James Earl Ray (above) an escaped American convict, was arrested 
in London, England, and charged with the assassination of African
American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Rev. King was fatally wounded by a
sniper’s bullet while standing on the balcony outside his second-
story room at the Motel Lorraine.

That evening, a Remington .30-06 hunting rifle was found on the
sidewalk beside a rooming house one block from the Lorraine
Motel. During the next several weeks, the rifle, eyewitness reports,
and fingerprints on the weapon all implicated a single suspect:
James Earl Ray.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 – 1968)

James Earl Ray (1928 – 1998)

Ray died on April 23, 1998, just 19 days after the 30th
Anniversary of King’s Assassination, at the age of 70,
at the Columbia Nashville Memorial Hospital in Madison,
Tennessee from complications related to kidney disease
and liver failure caused by hepatitis C.

Shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, Senator Robert Kennedy
was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the        
California presidential primary.

Robert Kennedy was pronounced dead a day later, June 6, 1968.

Sirhan Bishara Sirhan turned 80 in March.

At Sirhan’s 17th parole board appearance on March 1, 2023, he
was again denied parole. He has waived his right to contest
deportation if he is paroled.

SANDY KOZEL

The musical’s 1956 Broadway production was a notable critical
and popular success, winning six Tony Awards, including Best
Musical. It set a record for the longest run of any musical on
Broadway up to that time and was followed by a hit London
production. Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews starred in both
productions.

On April 23, 1969, Sirhan Sirhan was given the death penalty
after being convicted in the assassination of senator Robert
F. Kennedy. In 1972, Sirhan’s sentence was commuted to life
in prison after California abolished the death penalty. He
turned 80  last month.     
      
      
     

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy speaks his final words to supporters
at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, moments before
he was shot on June 5, 1968. At his side are his wife, Ethel,
left.

Robert F. Kennedy lies mortally wounded on the floor immediately after the shooting. Kneeling beside him
is 17-year-old busboy Juan Romero, who was
shaking Kennedy’s hand when Sirhan Sirhan fired
the shots.

On April 21, 1865, a train carrying the coffin of assassinated
President Abraham Lincoln left Washington, D.C. on its way
to Springfield, Illinois, where he would be buried on May 4.

President Lincoln’s Funeral Train, Interior – Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper Drawing.

Millions of Americans bade farewell to the assassinated president as his body made a 1,700-mile journey home.

An authentic replica of the coffin President Abraham Lincoln
was buried in sits on display at the Barboursville Public
Library in 2019.