“King again came to Greenwood two weeks before his slaying and spoke to a large gathering at one of the black churches. He was picked up at the airport under pretty heavy security because we certainly did not want anything happening to him here and were relieved when he left town. I sat in the car with Carol Franklin [reporter for the Greenwood Commonwealth] and [Police Commissioner] Buff Hammond and we listened to a loudspeaker. All of the crowd could not get inside the church.

“While we were sitting there, Ida Holland, who had been some prominent in the earlier marches, came over to the car and said, ‘Well, if ain’t the old commish,’ referring to Hammond’s position as Police Commissioner. Buff laughed and said, ‘Ida, where in the hell have you been?’ ‘Michigan, in school,’ she replied.