A TULANE U. MURDER CASE

         by Hugh Murray

I was a freshman at TU in Sept. 1956, and took a US History class with Mr. Soule in the old barracks on Freret across from the Bursar's Office. About 80 of us jammed in the class room, built I think in WWII, and since demolished. Soule was a tough grader, only 4 of us got A's the first term. One, Tom Cramer was a member of the Unitarian Church, as was I, and he had a friend from Central America, Al Calvo. Tom, a handsome blond from Texas would run for class president, against Steve Andry?(sp) a local commuter student, as was I. Tom was in the Beta frat, but I was GDI(God damned independent), and Al was non-committal. We were not close, but they were really among the few dorm students whom I knew. I drove them around the city a little, and we went swimming in the pool in City Park – it was supposed to be closed the following year to be converted into a pool for seals to avoid racial integration (and I do not mean Navy seals).

 In May 1957 we had our final exam with Mr. Soule; I had finished early and was chatting with another student on the tiny porch of the barracks when a 3rd early finisher came out the door. He said he had just gone to see Mr. Soule in his office, but FBI agents were interviewing him. My demeanor changed, as I suspected what that was about. For the draft, I had registered as a conscientious objector, and the FBI was then investigating me. In those years, one was generally exempt for the 4 years of undergraduate school if you maintained a B average, so it was unlikely I'd be drafted for some time. Eventually I withdrew that CO registration after graduation. 

 In Sept, 1957 when fall term resumed, I received a phone call from Calvo, who had just returned to NO. He had spent part of the summer at Cramer's home in Belle Aire, a well off suburb of Houston. I was surprised and pleased by the call from Calvo. "What's up?" "I don't want to say on the phone." With those words, I knew, the FBI had been to Texas to speak with him and Tom. We saw each other for a short uneasy meeting. By then I had a policy, if they wanted to continue friendships, they would call again. I was not going to bug them and beg them. Neither Al nor Tom called me again, and I heard Al had joined the Pike (Pi Kappa Alpha) frat.

 I t was probably Monday, Sept. 29, 1958, when walking on campus I saw Calvo. Had not seen him in a year. Perhaps, I was wrong to break off a friendship when he had been kind to tell me about his Houston visitors. I decided to be super friendly as we walked. Where are you going? To my dorm. I'll go with you and catch up. I was bubly, happy to see him. He seemed distant. I kept the conversation going for about 2 blocks. He was in Zemurray or one of the dorms. We get there, and almost immediately, a frat boy who lived across, their shared bathroom, entered. Al went to him. And they held a whispered conversation in the corner. I found that rude, and could hear nothing. Then Al looked at me and said, "Would you mind leaving?" I was shocked. Well, I had tried to renew a friendship, and failed. I left. 

 A day or 2 later, all over the newspapers, 3 Tulanians were arrested on murder charges. In the dorm room, they were discussing how to dispose of the dead man's wallet. The 3 frat boys had gone to the French Quarter to “roll a queer.” One, John Farrell, had entered a gay bar, Lafitte's in Exile, and chatted up Fernando Rios, a 26-year-old tour guide from Mexico. (The daughter of an owner of that bar, had been a member of the Unitarian youth group with me for a time. She was straight and married a young man and left our group for her family.) Al and another Pike, David Drennan, waited outside that bar. Farrell guided Rios to a narrow alley between the Cabildo and St. Louis Cathedral. The other two threw a few punches against Rios, but Calvo, with powerful arms, really bashed the Mexican's face and head. Calvo also took his Wallet. When they returned to Tulane, leaving Rios lying in the alley, Calvo went to some student friends boasting that he had rolled a queer, while waving the man's wallet.

 Next day, Rios died in hospital. Tulane's Dean Stibbs and others urged the 3 to turn themselves in. Dist. Atty. Richard Dowling (the same who had come in person to Woolworth's to read us the law before arresting us in the city's first lunch-counter sit-in, soon charged the 3 with murder. Many seemed to dislike that decision, afterall, it was alleged Rios made a play for Fearrell, and the 3 were just defending their honor. One doctor reported the victim had an unusually thin skull, so why blame the 3 students for his femenin cranium? The jury took a little over 2 hours to render its verdict, NOT GUILTY. Next day's Times Picayune described the applause and cheering that greeted the decision in the courtroom that 23 January 1959. 

 Though Al had been a friend, I decided not to visit him during his case. I did not want to get involved; and was horrified by what they did. The cheering was not simply in the courtroom. By chance I was walking across the very wide Canal St. on that day. I was perhaps 9 blocks from the Mississippi. Suddenly, behind me from the river, I hear a racket. I turned to see cars exiting the French Quarter (where the courtroom was),and now discerning what they were yelling: “open season on queers,” “kill the queers.” It was an unofficial Tulane motorcade, undoubtedly headed for the university. I never saw Calvo again, and thought he returned to Panama. Others writing about the case state that all three returned to Tulane and finished their education. 

 Sometime during this era, one or 2 Tulanians took a dog to the top of a new multi-story dorm, and dropped the animal. The dog did not die, but had 4 broken legs. The dog was taken to a vet, and lived. The students who did this, were told to leave Tulane, and they did. Hurting and hurling a dog was a greater crime than killing a fruit. (I don't recall faggot ever being used in NO at that time, fruit or queer were the common terms.) And Tulane was one of the more liberal institutions in NO. 

 In 1961 Dowling was up for re-election as NO Dist. Atty. It was still a one-party town, so he had to win the Democratic Party primary. In a 5-man race, Dowling lost by 6,000 to Jim Garrison. Dowling had been criticized for charging 3 upstanding Tulane students with murder. Manslaughter perhaps, but charging murder against 3 fraternity boys for whipping a sexual deviant! Dowling seemed to be too out of touch with reality to be DA again.

Lmust add that Tulane was a liberal institution in NO in that era.