Thursday, February 9, 2012
Register's Office Has Newly Discovered Videos of James Earl Ray in Captivity
Posted by Jackson Baker on Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 7:06 AM
We've all seen the famous photo, dating from 1968, of James Earl Ray, who was later convicted of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, as the ex-con vagabond , trussed up and held from behind by then Sheriff (later Shelby County Mayor) Bill Morris, was placed under local custody.
And we've seen Ray in any number of other poses, some of them stills and quite a few of them videos in which, well after the fact of his trial, at which he pleaded guilty, he can be seen mumbling his strangely smirky denials of any involvement in the King assassination.
But we haven't yet seen a series of videos that were apparently made by the Sheriff's Department of some key early moments in the Ray case: scenes of his arraignment, his gulty plea, and others of Ray being transported to Memphis on a plane and as a prisoner in his cell.
We learn of all these from a news release issued by Shelby County Register Tom Leatherwood which proclaims that the Register's Office "is in possession of eight (8) 5" reels and one 7" reel of video tape" made by a Sheriff's Department video camera — a Sony Model DVK-2400 — that has since disappeared. But the tapes exist, marked as to the nature of their contents, though they are formatted by an obsolete method that, as of now, keeps them from being seen.
Accordingly, says the Leatherwood news release, the Register's Office "is currently seeking a qualified company and grant opportunities to restore/convert these tapes to a digital format so as to preserve and provide public access to this historical material. "
As the release notes, "the labels and the daily jail activity entry indicate a possible view of historical events never before seen" and the tapes present "a unique opportunity" to bring to light "a critical piece of our nation's history."
Here is the text of the Leatherwood news release:
JAMES EARL RAY VIDEOTAPES DISCOVERED
Shelby County Register’s Office to restore/convert obsolete videotapes
Memphis, TN 2/9/2012The Shelby County Register’s office is in possession of eight (8) 5" reels and one 7" reel of video tape. These video tapes have not been released yet due to obsolete formatting. It is known that the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department purchased a video tape camera system in July of 1968. While the equipment has long since disappeared, we still have the owner’s manual. It was a Sony VideoCorder, Model DVK-2400. One tape is labeled “James Earl Ray Arraignment 7-22-1968.” Another tape says “Ray Guilty Plea,” both of which are interesting given that at the time no cameras of any kind or even sketch artists were allowed in the courtroom. Still another one is dated November 11, 1968, which corresponds with a date Ray went to court. A note that appears to have been attached to one of the reel’s boxes is dated July 19, 1968 and reads “Ray on Plane and Arrival at Jail.” One of the daily jail activity entries mentions taking video equipment into Ray’s cell “for the purpose of making a video tape.” While the actual content of the tapes has not been viewed, the labels and the daily jail activity entry indicate a possible view of historical events never before seen.
The Shelby County Register’s office is currently seeking a qualified company and grant opportunities to restore/convert these tapes to a digital format so as to preserve and provide public access to this historical material. “This is a unique opportunity to potentially bring to light and preserve intriguing images of a critical piece of our nation’s history” said Register Tom Leatherwood.
Comments (10)
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How interesting they want to preserve the killing of Martin Luther King, yet the Tea Party want to erase slavery from Tennessee History Books.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/…
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http://experimentaltvcenter.org/sony-dvk-2400vck-2400-battery-operated-videocordercamera-ensemble
cromer985, thank you for the interesting link and helping us gather information about this equipment. This is an exciting project for me and I am very curious about what is on the tapes. Tom Leatherwood - Register of Deeds
There are several companies out there that can do the conversion. Locally, Pro Video off of Poplar near Poplar Plaza does lots of different types of film and video conversions/digitizations, but I do not know if they can handle Sony CV 1/2" tape or not - I do know they did a fantastic job with some mid-50s film we gave them.
www.provideomemphis.com
Also, here's a lot more info on the Sony CV video format and players/recorders:
http://www.labguysworld.com/Museum004_A.ht…
Mr. Leatherwood (assuming that's who the person posting under that name really is): how does it happen that the Register's Office (who's bailiwick, I think you'll agree, is normally land-related records) has this tape rather than, say, the Sheriff's Department, how (i.e., chain of custody) did the tape come into the Register's possession, and what provisions have been made for its safekeeping all these years? Also, has the tape been authenticated, and if so, by whom?
Oh, and also, while (and if) I have you: now that the bogus mortgage "settlement" has been announced, http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/02/the…, what consideration, if any, have you given to going after, as some of your cohorts in other jurisdictions have done http://www.thelegaldescription.com/TLD/Art…, the companies who have subverted the requirement that mortgages, and their assignments, be recorded (with the appropriate filing fee paid), and, in the process, have defrauded Shelby County taxpayers of the millions of dollars that would have had to paid for such filings?
Marty, the Register is the County's full-time archivist. Mr. Leatherwood has made public quite a number of interesting historical records over the years, and you could probably spend months poring over some of the documents he's posted on the Register's website: http://register.shelby.tn.us/
I'll second that, auto. Leatherwood has done a commendable job putting all those documents online. I found my immigrant great-grandparents' marriage cert there.
Auto: thanks. I'm still interested in the provenance of the videos I asked about.
I also still wish the Register would answer my question about the way banks have evaded filing/fee requirements for mortgages and assignments, and whether he intends to do anything about it, especially given that the sweetheart deal the banks just got for their mortgage practices (thanks--surprise, surprise--to the cave-in by Obama and the state AG's, including Tennessee's), doesn't prevent the states from going after those fees.
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