◆ SpookStack

Sener sy rare) are ANNE ES hiltel ere cee Renan 2 8p rugs wate nediey Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was thoroughly, honesrly and successfully conducted. We submit that the mimte details compacted in this report amply support this con- clusion. At the very outset of the investigation telegrams went to all field offices of the Bureau instructing the Special Agents in Charge to take personal supervision of the investigation, to check out all leads in 24 hours, and noting that they would be held personally responsible. (HQ 44-38861-153). The files we reviewed show that this directive was conscientiously followed. The Bureau sought first to identify and locate the murderer using the obvious leads. They checked out aliases, tracked the traces left under the Galt alias, and used the nom fingerprints from the murder weapon and the contents of the blue zipper bag left on South Main Street to eliminate suspects. This backtracking ended in Atlanta. At this point the Bureau initiated a check of the crime site fingerprints against the white male "wanted fugitive” print file. This produced the almst “instant" discovery that the wanted man, Galt, was James Earl Ray, an escapee fron Missouri State Prison. In fact the "instant" discovery was a tedious hand search started in a file of some 20,000 prints. That it took only two hours to make a match is said by the Bureau experts to -107-