John Ray used to own a tavern in Benton Park. Now he lives in Quincy and dabbles in conspiracy theory.

I am coming clean on Rev. Martin Luther King, jr. birthday, and making available to you a copy of James Earl Ray's confession. The information I am making herein to you about the Washington shooting and brother James' OSS [U.S. Office of Strategic Services, a forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency] is nothing new to the feds....

The letter arrived several months after Attorney General Reno, at the request of President Bill Clinton, reopened a limited investigation of the assassination, which found nothing to disprove that James Earl Ray was the gunman.

Looking worn from the hours spent retracing the road to infamy, John Ray says in barely a whisper, "James got caught up in something he didn't understand. He didn't know what was going down. He just thought he'd be the getaway driver. He was never a racist. Never."

Lyndon Barsten asked for and received from his literary agent the sum of $1,000 for his work on Truth At Last. "I just wanted that for expenses, even though I figure I've spent $40,000 over the past few years," says Barsten. "But it doesn't matter. This has been my life for the past fifteen years, and I need to move on. My wife hates this. She says it's never-ending."

For his efforts, John Larry Ray received $8,500, which, for a man who gets by on monthly Social Security disability checks, represents his life savings.

Of the money, Ray says, "I think I'll probably use it for my tombstone."