John McFerren
"The next witnesses might outlive us all in this case, if there is a true hero, frankly, in terms of this saga it is this man who has suffered more than any of us has ever suffered, because he was, I suppose, at the wrong place at the wrong time. He heard the wrong thing from the wrong person. And when he decided to tell what he had heard, when they brought him down to the Peabody, and the FBI interrogated him in shifts, a lawyer sitting out in the hallway sensed their exasperation as one after the other, teams came out shaking their heads, they couldn't break this man. Well, he must be telling the truth. They couldn't break his story, yet his story is so shocking because it, in itself, back in 1968 showed some of the seeds and showed the existence of the conspiracy, which to this day has been denied.
"Yet, to this day, this man who has suffered harassment, attacks on his property, even recently when the local clansmen were marching on Martin's birthday something inspired them to go up to [place where he lives] and attack John's property, if he hadn't been there goodness knows what they would have done. So he has weathered it. He has stood through it all. He maintains his story to this day. he has been available to talk, to anyone who wanted to talk to him. He has not been interviewed. He has not been believed, ever. He has been disregarded and ignored. And that's what happened when truths are unpalatable. But, I give you a man I have known for 20 years. First time we met was in a back room, in the back of his garage and he had a rifle between his legs. His windows had been shot out previously. And he lived then in fear, and he spoke to me that night in fear. Words cannot express my admiration for John McFerren."
(applause)
John McFerren - "To [be at] this gathering and to speak in this church it is indeed a great, great, honor. Before this night is over with I would like to speak tonight on this case. I have long lived in this city. In 1959 I lived in...and I'm very well acquainted and familiar with how this country gains power. In 1959 and 1960 when the Klu Klux Klan and the Citizens Council got started, that was before... [sorry, just not getting what he said]
"And on April 4, Mr. Frank Liberto, me and him was very close on dealings with each other. I was one of his good customers, and I had known him, and we talked, and he made certain expressions, and I always deal with him and move on. So on Thursday, approximately 15 minutes to 5 [p.m.] I arrived at his wholesale house. He sold all varieties of foods. The street, Market St. runs north and south, his produce house sits east and west. And I went up as usual, drove up about 10 to 15 feet of the door and parked my truck. And got about 10 feet of his office, his office sits on the right side of his building, the phone rang. And his handyman, we called him "scarface"because he had a big scar on his throat, but his real name was Latch, he picks the phone and and says, 'Ray wants to speak to you.' And Frank said, 'Shoot the son of a bitch on the balcony, I don't give a dam,' excuse me for the expression 'how you get it done, shoot the son of a bitch on the balcony'. Well, then Latch looks around and sees me standing about 6 to 7 feet away from him looking at him. And by being a good customer they did not ask hey he looks... you go and get your produce out in the yard.
"Well, when you go into the yard, you could blindfold a man, I can do it blindfolded, you come out, you arrive on the East side of the warehouse, both doors open to your left. I went in the first door, and went on in to the second door to get the bananas out of the yard. And when I came out of the office to the right side of the door which is the door facing north, the phone rang again. And when it rang again Latch gives the phone to Mr. Liberto, Mr. Frank Liberto. Mr. Liberto told whomever was on the other side of the phone, 'You call my brother in New Orleans to get your $5,000 dollars and don't bring your damn head near my place.'
"I paid it, that was my last pickup, and when I got home my wife said, 'Do you know Dr. King got killed?' I said, 'I know'. She said 'How'd you know?' I said, 'I heard the plot.' That was on a Thursday. It was a clear day that Thursday. I will never forget it It was a clear day that Thursday. And I had to drive over old 64, before they cut the interstate, and by the time it took me, it was less than an hour, before I got home. So by the way I figure it out it was around 6:30 by the time I got home. Allright, that was on Thursday.
"On Friday, by getting around and seeing people I didn't know what I had gotten myself into. So I drove back to Somerville and saw Baxton Bryant he was a white Baptist Minister and told him what I had heard and he came down that Sunday night. He came on down to Memphis and talked to the FBI. He said, 'John I don't want you to talk to the FBI without legal counsel. So he employed Mr. Dave Caywood, that's Lucien Butt's son-in-law. And we went to the FBI office which was down by, right across from the Peabody hotel. They questioned me from 7 o'clock to 2 o'clock, over and over, and over. Then they let me go back home.
"Then another day came along, the following Monday, then they didn't come around no more. then when the Assassinations Committee (HSCA) on Dr. King's death they sent an FBI man down from Washington, and James Johnston and two other women, I got the names, I was supposed to testify for the Assassinations Committee, and two days before, I got everything ready for Washington to testify for the Committee, and two days before I was supposed to go somebody called me and said we don't need you, that was the end of that. And this was a strange thing for to happen to me. I've been beat up twice since then, they hired a hit man to kill me, shot me through the hip in the wash. And just before then the New York Post paper, gave me a newspaperman that I knew who came down and told me what was going on, and his name was Ed Post, he wrote articles in the New York Post paper, he was the person who broke my story, he had a strange death, he comes up dead. Happened right after I got shot, he come up dead. And right after I got shot, in a small town, that's why I live there, if you come up and ask questions, and everybody knows you you...So when the hitman comes in that they sent in to kill me, when he walks around asking questions, what time was I open, [McFerren runs a small gas station] and what time I close.... [at this time a car alarm in the parking lot goes off for awhile] the gun that I had was a Magnum gun...And the gun I shot the guy with was a 100 years old. And when the undertake got in and he drove over and told us this, he said, John, there's a contract out on you. He said they set you up to get you killed. Why they set me up to get me killed, during that same time that I was working with the Justice Department trying to bring Dr. King's case out in the open. During that same time, I can tell this...the Justice Dept send down a person that I have never seen and told me to shut my mouth up, and never say no more, to shut my mouth up.
"Now I kept those records and gave them to Mr. Pepper. They told me to shut my mouth up and don't say no more. And I still got the records. I'm a record keeper. Now, this is what I'm saying tonight, and I've never been able to say this before, the reason they do not want Dr. King's case open is because of old battle wounds. I have been following this case for 30 years and there's more into it than outside people can see in the circumstances...I'll put it more clear to you, you take a barn out, and you put dirt over the manure and everytime you wash it it will stink, and everytime somebody stirs the case somebody is going to get hurt.
"Now when the Klu Klux Klan held a rally in Memphis on a Saturday, the Klu Klux Klan they came up to my store, back before then when I was poking into it, they tore all the glass out of the back of my store, (broke all the windows) and this time I was suspicious that something was going to happen, and...I'll thank you, I'll stop right there.
(audience starts to laugh, wanting to hear what trap he laid for the Klan, we applaud.)
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