Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-07-25
PegIer Doubts
Weiss Shot
-HueyLong
No Conclusive Evidence
Ever Offered
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER

4'A the conclusion that Huey
Long was assassinated by DR..
Carl Austin Weiss is that al
most from the day of the shoot
ing have been skeptical Of the
conduct of persons who. with all
the power of dictatorship,
and with the strongest of mo-
tiveS, failed to conduct an
intelligent, thorough investiga-
ton, ------------
AS matters stand, a man who
was known in his home COM
munity as a decent American
citizen and who was consplcu-
ously aloof from Louisiana poll
tics. has been branded as
murderer.
He has been so recorded in
an important incident in Ameri-
con history on the word of men
who, in the circumstances OF
-tite-ease- iffigiftLthernsefecs-
indicated of error or crime
by an easy assumption that Doc
tor Weiss shot Long.
TWO Of the biographies OF
l. Long. published after his
death, casually but fatty accuse
Weiss of numbering the King
fish, as though a fact had been
positively established. when the
truth is that no such finding
ever was recorded.
Forrest Davis. in book en-
titled Huey Long: A Candid
Biography. made the unquali-
fed and unsupported assertion
that Weiss shot Long, but in the
next paragraph undermined his
own assumption by admitting
that the assassination was
improbable" and seemed Ito
lack plausibility."
Nevertheless. he declares that
Huey was "vanquished by a
will more ruthless, more destruc-
tive even than his own.
In all the career OF Doctor
Weiss. who fell dead from many
bullets fired at arms length by
the bodyguard. there is nothing
10 Justify a statement that he
was man of ruthless and
destructive will.
on the contrary, he was
known as an earnest, studious,
nonpolitical man of science
who had been educated in medi-
cine al home and abroad, and
the only ruthless and destruc-
tive act cited against him is the
one which was not proven.
CARLETON BEAI.S in The
~ Story of Huey p Long, is
equally positive that Weiss shot
the Kingfish. declaring that
Weiss pressed gun into the
senator's side and fired a bullet.
seems, himself, 10 doubt the mo-
tive ascribed 10 Weiss. This
motive was revenge for the can.
collation. Of a political job held
by Weiss father-ln-law.
whether this or deeper mo-
tiyes were involved says Beals,
"may never he cleared up
But before the question OF
Weiss motive is cleared up, *
obviously is necessary 10 estab-
IiSh that Weiss shot Long ana
this has not been done. Never
theless. Weiss becomes a MUIR
deref. when II is very apparent
that he may himself have been
murdered in cold blood and his
widow and child and his father,
also a doctor, are thus glloiy
stigmatized.
LONG was shot in treachery
i by any of the armed men
with whom he surrounded hTrTl--
self. or if he was hit acciden-
tally in the general gunplay:
then the surviving members OF
the dictatorship would have had
an obvious motive for conceallng
+ and confusing the facts.
The caliber of the bullet which
I killed Huey was never eStab-
lished and the excited first state
ments Of men who were on the
scene, or Just out Of sight around
the corner, indicate that Weiss
/ did not shoot first If, indeed. he
fired at all 1t is not known that
he fired even the one shot which
was said 10 have been discharged
from his pistol for Weiss carried
the pistol in the front pocket OF
his automobile. as many citizens
customarily do in Louisiana.
The police might have fired
that shot after discovering the
weapon in the car, or after re-
moving il from his clothing as
he lay dead. The police, IT must
be remembered. were part OF an
armed personal force. as they
were backed by the agents OF
the criminal Identification de-
partment. No unsupported testl--
mony from the police would
deserve any consideration.
IF HISTORY is 10 be written
i from hearsay and old clip
pings. then historians must give
weight TO the fact that Longs
gunner riddled and silenced the
| only man who could have told
the story if the truth was that
Huey died of treachery or by
misdirected shot intended for a
man who only slapped his face.
Huey's police are commonly
snnnoSed 10 have been very