SENATOR LONG SHOT

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 242, 10 September 1935, Page 7

SENATOR LONG SHOT

EXPECTED TO RECOVER. ASSAILANT MOWED DOWN. IN LOUISIANA PARLIAMENT. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) BATON ROUGE (Louisiana), Sept. 8. Senator Huey P. Long was shot and wounded as he was passing through a corridor between the State House of Representatives and Senate chambers to-night. His assailant, Dr A. C. Weiss, a Baton Rouge eye specialist and member of an anti-Long political family, was shot and killed by Senator Long’s bodyguard. Senator Long, was given a blood transfusion late tonight, and has a good chance of recovery. Ho was reported to have been sliot in the abdomen, but the bullet passed through his body, thus barring complications. His assailant, who was dressed in a smart white suit, fired a gun at Senator Long as lie _ walked along the corridor after leaving the House, where he was directing legislation in a special session of the Legislature. Senator Long staggered downstairs to the basement, blood flowing from his mouth. His bodyguard immediately mowed down Dr Weiss with a submachine gun. The bullet-riddled body of the attempted assassin was left lying on the floor near Governor Allen’s office.

The wildest excitement prevailed in the State House of Representatives, which was immediately cleared. Senator Long was rushed to the sanatorium, where Dr Arthur Vidrine, superintendent of the New Orleans Charity Hospital, prepared to operate. Only the Lieutenant-Governor (Mr James Noe), a close personal friend and trusted political adviser, was permitted to accompany Senator Long to the operating-room. Late reports state that Senator Long’s condition is nut yet critical.

Weiss was 29 years of age and a Tulane University graduate. He had studied medicine abroad. His father, Mr Carl A. Weiss, is a former president of the Louisiana Medical Association. A possible motive for the attack concerns his father-in-law, Judge B. H. Pavy, leader of the anti-Long political faction. In fact, one of the Bills Senator Long presented to the Legislature would have redefined the judicial district Judge Pavy represented with a view to adding enough pro-Long voters to defeat the Judge at tlie next electon. Weiss’s wife, formerly Miss Yvonne Pavy, is also active in antiLong politics. A later message states that, although the building was crowded at the time of the shooting, only a few actually witnessed it. According to the testimony of three State police who were assigned to guard Senator Long, they were some distance away when Weiss pressed a revolver into Senator Long’s abdomen and shot. According to them the weapon jambed, preventing a second shot, which probably saved Senator Long’s life. They immediately started firing at Weiss, but denied that they used machine-guns. At the hospital it was found that the bullet had struck no vital organs and, after a blood transfusion, physicians declared that Senator Long had a “good chance of recovery.” Ii is said he remained conscious throughout and, with blood streaming from his mouth, directed the Coroner to hold an inquest into Weiss’s death. Fearing disorders, a .regiment ot the National Guard has been ordered to mobilise for the hearing to-morrow.

GAINING STRENGTH

Beceivcd September 10,.11.20 a.m. BATON ROUGE, Sept. 9. The hospital reported this morning that Senator Long had gained strength after the blood transfusion and an operation.

It is seven years since Senator Huev Long was elected Governor of Louisiana. Three years ago his power within the State was sufficiently consolidated to enable him to hand the governorship over to a henchman while he secured for himself election to tire United States Senate. Since then lie has held no official position in Louisianian State politics. But so absolute is the power which he wields through liis political machine that, acting to liis dictation, the State Legislature passed 44 Bills through all their stages in two hours and ’0 minutes at a special session called by the Governor in August, 1934, in obedience to Senator Long’s command. The enactments which resulted from this legislative harlequinade smack more of Nazi Germany than democratic America, and their effect has been to put the people of Louisiana almost completely at the mercy of Huey Long and liis political machine. He has built up liis power by extending lavish patronage to all his active supporters and varied material benefits to the masses, and is a candidate for the Presidency next year. Senator Long’s reckless bounty has raised the publicdebt of Louisiana from little more than 10.000,000 dollars to around 145,000,000 dollars. It Iras likewise doubled the State Budget.