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Trip to New Orleans. If Gait was remembered as shy and pleasant by most of his acquaintances, the Hollywood drinking crowd in the area of an apartment he rented and at the St. Francis Hotel, where he also stayed, recall him as an obsessive racial bigot, an abrasive patron who belted screwdrivers, dozed on the bar stool and bickered with anyone around. Everyone at the Rabbit's Foot Club remembers Gait's big dispute. A young woman had the temerity to tell him that Negroes were "good people." This so enraged Gait that he grabbed her arm and hauled her to the door, shouting: "I'll drop you off in Watts and we'll see how you like it there!" When another customer followed, Gait fled.
About the time Gait flashed his money at the dancing school, he took a songwriter named Charles Stein on a two-day trip to New Orleans in the Mustang. While passing through Texas, Gait made several long-distance telephone calls from pay booths, and so insistent was he on repeating his name that Stein surmised that "he was establishing a fictitious identity." Once they returned to Los Angeles, Stein saw little of Gait, but is certain that he made at least one more trip to New Orleans.
Advocate of Wallace. From Gait's relationship with Stein came hints that Gait had at least a speaking acquaintance with Hollywood supporters of the presidential bid of former Alabama Governor George Wallace. Stein said Gait agreed to take him to New Orleans only after Stein had agreed to sign a Wallace petition. Gait took him to the Wallace North Hollywood headquarters, and so well-known was Gait there that Stein presumed him to be some kind of politician. Wallace headquarters aides say that their files list no one named Gait.
Gait-Ray disappeared from Los Angeles early in March, and on March 29 he bought a .243 Remington rifle at a Birmingham sporting-goods store. Next day he returned to exchange it for a .30-'06, explaining that "my brother" had decided they needed a different weapon for a planned hunting trip. He also bought a telescopic sight and had it mounted by the store.
The Fatal Day. On April 3—the day before King was murdered—Gait registered at Memphis' Rebel Motel, and his Mustang was seen parked near Room 34. Clerks said that Gait made no telephone calls through their switchboard, but the lights in the room stayed on all night. Next day John Willard—an alias used by Gait—rented Room 5 in the sleazy rooming house across the street from the Lorraine Motel, where King was shot.
After the shooting, the man called Willard was seen rushing out of the rooming house; the rifle and a ditty bag were found on the street; witnesses reported that the white car tore away at top speed. Amid the confusion, a mysterious radio call described a continuing police chase after the Mustang. The chase went one way, the Mustang another, and the broadcast later was discovered to have been a fake. The killer had been given his chance to escape.
Next day the car was abandoned in Atlanta, 382 miles away. Gait had managed the long drive unhindered, and disappeared after taking a taxi ride; the driver later recognized him from an FBI sketch. From this point on, Eric Starve Gait ceased to exist.