Notes: Stories that kids love 2

Adam Canfield Watch Your Back

Helsinki: the capital of Finland is situated on the Gulf of Finland, which runs east all the way to Russia.  If you are looking this up in an old atlas, you cannot fail to notice that the first major city that you encounter is called Leningrad.  However, if it's a new atlas, you will find that the name has been changed to St. Petersburgh.  Helsinki is a beautiful praised for its art and architecture.  It now has a population of almost 600,000.

indefatigable:  untiring

Robert E. Lee:  was the leader of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

citation: has many sometime ambiguous meanings.  For example a citation can be a formal statement of achievement or the citing of a  previously settled case at law but it can also be an official summons to appear before a court.  This does not necessarily mean that the person so cited is thought to be the perpetrator of a crime.  He or she could very well be a material witness.

exposé:   simply means a formal statement of facts.

Bowman's capsule

Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol

Kafka:

Martin Luther King Jr:  

The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr: 

James Earl Ray was not the brightest person who ever lived, not by any means.  Few individuals knew the background to the reasons for the assassination least of all the FBI.  On March 29, 1968, King went to Memphis, Tennessee to give support to some workers who were being ill-treated by their employer.  He booked into a room at the Lorraine Motel.  While standing on the balcony that evening, King was shot once.  He died on the operating table a few hours later.

The FBI mustered a tremendous number of agents but their leads came to naught. One lead that seemed to be valid suggested that Ray had skipped across the Canadian border.  A senior member of the RCMP and his staff worked long weary hours sifting through current Canadian applications for passports.  After several days, the senior member had a gut feeling that one of the applications was just what they were looking for. In a matter of two hours, the team was ready to go to the address on the passport application.

An RCMP twin otter aircraft was standing by and the team was flown to London, Ontario.  This was one of the first breaks in the case.  The address was that of a rooming house, a place where a woman took in boarders.  The woman had considerable problems with this particular boarder.  Ray, it seems, had made a stupid error in judgement.  By the time he left, he had run up quite a string of long distance calls.

Needless to say the landlady was less than fond of this particular boarder.  She told the RCMP that she had listened in on his calls.  She also told them the name of the travel agency that Ray had booked his travel with.

Things were getting better and better.  The agent who had booked Ray's ticket provided the RCMP with some additional information.  His ticket was to Heathrow, London's major airport.  That was not all.  The agent told her client that one of the best places to stay in London was at King's Cross.  She also advised him of a nearby pub where she used to have lunch.

The next day, four tall men entered the pub just before noon.  Three of them were members of Scotland Yard and one was an American who was an observer a liaison officer who would be escorting James Earl Ray back to the United States.

One of the Scotland Yard members spoke to the man who eating by himself at a fairly large table.  There was tankard of ale at his side. "James Earl Ray, I presume," the officer said.

Ray made a move to get up. 

Stay where you are.  Allow me to bring you a glass.  The officer ordered five glasses.

"There you go," he said.  "You might as well enjoy this because it may be some time before you get the opportunity again."

The five at the table had a somewhat lively conversation as though they had been friends for years.  Once Ray had finished his ale, the officer in charge said, "This is the way that we are going to do it.  There will be two officers in front of you and two officers behind.  There should be no need for handcuffs, do you agree>"

Ray nodded.  They got up slowly as though they were regretful that the party was over.  They walked out the main door of the pub and as soon as they did so a

Continental Flying Spur Bentley swung around the corner, the back door was opened and Ray securely locked inside.

The rest of the story is as they say, history.  Ray was confined to prison in the United States for the rest of his days.

Psyche:  having to do with mental processes and activities

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