Huey P. Long, the legendary and controversial former Louisiana governor and U.S. senator, was shot on Sept. 8, 1935, and died two days later. Those dates surrounding Long’s death by gunfire may be the only thing we can be sure about his killing nearly 84 years later.

The recent death of Dr. Carl Weiss Jr., 84, son of Dr. Carl Weiss Sr., who is generally accepted as Long’s assassin, has rejuvenated the many theories about the shooting so long ago. Weiss’ son authorized what turned out to be an inconclusive investigation into who killed Long.

I attended a symposium in Baton Rouge in September of 2010, the 75th anniversary of Long’s death, along with 300 others who heard Weiss Jr. defend his father for the first time.

“I don’t believe that he fired the fatal shot or carried a gun into the Capitol that night,” Weiss said. “I don’t think my father was a bad apple.”

Those attending the symposium gave Weiss a standing ovation when he finished his remarks. He felt that vindicated his conclusions about the shooting. However, afternoon panelists split their votes when asked who they thought killed Long.

Capt. Don Moreau, a retired state trooper who reopened the investigation into Long’s death in the 1990s, said he thought Weiss killed Long. Dr. Glen Jeansonne, a Louisiana historian and professor at the University of Wisconsin, agreed.

The late Dr. Donald Pavy of New Iberia and Thomas Angers of Lafayette said they were convinced Joe Messina, a Long bodyguard, accidentally killed Long. Pavy wrote “Accident and Deception: The Huey Long Shooting.” Angers was co-author of an autobiography of State Police crusader Francis Grevemberg.

Weiss Sr. was married to Yvonne Pavy, daughter of District Judge Benjamin Pavy, a member of the anti-Long faction. Long sought to deny Judge Pavy’s re-election and two members of the Pavy family lost their jobs in a Long purge. Those actions were believed to have motivated Weiss to kill Long.

Long was shot while walking down a back corridor between the House and Senate chambers. A State Police investigation maintained that Weiss carried a .32 caliber automatic pistol into the Capitol.

An Associated Press report in 2010 said Weiss was wearing a white suit and standing next to a marble column against a wall. Investigators said Weiss shot the senator at close range and the bullet went through Long’s abdomen.

A Long bodyguard grabbed the gun and the other bodyguards unloaded their automatic handguns into Weiss. Others believe a wild shot or a ricochet killed Long.

The AP said doctors failed to save Long, which was not unusual for gunshot victims in those days, an age before antibiotics. Long may have died from loss of blood, the report said.

Christine Terranova, the oldest daughter of Carl Weiss Jr., said earlier this month her father was able to cite chapter and verse in the Long shooting case.

There are a number of reasons why some believe Weiss was innocent and others are convinced he was guilty.

Perry A. Snyder, a Baton Rouge historian, in a letter to The Advocate, said a Tulane Medical School classmate of his maternal grandfather couldn’t imagine Dr. Weiss killing a fellow human being. Snider said his grandfather explained why to his classmates.

“Mid-afternoon on Sunday, Carl called to remind me that a surgery I was to assist with had been moved to Our Lady of the Lake,” the grandfather said. “It is beyond my comprehension that he would have called me about a patient and an operation mere hours before shooting Huey Long. He was looking forward to the next day.”

A 1985 news report said unpublished notes taken by historian T. Harry Williams, Long’s biographer, quotes a woman from a prominent Baton Rouge family saying she ran into Weiss while visiting a sick person and the doctor offered her a ride home.

The woman said, “As we passed the mansion, he looked at it and said, ‘I’m going to kill Huey.’ I said, ‘Don’t be a fool, the cops and guards will cut you down.’”

Another report said laxity in holding an inquest and the fact there was no autopsy and no official investigation at the time into Weiss’ whereabouts on that fateful Sunday combine to feed the continuing controversy over the shooting and the bullet from Weiss’ gun was never found.

Snyder in his letter said it is highly unlikely a final verdict in Long’s death will ever be reached. He said too much time has passed and too much evidence has been lost or probably destroyed.

In 2010, Jeansonne said the Long and Weiss families both had something to gain or lose, and that clouds the story of Long’s death. Jeansonne said Long becomes a martyr if he was killed by an assassin, and the Weiss family wants to exonerate the family name.

Does the death of Carl Weiss Jr. end the, “Who killed Huey Long story?” Don’t bet on it.

HUEY LONG — Louisiana’s former controversial governor Huey P. Long was killed in 1935, and there has been a conspiracy about his death from the beginning.

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