The following is an excerpt from the IndianCountryNews.com website’s Annie Mae Aquash timeline:
April 23, 1973: Perry Ray Robinson Jr., a disciple of Martin Luther King enters Wounded Knee, is observed by several individuals, including “Crazy Al” Cooper who had known him from previous actions in the deep south associated with Martin Luther King. Robinson earns a confrontation reputation, “wanting to participate” in meeting with the leadership. He is described by one former AIM member as a “loud mouthed n¡gger, who refused to pick up a gun during a firefight,” and is labeled suspicious by AIM. Robinson is allegedly shot in the knee according to Richard Two Elk during a bunker confrontation inside Wounded Knee, by Harry (Mr. X) David Hill, according to a narrative attributed to Dennis Banks. Along and provoking the confrontation is Leonard Crow Dog, of which part of the confrontation is attributed because of “lack of respect,” shown towards Crow Dog. Carter Camp of AIM security and several other Wounded Knee security personnel are also allegedly in attendance including Frank Blackhorse aka Frank DeLuca who later fled, and remained in Canada under various aliases. Robinson is reportedly transported to the Wounded Knee clinic overseen by Madonna Gilbert and Lorelei DeCora-Means and passes away from lack of medical assistance. (Ray Robinson is killed on or around April 25, 1973)
| “I had to make the decision not to bring in Buddy Lamont until late afternoon after I knew he was killed in the early morning. I had to leave Ray’s life to fight alone in eagle bunker after he was shot through both legs. I did these things to save other Indian lives.” Carter Camp to AIM Leadership: December 1973 after Camp shot Clyde Bellecourt
Original transcription from handwritten jail letter by the late Richard LaCourse
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According to Bernie Lafferty and KaMook Nichols, several AIM leaders attending a meeting at the Wounded Knee house/office of Dennis Banks discuss what to do with Robinson’s body, eventually selecting Christ (Chris/Cris) Westerman, the younger brother of Floyd Westerman to take the body out and bury it, near Wounded Knee Creek, near several other bodies that Leonard Crow Dog indicated were victims of the Wounded Knee 1973 occupation.
Other people who have either confirmed the presence of Robinson inside Wounded Knee and/or know details about his death and/or burial inside Wounded Knee are Allen (Crazy Al) Cooper, Carter Camp, Richard Two Elk, Dennis Banks, Stan Holder, Marlette Thunder Horse, Leonard Crow Dog, Sandra Brim, Frank Black Horse, Keith Demaras, Cheryl Buswell-Robinson, Robert Anderson, the late Johnny Flynn, KaMook Ecoffey, Bernie Lafferty, Hank Adams, Associated Press reporter, Carson Walker, Catherine Martin, Jeanne Davies, Barb Nixon, Derek Whirlwind, Janice Denny, the late Stanley Hollow Horn, the late Matthew King, the late Jannie Waller, the late Vernon Bellecourt, the late Barbara Deming, the late John Carmichael and the book author Steve Hendricks.
May 13, 1973: Matthew King, an Oglala elder and interpreter for Chief Frank Fools Crow, who spent time inside Wounded Knee and as a negotiator reports to the FBI that there is as many as “12” graves containing the bodies of several unidentified female corpses “just outside the perimeter of Wounded Knee.” (FBI Airtel 5/14/73 – FOI)
Date of manuscript unknown. Female author identified only by references to Iroquois Confederacy as she writes about being inside Wounded during this same time period. “There were two publicized deaths, those of Frank Clearwater and Buddy LaMont, but there were also eight freshly-dug graves found in the surrounding hills… All of this was quickly hushed up.”
June 28-29, 1973: TITLED RE: Unidentified bodies buried Wounded Knee Vicinity – Lake Headly, Fritz Feiten, Jeanne Davies, Ellen Moves Camp and Martha Swenson on behalf of the Wounded Knee Legal Defense/Offense Committee attempt to meet an AIM “informant” who had reported the presence of eight graves inside Wounded Knee. The informant’s identity is not revealed to the investigators and this person does not show. The investigative team however goes to a location described by the contact and takes numerous pictures of the location, including pictures of a back pack, newspapers, clothes and other miscellaneous provisions. All of this material is marked and booked as evidence by the investigative team. Included in the material obtained is a large sample quantity of “reddish-brown” stain thought by the undersigned (named above) “to be possible blood stains.” The investigators indicate that they have begun “arranging a test at the Institute of Forensic Sciences, Oakland, California.”
The report is turned over to AIM Leadership, Ramon Robideau, Luke McKissack and Attorney Ken Tilsen. No further report, documents or evidence collected is found or referenced in the South Dakota WKLDOC, or Ken Tilsen WKLDOC files at the Minnesota Historical Society under this case notation.
See also: Leonard Crow Dog & The Dirt Map
