The Seguin Gazette-Enterprise from Seguin, Texas • Page 8

Page 28 Tuesday, July 29,1966 The Seguin Gazette-Enterprise From 20 years ago Day of wrath remembered EDITOR'S NOTE Twenty years ago, on Aug. 1, 1966, a troubled University of Texas student named Charles Joseph Whitman, 25, went on a rampage. Heavily armed, he barricaded himself high on the university's 307-foot tower. For 90 minutes, the sniper aimed rifle shots and terror at the streets below. When it ended, Whitman had killed 16 people and wounded 31.

He died in a hail of police gunfire. By MICHAEL HOLMES Associated Press Writer AUSTIN (AP) Nobody knows why. He didn't, either. But at 6:45 p.m. on July 31, 1966, Charlie Whitman sat at the typewriter in his small brick duplex apartment and started pecking out a note.

"I don't quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter. Perhaps it is to leave some vague reasons for the actions I have recently performed," he began. He wrote of tremendous headaches and of an unsuccessful visit to a psychiatrist. He wrote of his wife, Kathy, whom he loved more than anyone. A visit from friends, Larry and Elaine Fuess, interrupted the typing.

When they left, he finished the note. "I imagine it appears that I brutally killed both of my loved ones. I was only trying to do a quick thorough Around midnight, Whitman went to the apartment of his mother, Mrs. Margaret Whitman, who had moved to Austin five months earlier after leaving Whitman's father in Lake Worth, Fla. Whitman stabbed her in the chest and shot her in the back of the head.

He left a letter, confessing. At 2:05 a.m., he returned home. He stabbed his wife four times in the chest, covering her body with a blanket. He left another letter. Charlie Whitman's day of wrath had begun.

"These horrible actions were by a crazy, deranged individual who had suddenly gone completely berserk with no warning to his family or friends. Prior to this instance he had been considered a responsible, intelligent young man. "The autopsy report indicates that Charles J. Whitman had a brain tumor close to the brain stem which undoubtedly caused him much mental pain and possible contributed to his insane actions. From notes left by Whitman it is obvious that he did not intend to be taken of the Travis County grand jury Subsequent investigations indicated that Whitman had been eating amphetamines "like popcorn" in the months before Aug.

1. He'd told friends how he hated his father. The former Eagle Scout had gotten into trouble while serving in the Marines, where he became an expert marksman. He was court-martialed for violating regulations and sentenced to 90 days hard labor. In a diary, he wrote of his dark depression.

After the service, he returned as an architectural engineering student to the University of Texas. Things seemed to improve. He said he loved Kathy, a beauty queen in her hometown of Needville. But despite descriptions of the 200- pound crew-cut blond as an "all- American boy," the shadows were spreading across his mind. "Even when he looked perfectly normal, he gave you this feeling of trying to control something in himself," Elaine Fuess said a few days after the shootings.

"He knew he had a temper, and he hated this in himself. He hated the idea of cruelty in himself and tried to suppress it." About 9 a.m. on Aug. 1, Whitman began purchasing supplies for his last stand against an unseen enemy. At 11:25 a.m., he arrived on campus, telling a guard he was to deliver equipment to a professor's office.

At 11:35 a.m., he carried a footlocker on a rented dolly to the elevator of UT's Main Building. He rode up 27 flights, then hauled the footlocker to the stairs that lead up to the tower's outdoor observation deck. Police said Whitman's supplies included three rifles, a sawed-off shotgun, one revolver, two automatic pistols, 700 rounds of ammunition, 3Mi gallons of water, 3tt gallons of gasoline, four knives, a hammer, a hatchet, an alarm clock, a transister radio, 12 cans of food, deodorant and a toothbrush. "Police operator." "This is Michael Hall at the history department on the UT campus; there has just been a gunshot on the main plaza outside the main building with at least one person wounded." "The main plaza?" "Yes sir." of call to police Before he reached the observation deck's narrow walkway, 231 feet in the air, Whitman's deadly spree started. He killed a university receptionist on the 28th floor.

Two families of tourists had reached the last staircase to the observation deck. They were climbing when Whitman opened fire. It was the last thing Mary Frances Lamport saw clearly. "We were face to face with (Whitman) at the top of the stairs. Michael (her son, Michael Gabour) was hit first.

The next one he got was me. I started falling. I never heard Mark make a sound, and I assumed he was all right," she said. Her son, 16-year-old Mark Gabour, was killed. Michael was shot in the head but survived.

She was shot in the skull and spine, left paralyzed and partially blind. Her sister, Marguerite Lamport, also was killed. At 11:52 a.m., police were called. Officers began converging on the tower. Their radios crackled with grim reports.

"It was obviously out of hand and more than one (victim)," recalls Joe Roddy, in 1966 a radio-television newsman and now spokesman for the UT Board of Regents. En route to campus, Roddy monitored the police radio. "It sounded like all hell had broken loose." Whitman's aim was frighteningly precise. Right eye pressed to a telescopic sight, he squeezed the trigger as the Marines had taught him. Authorities believe Whitman tracked each victim in his sights before firing.

Most were shot at a distance of more than 300 feet. "There were 1 two shots fired. I don't know which one hit me. The best I can tell, I'm the only person who got hit below the waist. The others were either hit in the head or between the shoulder and the waist.

"The most critical problem I had was loss of blood. The bullet exploded on impact. There were no exit wounds on my leg. The explosion literally tore the vein in two. By the time it was all done, they had given me eight pints of blood." driver Morris Hohmann, wounded about 12:10 p.m.

on his second trip to the scene. clearly saw the adjacent, shop-lined street nicknamed "The Drag." Moving around the tower, he picked off target after target. His field of fire was so commanding that rescuers couldn't reach many of the wounded, who were stranded in the 100-degree heat for over an hour. "I was the guy that was reading from the emergency room the list of casualties. Live, on the air.

I said I had the list of people they had brought into the hospital. I very carefully avoided saying that any of them were dead, even though I knew some of them were. I didn't want anybody to learn on the air that a loved one was dead. "When Paul Bolton walked into the newsroom he was the senior news director he heard me and picked up the phone. He said, 'Joe, I think I heard you read my grandson's name.

Would you please repeat the Then it dawned on me: Paul Sonntag (who died) was my boss's grandson." Roddy, reporter who covered the Brackenridge Hospital emergency room for 12 hours. The observation deck surrounded a small anteroom, where McCoy joined Martinez and Crum. They were near Whitman now, who was oustide, in the deck's northwest corner. Behind a chest-high concrete retaining wall, Whitman was safe from the shots of riflemen on the ground. Martinez carried his service revolver.

McCoy had a shotgun. "Martinez was at that southeast door there. Crum was looking out a window on the south side. I went to a window on the east side. We never did say anything," McCoy said.

"Then Martinez opened that door and went out," McCoy said. "So I hollered at Jerry that Martinez had gone out, and I had to go on out. So I went on out. Me and Martinez went on the east side, working our way north." The officers closed in on the sniper. "He had himself stationed in that northwest corner.

He had his rifle pointed down to the west walkway. He was prepared to shoot anything on the walkway," McCoy said. "Me and Martinez worked our way up that east parapet. Martinez jumped out and started shooting. I jumped out and started shooting.

That was it." At 1:24 p.m., Charlie Whitman died. For 18 years, the words "tower sniper" were synonymous with the deadliest massacre by one killer in one day in U.S. history. The gruesome record stood until James O.Huberty killed 21 at a restaurant in San Ysidro, on July 18,1964. "I got a feeling he knew we were there.

I'm sure he could have heard that door being opened. He had put a dolly or something in front of it. Martinez had to kick it pretty hard to get it open. "Yeah, I think he knew we were there. He was in the process of turning his rifle toward us.

He was in the act of bringing it around. I have a vague feeling he might have shot in the air. "I done shot him." Houston McCoy, who now works at a Boy Scout camp in Menard County. In the aftermath, criminal and psychological experts couldn't reach a definite conclusion about why Whitman did it. It was the kind of crime no one ever fully understands.

The university reported that he had consulted once with a school psychiatrist. On March 29, Whitman had told the doctor he sometmes felt like "going up on the tower with a deer rifle." But Dr. Maurice Heatly told reporters that Whitman was describing temper tantrums. During the examination, he said, "I saw no psychosis symptoms at all." The pathologist who examined Whitman's body, Dr. Coleman deChenar, reported finding a tumor near the brain stem.

It would have caused pain, experts said. It would not cause a man to kill. Tom Blackwell, now a state district judge, was Travis County district attorney in 1966. Blackwell said that had Whitman lived to stand trial, an insanity defense would have failed. "He wasn't a blithering idiot.

He planned it. He was aware of the circumstances that he was probably going to lose his life when he got on that tower. I could have won," Blackwell said. For the wounded Morris Hohmann, who lay bleeding under a parked car for more than an hour before he could be taken to the hospital, hardly a day passes without his remembering Aug. 1,1966.

"At least once a day, even now, 1 sit down in my own privacy and give thanks to something greater than humanity," he said. "I'm reasonably confident that somebody besides that sniper was looking down that scope at me." they How Police didn't know what faced. How many gunmen? heavily armed? Citizens grabbed weapons and joined officers returning fire at the tower, long the landmark of the state's great university. Five men four police officers and a deputized civilian named Allen J. Crum made it into to the tower.

"When the elevator door opened, Officer Jerry Day (already there) had his .38 pointed at me, and I had my shotgun pointed at him. We both just kind of grinned and lowered our weapons," said former officer Houston McCoy. Day briefed McCoy, telling him that Crum and Officer Ramiro Martinez already had gone up the stairs. "There were wounded people, dead people on the stairways," McCoy recalled. "Jerry Day sensed I was going to shoot anything I saw coming off the top of the stairs, so he told me Martinez and a civilian were up there.

I said I just better get on up." Standing on the brick-floored deck around the clock tower, Whitman had a panoramic view of the campus, its fountains and grassy South Mall. He AUTO Smith leads candidates in campaign spending WASHINGTON (AP) Former Bexar County Commissioner Lamar Smith, seeking to succeed Rep. Tom Loeffler, was the biggest spender among Texas congressional candidates as of June 30, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Smith, a Republican, reported spending $473,844 this year, compared to $71,973 spent by his Democratic opponent, long-time state Sen. Pete Snelson of Midland.

Snelson reported cash-on-hand of only 14,040, but no campaign debt. Smith said his campaign had $39,098 in his coffers, but owed $123,572 in loans. Snelson is well known throughout much of the district, which is the state's largest, running from San Antonio to far West Texas. But a large number of voters occupy the part of Bexar County that forms a small corner of the district. Smith is well known there as commissioner and former state representative.

Loeffler, a Republican from Hunt, ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination for governor, leaving his seat in Congress up for grabs. The other 26 Texas congressmen are seeking re-election. Among those, freshman Republican Joe Barton of Ennis and his Democratic challenger, attorney Pete Geren of Fort Worth, were the biggest spenders. Candidate, P0.48 1983 F150 Step Side Pickup with 6 cyl. 300, PS, PB, cassette, sliding rear window, cruise control, tinted windows, automatic overdrive only actual miles, very clean.

$7,000. 3793627. 1976 Camaro, 305 engine, PS, PB, $1,750. Home 372-1469, work 3720070. 1977 Lincoln Town Car, excellent condition.

Call 639-4363. 1977 Plymouth Gran Fury, 440 engine, runs great, $1,000. 250cc Suzuki X6, $225. 90cc Honda street bike, $100. 379-4123.

1978 Datsun King Cab pickup, four spare tires, great. $2,000. 379-4123. 1978 Olds Cutlass Supreme, 2 door, great condition, $1,500. Call 3722375.

1979 Firebird Formula, 400 C.I., 4speed. 379-6576. T980 Corvette, 32,000 one owner, very clean, loaded, L-82 engine, glass t-top, aluminum new A more! $10,200. 379-6602 after 6 p.m. or leave message.

1980 Toyota Celica, 5- speed, sunroof, excellent mechanical condition. $3,300. Call 3722266 after 6 p.m. 1982 Dodge 150 pickup, PS, PB, 379-6172. 1982 CMC S-15, loaded, 92,000 miles.

$3,250. 5575335. 1983 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, loaded, new Michelin radial 42,000 $9,800. 379-6661. CLASSIFIEDS 379-5402 1969 Chevy, rebuilt engine.

$1,150 or best offer. 3723906. 1972 Dodge Challenger, 318 engine, automatic, mags, duals, very good condition. 799 Paige. 379-0250.

1984 Jeep CJ7, 17,000 miles. 16,600. 379-6661. 1984 Plymouth Horizon, 4 door, AC, PB, PS, stereo. $3,600.

Call 1-437-2961. 1984 Ranger, excellent condition, $3,800. 5575956. 1985 4-wheel drive Pickup, loaded. 379-1923, 8-5; 3790387 after 5 weekends.

1985 Chevrolet Cavalier Coupe, type 10, fuel injected, power, cruise, air, loaded, white, red interior. Excellent school car. $6,850. 379-2462 after 8 p.m. 1985 Dodge Ram Charger, V-8, all power, fully loaded, low mileage, $11,750.

379- 39H2. '77 Chevy Nova, 6 excellent condition, $900. '69 Chevy Impala, excellent condition, $500. 379-7182. '82 Mercury Colony Park wagon, clean, one owner, loaded, must sell this week.

Also Mongoose racing bike. 372-5936. DUMP TRUCKS. 1974 Ford, 6 $4,500 or beat offer. 1975 CMC, 5 $2,800 or best offer.

Call 379-6760 days, 372-0262 nights. For Sale. 1978 Firebird, PW, PS, t-tops, PL, $2,995. Call 372-2743 mornings, 379-5051 nights. Topper, long wide bed, 4 bubble windows, white color alum, perfect.

Price $150. 799 379-0250, OPf. 704 Flavored wanted i 817-771-9469. snow distributors i your area. AC BUS.

PROP. Commercial Property, 240 ft. on N. Camp St. 850 sq.

ft. off 650 ft. shop, 650 ft. covered loading area. 379-4053.

Commercial building, approximately 30 80, suitable for storage, garage or paint body. 379-8333. YARD SALf Rummage and Bake Sale. Immaculate Conception Church hall, Marion, Sat. Aug.

2nd, 8 to 4. HELP WANTED 700 EASY ASSEMBLY WORK. $714 100. Guaranteed payment. No sales.

DeUiU-aend stamped envelope: ELAN-690, 3418 Enterprise, Ft. Pierce, FL 33482. GOVERNMENT JOBS. Now Hiring. Call 805-687-6000, ext.

R-10215 for current federal list. House of Lloyd now hiring demonstrators, party free no details without obligation. 557-6113. POSITION VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT City of Seguin "An Equal Opportunity Employer" CEMETERY Recreation This is unskilled manual labor which maintaining city property. No educational no experience necessary.

the ability to endure the physical of hard labor. Starting salary is S3.89/hr. Deadline for is July 31, 1986. HfLPWANTlD Part-time evenlnp, 14 in hour. 379-4130.

Contact Mr. Spencer. Be an order taker and earn money gelling Beellne Fashions. Call 372-1404. Mature Christian, lady needed for church nursery.

379-1613. Need mature lady with own transportation to care (or 2 children 7 and 4) and light housekeeping. Please call 372-1811 after 5:30 p.m. required. Responsible person: Housework A care for 3 children in my home.

3724356. 379-6547 evenings, Kenneth. Wanted: one year experience, high school diploma, typing 60 wpm, tested. 10 key by touch, tested. Word processing or PC experience preferred.

Some weekend work required. Excellent company benefits. Apply in person. New Braunfels Aviation, New TX. Williams Heating A AC seeking: (II appliance repairman, (21 AC repairman, (3) duct installer.

Good working conditions. Salary negotiable. 921 It! 35 New Braunfels, 1-625-5710. Small engine mechanic. MUM be able to work on gnus trimmers, lawnmowers, go-carts A chaintaws.

Apply irt person, Western Auto. Warehouse Positions Work in warehouse ft deliver materials. Requires H.S. diploma, driver's license. Part- time or full time.

Crump's Lumber fr Hardware 100a N. Austin Weekly Ptoccsvng mail tnf oimaiton. materials furnished Send self addressed stamped to Merchandising, 6 13 Dypf Di Cofsicana. TX 75110 NEEDED Temporary Family) Planning Coordinator Ass, Coordinator of Public Information Residential Advisor Recreation Advisor Contact Personnel Services Gary Job Corps Center San Marcos 1N-4M4 tquil Oppwiunily Mast Homes, Inc. will consider the following: "Carpenters with 23 years all around carpentry experience 'Frame Cornish 'Interior trim Apply at 2511 N.

Heideke 3 to 11 Nurse Full-time position available Call Vicki 3797777 LfOALS CITATION BY PUBLICATION THE STATE OFTEXAS TO: Heirs of Catherine While Defendant, Greeting: You are hereby commanded lo appear by filing a written answer to the Petition at or before ten o'clock a.m. of the first Monday after the expiration of forty-two from the date of the issuance of thin citation. same being Monday the 26th day of May. 1986. at or before ten o'clock, a.m.

before the Honorable 25lh Judicial Diatrict Court of Guadalupe County. at the Court Housr of said County in Seguin, Texas. Said Plaintiff's Petition was filed in said court, on the 9th day of April. A.I). 1986, in this cause, numbered 86-503 on the dockn of said court, and styled.

Four Oaks Investments, Plaintiff Hrirs of Catherine White, Defendant. The names of the parties HILPWANTID 1 The Job Market Employment Agency Permanent and Temporary Jobs 203 S. River 379 3060 PRODUCTION LINE-Exp. naccaaary. PRODUCTION LINE TRAINEE.S3.3S/hr.

ENTRY SECRETARY All dutlca. Good pay. DENTAL ASSISTANT good Job. Domino's Pizza nf'ecls to fill the following positions icjjy stud HI 4 1-s plus uliow.it Trainees MI i Ajlplu Jills IMUSt 18 Olllff driver own Will Udil: cum'M! 'MMJMM. (ur; C.l'l 1 10 i 1007 S.

Guadalupe Seguin Seguin Savings Association will be accepting applications for a part time new accounts representative. Applicants should have a minimum of 2 years ex- in a financial institution, have an outgoing personality, be sales and be active in the community. Good' yping skills and professional appearance aj must. Knowledge of IRA Keogh ac- counts preferred. Salary commensurate! with experience.

Call 379-2222 for )ointment. Health Care Management Opportunities An exciting established Health Care Corp. is seeking aggressive individuals interested in building a career in a rapidly expanding medical field. Top communication sales skills required. Medical experience preferred.

Must be a self starter. Godd starting salary plus performance bonus. Excellent benefits. Interested persons send resume immediately to: Personnel Dept. P.O.

Box 5666 Abilene, Texas 79608 to the cause are as Four Oaks Investments, Inc. are Plaintiffs and of Catherine While are Defendants, A brief statement of the nature of this suit Is as follows, to-wit: Petition For Appointment of Receiver at is more fully shown by Plaintiff's Petition on file in this suit. If tliis citation is not served within ninety after the date of issuance, it shall be returned tin- served. The officer executing process shall promptly execute the same according to law, and make due return as the law directs. Issued and given under my hand and the Seal of said Court, at office in Seguin, Texas, this the IOth day of April, 1986.

JAMES BKHRENDT, Clerk District Court, Guadalupe County, Texas By: Bobbie Koepp, Deputy CONTRACHwiF'NOT- 1CK OFTKXASHIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION Sealed proposals for constructing miles of grading, structures, base and surfacing from SH 16 to FM 394 in Kerrville on Spur covered by CD 526-1-5 in Kerr County, will be received st the State Department of and Public Transportation, Austin, until A.M., August 12. I'M), and then publicl) opened and read. Pinna and including minimum wage rales provided bv I-nvr are available for at the office of H.M. Tucker Resident i Kerrville, Trias, and at the Stati- Department of nnd Public 1 Austin, I Bidding proposals are to be from the Construction Division, D.C. Grecr State Highwa) Building.

Ilih nnd Ilrato4 Slrrrts, Austin. Texas 7K7D1. arr available through commercial printers in Austin. Texas, at thr expense of the bidder. I rights rnwrvi-d.

NOT1CF.OF INCORPORATION it ire jfivrn thai TRAVKL INTKR.NATK».NAI.«how principal businrtm was st o33 Sum. and presently al Strrrt. Suilr NIP. 128, Cxiuntv, IVias, effective April 1. under I he name TRAVF.L 1 STA.

IN- CORPORATKD. DATKDJulv 11. ANNK'rrKsftilT JKRK. I'l 111 li I Ml! 1 I INSCHKIH l.KS lo the CuMi niters of Kntej, Inc. in the unincorporated environs of the Cilv of Seguin, IVxitu; Inc.

hrrrbv givm notice to the public it has filed with tlir Kailroad Comminution o( Trigs profxinrd changes in its Schedules of Hairs natural gait in rnvirunii of the Citv of Srguiii. The represent an incrranr in rules to certain customers of Knlex. A uipy of the promised changes may by any affected person at thr business office of in Seguin. Texas or at the Hailroad Commission of Texas, (ias Division, 'Travis Building, 17th and Congress, Austin, 'Texas. All persons interested in this matter may obtain information with respect thereto by communication directed to the undersigned at the address shown below.

KNTKX.INC. W.I). Former Vice President and South Texas Division Manager P.O. Box 471 New Braunfels, TX 7H131 LJVfSrOCK 3 Simbrah bulls, 1 regiatered Brahma bull. 372-3276 after 5 p.m.

en paloona Brood mare, outstanding bloodline, hat papers, come see her offspring. Also 4 yr. AppalooM mare A yearling coll. In Marion, call Kim 1-4202606. 8 year old black quar- terhorse mare.

Needs experienced rider, $400. 1420-3420, leave message. Breed stock paint stud coll, 3 old, excellent breeding, excellent 4-H project, $400. 6 year old gelding, ridden in Poaae Drill Team and trail WWU512I667-9633. Horses boarded on pasture land.

Trail riding available, 379-7750..