Photo Gallery | Shelby Co. Register’s Office publishes historical arrest records

Perhaps you want to shed some light on an old family outlaw, or you're interested in seeing if your great-great-great grandfather was ever in jail.

Either way, the Shelby County Register’s Office has placed some of its historical records on its website — free for the public to view.  

The records include the Memphis Police Blotter, from the year 1858 to 1860.

The blotter is a record the MPD kept of those persons arrested and jailed, or as it was called in that time, “sent to the calaboose."

Containing 6,000 plus entries, the original documents from the police blotter have been scanned with a searchable database, enabling anyone to search for an offenders’ name, the charges they face, as well as the arresting officer and notes the officer may have recorded along with the entry.

Shelby County Register Tom Leatherwood said there are some fairly interesting, even humorous entries in the blotter, such as a man by the name of Frank Tanner being arrested on the charge of “drunk and riding horse in house."

“Eating pigs foot at grocery, not paying,” is another of the charges that was found on the blotter.

Along with some of the fascinating charges, appear descriptions of some of the defendants.

Descriptions, ranging from “drunken scamp lying out like a hog” or, “low dirty vagrant; not worth nothing”.

Along with the antiquated police blotter, there are several other exhibits on the Shelby County Registers website, including the investigation records of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Elmwood Cemetery Daily Burial Records, and papers from the West Tennessee Historical Society.

Click here to goto the Shelby County Register’s website to see the exhibits.