Carl Austin Weiss (December 6, 1906 – September 8, 1935) was a young Baton Rouge,
LouisianaThe State of Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
physicianA physician — also known as medical practitioner, doctor of medicine, medical doctor, or simply doctor — practices the ancient profession of medicine, which is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease or injury...
who allegedly assassinated U.S. Senator
Huey Pierce Long, Jr.Huey Pierce Long, Jr. , nicknamed The Kingfish, served as the Governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a U.S. senator from 1932 to 1935. A Democrat, he was noted for his radical populist policies. Though a backer of Franklin D...
on September 8, 1935, though his family has vigorously disputed the assertion most recently in an interview with his son, Dr. Carl Weiss, Jr. on an
Unsolved MysteriesUnsolved Mysteries was an American television program, hosted by Robert Stack, from 1987 until his death in 2003, and later by Dennis Farina, starting in 2008...
program first aired in 1993. Weiss was shot on the spot by Long's bodyguards. The most convincing evidence presented on that program, ostensibly exonerating Dr.
Carl Austin Weiss (December 6, 1906 – September 8, 1935) was a young Baton Rouge,
LouisianaThe State of Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
physicianA physician — also known as medical practitioner, doctor of medicine, medical doctor, or simply doctor — practices the ancient profession of medicine, which is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease or injury...
who allegedly assassinated U.S. Senator
Huey Pierce Long, Jr.Huey Pierce Long, Jr. , nicknamed The Kingfish, served as the Governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a U.S. senator from 1932 to 1935. A Democrat, he was noted for his radical populist policies. Though a backer of Franklin D...
on September 8, 1935, though his family has vigorously disputed the assertion most recently in an interview with his son, Dr. Carl Weiss, Jr. on an
Unsolved MysteriesUnsolved Mysteries was an American television program, hosted by Robert Stack, from 1987 until his death in 2003, and later by Dennis Farina, starting in 2008...
program first aired in 1993. Weiss was shot on the spot by Long's bodyguards. The most convincing evidence presented on that program, ostensibly exonerating Dr. Weiss, revolves around the ballistics evidence and the conclusions of the insurance company which issued Huey Long's life insurance policy. Long died from either a .38 caliber or a .45 caliber bullet consistent with the bodyguard's ammunition, while Dr. Weiss actually owned a .32 caliber gun which was not seen by anyone at the scene at the time of the confrontation. The insurance investigators concluded that Long's death was "accidental" and that the stray bullet which eventually killed him had been fired carelessly by one of his bodyguards. The fatal shell, fired at relatively close range, was found by the surgeons lodged in Long's body and the conclusion reached on Unsolved Mysteries was that the fatal bullet had either passed through Dr. Weiss's body first or ricocheted off the solid marble walls. In addition, the surgeon's report noted that Long's lip was cut, bleeding and severely bruised, consistent with the punch to Long's mouth attributed to Dr. Weiss by several observers at the scene.
Baton Rouge doctor
Weiss was born in Baton Rouge to Dr. Carl Adam Weiss and the former Viola Maine. He was educated in local schools and graduated as the
valedictorianValedictorian is an academic title typically conferred in North America upon the highest ranked student among those being graduated from an educational institution. The term is an anglicized derivation of the Latin vale dicere , historically rooted in the valedictorian's traditional role as the...
of
Catholic High SchoolCatholic High School is an all-male Catholic college-preparatory school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, run by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. It offers grades eight through twelve.-Awards and recognition:...
. He then obtained his
bachelor's degreeA bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for four years, but can range from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in 1925 from
Louisiana State UniversityLouisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 near Pineville, Louisiana, under the name Louisiana State...
in Baton Rouge. He did postgraduate work in Vienna, Austria, and was thereafter awarded internships in Vienna and at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. In 1932, he returned to Baton Rouge to enter private practice with his father. He was president of the Louisiana Medical Society in 1933. He was a member of the Kiwanis Club (Conrad 1988, 2:831) and his firstborn son, who was only 3 months old at the time, was the delight of his life and gave Dr. Weiss, a devoted father and husband, everything to live for.
The Pavy-Opelousas connection
In 1933, Dr. Weiss married the former Yvonne Louise Pavy of
OpelousasOpelousas is a city in and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies at the juncture of Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190. The population was 22,860 at the 2000 census. Although the 2006 population estimate was 23,222, a 2004 annexation should put the city's...
, the seat of St. Landry Parish. The couple had one son, Carl Austin Weiss, Jr. (born 1934). She was the daughter of Judge
Benjamin Henry PavyBenjamin Henry Pavy was a state district judge in St. Landry and Evangeline parishes, Louisiana, who was gerrymandered out of office through the intervention of his political rival, the powerful Huey Pierce Long, Jr...
(1874–1943) and the former Ida Veazie (died 1941). Judge Pavy was part of the anti-Long political
factionPolitical faction is a grouping of like-minded individuals, especially within a political organization, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group. There is no single, widely accepted definition of factions or factionalism, nor broad agreement as to whether factionalism is inherent in...
. Pavy's brother Felix Octave Pavy, Sr. (died 1962), an Opelousas physician, had run for
lieutenant governorA lieutenant governor or lieutenant-governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor - a "second-in-command." In many Commonwealth of Nations states, lieutenant governors are usually deputy heads...
in 1928 on an intraparty ticket opposite the Long slate. Felix Pavy was defeated for lieutenant governor by
Paul N. CyrPaul Narcisse Cyr was the elected lieutenant governor in the Huey Pierce Long, Jr., gubernatorial administration who quarreled with the self-designated "Kingfish" throughout most of their tenure...
of Iberia Parish, who thereafter turned against Long.
Pavy was the Sixteenth Judicial District state judge from St. Landry and Evangeline parishes. He did not seek reelection in 1936, after Long had the legislature gerrymander the seat to include a majority of pro-Long voters within a revised district.(Conrad 1988, 2:635). Weiss's father was a prominent eye specialist who had once treated Senator Long.
http://ajlambert.com/history/hst_hc30.pdf
The shooting
On September 8, 1935, Weiss allegedly shot Huey Long in the Capitol building in Baton Rouge. Long's bodyguards then opened fire and riddled Weiss's body with as many as sixty bullets. Weiss obviously died at the scene. Dave Haas, the leader of an anti-Long group called the "Minute Men", claimed that five men met in the DeSoto Hotel in Baton Rouge to draw straws as to who would kill Long. Weiss allegedly drew the short straw, and according to Haas, "He would have killed Huey as he would a snake." The statements of Dave Haas have to be seriously questioned regarding their ultimate veracity, based on the recent revelations offered in the Unsolved Mysteries special in 1993.
Dr. Weiss's sister-in-law, Ida Catherine Pavy Boudreaux (born 1922) of Opelousas recalls that his body was sent to the
Smithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazines...
in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
, for a study of bullets entering and exiting the body. Dr. Weiss was interred in Roselawn
CemeteryA cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term cemetery implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are the place where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
in Baton Rouge by
Rabenhorst Funeral Home. His body was exhumed on October 29, 1991, for forensic evaluation, fifty-six years after the event, and never returned to Roselawn.
The Weiss family thereafter
Yvonne Weiss (born 1908) and her son Carl moved to
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, where she was a member of the faculty of
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
. Ida Boudreaux, Yvonne's youngest sister and the maternal aunt of Carl Weiss, Jr., recalled that the move was necessary to avoid the hostile political climate against the Weiss family in Louisiana in the late 1930s. Yvonne Weiss subsequently married Henri Samuel Bourgeois, a Canadian. She died on December 22, 1963, exactly one month after the assassination of U.S. President
John F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. Carl Weiss, Jr., who resides on
Long IslandLong Island is an island located in southeastern New York, United States, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City, and two of which are mainly suburban...
in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, has been trying for years to clear his father's name. Weiss, Jr., met with U.S. Senator
Russell B. LongRussell Billiu Long was an American politician who served in the United States Senate as a Democrat from Louisiana from 1948 until 1987.-Early life:...
(1918–2003), Long's son and successor in the Senate, and the two agreed to put aside past differences and reach a reconciliation.
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