1 00:00:02,243 --> 00:00:04,670 - Prison for the worst of the worst. 2 00:00:04,829 --> 00:00:07,172 - The worst people ended up at Brushy Mountain. 3 00:00:07,331 --> 00:00:10,926 You had murders, rapists, child molesters. 4 00:00:11,085 --> 00:00:13,679 - A place where hope goes to die. 5 00:00:13,838 --> 00:00:15,514 - When you walked out on a yard, in this prison, 6 00:00:15,673 --> 00:00:17,424 you are thinking about getting robbed, stabbed. 7 00:00:17,517 --> 00:00:19,176 That's how dangerous it was. 8 00:00:19,260 --> 00:00:21,344 - If the murderers don't catch him... 9 00:00:21,429 --> 00:00:24,106 - If you can get away, you try your best to. 10 00:00:24,190 --> 00:00:25,441 - The mountain will. 11 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:28,027 - Once you climb over for 20 miles, 12 00:00:28,186 --> 00:00:31,196 there's nothing but rocky bluffs, rattlesnakes. 13 00:00:31,355 --> 00:00:32,531 [gunshot] 14 00:00:34,108 --> 00:00:36,535 - All hell broke loose here. 15 00:00:36,619 --> 00:00:38,945 - For whatever reason, they chose to roll the dice. 16 00:00:39,039 --> 00:00:41,948 [dramatic music] 17 00:00:42,033 --> 00:00:44,701 ♪ ♪ 18 00:00:44,786 --> 00:00:49,122 [dramatic music] 19 00:00:49,207 --> 00:00:53,218 - Some of the greatest stories ever told start behind bars... 20 00:00:53,377 --> 00:00:55,554 ♪ ♪ 21 00:00:55,713 --> 00:00:57,806 Locked up in their most notorious prisons 22 00:00:57,965 --> 00:01:02,969 in the world, spied on by guards and fellow prisoners. 23 00:01:03,054 --> 00:01:04,229 ♪ ♪ 24 00:01:04,388 --> 00:01:09,309 It takes a devious mind to find a way out. 25 00:01:09,402 --> 00:01:12,562 It could lead you to freedom 26 00:01:12,655 --> 00:01:13,906 or it could cost you your life. 27 00:01:14,065 --> 00:01:15,982 [gunshot] 28 00:01:16,067 --> 00:01:20,320 But wouldn't you try when you have nothing left to lose? 29 00:01:20,404 --> 00:01:22,539 ♪ ♪ 30 00:01:27,328 --> 00:01:30,247 [suspenseful folk music] 31 00:01:30,331 --> 00:01:36,929 ♪ ♪ 32 00:01:37,088 --> 00:01:40,423 - Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary. 33 00:01:40,508 --> 00:01:43,760 For most prisoners, coming here is a one-way ticket. 34 00:01:43,845 --> 00:01:47,106 That's why they call it the end of the line. 35 00:01:47,265 --> 00:01:49,766 For decades it meant 12 hours a day of hard labor 36 00:01:49,851 --> 00:01:51,693 in the coal mine. 37 00:01:51,853 --> 00:01:54,855 Your bunk is not your own. 38 00:01:54,939 --> 00:01:57,774 You shared it with the prisoner from the other shift. 39 00:01:57,859 --> 00:02:01,194 Slack off in the mine, and you'd be whipped. 40 00:02:01,279 --> 00:02:05,707 The mine closed in 1967, but now this place 41 00:02:05,792 --> 00:02:09,452 is filled with Tennessee's most violent criminals. 42 00:02:09,546 --> 00:02:11,872 Owe the wrong guy a couple of bucks, 43 00:02:11,965 --> 00:02:16,710 look at someone the wrong way, and you could get stabbed. 44 00:02:16,794 --> 00:02:21,298 To be an inmate here is to live in fear. 45 00:02:21,382 --> 00:02:24,467 ♪ ♪ 46 00:02:24,552 --> 00:02:26,311 - Brushy Mountain is probably 47 00:02:26,396 --> 00:02:29,639 the most notorious prison in the state of Tennessee. 48 00:02:29,724 --> 00:02:33,643 It's a maximum-security prison built in 1896. 49 00:02:33,728 --> 00:02:36,071 - It looks like a medieval castle. 50 00:02:36,230 --> 00:02:37,314 When you're driving up to it, 51 00:02:37,398 --> 00:02:39,825 it is literally at the end of the valley. 52 00:02:39,909 --> 00:02:41,160 It is the end of the road. 53 00:02:41,319 --> 00:02:44,070 There is nothing beyond it and you can kind of feel 54 00:02:44,155 --> 00:02:47,157 the area closing in around you as you get closer to it. 55 00:02:47,241 --> 00:02:50,335 - It's a smaller prison, but it was very dangerous. 56 00:02:50,494 --> 00:02:52,421 When you walked out on a yard in this prison, 57 00:02:52,580 --> 00:02:54,756 in your mind all the time, 58 00:02:54,916 --> 00:02:57,926 you're thinking about getting robbed, stabbed, or something. 59 00:02:58,011 --> 00:03:02,339 That's how dangerous it was. 60 00:03:02,423 --> 00:03:04,674 - The odds of breaking out of this place 61 00:03:04,759 --> 00:03:05,926 once you are sent here, 62 00:03:06,019 --> 00:03:09,512 no matter how ingenious a criminal you are, 63 00:03:09,597 --> 00:03:11,932 are very low. 64 00:03:12,025 --> 00:03:14,351 The man who decides he'll take those odds, 65 00:03:14,444 --> 00:03:18,438 is one of the most infamous assassins in American history. 66 00:03:18,522 --> 00:03:25,537 ♪ ♪ 67 00:03:25,622 --> 00:03:31,210 April 4th, 1968, Memphis, Tennessee. 68 00:03:31,369 --> 00:03:33,370 Martin Luther King Jr. Is killed 69 00:03:33,463 --> 00:03:37,791 by a shot from a .30 caliber rifle. 70 00:03:37,884 --> 00:03:41,628 Petty criminal James Earl Ray is arrested 71 00:03:41,712 --> 00:03:45,882 and pleads guilty to King's murder. 72 00:03:45,967 --> 00:03:48,894 Sentenced to 99 years in prison, 73 00:03:49,053 --> 00:03:53,899 Ray arrives at Brushy Mountain in March 1970. 74 00:03:54,058 --> 00:03:55,642 Ray enters the prison system there 75 00:03:55,726 --> 00:03:59,988 with a well-earned reputation for escaping. 76 00:04:00,073 --> 00:04:03,659 - We knowed he was escape artist before he got here. 77 00:04:03,818 --> 00:04:05,911 He escaped prison in Missouri. 78 00:04:06,070 --> 00:04:12,167 ♪ ♪ 79 00:04:12,252 --> 00:04:15,662 - James Earl Ray is at work in prison bakery. 80 00:04:15,746 --> 00:04:17,589 He notices that every day, 81 00:04:17,748 --> 00:04:23,586 the truck arrives and leaves with the bread. 82 00:04:23,671 --> 00:04:26,598 He and another prisoner are talking about 83 00:04:26,757 --> 00:04:30,593 how you could maybe escape in that truck. 84 00:04:30,678 --> 00:04:33,263 The other inmates put a tray of bread on top of him. 85 00:04:33,347 --> 00:04:35,607 [dramatic music] 86 00:04:35,766 --> 00:04:38,860 ♪ ♪ 87 00:04:39,020 --> 00:04:40,687 He gets loaded into the truck. 88 00:04:40,780 --> 00:04:44,274 As he's on the road, he jumps from the truck. 89 00:04:44,358 --> 00:04:47,777 He hides in a junkyard until nightfall. 90 00:04:47,862 --> 00:04:49,621 He is able to get away. 91 00:04:49,780 --> 00:04:56,211 ♪ ♪ 92 00:04:58,706 --> 00:05:01,041 - Ray is on the Lam for 50 weeks 93 00:05:01,134 --> 00:05:04,961 after his first escape from the prison in Missouri. 94 00:05:05,046 --> 00:05:07,222 After his murder of King on April 4th, 95 00:05:07,307 --> 00:05:11,310 Ray is on the run for nine more weeks. 96 00:05:11,394 --> 00:05:13,979 He is eventually captured at Heathrow Airport, 97 00:05:14,138 --> 00:05:17,316 London, England, on June 8th, 1968. 98 00:05:17,475 --> 00:05:22,395 ♪ ♪ 99 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:24,397 He confesses to the murder 100 00:05:24,490 --> 00:05:28,985 and ends up remanded to Brushy Mountain State Prison. 101 00:05:29,070 --> 00:05:30,746 ♪ ♪ 102 00:05:30,905 --> 00:05:33,749 There, he keeps a low profile. 103 00:05:33,833 --> 00:05:36,493 Or tries to. 104 00:05:36,586 --> 00:05:38,503 - He knows any amount of attention 105 00:05:38,662 --> 00:05:41,590 that you attract in prison is going to be bad attention. 106 00:05:41,749 --> 00:05:44,426 It's going to work against you. 107 00:05:44,510 --> 00:05:48,347 - The guards are told to keep an eye on Ray too, 108 00:05:48,506 --> 00:05:54,186 but time is on a prisoner's side. 109 00:05:54,345 --> 00:05:55,929 - Listen, everybody in Tennessee knew 110 00:05:56,022 --> 00:05:57,773 he was an escape risk. 111 00:05:57,857 --> 00:05:59,516 He was gonna leave if he gets a chance. 112 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:01,526 It's just up to us to keep him here. 113 00:06:01,685 --> 00:06:08,108 ♪ ♪ 114 00:06:08,192 --> 00:06:10,952 - A life sentence in this hell hole 115 00:06:11,037 --> 00:06:14,206 makes many prisoners dream of escape. 116 00:06:14,290 --> 00:06:15,624 But this isolated fortress 117 00:06:15,783 --> 00:06:18,877 is built to make that dream impossible. 118 00:06:19,036 --> 00:06:20,703 ♪ ♪ 119 00:06:20,788 --> 00:06:23,790 - The walls that were built here from the stone 120 00:06:23,874 --> 00:06:25,542 for about 14 feet high. 121 00:06:25,635 --> 00:06:28,053 They are about two, maybe three foot thick. 122 00:06:28,212 --> 00:06:29,546 Some of these rocks that's in this wall 123 00:06:29,639 --> 00:06:32,298 are approaching 3000 pounds. 124 00:06:32,392 --> 00:06:34,050 At the top of that wall, 125 00:06:34,135 --> 00:06:36,136 you have not only the razor wire 126 00:06:36,220 --> 00:06:39,222 or the concertina wire, but you also have barbed wire. 127 00:06:39,315 --> 00:06:40,974 That barbed wire and concertina wire 128 00:06:41,067 --> 00:06:42,484 surrounded the top. 129 00:06:42,568 --> 00:06:46,571 Each strand of that barbed wire had 20,000 volts on it. 130 00:06:46,730 --> 00:06:48,481 So that was a big deterrent on anybody 131 00:06:48,574 --> 00:06:50,409 trying to get over the wall. 132 00:06:50,493 --> 00:06:55,080 - In addition to the wall and the electrified barbed wire, 133 00:06:55,164 --> 00:06:58,333 there are nine guard towers around the prison's perimeter 134 00:06:58,418 --> 00:07:01,828 each manned by a correctional officer 135 00:07:01,921 --> 00:07:04,589 armed to the teeth. 136 00:07:04,674 --> 00:07:09,252 - Each gun tower, the officers had a 12-gauge shotgun, 137 00:07:09,336 --> 00:07:11,012 a .38 caliber pistol, 138 00:07:11,172 --> 00:07:13,673 and at one time, they had a .22 rifle. 139 00:07:13,766 --> 00:07:16,759 - With all of these above-ground deterrence, 140 00:07:16,844 --> 00:07:19,679 James Earl Ray figures the best way out 141 00:07:19,763 --> 00:07:22,107 is probably underground. 142 00:07:22,266 --> 00:07:29,281 ♪ ♪ 143 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:31,774 Ray spends months poking around his cell, 144 00:07:31,859 --> 00:07:35,454 looking for weak spots. He decides it's too risky 145 00:07:35,613 --> 00:07:38,865 to attempt sawing his way through the bars, 146 00:07:38,949 --> 00:07:41,784 so his attention turns to the air vent 147 00:07:41,869 --> 00:07:44,212 at the back of the cell. 148 00:07:44,371 --> 00:07:48,049 - It's about a ten-inch to 12-inch square piece of metal 149 00:07:48,134 --> 00:07:49,801 that has holes in it. 150 00:07:49,886 --> 00:07:51,461 And it's bolted to the concrete. 151 00:07:51,554 --> 00:07:55,140 And once you got that plate off of the wall, 152 00:07:55,224 --> 00:07:58,059 then you could dig at that concrete with a spoon 153 00:07:58,144 --> 00:08:00,979 or any kind of piece of metal or something. 154 00:08:01,138 --> 00:08:04,641 - He chips away at the whole night after night, 155 00:08:04,725 --> 00:08:06,726 replacing the vent every morning 156 00:08:06,810 --> 00:08:08,144 and covering his tracks. 157 00:08:08,237 --> 00:08:09,571 - He would set it back down 158 00:08:09,655 --> 00:08:10,897 and you take toothpaste and squirt 159 00:08:10,981 --> 00:08:13,325 around with toothpaste, look just like mortar, 160 00:08:13,409 --> 00:08:15,160 like caulking. 161 00:08:15,319 --> 00:08:16,736 ♪ ♪ 162 00:08:16,820 --> 00:08:18,988 - Once it got big enough, then he went through that hole 163 00:08:19,073 --> 00:08:20,323 and would get in, 164 00:08:20,416 --> 00:08:22,584 what we would call the pipe chase, 165 00:08:22,668 --> 00:08:24,920 which is just access to the plumbing. 166 00:08:25,079 --> 00:08:26,996 - Ray explores the pipe chase 167 00:08:27,081 --> 00:08:29,666 and spots a potential escape route. 168 00:08:29,750 --> 00:08:32,835 The larger exhaust fan that vents air 169 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:36,673 to an enclosed courtyard area outside. 170 00:08:36,766 --> 00:08:39,518 If he can get through there, Ray estimates 171 00:08:39,677 --> 00:08:43,522 that he can crawl to a manhole 20 feet away. 172 00:08:43,606 --> 00:08:46,349 While on the exercise grounds at an earlier date, 173 00:08:46,442 --> 00:08:48,527 Ray had noticed that the powerhouse 174 00:08:48,686 --> 00:08:52,280 is outside the exterior walls of the prison. 175 00:08:52,365 --> 00:08:56,535 Now he figures this manhole must lead to a steam pipe 176 00:08:56,619 --> 00:08:59,871 running between the prison and the powerhouse. 177 00:08:59,956 --> 00:09:03,866 If he can get into those pipes and over to the powerhouse, 178 00:09:03,951 --> 00:09:05,785 he can escape. 179 00:09:05,878 --> 00:09:08,296 But the bars in front of the fan are made of metal 180 00:09:08,455 --> 00:09:10,540 and he doesn't have a saw. 181 00:09:10,633 --> 00:09:13,051 This route seems like a dead end. 182 00:09:13,210 --> 00:09:18,798 ♪ ♪ 183 00:09:18,891 --> 00:09:22,051 Ray keeps thinking about getting out of that air vent. 184 00:09:22,144 --> 00:09:24,721 It's his best chance to break free. 185 00:09:24,814 --> 00:09:26,731 He realizes he's going to need help 186 00:09:26,816 --> 00:09:31,144 from someone on the outside to get him a saw blade. 187 00:09:31,228 --> 00:09:33,896 The murderer turns to his brother, Jerry, 188 00:09:33,990 --> 00:09:36,241 who was sympathetic to Ray's cause. 189 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:39,986 ♪ ♪ 190 00:09:40,070 --> 00:09:42,163 The two brothers come up with a scheme 191 00:09:42,248 --> 00:09:45,742 to smuggle the blade inside. 192 00:09:45,826 --> 00:09:48,336 - Jerry cuts off the bottom of his shoe 193 00:09:48,495 --> 00:09:50,997 and inserts very small hacksaw blades 194 00:09:51,081 --> 00:09:53,258 and then attaches the bottom of the shoe. 195 00:09:53,342 --> 00:09:55,001 He goes into the prison for a visit. 196 00:09:55,085 --> 00:09:56,928 Has the shoes on, 197 00:09:57,013 --> 00:09:59,431 his brother has the exact type of shoes on, 198 00:09:59,590 --> 00:10:03,184 brown shoes and the same size. They wait for the guard 199 00:10:03,269 --> 00:10:05,103 to go to the back of the visiting room 200 00:10:05,262 --> 00:10:07,522 and they casually shuffle their shoes off 201 00:10:07,681 --> 00:10:08,607 and switch shoes. 202 00:10:08,766 --> 00:10:13,686 ♪ ♪ 203 00:10:13,771 --> 00:10:16,856 So now Jerry has James Earl Ray's shoes 204 00:10:16,940 --> 00:10:18,441 and James Earl Ray has Jerry's shoes 205 00:10:18,534 --> 00:10:21,620 with the hacksaw blades in them. 206 00:10:21,779 --> 00:10:27,709 ♪ ♪ 207 00:10:27,868 --> 00:10:29,210 - Ray is able to smuggle the blades 208 00:10:29,295 --> 00:10:31,546 back to his cell undetected. 209 00:10:31,705 --> 00:10:33,790 He spends the next several months 210 00:10:33,883 --> 00:10:37,710 sawing through the bars and the pipe chase. 211 00:10:37,795 --> 00:10:41,139 But once again, Ray's plan hits a snag. 212 00:10:41,223 --> 00:10:43,391 The thick fan blades behind the bars 213 00:10:43,550 --> 00:10:46,719 are nearly impossible to bend. 214 00:10:46,804 --> 00:10:51,232 The escape route is still impregnable. 215 00:10:51,317 --> 00:10:54,486 But Ray is not going to give up easily. 216 00:10:54,645 --> 00:10:57,322 This time, he realizes he will need help, 217 00:10:57,481 --> 00:11:00,659 not from his brother Jerry on the outside, 218 00:11:00,818 --> 00:11:04,329 but from someone inside the prison. 219 00:11:04,488 --> 00:11:08,166 He needs an accomplice to help bend the blades. 220 00:11:08,325 --> 00:11:10,993 He turns to one of his few friends in prison, 221 00:11:11,078 --> 00:11:12,170 Jake Morlock. 222 00:11:12,329 --> 00:11:17,425 ♪ ♪ 223 00:11:17,584 --> 00:11:21,838 - Jake Morlock was a friend of James Earl Ray's in prison. 224 00:11:21,931 --> 00:11:24,257 He was a man he trusted. He was a plumber. 225 00:11:24,350 --> 00:11:25,591 As a matter of fact, 226 00:11:25,685 --> 00:11:28,019 James Earl Ray called him Jake the plumber. 227 00:11:28,178 --> 00:11:30,271 And Jake the plumber had access to tools, 228 00:11:30,431 --> 00:11:32,774 tools that would help aid Jimmy 229 00:11:32,933 --> 00:11:35,110 to get out of Brushy Mountain. 230 00:11:35,194 --> 00:11:37,103 - Morlock agrees to escape with the Ray 231 00:11:37,187 --> 00:11:38,187 and steals the pipe wrench 232 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:41,524 they can use to bend the fan blades. 233 00:11:41,608 --> 00:11:43,368 But once again, 234 00:11:43,527 --> 00:11:46,621 there was a roadblock on the path to freedom. 235 00:11:46,780 --> 00:11:49,031 Morlock and Ray aren't cellmates. 236 00:11:49,125 --> 00:11:51,876 That's got to change for their plan to work. 237 00:11:52,035 --> 00:11:58,040 ♪ ♪ 238 00:11:58,125 --> 00:11:59,625 - James Earl Ray, 239 00:11:59,710 --> 00:12:03,713 he knew that he needed to get Jake the plumber in his cell. 240 00:12:03,797 --> 00:12:06,725 - Ray figures if he can change names on the ledger 241 00:12:06,809 --> 00:12:09,477 in an unlocked office near the cell floor, 242 00:12:09,636 --> 00:12:12,555 he can get Morlock into his cell. 243 00:12:12,639 --> 00:12:16,142 But there are usually plenty of guards on the cell floor. 244 00:12:16,226 --> 00:12:17,902 He needs to figure out 245 00:12:18,061 --> 00:12:20,488 when is the best time to make his move. 246 00:12:20,573 --> 00:12:21,906 - He did it on a day 247 00:12:21,991 --> 00:12:25,234 when the guards that were usually there had days off, 248 00:12:25,327 --> 00:12:28,079 so they were the substitute guards. 249 00:12:28,164 --> 00:12:31,741 So he snuck in the office and he erased names 250 00:12:31,825 --> 00:12:36,412 and he put Jake's name as his cellmate. 251 00:12:36,505 --> 00:12:40,082 - It's a risky move, but Ray manages to avoid 252 00:12:40,176 --> 00:12:42,761 being caught by the substitute guards 253 00:12:42,845 --> 00:12:45,346 who generally do not move about the cell floor 254 00:12:45,506 --> 00:12:47,432 as much as the regular guards. 255 00:12:47,516 --> 00:12:50,676 - So that's how Jake was able to make his way 256 00:12:50,770 --> 00:12:53,429 in a James Earl Ray's cell. 257 00:12:53,514 --> 00:13:00,269 ♪ ♪ 258 00:13:00,354 --> 00:13:02,280 - The new cellmates wait until the guards 259 00:13:02,439 --> 00:13:06,692 make their nightly rounds to escape. 260 00:13:06,777 --> 00:13:10,530 If they can get out of the prison in the next hour or so, 261 00:13:10,623 --> 00:13:13,366 they will have three hours until the morning headcount 262 00:13:13,459 --> 00:13:17,537 at 6:00 a.m. before they are discovered missing. 263 00:13:17,630 --> 00:13:20,548 - James Earl Ray and Jake fashion dummies in their beds 264 00:13:20,707 --> 00:13:22,550 so it looked like 265 00:13:22,635 --> 00:13:23,968 they were sleeping in their cell at night. 266 00:13:24,127 --> 00:13:30,967 ♪ ♪ 267 00:13:31,060 --> 00:13:34,145 - Working as quickly and quietly as possible, 268 00:13:34,304 --> 00:13:37,065 Ray and Morlock finished removing the bars 269 00:13:37,149 --> 00:13:41,060 and bend the fan blades back with the pipe wrench. 270 00:13:41,153 --> 00:13:43,655 - James Earl Ray slithered right out through there. 271 00:13:43,814 --> 00:13:46,649 His poor cellmate, Jake, was a little bit overweight 272 00:13:46,733 --> 00:13:48,409 and so he couldn't get through and he had to turn around 273 00:13:48,494 --> 00:13:51,821 and go back to the cell. 274 00:13:51,905 --> 00:13:54,574 - But Ray isn't all on his own. 275 00:13:54,658 --> 00:13:56,751 His brother is waiting on the outside. 276 00:13:56,836 --> 00:13:58,253 - There was a getaway plan. 277 00:13:58,412 --> 00:14:02,748 And Jerry was supposed to meet him in a church parking lot. 278 00:14:02,833 --> 00:14:04,092 He got prepared though. 279 00:14:04,176 --> 00:14:07,095 He got a pistol and he got a bunch of bullets 280 00:14:07,179 --> 00:14:10,515 and he taped them under the chassis of his car. 281 00:14:10,599 --> 00:14:12,174 He did that because he didn't want to put them 282 00:14:12,268 --> 00:14:14,343 on his person just in case he got searched 283 00:14:14,428 --> 00:14:16,020 because you realize this is aiding and abetting 284 00:14:16,179 --> 00:14:19,023 and Jerry could be in big trouble. 285 00:14:19,182 --> 00:14:21,100 ♪ ♪ 286 00:14:21,184 --> 00:14:23,278 - Back at the prison, Ray has made it 287 00:14:23,437 --> 00:14:27,356 out of the pipe chase and into the prison courtyard. 288 00:14:27,449 --> 00:14:29,534 - James Earl Ray got out on the yard. 289 00:14:29,693 --> 00:14:33,529 Then the manhole was over here that led outside 290 00:14:33,614 --> 00:14:36,949 to the powerhouse down on the road where you come in. 291 00:14:37,042 --> 00:14:39,794 - It looks like Ray's going to pull off this escape 292 00:14:39,953 --> 00:14:42,622 as he opens the manhole cover. 293 00:14:42,715 --> 00:14:45,967 - Ray took the lid off and the steam was still on. 294 00:14:46,126 --> 00:14:48,803 - Ray gets a face full of steam. 295 00:14:48,962 --> 00:14:52,891 The pain is almost unbearable. 296 00:14:53,050 --> 00:14:55,217 He has mere seconds to decide what to do 297 00:14:55,311 --> 00:14:58,971 before the patrol guards see him in the yard. 298 00:14:59,064 --> 00:15:02,475 Does he go back to his cell and give up his escape, 299 00:15:02,568 --> 00:15:04,819 or does he risk being burned 300 00:15:04,978 --> 00:15:07,071 and climbed down into that tunnel? 301 00:15:07,230 --> 00:15:11,159 After all, the tunnel leads to his freedom. 302 00:15:18,584 --> 00:15:20,660 [dramatic music] 303 00:15:20,744 --> 00:15:22,411 ♪ ♪ 304 00:15:22,496 --> 00:15:25,423 - James Earl Ray is a sitting duck. 305 00:15:25,507 --> 00:15:27,833 Any second, a guard could spot him out here 306 00:15:27,918 --> 00:15:29,761 in the prison courtyard 307 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:34,173 in the middle of an escape attempt. 308 00:15:34,266 --> 00:15:36,601 But the steam tunnel he plans to follow under 309 00:15:36,685 --> 00:15:40,521 the prison wall is boiling hot. 310 00:15:40,681 --> 00:15:42,682 He climbs down anyway. 311 00:15:42,766 --> 00:15:48,947 ♪ ♪ 312 00:15:49,106 --> 00:15:51,783 - The steam pipes, they were very old 313 00:15:51,942 --> 00:15:55,286 and the insulation around them was all gone. 314 00:15:55,371 --> 00:15:58,197 And so, it was just pure, hot pipes. 315 00:15:58,281 --> 00:16:01,784 ♪ ♪ 316 00:16:01,868 --> 00:16:03,294 - Meanwhile in the getaway car, 317 00:16:03,453 --> 00:16:06,464 his brother Jerry runs into trouble. 318 00:16:06,623 --> 00:16:10,051 - So Jerry went to the parking lot 319 00:16:10,135 --> 00:16:11,377 and all of a sudden 320 00:16:11,461 --> 00:16:14,222 here came a prison vehicle from Brushy Mountain 321 00:16:14,306 --> 00:16:17,883 and he thought for sure he was caught. 322 00:16:17,968 --> 00:16:19,644 But on a pure instinct, 323 00:16:19,728 --> 00:16:21,312 Jerry just laid over in his car 324 00:16:21,397 --> 00:16:24,140 and pretended he was taking a nap. 325 00:16:24,224 --> 00:16:28,736 ♪ ♪ 326 00:16:28,895 --> 00:16:30,071 And lo and behold, 327 00:16:30,155 --> 00:16:32,398 the police just looked around a little bit 328 00:16:32,482 --> 00:16:33,491 and they took off 329 00:16:33,650 --> 00:16:35,568 and they never searched Jerry's car. 330 00:16:35,652 --> 00:16:41,907 ♪ ♪ 331 00:16:41,992 --> 00:16:46,754 - In the tunnel, things aren't going as well for Ray. 332 00:16:46,839 --> 00:16:50,249 - Those pipes were so hot, that they burned him so badly 333 00:16:50,333 --> 00:16:51,926 that he had no choice 334 00:16:52,011 --> 00:16:54,086 but to turn around and go back. 335 00:16:54,171 --> 00:17:01,343 ♪ ♪ 336 00:17:01,428 --> 00:17:04,680 - Sure enough, this time Ray is not so lucky 337 00:17:04,765 --> 00:17:07,099 in the courtyard to go undetected. 338 00:17:07,184 --> 00:17:08,684 And the guards see him 339 00:17:08,777 --> 00:17:12,938 the second he sticks his head up out of the manhole cover. 340 00:17:13,023 --> 00:17:16,442 ♪ ♪ 341 00:17:16,526 --> 00:17:19,037 - As he just went out there and run into a snag 342 00:17:19,121 --> 00:17:21,039 and then they finally just found him. 343 00:17:21,198 --> 00:17:22,948 Brought him back and locked him back up. 344 00:17:23,033 --> 00:17:24,959 - Morlock is caught, too. 345 00:17:25,044 --> 00:17:30,206 The guards discovered him and the hole in their cell. 346 00:17:30,290 --> 00:17:35,219 ♪ ♪ 347 00:17:35,304 --> 00:17:36,796 - Jerry waited a little bit longer, 348 00:17:36,889 --> 00:17:39,557 and then he decided, I guess he didn't get out. 349 00:17:39,716 --> 00:17:43,219 So he left, he turned on the radio and there it was 350 00:17:43,312 --> 00:17:44,645 blaring all over the radio. 351 00:17:44,730 --> 00:17:47,982 James Earl Ray had tried to escape Brushy Mountain, 352 00:17:48,067 --> 00:17:49,558 but was caught. 353 00:17:49,651 --> 00:17:52,487 - James Earl Ray is treated in the infirmary for second 354 00:17:52,646 --> 00:17:55,231 and third degree burns. 355 00:17:55,315 --> 00:18:02,321 ♪ ♪ 356 00:18:02,405 --> 00:18:04,323 James Earl Ray and Jake Morlock 357 00:18:04,407 --> 00:18:08,836 each get two months in the hole for their escape attempt. 358 00:18:08,995 --> 00:18:14,008 Once Ray is out of the hole, he decides on a new tactic: 359 00:18:14,093 --> 00:18:18,337 getting another day in court. 360 00:18:18,421 --> 00:18:20,765 - James Earl Ray pled guilty. 361 00:18:20,924 --> 00:18:23,008 Although after that initial plea, 362 00:18:23,102 --> 00:18:27,179 he recanted his plea and said he did not kill King. 363 00:18:27,264 --> 00:18:28,264 - I had several interviews with him 364 00:18:28,348 --> 00:18:32,268 and he would say that he was innocent. 365 00:18:32,352 --> 00:18:34,946 - Ray claims that it was a conspiracy, 366 00:18:35,030 --> 00:18:38,366 that he was a fall guy for an organization. 367 00:18:38,450 --> 00:18:42,027 It seemed like a very convoluted story. 368 00:18:42,112 --> 00:18:44,122 A lot of the problem that he had in court 369 00:18:44,206 --> 00:18:46,949 was that I don't think he ever articulated 370 00:18:47,033 --> 00:18:50,870 what the purpose of him being the fall guy was. 371 00:18:50,954 --> 00:18:54,874 - All of Ray's attempts to get out through legal means fail. 372 00:18:54,958 --> 00:18:59,211 In the eyes of the law, he's guilty as charged. 373 00:18:59,304 --> 00:19:04,049 So he becomes more determined than ever to escape. 374 00:19:04,143 --> 00:19:07,553 ♪ ♪ 375 00:19:07,637 --> 00:19:08,729 Five years have passed 376 00:19:08,889 --> 00:19:12,650 since Ray's last failed escape attempt. 377 00:19:12,809 --> 00:19:15,987 His determination once again meets opportunity 378 00:19:16,071 --> 00:19:18,981 when he comes across a lucky find. 379 00:19:19,065 --> 00:19:23,995 ♪ ♪ 380 00:19:24,154 --> 00:19:26,414 - Ray is working in the prison laundry, 381 00:19:26,498 --> 00:19:30,743 and he notices some three to four-foot sections of pipe 382 00:19:30,827 --> 00:19:32,912 that had been left behind during some repairs 383 00:19:32,996 --> 00:19:34,496 there in the laundry. 384 00:19:34,581 --> 00:19:38,000 So he just manages to grab a couple and stash them aside, 385 00:19:38,084 --> 00:19:40,502 you know, just in case they come in handy later. 386 00:19:40,587 --> 00:19:43,923 James Earl Ray is not so much smart as cunning. 387 00:19:44,007 --> 00:19:45,758 He looks for opportunities. 388 00:19:45,851 --> 00:19:48,761 He keeps his head down until he sees an opening, 389 00:19:48,854 --> 00:19:52,097 then he darts for it. And that's what he does here. 390 00:19:52,182 --> 00:19:57,853 ♪ ♪ 391 00:19:57,938 --> 00:20:02,524 - Ray bids his time until the spring of 1977 392 00:20:02,609 --> 00:20:07,613 when one day out in the yard, he notices something peculiar 393 00:20:07,697 --> 00:20:10,625 where the prison wall meets the mountainside. 394 00:20:10,709 --> 00:20:13,044 - In one spot, 395 00:20:13,128 --> 00:20:16,881 there's about an 18-inch gap between the wire and the wall. 396 00:20:16,965 --> 00:20:18,382 Just enough for a man to slide under. 397 00:20:18,541 --> 00:20:21,802 - He was looking at that step with no electricity on it. 398 00:20:21,887 --> 00:20:24,129 That was what he was shooting for because there was 399 00:20:24,214 --> 00:20:27,549 a nice level spot at the top of that wall 400 00:20:27,634 --> 00:20:29,060 where you could just go right over. 401 00:20:29,144 --> 00:20:32,638 - On the other side of the wall due to erosion 402 00:20:32,722 --> 00:20:35,316 and just dirt that has collected over time, 403 00:20:35,475 --> 00:20:38,736 there's just enough of a spot that can cushion the drops. 404 00:20:38,820 --> 00:20:41,563 Theoretically, you could climb up to the top, 405 00:20:41,648 --> 00:20:43,741 slide under the wire, and drop to the ground 406 00:20:43,900 --> 00:20:47,078 without breaking anything important and run away. 407 00:20:47,237 --> 00:20:48,487 - If you're trying to figure out 408 00:20:48,571 --> 00:20:51,165 how to get out of here, that's how you do it. 409 00:20:51,324 --> 00:20:52,667 You just pay attention. 410 00:20:52,751 --> 00:20:55,419 Eventually, you'll find the soft spot in the armor. 411 00:20:55,578 --> 00:20:57,913 There's always a chink somewhere. 412 00:20:57,998 --> 00:21:00,758 And apparently, Ray thought, 413 00:21:00,842 --> 00:21:03,585 "Well, that's the chink right there." 414 00:21:03,670 --> 00:21:06,097 - Ray has spotted his out, 415 00:21:06,181 --> 00:21:08,340 but how will he get over this wall? 416 00:21:08,425 --> 00:21:10,685 He is going to have to think of something 417 00:21:10,844 --> 00:21:12,687 and it has to be good. 418 00:21:12,771 --> 00:21:14,939 Or this will be just another failed escape attempt. 419 00:21:20,687 --> 00:21:22,771 [dramatic music] 420 00:21:22,856 --> 00:21:25,116 - Six years after his previous attempt 421 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,443 to escape Brushy Mountain, 422 00:21:27,527 --> 00:21:31,372 James Earl Ray thinks he sees another way out. 423 00:21:31,456 --> 00:21:33,866 A small gap under the electric fence 424 00:21:33,950 --> 00:21:39,130 on top of the prison wall. He's got his hands 425 00:21:39,214 --> 00:21:44,385 on a couple of short sections metal water pipe. 426 00:21:44,544 --> 00:21:47,296 Now, how can he use these 427 00:21:47,380 --> 00:21:53,144 to get all the way up there? 428 00:21:53,228 --> 00:21:54,395 - He realizes 429 00:21:54,479 --> 00:21:58,399 what a great ladder all his pipes would make. 430 00:21:58,483 --> 00:21:59,808 - But he doesn't have enough pipe 431 00:21:59,893 --> 00:22:02,561 to reach the top of the wall. 432 00:22:02,645 --> 00:22:05,990 He needs to figure out a way to get more. 433 00:22:06,074 --> 00:22:08,743 - So he got with a fellow named Shelton 434 00:22:08,902 --> 00:22:10,235 and they talked about it. 435 00:22:10,329 --> 00:22:15,407 ♪ ♪ 436 00:22:15,492 --> 00:22:17,743 - Doug Shelton is another career escapee. 437 00:22:17,836 --> 00:22:19,828 He has a reputation for breaking out of jails 438 00:22:19,913 --> 00:22:21,339 and prisons. 439 00:22:21,423 --> 00:22:26,085 He loves the idea. He loves that it's simple easy, quick. 440 00:22:26,178 --> 00:22:28,754 He and Ray basically are made for each other on this. 441 00:22:28,838 --> 00:22:31,840 - He was the plumber and he would have had access 442 00:22:31,925 --> 00:22:35,677 to different tools, different plumbing material. 443 00:22:35,762 --> 00:22:37,179 And over a course of time, 444 00:22:37,272 --> 00:22:40,691 he was able to put away a piece here and a piece there. 445 00:22:40,776 --> 00:22:43,110 These weren't tools, these were materials. 446 00:22:43,195 --> 00:22:47,948 So they were probably easier to push to the side 447 00:22:48,108 --> 00:22:51,452 when no one's paying attention, or drop or, you know, 448 00:22:51,611 --> 00:22:55,030 kick up under something and just go on about your day. 449 00:22:55,115 --> 00:22:57,875 ♪ ♪ 450 00:22:57,959 --> 00:23:01,629 - Ray brings one more member on to his escape team, 451 00:23:01,788 --> 00:23:03,956 his cellmate, Earl Hill. 452 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:08,969 ♪ ♪ 453 00:23:09,054 --> 00:23:12,297 - Earl Hill, Doug Shelton, I know both of them. 454 00:23:12,382 --> 00:23:14,633 Most of them are good prisoners. 455 00:23:14,717 --> 00:23:17,478 They didn't bother anybody. They were dangerous, 456 00:23:17,562 --> 00:23:19,888 but they wouldn't tell another prisoner to get out. 457 00:23:19,973 --> 00:23:21,974 A person that found out that James Earl Ray 458 00:23:22,058 --> 00:23:24,476 was going to escape and did what he did, 459 00:23:24,561 --> 00:23:27,146 a lot of prisoners would have told that. 460 00:23:27,239 --> 00:23:29,156 They would get something in for telling them, 461 00:23:29,315 --> 00:23:30,399 maybe get out of prison. 462 00:23:30,483 --> 00:23:34,236 But these two guys were what we call solid. 463 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:38,323 - The team slowly steals more pipes and hides them 464 00:23:38,408 --> 00:23:42,336 at the back of the yard. 465 00:23:42,421 --> 00:23:46,165 - There's a small indention in the ground. 466 00:23:46,258 --> 00:23:48,834 And that's where the pipes was laying until they needed it. 467 00:23:48,927 --> 00:23:51,011 And because of the way that indention was, 468 00:23:51,096 --> 00:23:52,504 you had to be 469 00:23:52,589 --> 00:23:56,851 pretty much standing right on top of it to see it. 470 00:23:56,935 --> 00:23:58,686 - At the same time, 471 00:23:58,845 --> 00:24:02,356 they studied the routines of the guards in the yard. 472 00:24:02,441 --> 00:24:05,025 - Each guard tower was manned by one man, 473 00:24:05,185 --> 00:24:08,270 and he sat up there and looked out the window in a big chair 474 00:24:08,354 --> 00:24:10,355 and it--it's kinda nerve-wracking. 475 00:24:10,449 --> 00:24:15,286 You never know, prison, unexpected things happen. 476 00:24:15,370 --> 00:24:17,029 You just gotta be on your toes when you're on the gun turn. 477 00:24:17,113 --> 00:24:19,698 ♪ ♪ 478 00:24:19,782 --> 00:24:23,377 - The watch officer, Floyd Hooks, especially closely. 479 00:24:23,536 --> 00:24:25,871 He's the guard in tower four, 480 00:24:25,955 --> 00:24:31,302 the tower nearest to their escape route. 481 00:24:31,386 --> 00:24:35,380 - These inmates, everybody, and especially escape risks, 482 00:24:35,465 --> 00:24:39,051 they watch everybody, every man that are around. 483 00:24:39,135 --> 00:24:41,720 They know me better than I know myself. 484 00:24:41,804 --> 00:24:44,315 And that guard got a newspaper every day 485 00:24:44,399 --> 00:24:46,400 and while they were on the recreation yard, 486 00:24:46,559 --> 00:24:47,568 they watched everything. 487 00:24:47,727 --> 00:24:49,061 - Now, James Earl Ray watched this guy 488 00:24:49,154 --> 00:24:52,156 reading his newspaper for months. He watched it. 489 00:24:52,315 --> 00:24:54,650 He knew every day he'd come in certain time, 490 00:24:54,734 --> 00:24:56,160 he would read the newspaper. 491 00:24:56,319 --> 00:24:58,078 He'd read it from the beginning to the end. 492 00:24:58,163 --> 00:25:00,822 - It is all routine and it's real easy 493 00:25:00,907 --> 00:25:03,667 to fall into a routine with any job, 494 00:25:03,826 --> 00:25:06,662 but especially being a prison guard. 495 00:25:06,755 --> 00:25:09,581 You get bored after a while. 496 00:25:09,674 --> 00:25:12,176 - At the same time, he's scoping out the guards. 497 00:25:12,260 --> 00:25:16,255 Ray is also focusing on making money to use for bribes. 498 00:25:16,348 --> 00:25:18,340 ♪ ♪ 499 00:25:18,433 --> 00:25:20,342 - Most prisoners don't have a TV. 500 00:25:20,426 --> 00:25:21,677 Some of them have burned all the bridges. 501 00:25:21,761 --> 00:25:23,845 They don't even have a family to send them a TV. 502 00:25:23,930 --> 00:25:26,524 So when somebody leaves, James Earl Ray 503 00:25:26,608 --> 00:25:28,934 would make a deal with them to keep the TV and buy the TV. 504 00:25:29,027 --> 00:25:30,528 Most of the time they would give it to him. 505 00:25:30,687 --> 00:25:32,947 If I want a TV, I don't have a TV, 506 00:25:33,031 --> 00:25:36,200 I'll just pay him $3 to $4 a month. 507 00:25:36,284 --> 00:25:38,527 He worked in the laundry. He had 30 [inaudible] 508 00:25:38,611 --> 00:25:42,781 customers. He would charge them $3 a month to do the laundry. 509 00:25:42,874 --> 00:25:44,375 If you didn't pay somebody to do your laundry, 510 00:25:44,459 --> 00:25:45,876 it's gonna come back in a pillowcase, 511 00:25:46,035 --> 00:25:48,787 it's all wadded up, so everybody pays. 512 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:53,300 He--he made a lot of money doing those things. 513 00:25:53,459 --> 00:25:57,629 - And of course, once again, Ray turns to his brother Jerry 514 00:25:57,714 --> 00:25:59,798 to be his man on the outside. 515 00:25:59,882 --> 00:26:02,059 ♪ ♪ 516 00:26:02,143 --> 00:26:05,145 - James Earl Ray would write coded letters to his brother. 517 00:26:05,305 --> 00:26:07,222 He'd sign his name Jim, 518 00:26:07,315 --> 00:26:08,390 and then he'd underlined it twice. 519 00:26:08,474 --> 00:26:10,568 You would start with the first word 520 00:26:10,652 --> 00:26:14,146 and count seven words down. That would be the code. 521 00:26:14,230 --> 00:26:15,647 And Jerry would know what to do. 522 00:26:15,732 --> 00:26:19,743 ♪ ♪ 523 00:26:19,828 --> 00:26:23,655 On May 17th, 1977, 524 00:26:23,748 --> 00:26:27,743 one of these coded letters disclosed that a package 525 00:26:27,827 --> 00:26:30,495 was to be buried somewhere along the highway. 526 00:26:30,580 --> 00:26:33,081 Jerry Ray had got a duffel bag 527 00:26:33,166 --> 00:26:34,508 and he had stuffed it full of things 528 00:26:34,593 --> 00:26:38,512 that he thought his brother could use when he escaped. 529 00:26:38,671 --> 00:26:42,182 He put in there some hair dye, a poncho to stay warm, 530 00:26:42,267 --> 00:26:44,268 some non-perishable food items, 531 00:26:44,427 --> 00:26:47,187 a first aid kit, a pistol, some bullets, 532 00:26:47,272 --> 00:26:49,607 and a few other miscellaneous things. 533 00:26:49,766 --> 00:26:52,359 He zipped this bag up and he buried it 534 00:26:52,444 --> 00:26:54,770 at the cemetery near Brushy Mountain. 535 00:26:54,854 --> 00:27:01,452 ♪ ♪ 536 00:27:01,611 --> 00:27:05,030 - On the evening of June 9th, 1977, 537 00:27:05,114 --> 00:27:09,376 James Earl Ray, Doug Shelton, and Earl Hill, 538 00:27:09,535 --> 00:27:14,456 huddled up for one last meeting in the prison yard. 539 00:27:14,540 --> 00:27:16,884 They decide they have enough pieces of pipe 540 00:27:17,043 --> 00:27:19,053 to reach the top of the wall. 541 00:27:19,137 --> 00:27:23,724 Tomorrow, June 10th, they're going over the top. 542 00:27:23,883 --> 00:27:28,646 That is if someone doesn't rat them out before they leave. 543 00:27:33,893 --> 00:27:36,228 It's a sweltering day here in Eastern Tennessee. 544 00:27:36,312 --> 00:27:39,564 The mountains are rugged and full of snakes, 545 00:27:39,649 --> 00:27:42,576 but it's a darn sight better 546 00:27:42,661 --> 00:27:45,821 than life here in Brushy Mountain. 547 00:27:45,905 --> 00:27:49,825 Once Twilight falls, three convicted murderers 548 00:27:49,909 --> 00:27:53,578 will attempt to climb this 14-foot wall, 549 00:27:53,672 --> 00:27:57,591 pass under the ribbons of electrified barbed wire, 550 00:27:57,676 --> 00:27:59,751 and escape to freedom. 551 00:27:59,844 --> 00:28:02,087 [dramatic music] 552 00:28:02,171 --> 00:28:06,007 ♪ ♪ 553 00:28:06,092 --> 00:28:09,186 In the afternoon, Ray stays late at his job in the laundry 554 00:28:09,345 --> 00:28:11,346 to smuggle out the last few pipes 555 00:28:11,431 --> 00:28:13,941 they need to build their ladder. 556 00:28:14,100 --> 00:28:17,695 - He had taken a pipe and hid it inside of a washing machine 557 00:28:17,779 --> 00:28:19,354 that he had opened the back of it up 558 00:28:19,447 --> 00:28:21,115 and put the pipe inside of there 559 00:28:21,199 --> 00:28:24,276 so that it was undetectable and then use the excuse 560 00:28:24,369 --> 00:28:28,622 of servicing the machines to go back in. 561 00:28:28,707 --> 00:28:30,374 As soon as the guard would make his rounds, 562 00:28:30,458 --> 00:28:31,458 he would get the stuff out 563 00:28:31,543 --> 00:28:32,960 and then close everything back up 564 00:28:33,044 --> 00:28:35,871 before the guard come back around on his circuit. 565 00:28:35,955 --> 00:28:39,541 - Ray hides the pipes in his shirt and his pants 566 00:28:39,634 --> 00:28:42,461 and makes his way out to the yard. 567 00:28:42,554 --> 00:28:46,223 ♪ ♪ 568 00:28:46,382 --> 00:28:48,225 - He was going out of the cell block area. 569 00:28:48,309 --> 00:28:50,886 He saw another inmate who was fat. 570 00:28:50,970 --> 00:28:52,471 They made sure that this inmate 571 00:28:52,555 --> 00:28:54,556 was walking inside of Ray 572 00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:57,234 and where the prison guard wouldn't see him. 573 00:28:57,318 --> 00:28:59,728 Sometimes prison guards would stop you and search you, 574 00:28:59,812 --> 00:29:01,238 but they were smart enough 575 00:29:01,397 --> 00:29:03,157 or knew the routine of some of the guards 576 00:29:03,241 --> 00:29:05,650 and we're able to hide the piping. 577 00:29:05,735 --> 00:29:10,080 ♪ ♪ 578 00:29:10,239 --> 00:29:12,574 - When they went out on the yard for exercise 579 00:29:12,658 --> 00:29:14,075 that was in the afternoon. 580 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:17,746 That was after supper, simply because it was summer. 581 00:29:17,839 --> 00:29:21,249 Didn't get dark until later. 582 00:29:21,334 --> 00:29:22,926 - Ray uses some of his bribe money 583 00:29:23,085 --> 00:29:28,348 to pay another inmate to create a diversion. 584 00:29:28,433 --> 00:29:30,601 - They had a guy to start a fake fire 585 00:29:30,685 --> 00:29:33,353 down on the lower part of the yard. 586 00:29:33,513 --> 00:29:36,356 James and Doug and all of them are walking around the yard. 587 00:29:36,441 --> 00:29:38,525 They noticed the officer in the tower 588 00:29:38,684 --> 00:29:42,521 wasn't paying attention. 589 00:29:42,614 --> 00:29:45,115 - The prison has nine towers along the wall. 590 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:49,787 Only eight are manned. At the tower closest to the gap 591 00:29:49,871 --> 00:29:53,540 and the wire, Floyd Hooks, was the guard on duty that day. 592 00:29:53,699 --> 00:29:55,125 Hooks had a reputation 593 00:29:55,284 --> 00:29:57,702 for liking to read the evening paper 594 00:29:57,787 --> 00:29:59,213 while he sat there on his shift. 595 00:29:59,297 --> 00:30:02,874 About 7:30, the sun begins to set behind the mountains 596 00:30:02,967 --> 00:30:07,721 and men begin to break away from the horseshoe stakes, 597 00:30:07,806 --> 00:30:09,047 the baseball diamonds. 598 00:30:09,131 --> 00:30:13,802 ♪ ♪ 599 00:30:13,886 --> 00:30:15,145 - Ray and his co-conspirators 600 00:30:15,304 --> 00:30:17,556 make one last lap around the yard 601 00:30:17,649 --> 00:30:20,892 to give the signal for the fight to begin. 602 00:30:20,977 --> 00:30:24,488 ♪ ♪ 603 00:30:24,647 --> 00:30:25,906 - They came by the weight bench. 604 00:30:25,990 --> 00:30:29,568 Ray supposedly said, "This time by." 605 00:30:29,652 --> 00:30:31,736 Then when they got about halfway from the tower 606 00:30:31,821 --> 00:30:34,072 to where they were gonna make the escape, 607 00:30:34,156 --> 00:30:35,740 is when the fight started. 608 00:30:35,825 --> 00:30:39,327 ♪ ♪ 609 00:30:39,412 --> 00:30:41,746 You would have one man in each gun tower. 610 00:30:41,831 --> 00:30:44,424 You'd have about 200 inmates on the yard. 611 00:30:44,584 --> 00:30:46,751 Sometimes you'd have as many as three other officers 612 00:30:46,845 --> 00:30:48,095 on the yard too. 613 00:30:48,254 --> 00:30:50,097 So you didn't really have a whole lot of help. 614 00:30:50,181 --> 00:30:54,759 It can get pretty hairy. Pretty hairy, pretty quick. 615 00:30:54,844 --> 00:30:56,428 - When you're an officer, 616 00:30:56,521 --> 00:30:59,273 you can't leave your post until you're relieved. 617 00:30:59,357 --> 00:31:00,765 So if you're on a post right here 618 00:31:00,859 --> 00:31:03,184 and something happens over on the other side somewhere, 619 00:31:03,269 --> 00:31:04,695 you can't leave your post 620 00:31:04,854 --> 00:31:06,864 because that thing going on over there making a racket, 621 00:31:07,023 --> 00:31:08,782 may be to get you to come over there 622 00:31:08,941 --> 00:31:12,444 'cause they got something planned where you are at. 623 00:31:12,528 --> 00:31:17,449 ♪ ♪ 624 00:31:17,533 --> 00:31:21,369 - Hooks' not looking when the fight breaks out 625 00:31:21,454 --> 00:31:24,214 and these three guys head to the spot at the wall 626 00:31:24,299 --> 00:31:26,625 and immediately whip out their sections of pipe, 627 00:31:26,709 --> 00:31:30,962 start whirling them together. 628 00:31:31,047 --> 00:31:32,964 - Once they kneaded it, they put it together 629 00:31:33,057 --> 00:31:34,549 just in a few seconds, 630 00:31:34,642 --> 00:31:37,469 they made a hook on the top, similar to a shepherd's hook 631 00:31:37,553 --> 00:31:39,638 so that it would stay attached to the wall. 632 00:31:39,731 --> 00:31:43,391 When they put it up, it would hook on the backside. 633 00:31:43,484 --> 00:31:45,986 - Everything is going as planned. 634 00:31:46,070 --> 00:31:49,648 With the ladder assembled, Ray, Sheldon, and Hill 635 00:31:49,732 --> 00:31:54,069 head for the wall, but then disaster strikes. 636 00:31:54,162 --> 00:31:55,913 - James Earl Ray takes that ladder. 637 00:31:55,997 --> 00:31:59,416 He puts it at the spot. He wants to escape. 638 00:31:59,500 --> 00:32:01,159 Head over. 639 00:32:01,252 --> 00:32:03,587 He puts the ladder right on the electric wire. 640 00:32:03,671 --> 00:32:07,174 [electricity zapping] 641 00:32:07,258 --> 00:32:09,668 It knocked him back about 10 feet. 642 00:32:09,761 --> 00:32:13,254 - 20,000 volts course through Ray's body. 643 00:32:13,339 --> 00:32:16,257 He lies twitching on the ground. 644 00:32:16,342 --> 00:32:20,771 It seems the escape attempt is over before it has even begun. 645 00:32:26,945 --> 00:32:28,853 [dramatic music] 646 00:32:28,938 --> 00:32:31,189 ♪ ♪ 647 00:32:31,273 --> 00:32:33,533 - A massive fight rages in the prison yard 648 00:32:33,618 --> 00:32:37,028 at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary. 649 00:32:37,113 --> 00:32:38,372 Meanwhile, in the back corner, 650 00:32:38,456 --> 00:32:41,533 James Earl Ray has just received a massive shock 651 00:32:41,626 --> 00:32:43,877 from the prison's electric fence during his attempt 652 00:32:43,962 --> 00:32:47,455 to escape via a metal pipe ladder. 653 00:32:47,540 --> 00:32:50,792 His accomplices, Doug Shelton and Earl Hill, 654 00:32:50,876 --> 00:32:53,878 check to see if he's still alive. 655 00:32:53,972 --> 00:32:56,214 - When James took the ladder up for the first time 656 00:32:56,298 --> 00:32:58,642 he hit that hot water, it knocked him down. 657 00:32:58,801 --> 00:33:00,477 Meanwhile, Doug was checking on James 658 00:33:00,636 --> 00:33:03,805 to make sure he's all right, he's telling Earl, 659 00:33:03,889 --> 00:33:07,901 "Put the ladder back up. Put the ladder back up." 660 00:33:07,986 --> 00:33:10,070 - Ray recovers from the shock and Hill 661 00:33:10,154 --> 00:33:11,980 gets the ladder on the wall. 662 00:33:12,073 --> 00:33:14,408 The circuit breaker has been tripped 663 00:33:14,492 --> 00:33:16,910 and the barbed wire is no longer hot. 664 00:33:16,995 --> 00:33:19,487 - James Earl Ray makes his way over the wall first, 665 00:33:19,572 --> 00:33:23,500 followed by Doug Shelton and Earl Hill. 666 00:33:23,584 --> 00:33:25,160 - Now, when he goes over the wall, 667 00:33:25,244 --> 00:33:27,078 you've got about two, three-foot cushion 668 00:33:27,171 --> 00:33:31,008 of dirt build up over the years that when you land, 669 00:33:31,092 --> 00:33:33,593 you know, less impact on you. 670 00:33:33,678 --> 00:33:35,595 - Other inmates see the ladder 671 00:33:35,755 --> 00:33:37,764 and they seize the opportunity. 672 00:33:37,849 --> 00:33:41,601 We have Larry Hacker, Donald Caylor, Jerry Ward. 673 00:33:41,686 --> 00:33:44,596 David Lee Powell is working in the kitchen 674 00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:48,942 and sees the action from the window and decides he wants in. 675 00:33:49,101 --> 00:33:52,854 He starts running across the yard to make it to the ladder. 676 00:33:52,947 --> 00:33:55,032 He's wearing a white kitchen uniform. 677 00:33:55,191 --> 00:33:57,609 That catches a guard's eye and he turns 678 00:33:57,693 --> 00:34:00,612 and takes aim at the ladder. David makes it over. 679 00:34:00,696 --> 00:34:02,706 ♪ ♪ 680 00:34:02,790 --> 00:34:04,282 - Officer Hooks was in tower four, 681 00:34:04,375 --> 00:34:06,868 and he was the failure that was reading the paper. 682 00:34:06,952 --> 00:34:10,038 And the tower eight, we called it, was unoccupied 683 00:34:10,122 --> 00:34:12,466 next to where they went over. 684 00:34:12,550 --> 00:34:14,301 And the next tower around, the officer, 685 00:34:14,460 --> 00:34:17,629 he'd seen it happening and he'd come out on his wall 686 00:34:17,713 --> 00:34:22,217 and he shot across range, probably 60 yards 687 00:34:22,310 --> 00:34:23,468 and hit the last one going over. 688 00:34:23,552 --> 00:34:26,229 [gunshot] 689 00:34:26,314 --> 00:34:28,056 - Jerry Ward is bringing up the rear. 690 00:34:28,149 --> 00:34:30,225 He's shot off the ladder and lands 691 00:34:30,309 --> 00:34:31,810 in the middle of the courtyard. 692 00:34:31,894 --> 00:34:33,728 At this point, all the inmates are getting in on the act. 693 00:34:33,821 --> 00:34:35,072 Everybody starts cheering, 694 00:34:35,156 --> 00:34:36,907 "Over the wall, over the wall!" 695 00:34:36,991 --> 00:34:38,066 Which was apparently the popular cry 696 00:34:38,159 --> 00:34:39,818 whenever anybody was trying to get out. 697 00:34:39,902 --> 00:34:41,495 [gunshot] 698 00:34:41,579 --> 00:34:43,571 - Even amidst the noise of gunfire 699 00:34:43,656 --> 00:34:46,833 on the cheering crowd, Officer Floyd Hooks, 700 00:34:46,992 --> 00:34:52,672 the guard in the tower closest to the escape, fails to act. 701 00:34:52,832 --> 00:34:55,842 - Up here, you couldn't close your eyes. You just couldn't. 702 00:34:56,001 --> 00:34:58,837 You just had to keep them open and that's why you were here. 703 00:34:58,930 --> 00:35:00,680 You know, if you could go read a newspaper, 704 00:35:00,765 --> 00:35:02,265 they wouldn't need you here. 705 00:35:02,424 --> 00:35:03,842 The thing I've always wondered about 706 00:35:03,926 --> 00:35:07,679 was why when the rifles started firing in tower three, 707 00:35:07,763 --> 00:35:11,274 why in the God's name didn't he react to that? 708 00:35:11,433 --> 00:35:13,360 If he'd reacted, he could have had a shot 709 00:35:13,444 --> 00:35:15,937 at somebody on the other side of the wall behind him, 710 00:35:16,021 --> 00:35:17,772 because they had to get down the wall. 711 00:35:17,857 --> 00:35:19,440 Then they had to run a little bit 712 00:35:19,525 --> 00:35:20,951 before they hit the mountain. 713 00:35:21,110 --> 00:35:23,703 So I always wondered how in the world, 714 00:35:23,788 --> 00:35:27,040 with all this going on without him getting shot off. 715 00:35:27,199 --> 00:35:31,286 - Hook's own explanation for his inaction is laughable. 716 00:35:31,370 --> 00:35:33,630 - He says that when James Earl Ray went over, 717 00:35:33,789 --> 00:35:35,540 he raced to get his rifle and he fell, 718 00:35:35,624 --> 00:35:37,125 hit his head on the door. 719 00:35:37,209 --> 00:35:38,877 Closed the door on him, locked him in. 720 00:35:38,961 --> 00:35:40,387 That don't sound right. 721 00:35:40,471 --> 00:35:42,630 If I'm inside the guard tower, 722 00:35:42,715 --> 00:35:44,716 I lock the door on me. I can't get out? 723 00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:46,726 That don't make sense. I don't understand that. 724 00:35:46,886 --> 00:35:50,814 - It's too late. The horses are already out of the barn. 725 00:35:50,973 --> 00:35:53,474 - All hell broke loose here. [laughs] 726 00:35:53,559 --> 00:35:54,651 But they went up mountain. 727 00:35:54,735 --> 00:35:56,311 They crossed over, 728 00:35:56,395 --> 00:35:58,321 but I don't think they really knew where they were headed. 729 00:35:58,406 --> 00:36:00,064 They just got the hell out of here. 730 00:36:00,149 --> 00:36:06,997 ♪ ♪ 731 00:36:08,666 --> 00:36:12,752 - As the sun begins to set, a total of six escapees 732 00:36:12,837 --> 00:36:14,162 are fighting their way 733 00:36:14,246 --> 00:36:17,757 through the rugged mountains of Eastern Tennessee. 734 00:36:17,842 --> 00:36:19,500 The guards at Brushy Mountain 735 00:36:19,585 --> 00:36:22,262 scramble to lock the prison down, 736 00:36:22,421 --> 00:36:24,505 organize a manhunt, 737 00:36:24,590 --> 00:36:28,843 and alert the townspeople. 738 00:36:28,928 --> 00:36:32,597 - One of the things about Brushy Mountain is every day 739 00:36:32,681 --> 00:36:35,850 at noon, a whistle blows. [whistle blows] 740 00:36:35,935 --> 00:36:37,685 But if there is an escape, 741 00:36:37,778 --> 00:36:40,447 the whistle is blown at that time, too. 742 00:36:40,531 --> 00:36:43,524 And then it's according to how many people escaped. 743 00:36:43,609 --> 00:36:46,444 [whistle blows six times] 744 00:36:46,528 --> 00:36:51,699 ♪ ♪ 745 00:36:51,784 --> 00:36:53,284 So those whistles went up. 746 00:36:53,369 --> 00:36:55,370 And so the guards and people in the community 747 00:36:55,454 --> 00:36:57,464 know that something has happened. 748 00:36:57,548 --> 00:37:00,291 Know that there's an escape or an escape attempt. 749 00:37:00,384 --> 00:37:02,627 - I heard the whistle blow and I was eating supper 750 00:37:02,720 --> 00:37:05,630 and I told my wife, I said, "God, listen to this." 751 00:37:05,714 --> 00:37:06,881 And it just kept tootin'. 752 00:37:06,966 --> 00:37:10,560 And then it just kept with the long blasts. 753 00:37:10,719 --> 00:37:12,720 And I told my wife, I said, "Oh, my God, honey." 754 00:37:12,805 --> 00:37:14,147 I said, "Half of 'em gone." 755 00:37:14,232 --> 00:37:17,150 So I run back up here and this goes along with it. 756 00:37:17,235 --> 00:37:18,643 Our telephone system went out. 757 00:37:18,727 --> 00:37:21,404 ♪ ♪ 758 00:37:21,563 --> 00:37:23,147 - We have a small, simple phone system 759 00:37:23,241 --> 00:37:24,241 here in the county. 760 00:37:24,325 --> 00:37:25,742 And everybody calling the prison, 761 00:37:25,826 --> 00:37:28,828 and it clogged all the systems up, and it just went dead. 762 00:37:28,913 --> 00:37:31,155 And the governor trying to call in and people like that, 763 00:37:31,240 --> 00:37:33,992 you know, of importance, they couldn't get in. 764 00:37:34,076 --> 00:37:36,995 It got hectic for a while and it was just like a circus. 765 00:37:37,079 --> 00:37:38,246 They probably running wide open 766 00:37:38,339 --> 00:37:39,998 and not knowing which way to go. 767 00:37:40,091 --> 00:37:43,084 - The scene at the prison is total chaos. 768 00:37:43,168 --> 00:37:44,752 They're responsible for one of the most 769 00:37:44,837 --> 00:37:47,597 infamous prisoners in America 770 00:37:47,756 --> 00:37:51,101 and they just let them get away. 771 00:37:57,850 --> 00:38:00,518 [dramatic music] 772 00:38:00,611 --> 00:38:03,363 - James Earl Ray, along with five other inmates, 773 00:38:03,522 --> 00:38:07,942 has just escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary. 774 00:38:08,027 --> 00:38:11,696 As night falls, they go their separate ways. 775 00:38:11,780 --> 00:38:15,700 Ray is alone in the harsh, snake-infested mountains, 776 00:38:15,793 --> 00:38:19,704 trying to find his way to nearby Route 116. 777 00:38:19,797 --> 00:38:22,540 - When James Earl Ray got out of Brushy Mountain, 778 00:38:22,624 --> 00:38:26,127 he was expecting to find that survival kit 779 00:38:26,211 --> 00:38:27,962 that Jerry had buried for him 780 00:38:28,055 --> 00:38:29,973 at the cemetery by the highway. 781 00:38:30,132 --> 00:38:32,300 However, he zigzagged into the woods 782 00:38:32,393 --> 00:38:34,135 and actually got lost in the woods 783 00:38:34,219 --> 00:38:37,722 and never got a chance to get that survival kit. 784 00:38:37,806 --> 00:38:40,817 - Meanwhile, hundreds of law enforcement agents 785 00:38:40,901 --> 00:38:45,572 from across the country descend on the area. 786 00:38:45,731 --> 00:38:47,899 - You have FBI agents, 787 00:38:47,992 --> 00:38:50,985 the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, its agents, 788 00:38:51,078 --> 00:38:53,413 the Tennessee Highway Patrol, 789 00:38:53,497 --> 00:38:56,908 state troopers with local Sheriff's departments, 790 00:38:56,992 --> 00:39:02,080 constables, prison guards and self-deputized posses 791 00:39:02,164 --> 00:39:03,664 of everybody who lives within, 792 00:39:03,758 --> 00:39:06,918 you know, miles of the prison and wants in on the action. 793 00:39:07,002 --> 00:39:12,590 ♪ ♪ 794 00:39:12,674 --> 00:39:15,676 - This little community was turned upside down. 795 00:39:15,761 --> 00:39:18,188 I mean, there's only 500 people that lives here. 796 00:39:18,272 --> 00:39:21,849 And when you've got ABC, NBC, CBS, 797 00:39:21,934 --> 00:39:24,102 every news agency in the country, 798 00:39:24,195 --> 00:39:26,521 biggest thing to hit this place in a long time. 799 00:39:26,605 --> 00:39:29,366 Sure was. 800 00:39:29,450 --> 00:39:31,776 - Now, James Earl Ray's escape was a huge embarrassment. 801 00:39:31,869 --> 00:39:34,612 The governor of Tennessee expressed embarrassment. 802 00:39:34,696 --> 00:39:36,948 You have members of Congress demanding answers. 803 00:39:37,032 --> 00:39:38,625 How could this possibly happen? 804 00:39:38,709 --> 00:39:44,038 What's behind this? Why was nobody watching? 805 00:39:44,123 --> 00:39:47,467 - One told me after, "We don't give a damn what you tell me. 806 00:39:47,551 --> 00:39:49,794 You bastards turned him loose and we're gonna prove it." 807 00:39:49,878 --> 00:39:52,797 Well, we didn't turn him loose. 808 00:39:52,881 --> 00:39:54,966 One guy sat on his rear end and that's how he got away. 809 00:39:55,050 --> 00:39:56,893 - [barking] 810 00:39:56,977 --> 00:40:00,146 - But it's critical to everyone involved in this manhunt 811 00:40:00,305 --> 00:40:04,067 that James Earl Ray be caught alive, if at all possible. 812 00:40:04,151 --> 00:40:07,645 Nobody wants another Lee Harvey Oswald-type situation 813 00:40:07,738 --> 00:40:09,730 where the only person who might know the truth 814 00:40:09,815 --> 00:40:10,731 is killed. 815 00:40:10,816 --> 00:40:14,744 ♪ ♪ 816 00:40:17,406 --> 00:40:21,325 ♪ ♪ 817 00:40:21,410 --> 00:40:26,080 - After 48 hours, four of the escapees have been caught, 818 00:40:26,165 --> 00:40:29,592 but James Earl Ray is still on the loose. 819 00:40:29,677 --> 00:40:31,335 - You know, that had to be miserable 820 00:40:31,429 --> 00:40:34,848 'cause she had rocks, stumps, trees, thorn bushes, 821 00:40:34,932 --> 00:40:37,600 and they didn't have nothing to eat, you dehydrate, 822 00:40:37,685 --> 00:40:40,261 days without sleep, that drains your system. 823 00:40:40,354 --> 00:40:42,930 - The FBI still searches in vain, 824 00:40:43,015 --> 00:40:47,852 but the Brushy Mountain police dogs have picked up a scent. 825 00:40:47,936 --> 00:40:54,942 ♪ ♪ 826 00:40:55,027 --> 00:40:57,528 - About 10:30 that night, 827 00:40:57,613 --> 00:41:00,790 the dogs get a scent and they take off. 828 00:41:00,875 --> 00:41:03,376 Takes them over the railroad, up the mountains, 829 00:41:03,461 --> 00:41:07,538 through the woods, drags on for about three hours. 830 00:41:07,623 --> 00:41:13,887 ♪ ♪ 831 00:41:14,046 --> 00:41:15,713 Around 2:00 a.m., 832 00:41:15,806 --> 00:41:19,550 the dogs stopped and alert on a pile of leaves. 833 00:41:19,635 --> 00:41:23,146 ♪ ♪ 834 00:41:23,230 --> 00:41:29,060 And under the pile of leaves... 835 00:41:29,144 --> 00:41:33,323 is James Earl Ray. 836 00:41:33,482 --> 00:41:36,743 He lies there as still as possible. 837 00:41:36,902 --> 00:41:39,913 Try not to even breathe, but the dogs have found him 838 00:41:39,997 --> 00:41:42,999 and he knows it ultimately. 839 00:41:43,158 --> 00:41:47,995 One of the guards says, "Are you hurt?" 840 00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:51,582 James Earl Ray says, "No, I'm okay." 841 00:41:51,667 --> 00:41:53,584 He didn't resist. 842 00:41:53,669 --> 00:41:56,921 He gave himself up once they found him. 843 00:41:57,005 --> 00:42:03,937 ♪ ♪ 844 00:42:04,021 --> 00:42:08,274 - After 54 hours on the run, 845 00:42:08,359 --> 00:42:12,770 James Earl Ray was brought back to Brushy Mountain. 846 00:42:12,863 --> 00:42:17,951 A short while later, the last escapee is caught. 847 00:42:18,035 --> 00:42:20,611 - If he had turned to the left, six miles, 848 00:42:20,696 --> 00:42:22,205 he would have got away. 849 00:42:22,289 --> 00:42:24,198 Because six miles is a highway 850 00:42:24,291 --> 00:42:25,959 and they went the wrong way. 851 00:42:26,043 --> 00:42:28,286 Now, the way that they went, 852 00:42:28,370 --> 00:42:32,215 there was not another town or anything for 20 or 30 miles 853 00:42:32,299 --> 00:42:36,294 and he only got six miles in a little over two days. 854 00:42:36,387 --> 00:42:38,546 That's not a very far. 855 00:42:38,630 --> 00:42:40,974 ♪ ♪ 856 00:42:41,058 --> 00:42:43,142 - James Earl Ray tried to escape 857 00:42:43,227 --> 00:42:46,896 from Brushy Mountain again two years later, but was caught 858 00:42:46,981 --> 00:42:50,224 before he could even get over the wall. 859 00:42:50,309 --> 00:42:52,902 He spent the rest of his life behind bars. 860 00:42:53,061 --> 00:42:56,072 He had always maintained his innocence. 861 00:42:56,231 --> 00:42:59,242 In 1998, gravely ill with hepatitis, 862 00:42:59,326 --> 00:43:01,319 Ray told a reporter, 863 00:43:01,403 --> 00:43:05,498 "If they're waiting for a deathbed confession... 864 00:43:05,657 --> 00:43:06,916 they can go to hell."