'Alibi witness PI-jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg-HSCA/Cowden Coy/Cowden 02.pdfCowden confessed he...
Transcript of 'Alibi witness PI-jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg-HSCA/Cowden Coy/Cowden 02.pdfCowden confessed he...
-
'Da/L.44 11:0"d Ray ends testimony y- PI- 7 'Alibi witness' recants account By BOB DUDNEY
Times Herald Washington Bureau WASHINGTON — A former psychi-
atric patient sheepishly recanted the as-tonishing eyewitness story Friday that had made him James Earl Ray's "deci-sive alibi witness" in the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King.
The only presumed corroboration of the confessed assassin's claim to be in a
Memphis, Tenn., service station at the time of the shooting fell apart as com-modities broker Dean Cowden admitted he lied about seeing Ray there.
In an embarrassed and frequently amusing appearance before the House Select Committee on Assassinations, Cowden confessed he could not have seen Ray at the Texaco station because he was in Port Neches, Tex., at the time
of the April 4, 1968, slaying in Mem-phis.
"The story is completely false," the panel was told by Cowden, who had been described by Ray lawyer Mark Lane as the "decisive alibi witness" es-tablishing the assasin was not in the vi-cinity of King when he was shot. He
See FORMER on Page 20
— AP OhClio James Earl Ray chews his finger during testimony
-
Continued from
Page O
ne said
a friend h
ad co
nco
cted th
e tale for
money. B
efore ending three days of testimony
from
Ray
, who
has recan
ted h
is 19
69
guilty
plea to
the m
urd
er, and o
ther
witnesses, the com
mittee also introduced
a London police officer's statem
ent that R
ay ad
mitted
killin
g K
ing after h
e was
captured there. L
ane imm
ediately protested the state-m
ent as "o
utrag
eous" an
d p
anel m
em-
bers em
phasized
they
were n
ot v
ouch
-in
g fo
r the v
eracity o
f the ev
iden
ce, w
hich
Ray
called "th
e most d
amnin
g
statemen
t every
mad
e again
st me" re-
garding the slaying. The com
mittee then
dism
issed R
ay u
ntil p
ublic h
earings re-
, sume in N
ovember on the K
ing case. In
three d
ays o
f hearin
gs th
at hav
e seen R
ay's claim to have been fram
ed in th
e killin
g v
irtually
torn
apart, little
could
hav
e been
more d
amag
ing th
an
Cow
den
's testimony. R
ay claim
s he
cou
ld n
ot h
ave b
een at th
e seedy
roo
m-
ing
ho
use n
ear Kin
g's L
orrain
e Mo
tel becau
se he w
as fixin
g a flat tire at th
e service station.
Lane, w
ho quoted Cow
den extensive-ly
in h
is book, "C
ode N
ame: Z
orro
," w
hich
conten
ded
the F
BI k
illed K
ing
instead of Ray, had m
entioned the un-em
ployed bro
ker th
is week
as one p
er-
son w
ho co
uld
auth
enticate R
ay's sto
ry
of in
nocen
ce. Ray
is servin
g a 9
9-y
ear prison term
. "I th
ink h
e fell for it h
ook, lin
e and
sinker," said
Cow
den
, who ack
now
l-ed
ged
takin
g p
sych
iatric treatmen
t in
Mem
ph
is. He said
Lan
e did
no
t press
him
hard
for d
etails of h
is assertions,
whic
h w
ou
ld h
av
e re
veale
d h
e w
as
more th
an 4
00 m
iles away
from
Mem
-phis on A
pril 4, 1968. A
fter Rep
. Robert E
dgar (D
.-Pa) ad
-m
onish
ed C
ow
den
of p
erjury
pen
alties fo
r his false testim
on
y, th
e Mem
ph
is m
an testified
a friend o
f his, R
enfro
H
ays, co
oked
up th
e story
in h
opes, o
f sellin
g it to
a publish
er or film
mak
er: W
hile h
e nev
er received
any m
oney
, C
owden said both L
ane and the Nation-
al Enquirer published his account.
Cow
den
said h
e mad
e statemen
ts ab
out th
e matter o
ut o
f a sense o
f obli-
gation to Hays, a form
er investigator for one o
f Ray
's attorn
eys, w
ho C
ow
den
sa
id fe
d a
nd h
ouse
d h
im fo
r four
month
s while h
e was u
nem
plo
yed
. He
explain
ed th
at Hay
s came u
p w
ith 'th
e id
ea in late 1
974 an
d th
ey b
egan
tryin
g
to "market" the story.
Fin
ally L
ane, a co
nsisten
t revisio
nist
of th
e Kin
g case to
ward
a more co
n-
spiratorial line, learned of the new "evi-
den
ce" and m
ade it th
e centerp
iece of
his new book. E
dgar asked about Cow
-den's dealings w
ith Lane.
Q —
"Did
you tell th
e truth
to M
ark
Lane?" A
— "N
o." Q
— "T
hen
is it safe to say
those
portions of the book are all false." A
— "E
xactly." "R
enfro said, 'If I make a m
illion dol-lars I'll alw
ays take care of you,' " Cow
-den
said. "B
ut I n
ever h
ad an
y faith
he
would m
ake any money out of it."
Cow
den said Hays apparently tried to
com
e up
with
a secon
d ey
ewitn
ess so
the sto
ry w
ou
ld h
ave so
lid co
rrob
ora-
tion, an
d later testim
ony in
dicated
he
found one in Thom
as I. Wilson, a form
er M
emphis resident w
ho is now deceased.
But a
friend o
f Wilso
n's, H
arv
ey
Lock
e of L
ittle Rock
, gave comm
ittee in
vestig
ators a sw
orn
statemen
t that
Wilson, also a friend of H
ays', had been w
ith h
im in
his sh
oe rep
air shop at th
e tim
e of the assassination. T
he damaging claim
of Ray's alleged
confession was obtained tw
o weeks ago
from A
lexander Anthony E
ist, a retired. E
nglish
policem
an w
ho n
ow
runs a b
ar E
ist, who guarded R
ay in his cell dur-in
g th
e week
s the co
nfessed
assassin
was aw
aiting
extrad
ition
to th
e United
S
tates, claimed
Ray
boasted
of h
is ac-tions and w
anted to get to Africa "so he
could kill some m
ore blacks." "D
urin
g th
e cou
rse of th
e con
versa-
tion h
e defin
itely —
he d
idn't actu
ally
come out w
ith it, but it was there in the
conversation — that he had done it. H
e w
as quite proud of it," read the key pas- , sage in E
ist's statement.
Th
e form
er po
liceman
said R
ay d
id
not seem
worried
about h
is culp
ability
in
the sh
ootin
g b
ecause R
ay b
elieved
"th
ey co
uld
n't actu
ally p
rove th
at he
fired the gun because according to him,
nobody saw him
• do it." A
uthorities believe Ray fired the shot
from
a second-flo
or b
athro
om
win
dow
of th
e board
ing h
ouse, ju
st across. an
open
area from
the b
alcony o
f the L
or-
raine Motel, w
here King fell. O
nly one w
itness, an
acknow
ledged
alcoholic
named C
harley Stevens, said he caught
a fleeting g
lance o
f Ray
as he left th
e building and escaped.
Ray, w
ho reacted calmly to the state-
men
t from
Eist, im
med
iately d
enied
he
had
confessed
to th
e shootin
g. "I n
ever
discussed the case with any E
nglish po- licem
en as far as I k
no
w," R
ay said
. L
ane attack
ed th
e com
mittee fo
r intro
-ducin
g th
e statemen
t with
out ch
eckin
g
into
the b
ackgro
und o
f Eist, w
ho L
ane
claimed
had
been
kick
ed o
ut o
f the .
force for fabricating evidence and other illegal acts.