PROLOGUE

THE AIRPORT IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA

OCTOBER 1967

“Come here Dr. King, I want to introduce you to the men who are going to arrest you when you get to Birmingham,” Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth called to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as he walked down the aisle of the airplane to be seated. That was my introduction to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., while seated aboard an airplane at the airport in Atlanta, Georgia with my partner Captain Dan Jordan of the Jefferson County Alabama Sheriff’s Department. The plane was being readied to begin its flight to Birmingham, Alabama and to set into motion the last time Dr. King would ever be arrested, shortly before his assassination.

After thirty-six years in public service my career has ended and I am now retired. During that career, my life took many turns and now I have but to claim my solitude and reflect on those turns in my life. My memories remain, and one of the most vivid is my encounter with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As I sit and reflect on that encounter, my mind wanders over the events of my life that brought me to that meeting.