Sound Files of King Assassination on Register's Web Site

The Memphis Police Department dispatcher is calm, barking out orders even as the city outside begins to descend into chaos. It's shortly after 6 p.m. on April 4, 1968, and unconfirmed reports have begun trickling in over the radio that something terrible has happened at the Lorraine Motel in Downtown Memphis.

"Reverend King has been shot ... confirm ... Rev. King has been shot," the dispatcher bellows on an excerpt from a police dispatch tape.

The recording, part of a trove of archival records that Shelby County Register Tom Leatherwood recently combed through, now is available on the Register's Web site, http://www.register.shelby.tn.us/mlk/audio/mpdtapes.mp3.