(1928 - 1998) Assassin of Martin Luther King, whom he killed in Memphis in 1968. Important content A.L.S. 1p. 8vo., Nashville, June 11, 1997 on lined notepaper to A. J. Deco in Ray’s idiosyncratic prose, in part: ‘…The rifle has been tests several times & all we can do it loose. Paper will run a ruling against me on front page. I am about like I was were going the legal working the legal route plus now the political one. It is difficult to overcome the legal one. Visits are hard to get here. Jerry visits a couple times a week. So you are on a book? What about ‘politicians’ misconduct…’. Signed ‘J. E. Ray’ twice and again ‘James Ray’ adding his prisoner number at return address area on the original cover. Ray confessed to the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. but soon after recanted and spent decades seeking a trial to test the murder weapon and prove his innocence, a quest that was championed by King’s wife, Carlotta Scott King, and her children. Ray would die in prison of liver cancer before a trial could be attained.