Authors: Gary M. Lavergne

Tags: #History, #United States, #General, #State & Local, #Southwest (AZ; NM; OK; TX), #True Crime, #Murder, #test

A Sniper in the Tower (44 page)

13 Mary Gabour quoted in
The Impossible Tree
, p. 109.

14 Texas DPS Files:
Intelligence Report
, 17 August 1966; Lamport,
The Impossible Tree
, p. 109.

15 Texas DPS Files:
Intelligence Report
, 17 August 1966; Lamport,
The Impossible Tree
, p. 109; APD Files:
SOR
s by E. Tramp, 1 August 1966,
Crimes Against Persons Offense Report (CAPOR)
by D. Kidd, 1 and 2 August 1966;
Time
, 12 August 1966; Time-Life, p. 34; Transcript of an interview with Mary Gabour Lamport, dated 2 August 1972, by Art Young of KRMH-FM Radio, in AHC Mass Murder File (hereafter cited as Lamport Interview). A few years after the Tower Incident M. J. and Mary Gabour divorced. Mary later married her former brother-in-law, William Lamport. Hence, Mary Gabour and Mary Lamport are the same person;
Texas Monthly
, August, 1986.

16 Texas DPS Files:
Intelligence Report
, 22 August 1966; APD Files:
SOR
by H. Moe, 2 August 1966;
Austin American-Statesman
, 1 August 1976; Ramiro Martinez, in an interview with the author on 3 April 1995; Phillip Conner. Interviews will hereafter be cited by name only.

17
San Antonio Daily Express
, 17 March 1967;
Austin American-Statesman
, 2 and 7 August 1966; APD Files:
SOR
by H. F. Moore, 5 August 1966.

18 Sister Aloysius Nugent quoted in
Summer Texan
, 1 August 1986;
Austin American-Statesman
, 2 August 1966.

19 Sister Aloysius Nugent quoted in
Summer Texan
, 1 August 1986;
Austin American-Statesman
, 2 August 1966; APD Files:
SOR
by H. F. Moore, 5 August 1966; Time-Life, p. 34.

20 Vera Palmer remembered seeing a "man in a white shirt with tennis shoes in his hand," as the elevator door opened onto the twenty-seventh floor. The
Austin American-Statesman
, 2 August 1966, reported, and it has been widely assumed, that the man was Whitman. It could not have been. By that time Whitman was already

Page 138

shooting from the deck. Whitman wore blue nylon coveralls; it was why so many presumed him to be a janitor. Additionally, in order for Vera Palmer to have seen Whitman on the twenty-seventh floor she would have had to follow him nearly immediately after making the elevator functional for him on the ground floor. Why would she not recognize a man she assisted only seconds earlier? In which case, she would also have had to decide to relieve Edna Townsley at least twenty minutes earlier than their scheduled shift change. In a statement to the Texas DPS, Palmer indicated that the time of her arrival on the twenty-seventh floor was at or near 11:55
A.M.
, or about five minutes before their scheduled shift change. (See Texas DPS Files:
Intelligence Report
, n.d.) Moreover, if Whitman held his tennis shoes in his hands when Palmer "saw" him, he would have had to change his shoes (and clothes) on the deck. Charles Whitman would never have taken the time to do such a thing. Anyway, the known sequence of events does not allow for such a change, and even if it did his shoes and clothes would have had to disappear; the Austin Police Department made a detailed inventory of what Whitman brought to the Tower and shoes and clothes were not on the list. (See APD Files:
SOR
by Officer Ligon, 2 August 1966). Finally, in his statement to the Texas DPS William Lamport recounted telling a woman to stay on an elevator and going on down. (See Texas DPS Files:
Intelligence Report
, 22 August 1966.)

Page 139

9
Strange Noises

Once outside on the observation deck Charles Whitman began to spread out his arsenal. He placed the footlocker on the west side, approximately halfway between the northwest and southwest corners. Each side of the deck measured about fifty feet in length, forming a 200-foot perimeter from which he could shoot. Large lamps, which on special occasions cast an orange glow on the crown of the building, were bolted into the walls of the parapet. The lamps never seemed to get in the way of visitors, and unfortunately they did not get in Whitman's

Page 140

way either. Center portions of the interior walls of the parapet, directly below the huge clocks, jutted out slightly, creating protrusions ideally suited for a dangerous game of hide-and-seek. Except for a few ornate carvings and the faces of the huge clocks, the walls were made of smooth, pale limestone. When Don Walden and Cheryl Botts left the deck, they surrendered it to Whitman's exclusive use; only a dying Edna Townsley occupied the interior of the twenty-eighth floor. Because Whitman had successfully secured the Tower's upper floor and deck, storming the fortress would require a serious and incredibly courageous effort. In order to delay further unwelcomed visitors, he wedged the Austin Rental Service dolly against the glass-paneled door on the south side.

The structure and design of the 28th floor reception area and observation deck
made for a dangerous game of hide and seek. Whitman attempted to obstruct
access to the area by placing Edna Townsley's desk and a chair at the top of the
stairs. The large blank areas on the west and north sides were used for storage, and
visitors had no access to the carillon and clock. As a result the only way to
confront Whitman on the deck was through the south door.
Texas Department of
Public Safety Files.

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