September 10: ON THIS DAY in 1935, Huey Long is dead
ON THIS DAY IN 1935, the Eagle reported, “Baton Rouge, La., Sept. 10 (AP) — United States Sen. Huey P. Long, known the world over as the dictator of his native Louisiana, died at the age of 42 today of a wound inflicted by an assassin. Physicians battled for 31 hours to save the political chieftain’s life. They performed one operation, five blood transfusions and administered artificial oxygen to no avail . . . The widow who married him 22 years ago after her alibi testimony saved him from charges in a shooting scrape was led dry-eyed from Our Lady of the Lake Hospital. She had been at the bedside in constant vigil since Sunday night . . . The gunshot wound was inflicted by Dr. Carl A. Weiss Jr., kinsman of a Long political enemy, in the corridor of the Louisiana State Capitol at 9:20 p.m. Sunday . . . Dr. Weiss, a 30-year-old eye, ear, nose and throat specialist, pressed a gun into the senator’s stomach and fired. His arm was deflected before he could fire a second shot, and Long’s bodyguards, state highway policemen, killed him on the spot with a fusillade of nearly 60 bullets.”
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