?I wouldn'twant to iurt you.Retty hasclaimed in the past,had goneovertoJim,s replied,, Of aurse I wouldn't, Loyd.. the King assassination,said he would consider about the truth and the truth comine out in a Ifug Gase immunity for Jowers; however, such never court oflaw so it canbe documentedior all....[ materialized. The Attomey General,s Office we know rhe truth, we can be free to go on continuedfrom page1 out ofMemphis said rhey would not consider witl our lives." Mrs. King went on to saf rhat immuniry forJowers becausethey feltJowers, her and her family's refusal to accept rhe alone; Hoover and the FBI did it; rhe CIA did story lackedmerit, and he was nothrng more prosecution's contention that Ray was rhe iq it was a triumvirate involving the U.S. gov- chana lying opponunisr artempting t6 make gunman responsiblefor ReverendKing's emment-U.S. military-Mafia; Ray,having been money offa possiblebook or movie deal. deathhad "cost them prestigeand funding for duped into the role of patsy, was unwitringly After Jowers came public, in 1993, with their altruistic projects," such as support for led to Memphis by a mysterious Latin smug- his information about the King assassination, the King-family-run King Center. Since tak- gler known only as Raoul; Ray did it for re- serious attention, too, was placed on Betty ing the stancethat Ray didn't kill Reverend ward money offered by rwo St. Louis-based Spates.She was grilled heavilyby both sides: King, and broad-mindedly enterraining rhe those who say Ray was the lone gunman; white supremacists;Jerry Ray, under the code and possibilityofa conspiracy,rhe King family has name "Raoul," nonetheless,was the shooter; those who say others were involved and Ray, been unduly criticized by a good ponion of this one said he would tell what acually hap- possibly,was an unwitting parsy.To Attomey the mainstleam media. This is yet another penedif granted immuniry... William Pepper,James Earl Ray's lead defense exampleofhow the powers that be spale no In 1993,a stanling revelationentered into counsel for approximately the last ten years measurewhen afiempting to discredita righ- of Ray's the picture: Loyd Jowers came public claim- life, Befty said that she was in Jim,s teous,yet threatening,foe. ing he was directly involved in the assassrna- Glill at the time of King's murder, and lust John McFerren, Aliican-Ame can. tesrified secondsafter the fatal shot tion of Martin Luther KingJr. Jowers, claimed was fired. wir- that on the dayofKing's assassinadonhe was that he, acting on orders from a Memphis nessed loyd Jowers enter into the kitchen, shopping at the Lib€no, Liberto, and Latch crime figure, Flank Liberto, performed the through a back door that led to rhe outside (LL&L) ProduceCompany in Memphis. While (mentioned following: handled the money appropriated to and the row of bushes earlier), there, McFeren claimed he overheardFrank kill King; handled the murder rifle; was with holding a rifle, looking nervous and dishev- Liberto, the company'spresident, conversing the killer when King was killed; and could eled. on the telephone,exclaim: "Shoot rhe son of name King's killer, whom was not Ray,accord- Invesdgators for the Memphis Arrolney a bitch when he comesout on the balcony.,, General'sOffice, which hashad prosecutorial ing to Jowers. As expected, the Jowers, rev- ln his book. Od.ersto KilI, Ar.tomeyWilliam elation drew keen interest from the media conrrol over the Ray-King case,siid that when Peppersays rhar he, along with lawyerApril world, making headlines almost everywhere. they questionedBetty Spatesshe told them Fergusonand stenographerBarbara Rabbito, Jowers even appeared (in 1993) on the televi- shewasn't inJim's cdll at 6 p.m. on April 4, in Februaryof 1979, traveled ro Somerville, 1968; sion show Prime TimeLive, hosted by Sam and thar she had made up the story Tennessee(about 40 miles outside of Mem- Donaldson,and ralkedabour his claimed in- about seeingJowers, immediately after King phis) to pay McFeren a visit, (At the time, volvementin King's assassination. was shot, come in through the kitchen door McFerren owned a gas station/grocerystore Jowers'claimedrole in King's assassina- with a lifle in row, looking all nervous.These in Somerville.) In his book, Peppersaid that ..seemed tion proves perplexing because, even tiough investigarorsfurther say that Befty admitted when they met with him McFerren them his statements have been inconsistent, what to that she had said all this in hopesof increasingly uneasy." McFerren revealedto he has said, and, possibly, has yer so say,can- cashingin on the profits from a hopefulmovie Peppertharhehad beenthe victim ofa..drive- ,,shot not be totally dismissed, at least by those with or book deal. One has m wonder il possibly, by shooting"and that he,McFerren, had al open mind, who do not always nod ,,yes,, Betty Spateswas under a "state of duress,, and wounded a man contractedby the Mafla to the words spoken by the politically correct when questionedby these investigators,and to kill him." Somecredence musr be sivenro mouthpieces.For the record,Jowers,himself, when the so-calledtape was made. Stranger McFeren's claims, becausePepper aiso says when he came forward in 1993, was accom- things have happened. that "rhe hugeplate glass window in frontof panied by a host ofrumors: An African-Ameri- Some time back, though, after LoydJowers his [McFerren's] srore was crackedfrom top public can man named Frank Holt had been hired to came with his claims,rhe King Family, to bottom and taped rogerher."Supposedly, kill King...On the dayofKing,s assassination, with Attomey William Pepperrepresenring this damage was the result of the drive-by them, frleda "wongful deadr;'civil Jowers had witnessed James Earl Ray, inside iurLagarnsr shooting. Tesrimonyfrorn Bobbi Baifour/ Jim's Grill, sir nerc to arrd conversi wirh a Jowers.The trial got underwayNovember 15, Smith, Betry SpaEs' half-sister,also a wait- 1999at the Shelby Latino male (Raoul?)...Jowers denied his re- CounryCoufthouse, Mem- ress at Jim's Grill, proved interesting.
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