PETROS, Tenn. -- Four years ago, James Earl Ray was trying to elude the howling bloodhounds and shotgun-toting guards that took part in the largest manhunt Tennessee has ever seen. Today, Ray is still grabbing headlines as he recovers from a knife attack.
On June 10, 1977, Ray and six fellow inmates staged a sensational escape and fled the Brushy Mountain Prison in a hail of gunfire. The escape captured national attention, as did last week's stabbing of Ray by inmates in the prison law library.
Ray, the convicted assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has been a thorn in the side of Tennessee officials since he was arrested in 1968. In that period, he has tried to escape four times and has filed countless lawsuit alleging various violations of his rights. He also has doggedly tried to gain a new hearing in his case.
In fact, he was in the prison law library when he was jumped by some fellow inmates last Thursday morning and stabbed 22 times in the head, chest, neck and arm. Authorities believe the attackers were members of Alkebu-Lan, a black prison organization.
Doctors say he will make a full recovery.
The celebrated inmate feels the stabbing may have been the last straw. He told UPI in an interview that he fears state officials will use the attack to either place him in isolation at the prison or ship him off to a federal penitentiary, where he is certain he would be murdered.
'There is no doubt if I got in a federal prison I will be killed,' he said. 'There is just no doubt.'
The 1977 escape by Ray attracted more than 200 reporters to the Petros prison, which is tucked in a remote mountain area of east Tennessee about 30 miles northwest of Knoxville.
Ray and his cohorts scaled the wall with a ladder made from plumbing materials. Ray is still believed to have been the mastermind of the plot, but he denies the charge.
The escape came at dusk. Ray and the others were milling about the prison exercise yard amid a large group of inmates.
Gradually, the seven men ambled toward a spot where the brick wall meets a sheer mountain cliff. Suddenly, one grabbed the makeshift ladder that was concealed in the tall grass.
Ray led the way as the seven men scrambled up the ladder past a break in the 2,300-volt 'hot wire' atop the wall and jumped to the ground below.
The last man over was wounded by gunfire from Brushy guards. He fell to the other side and was quickly apprehended. The others disappeared into the thick woods 20 yards beyond the wall.
When Ray was tracked down by search teams with bloodhounds and brought back 54 hours later, he was placed in solitary cofinement. Another year was tacked onto his 99-year prison sentence.
Ray claimed in his escape trial he was trying to make it to Canada, where he hoped to bargain with then U.S. Attorney General Griffin Bell for a new trial in the King assassination.
The 53-year-old Ray also attempted escapes in 1971, 1972 and 1979. All ended before Ray could make it past the prison walls.
In each instance, the escape prompted changes by officials. Following the 1978 escape, more guards were hired at the prison, a new watch tower was built and a new high-voltage wire was put at the top of the wall.
