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Reporter Earl Caldwell’s Dispatch Captured King’s Killing Details

By Drooid · Oct 2, 2026, 3:23 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

Reporter Earl Caldwell heard the rifle shot that mortally wounded Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968.
Caldwell filed a next-day dispatch to The New York Times describing the assassination’s immediate details.
He later said his presence gave only a sliver of truth, not full clarity.
The Times sent him to Memphis after King faced death threats following a sanitation-workers rally.

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Story summary

Reporter Earl Caldwell heard the rifle shot that mortally wounded Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968.
Caldwell filed a next-day dispatch to The New York Times describing the assassination’s immediate details.
He later said his presence gave only a sliver of truth, not full clarity.
The Times sent him to Memphis after King faced death threats following a sanitation-workers rally.