[AGL] Monday, Aug. 1, 1966, was nickel beer day...I'll bet it isn't 5 cents now.

Richard Smith richbike_2000 at yahoo.com
Tue Aug 1 14:19:56 EDT 2006


Yes, I didn't realize I had told you about that
Frances.  That day is burned into my memory.  I
managed to get to the drag and bodies were still lying
on the ground.  I watched a Texas Ranger fire a 300
Weatherby magnum up into the tower.  Under the cover
of his fire, I ran across the drag and made it to the
chuckwagon.  Later, I went to the Ransom Center and
over to the west entrance of the tower and watched the
bodies carried out.  I spent the evening at Scholz's
drinking beer by the pitcher.  The next day I went to
Cuidad Valles and even the newspapers in the small
mexican towns had stories of Whitman. I dreamed about
blood for days...
  Richard S.
--- Frances Morey <frances_morey at yahoo.com> wrote:

> My, my, Harry, what paralel lives we've led,
>   I was there, too, at Scholz Garten's 100th
> Birthday celebration, estab. Aug. 1, 1866. I musta
> had plenty of the nickel draught beer because I have
> no recollection of the six-packs, or kegs running
> out. I had just been married two years and was at
> home on Rio Grande and W. 23rd St. when Ann Seaman,
> then Gunter, called to tell me not to go to the
> Library as planned. She informed me about the
> unfolding horror and I turned on the radio. I was
> preparing lunch in our upstairs apartment. Out of
> the kitchen window I could see the gunman hanging
> over the parapet wall shooting downward. I watched,
> stupidly unaware, at first, that through the scope
> he could see me even more clearly than I him.
>   That dawned on me, though, when I turned my
> attention back to the hamburger patties frying on
> the stove. A package of hamburger buns fell off the
> counter and landed flat on the floor with a splat--a
> "bang" kind of sound--I musta jumped six feet, and
> threw the hamburger patty to the ceiling. I sat out
> the rest of the ordeal next to the radio in the
> bedroom.
>   Interestingly, years later, Richard Smith told me
> that he, at the time, and unbeknownst to me then,
> was living across the street from us. On the day of
> the shooting he had walked down the alley, which was
> right under my window, going toward W. 24th St., so
> he could walk over to the Drag without being in the
> line of fire along 23rd. He may have been carrying a
> gun, but I can't remember if he told me that. There
> were instantly hundreds of guns that came out from
> housing which specifically prohibited firearms, in
> the hands of students who wanted to take out the
> Tower shooter themselves. I could see puffs of
> limestone coming off the railing when bullets shot
> from below repeatedly hit it.
>   Ed Kluth recently told of a neat coincidence of
> being filmed by a tv camera crew as he was pulling a
> wounded body to safety. His parents saw the
> broadcast, spotted him, and were relieved to know
> that he was all right.
>   Another couple viewing the early-on statewide
> newscasts, upon hearing that the shooter was a
> blond, blue-eyed male, thought they might know him.
> They didn't. 
>   I think I'll go to Scholz' tonight, for a pint of
> beer that now costs more than a gallon of gas. I've
> got my grandchild, Isaac, staying with me. He likes
> Scholz Garten as much as my sons did back when they
> were toddlers. 
>   Thanks Harry,
>   Frances
> 
> Harry Edwards <laughingwolf at ev1.net> wrote:
>   Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Charles
> Whitman shooting 
> gallery. What some of you might not remember is that
> that day was also 
> the 100th anniversary of Scholz Garten. To
> commemorate, Scholz's was 
> offering nickel beer. I rode in from Lake Austin in
> mid-afternoon to 
> encounter a truly bizarre and chaotic scene at
> Scholz's. Whitman was 
> dead by then and everyone was trying to somehow deal
> with the 
> immensity. Suds were being drained at a phenomenal
> rate by faculty and 
> students alike. I remember drinking with some art
> department types, Vic 
> Babu of ceramics, Bill Walsh, sculpture, Jobn
> Lednicky, metalsmithing. 
> They ran out of tap beer fairly, unprecedented on
> any other day. 
> Six-packs were then sold for 30 cents apiece. As
> most of us know, beer 
> is a sloppy anesthetic, but it was the best we had
> on August 1, 1966.
> 
> twisty dodds
> 
> 
> 
>  		
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