Hellhound on His Trail

Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin (2010), a nonfiction book by Hampton Sides, describes the events surrounding the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. by James Earl Ray, including his theory that Ray had an accomplice. Reception of the book has been mainly positive, and a film adaptation is currently in development. Sides is a bestselling author of narrative history books, and he has twice been nominated for the National Magazine Awards for feature writing.

In Hellhound on His Trail, Sides uses dueling storylines to paint a picture of the weeks before and after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination and the subsequent manhunt for his killer, James Earl Ray. This gives a narrative quality to the historical events discussed in the book.

In 1967, James Earl Ray is known as Prisoner #416J at the notorious Missouri State Penitentiary. He is in the midst of serving a twenty-year sentence for repeated petty theft offenses. On April 23, Ray hides in a breadbox and rides out of prison in a bakery truck. Following his escape, the nondescript man avoids capture by continuously jumping from city to city, eventually winding up in Mexico. There, he assumes the name Eric Starvo Galt and tries his hand at directing pornographic films.



At that time, King's Poor People's Campaign is in full swing. The Campaign was designed to bring awareness of the plight of the poor, regardless of race. It also demanded that certain economic and human rights, such as a guaranteed annual income measure and additional low-income housing, be granted to the poor, whom the Campaign alleged had been neglected by the government.

In Memphis, on February 1, 1968, two African American garbage men are crushed to death by the hydraulics inside their garbage truck. The tragedy prompts the sanitation workforce, composed primarily of African Americans, to go on strike. When he learns of the issue, King joins the cause, joining the strikers on a march down Beale Street. Unfortunately, the march is a failure, and things turn violent. King vows to return to Memphis in April.

His directing career having failed, Ray leaves Mexico for Los Angeles, where he becomes enamored with George Wallace's presidential campaign and segregationist platform. After undergoing facial reconstruction surgery, he leaves Los Angeles on a cross-country drive to Atlanta, King's home city. He arrives in March with the intention of murdering King.
Busy as he is with the Poor People's Campaign and other responsibilities, King is rarely in Atlanta. Rather than wait for him to return home, however, Ray begins following King across the country, using newspaper reports to tell him where to go next. When he reads that King is returning to Memphis to lead another march on April 4, it gives him all the information he needs.



Meanwhile, King is under a great deal of stress. His Poor People's Campaign is controversial even within civil rights circles, and the movement is losing focus. He is constantly hounded by the FBI and by J. Edgar Hoover who, calling him the "most notorious liar in the country," sent him a letter demanding that King kill himself to avoid having his extramarital affairs exposed. Nevertheless, King returns to Memphis as promised, and on April 3, he gives his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, stating, "Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will."

The next day, King stands on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel while Ray hides in a rooming house across the street. With a single shot from his Remington rifle through the bathroom window, he kills King. Abandoning his rifle, binoculars, and other belongings, he flees the scene.

Despite their previous harassment of King, the FBI begins a two-month-long worldwide manhunt for King's assassin. They recover Ray's belongings at the rooming house, but being unable to discover his identity from them, they pursue hundreds of leads. As time passes with no results, criticism of the FBI ramps up. People accuse them of not actually wanting to find King's killer, or of having killed him themselves.



A big break comes in the form of a laundry tag in Ray's abandoned belongings. The tag sends the FBI to a New York manufacturer, who sends them to a Laundromat in Los Angeles, which gives them the address Ray used at the time he laundered his clothes. After following this lead, they find a photo of Ray and distribute it to American, British, and Canadian police forces.

Using the photo, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police apprehend Ray (who by then was using the alias Ramon George Snade) on June 8, 1968, as he tries to board a plane for London. Ray later confesses to his crime and is sentenced to ninety-nine years in prison.
Sides alleges, but cannot confirm, that Ray had many accomplices in his mission to assassinate King. He expresses his doubts that the dim-witted Ray could evade authorities for so long, or come up with so many aliases if he was working alone.