Writing Samples

AUTHOR/PLAYWRIGHT EXAMINES LONG ASSASSINATION!

By Patricia C. Ress

Staff Reporter

In David Zinman's own words, "a reporter's stint in New Orleans led(me) irresistibly to these mysteries." He was referring, of course, to the sultry summer of 1960 when-as a writer with Associated Press-he had gone to the New Orleans Public Library to begin researching a possible feature on the slaying of Senator Huey Long. It turned out to be more than just another assignment. Much more.

So what were these mysteries that Zinman was drawn to? Why were they so compelling-calling and demanding the attention of a young journalism graduate of Columbia University who was not even a southerner and who would later spend 27 years writing for Long Island Newsday?

For one thing, Zinman discovered that-although many books had been written about Huey Long-NONE had addressed the events of the slaying itself or the enigmatic Dr. Carl Weiss, the presumed assassin. For another, no one had made any attempt to clear up or explain the mysteries surrounding the assassination.

But why would someone take on such an enormous project? Any one aspect of the shooting would have been enough information for an interesting article. Instead, Zinman wrote a book. Why?

To understand and answer this, you must first understand David Zinman. Although retired, you won't find him lolling on the porch swing. He spends part of the year at his wife's family home in Conway, South Carolina where he writes a column for the local paper. And when he isn't doing that, he's writing plays-many of which consider problems of social justice. In one of his plays entitled "Strom in Limbo", the late US Senator and former segregationist is told he will be "going down"which doesn't meet with the senator's approval! He then asks for a trial, which he's given with Martin Luther King acting as judge!

In another play co-authored with Michael Wynne, entitled "Who Killed The Kingfish?"Dr. Weiss survives and is subsequently arrested and tried for murder. He is tried by a jury of 12 selected from the audience who write the ending of the production. The world premiere for this was last fall at LSU and there are currently a half-dozen community theatres in Louisiana who are looking at it as a possilbe production. Knowing all this, one suspects that it is Zinman's sense of justice-of right and wrong- which compelled him to examine the Long assassination in such complete and stringent detail.

We asked David Zinman if-considering the current level of forensic pathology-we might know more about the Long shooting today than in 1935. While much more is available, Zinman doubts that it would help. He pointed to the fact that, although tissue had been found, it had never been tested to see if it was Long's DNA. Doing so might have verified the generally-accepted accounts of what transpired that fateful night in September of 1935.And while Dr. Weiss was generally assumed to have been the shooter, no paraffin test was ever done to prove this beyond any doubt.

After the initial shots had been fired, Long reportedly screamed and ran for a stairway where he descended four flights with four turns before being met and taken to the hospital by friend Jimmy O'Connor. He later asked O'Connor "Why did he shoot me?" But later on in the hospital when asked about a cut/sore on his lower lip, Long had replied,"he HIT me." A nurse overheard this and later testified to it at an inquest.

As for Dr. Carl Weiss, his participation in this event was truly a mystery. On the side against him doing this was the fact he was the son of the former head of the state medical association. And Carl, himself, was highly regarded as an eye,ears, nose and throat specialist. He had a lovely well-educated wife, a thriving medical practive, and a baby son he adored. Why would someone who seemed to 'have it all' risk everything?

On the opposite side of the score sheet was the fact that his father-in-law, Judge Paavy, was being gerrymandered out of his position by Long and his legislative supporters(part of the reason the special session had been called for the evening in question.) Yet the family insisted that they had all discussed this and that the judge himself expressed a desire to retire-not a very strong motive for murder.

Although the shooting was not well-investigated, Zinman believes that "incompetnetcy doesn't necessarily change the facts of the case.There was a tendency on the part of some to embellish things. One law enforcement officer made some claims that were never substantiated and stories like his took on a life of their own. Also, after Viet Nam and Watergate and other things over the years, people have come to distrust the government," he cautioned.

While Zinman doesn't see a grand conspiracy at work in the Long assassination, he believes that Long would have been de-railed in some other way."I think he would have wound up in jail," Zinman speculated."He took on Roosevelt who turned the tax people on him(Long)."

But things don't end there. Most states requires autopsies on those who die a violent or unattended death. Yet, at the request of his family-especially his widow-no autopsy was done. Doing so may have settled several things or at least eliminated some suspicions, but Zinman pointed out, "you have to remember all the power that that family(Longs) had.When the urologist arrived he soon realized that there was more damage done than was originally believed. But they sure didn't want to do surgery and get blamed if Huey didn't pull through. And don't forget that back then there were no anti-biotics and if you were injured in the abdomin you had a 50-50 chance of dying," he said.

Zinman has a crisp style that is succinct as a journalist yet as colorful as a Steinbeck or a Dos Pasos. He is author of the best-selling book THE DAY HUEY LONG WAS SHOT. He can be reached at:

843-248-4169