The Tower

<----------- LINK to actual vintage news report. A must see!

Could the tower be cursed? From 1935 -1974 15 people either leapt, slipped or fell to their death from this very tower and like a magnet, drew a shooter to kill 17 unsuspecting people and injuring 26 more before the police could finally stop him.

LIST OF VICTIMS & brief history 1. Margaret Whitman Charles’ mother. Stabbed to death. 2. Kathy Whitman Charles’ 23-year-old wife. Stabbed to death while sleeping. 3. Edna Townsley Forty-seven-year-old receptionist at the UT Tower. Whitman’s first Tower victim was shot in the reception area of the observation deck. 4. Mark Gabour Sixteen-year-old nephew of Marguerite Lamport (fifth victim.) Gabour was visiting the Tower with family. His mother and brother were critically injured, and his father and uncle were not. 5. Marguerite Lamport Visiting Austin from San Antonio with family. She and her nephew, Mark Gabour, died instantly. 6. Unborn child of a woman eight months' pregnant 7. Thomas Eckman Was shot while trying to help his wounded girlfriend, Claire Wilson, who was eight months' pregnant when Whitman shot her in the hip area and killed the unborn child. 8. Robert Hamilton Boyer UT math professor. Stopped by campus on his way out of town when he was shot in the back. 9. Thomas Ashton Twenty-two-year-old Californian about to go teach English in Iran. Shot in the chest. 10. David Gunby Electrical engineering major, 23. Wounds left him with lifelong kidney problems. When he died in 2001, the cause of death was listed as homicide. 11. Karen Griffin Student at Lanier High School, where Kathy Whitman taught. She died one week later at Brackenridge Hospital. 12. Thomas Karr Twenty-four-year-old student attending UT for the summer and an ex-serviceman like Whitman. Shot in the back. 13. Officer Billy Speed Twenty-three-year-old colleague of Austin police officers McCoy and Martinez. Shot in the chest trying to take down Whitman. 14. Harry Walchuk Age 38. Ph.D. student at UT and father of six. He had walked to Guadalupe (the Drag) from the library to buy a magazine when he was shot. 15. Paul Sonntag Austin High School graduate, age 18, hanging out on the Drag with his girlfriend, Claudia Rutt. Planned to attend college in Colorado. Shot in the mouth. 16. Claudia Rutt Austin High School graduate, age 18, who planned to attend Texas Christian University. Shot in the left side of her chest. 17. Roy Dell Schmidt Twenty-nine-year-old city of Austin electrician. Shot in the abdomen 500 yards away from the Tower.

July 31, 1966 Charles Whitman Stabbed to death his wife and mother, afterwards he writes a 2 page suicide note and makes final preparations for tomorrow’s deed. Aug. 1 marks the 40th anniversary of the Tower shootings at the University of Texas. The 25-year-old ex-Marine rifleman didn’t excel at much in life other than being an expert marksman. He went up to the 28th floor observation deck of the University of Texas Tower toting a footlocker filled with an astonishing amount of weapons and supplies. He started sniper shooting atop the University of Texas Tower, 17 perished and 26 were wounded becoming one of the first mass murders in recent U.S. history before police took him down.

S C D R O O W L N L

Not only did the victims get treated in the ER for gun shot wounds, they were also treated for burns received while laying on the hot concrete as long as they did in the 100 degree Texas weather.

SUICIDE LETTER LEFT BEHIND Sunday July 31, 1966 6:45 P.M. I don't quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter. Perhaps it is to leaves some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed. I don't really understand myself these days. I am supposed to be an average reasonable and intelligent young man. However, lately (I can't recall when it started) I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts. These thoughts constantly recur and it requires a tremendous mental effort to concentrate on useful and progressive tasks. In March when my parents made a physical break I noticed a great deal of stress. I consulted a Dr. Cochrum at the University Health Center and asked him to recommend someone that I could consult with about some psychiatric disorders I felt I had. I talked with a Doctor once for about two hours and tried to convey to him my fears that I felt come overwhelming violent impulses. After one session I never saw the Doctor again, and since then I have been fighting my mental turmoil alone, and seemingly to no avail. After my death I wish that an autopsy would be performed on me to see if there is any visible physical disorder. I have had some tremendous headaches in the past and have consumed two large bottles of Excedrin in the past three months. It was after much thought that I decided to kill my wife, Kathy, tonight after I pick her up from work at the telephone company. I love her dearly, and she has been as fine a wife to me as any man could ever hope to have. I cannot rationally pinpoint any specific reason for doing this. I don't know whether it is selfishness, or if I don't want her to have to face the embarrassment my actions would surely cause her. At this time, though, the prominent reason in my mind is that I truly do not consider this world worth living in, and am prepared to die, and I do not want to leave her to suffer alone in it. I intend to kill her as painlessly as possible. Similar reasons provoked me to take my mother's life also. I don't think the poor woman has ever enjoyed life as she is entitled to. She was a simple young woman who married a very possessive and dominating man. All my life as a boy until I ran away from home to join the Marine Corps. [The following is handwritten on the same page. Written in the margin is: Friends/Interupted/8-1-66/Mon/3:00 A.M./Both Dead] I was a witness to her being beaten at least one a month. Then when she took enough my father wanted to fight to keep her below her usual standard of living. I imagine it appears that I bruttaly kill both of my loved ones. I was only trying to do a quick thorough job. [The following is handwritten on a second page] If my life insurance policy is valid, please see that all the worthless checks I wrote this weekend are made good. Please pay off my debts. I am 25 years old and have been financially independent. Donate the rest anonymously to a mental health foundation. Maybe research can prevent further tragedies of this type. Charles J. Whitman Give our dog to my in-laws please. Tell them Kathy loved “Schocie” very much. RW Leissner Needville, TX If you can find it in yourself to grant my last wish please Cremate me after the autopsy.

becoming one of the first mass murders in recent U.S. history before police took him down.