Word: baton
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...white, air-conditioned Cadillac crunched into the driveway of the Governor's mansion in Baton Rouge, as the sirens of its motorcycle escort growled into silence. State troopers pushed a noisy crowd of 150 people back while a plainly sick old man emerged from the car, blinked bewilderedly at the crowd, then waved his hand. Earl K. Long, Governor of Louisiana, was in the state capital...
...moved fast. Determined to have her husband committed again, she called Dr. Chester Williams, the coroner* of East Baton Rouge Parish (i.e., county), arranged for Williams to get commitment papers ready, then sped up the 80-mile, Huey-built Air Line Highway to Baton Rouge to sign them. While she was on the way, Coroner Williams and Parish Sheriff Bryan Clemmons ordered two detectives onto the highway at the parish line to wait for Earl Long, who would surely soon be racing for Baton Rouge to reclaim his power...
...abreast of the Ford, waved the driver to the roadside. They greeted the Governor pleasantly, told him that they had been ordered to escort him to the capital. Long's driver got out of the Ford; Chief Detective Herman Thompson slid in behind the wheel and made for Baton Rouge. The disheveled Governor seemed delighted with the attention, spent the remainder of the trip trading small talk...
...only after Thompson pulled into the basement-ramp area of the courthouse at Baton Rouge that Earl Long realized that he had been tricked. "What's going on?" he cried. Thompson told him about the commitment papers. "Goddam! Goddam you all," screamed Earl. "You all are doing it again. Goddam you, I'll get you! I'll get all of you!" Turning wildly to a deputy whose father holds a state job with the Department of Corrections, Long yelled: "Your old man just lost his job!" As Earl thundered and cried, a crowd of incredulous onlookers pressed...
...recorded the whole session, and viewers the state over watched their screens in horrified fascination as their Governor tormented his legislature and himself. From Washington sped Earl's nephew, U.S. Senator Russell Long. Trying to save the tottering Long regime, Russell Long went before the legislature in Baton Rouge to explain his uncle's illness. Heartbroken, Earl Long's wife tried to get her husband to rest quietly. Turning on her, he accused her and Russell Long of conspiring with his enemies. He became violent, had to be locked in his room. There was talk that...