Jesse Killed Martin

"In 1968 Ernestine Campbell and her husband owned the Trumpet Hotel which abutted the Lorraine. No one had ever talked to her or asked her about what she saw on that fateful afternoon. Ernestine said she left the hotel and started for home just before 6:00 p.m., driving her gold-bronze Cadillac up Butler and turning right on Mulberry. 

As she passed the Lorraine driveway on Butler, she saw Dr. King standing on the balcony. She didn't hear anything because she had the car windows up and the radio on. 

As she turned the corner onto Mulberry she looked up and saw Dr. King lying on the balcony. She thought he'd had a heart attack. She stopped for a minute or two at the driveway, wondering why people weren't racing to the balcony. Possibly she had arrived at the driveway when everyone was still in a state of shock.

Her attention was in particular drawn to Jesse Jackson whom she said had one foot on the first step of the stairway looking up to the balcony while bent over "... putting something into a suit bag." Her pause was brief, and she drove on without seeing any policemen or really noticing anyone at all."

"The Klan had a special arrangement with the 20th SFG. The 20th SFG actually trained klansmen in the use of firearms and other military skills at a secret camp near Cullman, Alabama, in return for intelligence on local black leaders. The earliest of such training exercises began on November 12, 1966. Some members of the 20th SFG also used these sessions for illegal weapons sales. The U.S. Strike Command (CINCSTRIKE) was the overall coordinating command (which could call upon all military forces on U.S. soil) for the purpose of responding to urban riots in 1967-1968. At that time it included liaison officers from the CIA, FBI, and other nonmilitary state and federal agencies. It was headquartered at MacDill air force base in Tampa, Florida, and the ACSI and USAINTC commanders were primary leaders in developing CINCSTRIKE strategy for the mobilization of forces as required for defensive action inside CONUS."