'Da/L.44 11:0"d Ray ends testimony y- PI- 7 'Alibi witness' recants account By BOB DUDNEY

Times Herald Washington Bureau WASHINGTON — A former psychi-

atric patient sheepishly recanted the as-tonishing eyewitness story Friday that had made him James Earl Ray's "deci-sive alibi witness" in the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King.

The only presumed corroboration of the confessed assassin's claim to be in a

Memphis, Tenn., service station at the time of the shooting fell apart as com-modities broker Dean Cowden admitted he lied about seeing Ray there.

In an embarrassed and frequently amusing appearance before the House Select Committee on Assassinations, Cowden confessed he could not have seen Ray at the Texaco station because he was in Port Neches, Tex., at the time

of the April 4, 1968, slaying in Mem-phis.

"The story is completely false," the panel was told by Cowden, who had been described by Ray lawyer Mark Lane as the "decisive alibi witness" es-tablishing the assasin was not in the vi-cinity of King when he was shot. He

See FORMER on Page 20

— AP OhClio James Earl Ray chews his finger during testimony

Continued from

Page O

ne said

a friend h

ad co

nco

cted th

e tale for

money. B

efore ending three days of testimony

from

Ray

, who

has recan

ted h

is 19

69

guilty

plea to

the m

urd

er, and o

ther

witnesses, the com

mittee also introduced

a London police officer's statem

ent that R

ay ad

mitted

killin

g K

ing after h

e was

captured there. L

ane imm

ediately protested the state-m

ent as "o

utrag

eous" an

d p

anel m

em-

bers em

phasized

they

were n

ot v

ouch

-in

g fo

r the v

eracity o

f the ev

iden

ce, w

hich

Ray

called "th

e most d

amnin

g

statemen

t every

mad

e again

st me" re-

garding the slaying. The com

mittee then

dism

issed R

ay u

ntil p

ublic h

earings re-

, sume in N

ovember on the K

ing case. In

three d

ays o

f hearin

gs th

at hav

e seen R

ay's claim to have been fram

ed in th

e killin

g v

irtually

torn

apart, little

could

hav

e been

more d

amag

ing th

an

Cow

den

's testimony. R

ay claim

s he

cou

ld n

ot h

ave b

een at th

e seedy

roo

m-

ing

ho

use n

ear Kin

g's L

orrain

e Mo

tel becau

se he w

as fixin

g a flat tire at th

e service station.

Lane, w

ho quoted Cow

den extensive-ly

in h

is book, "C

ode N

ame: Z

orro

," w

hich

conten

ded

the F

BI k

illed K

ing

instead of Ray, had m

entioned the un-em

ployed bro

ker th

is week

as one p

er-

son w

ho co

uld

auth

enticate R

ay's sto

ry

of in

nocen

ce. Ray

is servin

g a 9

9-y

ear prison term

. "I th

ink h

e fell for it h

ook, lin

e and

sinker," said

Cow

den

, who ack

now

l-ed

ged

takin

g p

sych

iatric treatmen

t in

Mem

ph

is. He said

Lan

e did

no

t press

him

hard

for d

etails of h

is assertions,

whic

h w

ou

ld h

av

e re

veale

d h

e w

as

more th

an 4

00 m

iles away

from

Mem

-phis on A

pril 4, 1968. A

fter Rep

. Robert E

dgar (D

.-Pa) ad

-m

onish

ed C

ow

den

of p

erjury

pen

alties fo

r his false testim

on

y, th

e Mem

ph

is m

an testified

a friend o

f his, R

enfro

H

ays, co

oked

up th

e story

in h

opes, o

f sellin

g it to

a publish

er or film

mak

er: W

hile h

e nev

er received

any m

oney

, C

owden said both L

ane and the Nation-

al Enquirer published his account.

Cow

den

said h

e mad

e statemen

ts ab

out th

e matter o

ut o

f a sense o

f obli-

gation to Hays, a form

er investigator for one o

f Ray

's attorn

eys, w

ho C

ow

den

sa

id fe

d a

nd h

ouse

d h

im fo

r four

month

s while h

e was u

nem

plo

yed

. He

explain

ed th

at Hay

s came u

p w

ith 'th

e id

ea in late 1

974 an

d th

ey b

egan

tryin

g

to "market" the story.

Fin

ally L

ane, a co

nsisten

t revisio

nist

of th

e Kin

g case to

ward

a more co

n-

spiratorial line, learned of the new "evi-

den

ce" and m

ade it th

e centerp

iece of

his new book. E

dgar asked about Cow

-den's dealings w

ith Lane.

Q —

"Did

you tell th

e truth

to M

ark

Lane?" A

— "N

o." Q

— "T

hen

is it safe to say

those

portions of the book are all false." A

— "E

xactly." "R

enfro said, 'If I make a m

illion dol-lars I'll alw

ays take care of you,' " Cow

-den

said. "B

ut I n

ever h

ad an

y faith

he

would m

ake any money out of it."

Cow

den said Hays apparently tried to

com

e up

with

a secon

d ey

ewitn

ess so

the sto

ry w

ou

ld h

ave so

lid co

rrob

ora-

tion, an

d later testim

ony in

dicated

he

found one in Thom

as I. Wilson, a form

er M

emphis resident w

ho is now deceased.

But a

friend o

f Wilso

n's, H

arv

ey

Lock

e of L

ittle Rock

, gave comm

ittee in

vestig

ators a sw

orn

statemen

t that

Wilson, also a friend of H

ays', had been w

ith h

im in

his sh

oe rep

air shop at th

e tim

e of the assassination. T

he damaging claim

of Ray's alleged

confession was obtained tw

o weeks ago

from A

lexander Anthony E

ist, a retired. E

nglish

policem

an w

ho n

ow

runs a b

ar E

ist, who guarded R

ay in his cell dur-in

g th

e week

s the co

nfessed

assassin

was aw

aiting

extrad

ition

to th

e United

S

tates, claimed

Ray

boasted

of h

is ac-tions and w

anted to get to Africa "so he

could kill some m

ore blacks." "D

urin

g th

e cou

rse of th

e con

versa-

tion h

e defin

itely —

he d

idn't actu

ally

come out w

ith it, but it was there in the

conversation — that he had done it. H

e w

as quite proud of it," read the key pas- , sage in E

ist's statement.

Th

e form

er po

liceman

said R

ay d

id

not seem

worried

about h

is culp

ability

in

the sh

ootin

g b

ecause R

ay b

elieved

"th

ey co

uld

n't actu

ally p

rove th

at he

fired the gun because according to him,

nobody saw him

• do it." A

uthorities believe Ray fired the shot

from

a second-flo

or b

athro

om

win

dow

of th

e board

ing h

ouse, ju

st across. an

open

area from

the b

alcony o

f the L

or-

raine Motel, w

here King fell. O

nly one w

itness, an

acknow

ledged

alcoholic

named C

harley Stevens, said he caught

a fleeting g

lance o

f Ray

as he left th

e building and escaped.

Ray, w

ho reacted calmly to the state-

men

t from

Eist, im

med

iately d

enied

he

had

confessed

to th

e shootin

g. "I n

ever

discussed the case with any E

nglish po- licem

en as far as I k

no

w," R

ay said

. L

ane attack

ed th

e com

mittee fo

r intro

-ducin

g th

e statemen

t with

out ch

eckin

g

into

the b

ackgro

und o

f Eist, w

ho L

ane

claimed

had

been

kick

ed o

ut o

f the .

force for fabricating evidence and other illegal acts.