MEMORANDUM October 26, 1967 TO: Jim Garrison, District Attorney FROM: Andrew J. Sciambra, Assistant D.A. RE: Interview With Correy Collins We have a tape recording of an interview with Corey Collins which will be transcribed later and with Verna Bell for CORE during the voter registration drive in the Summer of 1963. He says he and Verna Bell registered on 8/16/63. He said that his off-days were Wednesday and Thursday and the Registrar's office was only open on Thursday and Friday but that it could have been on a different day in the morning as he didn't go to work until the afternoon. But he seems to remember him being there all day on the day he saw the black Cadillac. Collins remembers seeing Dunn and his grandson on the bench in front of the barber shop. He said that he and Verna did take down the names of everyone who was in line to register and did send the list in to the CORE headquarters in New Orleans. He says that either he or Verna Bell or Betty Poole of Ronnie Moore must have sent the list to the CORE headquarters in New Orleans. He said that we could check with a man named Haley in regard to the list. (The transcript of the entire interview with Collins will follow) ----------------------------------------------------------- [Note: it's not clear whether such a transcript did follow, since none has been found. But Schiambra most certainly continued to question Collins, as the following shows]: ----------------------------------------------------------- MEMORANDUM January 31, 1968 TO: Jim Garrison, District Attorney FROM: Andrew J. Sciambra, Assistant District Attorney RE: Clinton, Louisiana Jim Alcock and I interviewed Corey Collins who had previously stated to Lt. Fruge that he was present in Clinton, Louisiana, and the black car parked in front of the drugstore. Collins said that if he did have blue overalls on as Palmer said he did, it means that this had to be either a Wednesday or a Thursday which were his off days from the hospital. He said that the girl with him had to be either a Verla Bell or Laura Davis who is now in Alabama. He says that as best he can remember it was around two to three weeks after he attempted to register on August 6, 1963. This would make it in late August or early September, 1963. He said that at the time he was living in Clinton and working with Verla Bell, Laura Davis James Bell, Henry Brown, Christine Wright, Iona Hendrichs, Mimi Fiengold, and other CORE workers. The purpose was to register as many colored voters in the Parish as they possibly could. Collins repeated that he remembers the black car parked in front of the drugstore very well and that he remembers thinking that it was an FBI car. He also remembers Verla commenting to him that he remarked that it may be an FBI car. Collins says that at that time there were Federal men in the area to take care of any trouble that may have erupted as a result of the demonstrations and registration drive. Collins said that he was standing close to the registration door as the car drove up and he best remembers this as sometime around 10:00 in the morning. He said the car was headed toward Plank Road and parked in front of the drugstore. He said he doesn't definitely remember the make of the car but remembers that it was a big black expensive looking car and not more than two years old and it had four doors. He says that he believes that Verla was with him trying to get the names of the people in line. He says he can remember seeing someone get out of the car and go into the registration line. He also says that he can remember seeing Manchester going up to the automobile and talking with the people in the automobile and someone in his party remarked that the Federal people looked like they were trading with the enemy. He pointed out, however, that he doesn't know if this was a Federal car or not since no one in the car identified themselves to anyone of his workers. He also said that it was customarily the procedure for the Federal men to identify themselves to either himself or to some other CORE workers just to let them know that they were in the area. He said that as far as he knows these people did not identify themselves to anybody. He said that after he noticed the one fellow get out of the car and go in the registration line, he then went about his other duties of checking various things in town. He says at the time there were about twenty to twenty-five people in line. Collins said that he remembered this black car in particular because it was the only black strange car that he had seen during this period. He also said that he seemed to remember Manchester joining Palmer after he talked to the people in the car. Collins said that there were two people in the front of the car and couldn't be sure about the back seat and that he cannot remember where the person who got out of the car and went into the registration line came from in regards to the front or back seat. He said the driver of the car had on alight hat and had broad shoulders but cannot remember the color hair he had or anything about his complexion and he seemed to be around 45 to 50 years old. He said he believes the windows in the car may have been tinted but he can't be sure. He said the other person who got out of the car was younger and was of medium height and medium build and was casually dressed in a sense that he did not have a coat and tie on. Collins also said that he remembers two guys sitting on the bench in front of the barber shop that morning. One of them was Scrubbs Dunn and he doesn't know the name of the other person but could recognize him if he saw him again. He said that he only saw Palmer when he left the registration office but was not there when Palmer returned. He also was not present when the person in line left. I then showed Collins some pictures to see if he could identify any of the men that we have in our files. He immediately picked out a picture which I have marked S-1 [Oswald] and said that this was the person who got out of the car and went in line to register. He said he was very sure of this. He then picked out a picture which I have marked S-2 [Ferrie] and said that he remembers seeing this man around Clinton somewhere but can't be sure where or when. He then looked at a picture which I have marked S-3 [Shaw] and passed it over and came back to it again and when asked if this person was familiar, he said the face was familiar but can't say for sure where he saw the man. He said he looks big enough to be the man behind the wheel but he would like to see a picture of him with a hat on and from the back. Collins then said that we should check the registration date on Huey Richardson as he was probably in line around that time. He also said that he knew Estes Morgan and saw him in line around once but doesn't know if it was on the same day. He then signed the back of the pictures and I informed him that I would have a statement typed for him to sign. ----------- The above is true and correct to the best of my knowledge __________________________ COREY COLLINS --------------------------------------------------------------- A year later, Collins testimony about the visitors to Clinton had improved markedly. The following is an affidavit from Collins, from the Jim Garrison investigation files. --------------------------------------------------------------- STATE OF LOUISIANA PARISH OF ORLEANS AFFIDAVIT BEFORE ME, the undersigned authority, Notary Public, duly commissioned and qualified in and for the Parish of Orleans, personally came and appeared: CORRIE C. COLLINS, who, after being duly sworn, did depose and state that: At the request of the District Attorney's Office I have gone to Section "C" of the Criminal District Court for the Parish of Orleans today to take a good look at CLAY SHAW who was charged by Jim Garrison with conspiracy to murder President John F. Kennedy. I have previously identified photographs of CLAY SHAW as being the person who was sitting behind the wheel of a black Cadillac by the Registrar's Office in Clinton, Louisiana, in late August or early September, 1963. After looking at CLAY SHAW in the courtroom today I am now more positive than ever that he is the man who was in the car in Clinton that day. I have identified pictures of LEE HARVEY OSWALD and DAVID FERRIE as being the other two people in the car with CLAY SHAW that day and LEE HARVEY OSWALD as being the person that I saw get out of the car and walk into the registration line. ----------------------- Corrie C. Collins SWORN TO AND SUBSCRIBED BEFORE ME THIS ______ DAY OF JANUARY, 1969. ----------------------------------- NOTARY PUBLIC ----------------------------------------------------------------- At the Clay Shaw trial, Collins continued with his identifications. As James Kirkwood records: Collins testified he's seen the black Cadillac and identified Oswald, from a photograph, as the man who got out of the back seat and stood in the registration line, and he described the man behind the wheel as having a heavy build, gray hair and wearing a light-colored hat. Sciambra asked Corrie Collins if that man was in the courtroom and Collins pointed to Clay Shaw. He then described Ferrie by means of his eyebrows and hair and identified a picture of him. AMERICAN GROTESQUE, p. 216