Sensational new testimony rocks King assassination hearing

Press, 21 August 1978, Page 8

Sensational new testimony rocks King assassination hearing

i NZPA Washington Chief Inspector Alexander Anthony Eist, a retired member of Scotland Yard’s flying squad, until last week lived an obscure life presiding over a pub called the Green Man Publick House in Six Mile Bottom, near . Cambridge, England, the “Washington Star” has reported. | Now suddenly Mr Eist has (been propelled into the | centre of a new controversy (concerning the role of James I Earl Ray in the murder of IDr Martin Luther King. The ■ injection of Eist, (pronounced east), into the House of Representatives Assassinations Committee’s probe came as a surprise i when Representative Samuel jDevine disclosed .that Mr ' Eist had given startling tes- ' timony to a committee investigator just two weeks ' ago.

According to Mr Eist’s statement, he was the British policeman assigned to guard Ray when the fugitive was arrested in London on June 8, 1968. He was handcuffed to Ray in several prisons and court appearances, and was with him constantly until Ray was extradited to the United States. If true, Mr Eist’s account of all the things Ray Said to him in their conversations about the crime were the most damning statements that have yet been levelled against the 50-year-old Ray. i According to the report, Mr Eist said that it was implicit in Ray’s conversation that “he had done it and was i quite proud of it.’’

Mr Eist said that as he gained Ray’s confidence, the prisoner had spoken of his hatred of blacks and his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to kill Dr King. But while the spectators and a national television audience was trying to abs:rb the impact of this testimony from a seemingly respectable retired Scotland Yard man, Ray’s lawyer, Mark Lane, erupted with a protest.

Mr Lane announced indignantly that he had just talked on the long-distance telephone with a British barrister who had told him that Mr Eist had been dismissed from the police in disgrace. According to Mr Lane, “Scotland Yard charged that Mr Eist, while in the English police force, took part in jewel robberies throughout England, had committed perjury, and invented oral confessions.” Mr Lane blasted the introduction of Mr Eist’s memories of Ray after a 10-year-lapse, and told the committee: “If you knew of this man’s background, this is a disgrace to the American people and one of the most disgraceful episodes in the history of Congress.” In London yesterday, Mr Eist acknowledged that some charges were once brought against him, but added: “There was never any question of my being dismissed from the force because of the charges. My retirmeent was honourable.” I Scotland Yard issued a statement saying that Mr I Eist “in July, 1976, was I charged with conspiracy to-

icommitt corruption, and on two counts of conspiracy to I pervert the course of justice. Earlier this year ... he was: acquitted.” In his statement to the assassinations committee, Mr Eist said that in the 10 days he had guarded Ray he had gradually gained his confidence. “I must mention! that I am used to dealing with criminals of this ca-| libre and with low criminals from the streets.”

The breakthrough began when Ray was provided with bacon, eggs, sausage and beans, but no utensils to eat the food with. Mr Eist said he had an argument ab'out that with the other police because he didn’t think the prisoner could each such a meal with his fingers. “He said to me, ‘Thanks very much, good try,’ and it broke the ice,” Mr Eist said.

Mr Eist’s story is that they started out by talking of the difference between American and English criminals, and then Ray had told him how he had broken out of prison. Asked how he had lived while on the run, Ray allegedly told Mr Eist that he did it by holding up small stores. “He hated black people,” Mr Eist told the committee investigator. “In fact he said he tried to get into Africa to try to shoot some more, he also mentioned some reference to the F'oreign Legion.” Mr Eist’s statement added: “He was telling me that for him to have shot a black man of note in certain parts of America would make him into a national hero. He

; seemed absolutely mad I about publicity. There came la time when he began to tell line about the gun, a gun. And that he had thrown this gun away. He told me that when he left the place wltere the shooting had been he’ made his only mistake, panicked and threw the gun away.” ! But Ray indicated that ne I knew they had got his fingerprints from the gun and that “I should make a lot of

money out of this.” Mr Eist said that Ray was quite open about the situation being a conspiracy. He said that Ray had told him he expected to make half a million dollars, but later it became a quarter of a miL lion dollars. “He told me that his plan was to get a good lawyer, one he could trust, a mercenary lawyer who hated black people like himself. He would have no

shortage of friends or fund raisers.” Mr Eist was asked: “Did he actually say he had done it?” “No, he didn’t actually come out with it,” Mr Eist replied. “It was there in the conversation that he had done it.” “Did he express sorrow?” “None at all, he was quite proud of it,” Mr Eist replied. Mr Eist said he was now on pension after 281 years police service. He said he would be willing to come to the United States to testify and, after Friday’s imbroglio, it is as certain his testimony will be sought as it is that his background will undergo scrutiny. Mr Eist said in London

yesterday: “Everyone keeps asking why 1 didn’t come forward with this 10 years ago when the original trial was on. Well, then Ray was pleading guilty. I felt he was guilty. There was no conflict. What did I have to offer?” “I only came forward because I read somewhere that Ray had changed his plea to innocent and was trying to implicate the F.B.L, and I knew they’d done a damn good job with him — the agents I saw dealing with him in London, anyway, and I wanted to give my impression of his guilt.” My Eist, moustachioed and dressed impeccably in a tweed jacket and brown pants in his two-room pub. was reticent to talk about almost everything except his impressions of Ray, about which there was no question. “He was shifty, crafty. “He was smart, that’s for sure, and never came right out and said he killed King.” Ray flatly denied that he had spoken with Mr Eist at all about the case. In a second blow to the convicted King assassin, the one man supposedly capable of corroborating his murder alibi said under oath he had invented a “completely false” story and fooled Ray’s attorney “hook, line, and sinker.”

Ray and his lawyer, Mark Lane, were not present when their star alibi witness, Dean Cowden of Port Neches, Texas, retracted his support.