Existing comment:
The Shooting of Huey Long:
Huey Pierce Long, U.S. Senator and former Governor, aroused powerful emotions in the citizens of Louisiana. To many, he was the champion of the poor who promised to "share the nation's wealth" if he achieved the power of the Presidency. To others, Long was a demagogue, the "Kingfish," who threatened constitutional liberties.
On this site, on the night of September 8, 1835, Senator Long was accosted shortly after leaving the Chamber of the State House of Representatives by Dr. Carl Austin Weiss of Baton Rouge. According to official reports, Dr. Weiss fired one shot from a small automatic pistol which mortally wounded Long. The Senator;s bodyguards immediately killed Weiss in a hail of bullets. Other, unofficial, investigations have suggested that Dr. Weiss confronted Long but did not fire and that the Senator may have been shot accidentally in the confusion which ensued.
The tragic deaths of Huey Long and Carl Austin Weiss remain the subject of debate, conjecture, and remorse. |