Carl
Weiss, the son of Dr, Carl Adam Weiss, was born in Baton Rouge in
1906. After graduating from Tulane University Medical School, he worked
at Turo Infirmary in New Orleans,
the American Hospital in France and the Bellevue
Hospital in New York before completing postgraduate studies in Austria.
Weiss
returned to the United States in 1932 and worked
with his father at Baton Rouge. The following year he married Yvonne
Pavy, the daughter of Judge Benjamin Pavy. By 1935 Weiss was the best
known ear, nose and throat surgeon in Louisiana.
Benjamin
Pavy, was one of the leading opponents of Huey
P. Long. Unable to unseat Pavy in St. Landry Parish, Long decided
to gain revenge by having two of the judge's daughters dismissed from
their teaching jobs. Long also warned Pavy that if he continued to
oppose him he would say that his family had "coffee blood".
This was based on the story that Pavy's father-in-law, had a black
mistress.
On
8th September, 1935, Weiss was told that rumours were circulating
that his wife was the daughter of a black man. Weiss was furious when
he heard the news and decided to pay Long a visit in the State Capitol
Building. Long was in the governor's office, and so he waited by a
marble pillar in the corridor. When Long left the office with John
Fournet and six bodyguards, Weiss pulled out a .32 automatic and aimed
it at Long. Weiss fired and hit Long in the abdomen. The bodyguards
opened fire and Weiss died on the spot. A bullets fired by one of
the bodyguards ricocheted off the pillar and hit Long in the lower
spine.
At
first it was thought that Long was not seriously wounded and an operation
was carried out to repair his wounds. However, the surgeons had failed
to detect that one of the bullets had hit Long's kidney. By the time
this was discovered, Long was to weak to endure another operation
and died on 10th September, 1935.
(1)
John Fournet witnessed the shooting
of Huey Long. He was interviewed about the incident in a television
documentary, Huey Long, that was made in 1985.
As he emerged there, all
of a sudden, I saw a strange look in his face and at the same time
I had a Panama hat in my left hand - and I saw a little gun go right
close to me, within a foot or two, a black gun, automatic, and about
simultaneously one of the so-called bodyguards, young fellow by the
name of Murphy Roden, grabbed the gun and it went off simultaneously,
because it hit Huey on the right side - so went along here and through
the small of the back,
you see, downward.
After a while, after they
had a coroner's inquest and the man was found riddled with 59 bullets
in his body, they came and knocked on the door (at the hospital) and
I said: "You can't come in" and he said: "I just want
to tell Huey who shot
him". And Huey, loud as ever: "Let him in" - he had
a big, strong voice - and of course I had to let him in. He told him
a young doctor by the name of Carl Weiss had shot him. "Well,"
he says. "What does he want to shoot me for?"
(2)
A Louisiana journalist was in the Senate building when Huey Long was
shot. He was interviewed about the incident in a documentary, Brother,
Can You Spare A Dime?, that was made in 1975.
Twenty
years of newspaper experience failed to prepare me for the tragedy
I witnessed Sunday
night. I was coming out of Governor Allen's office when I heard a
shot. Outside in the hall I saw Senator Long stagger away, grasping
his side with his right hand. Half a dozen members of the senator's
guard joined the shooting and the man who had shot Senator
Long pitched forward dead from 30 or 40 bullets. The hallway was filled
with smoke. Senator Long meanwhile walked down the hall, descended
the stairway, was aided into an automobile and taken to the nearby
Lady of the Lakes sanatorium where he died 30 hours later.
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