Background.
I worked my way through college. Worked semester breaks, holiday breaks, summers, part time jobs and night shifts when school was in session. Many of my school friends spent their semester breaks skiing in Colorado and doing other fun stuff. Finally, I opted to bag work for a few days and have some fun myself. Of fun, there was naught. I went back to working during breaks.
Above, Wayne and I peer through the opening where the rear window used to be. There were 13 bullet holes in the trunk, in addition to the lead that blew out the window.
Details
The incident occurred in 1965, not 1966 (next time, Wayne, do your homework, you turkey!). Here are a few other details. The 1st day in the Sallisaw lockup, a young man came into the facility and we had a 'lineup' - which included the 4 of us and nobody else. He took one look at us and said, "No. Those aren't the guys." At that point we thought were outta there. Wrong! Back in the slammer.
The next day, a middle-aged man came in and we had another lineup. We'd seen this guy before, hanging out with the sheriff in Waldron, Arkansas, when he kicked us into the holding cell. The guy, never got his name but Lying Sumbitch works, pointed at me and said, "He held the hammer!" Then, Mr Sumbitch pointed at Rich and said, "He took my $25!" Naive no more, we fully realized we were in deep doo-doo, probably destined to end up in a landfill or chain gang.
We were never formally charged with anything, were never fingerprinted, were never read our rights -which was appropriate because we obviously had no rights whatsoever in Oklahoma. Miranda rights did not exist then, became law in 1966.
Aftermath
Wayne and I, the wounded pair, wanted justice - or was it revenge we thirsted for? We wanted to go back down there and hang 'em out to dry. Rich and Mike F were willing to drop it. We met with the MN governor and the state attorney general - who agreed with Rich and Mike F, advised us to drop it and get on with our lives. And so we did.
Above, we meet with the Minnesota State Governor and Attorney General. L to R, Attorney General, Governor, Mike F, me, Rich and Wayne. The Governor is holding the double-ought buckshot pellet that hit me in the head. The meeting took place a few weeks after the incident and our wounds were healed by then. Wayne and I both had glass embedded in our faces, plus the wounds themselves, and looked like hell for the first couple weeks.
The story made national news via the Associated Press. There were articles in dozens of MN and ND newspapers, some of which debated our innocence. I wrote letters to a couple of the papers, words of caution: get your story straight or prepare for a libel lawsuit. In my dreams! When it came to financial means, I envied the wealth of the proverbial church mouse. I couldn't afford to even look at an attorney, much less hire one.
It has always struck me as ironic that I was wounded in the US but not in Vietnam, despite being under fire numerous times. And, despite having several fellow warriors get nailed right beside me.
Support from the College
In addition to our college president rounding up support and getting the governor involved, the college dean of students wrote a letter on our behalf. Here are some quotes from that letter:
"I am personally acquainted with these students and am able to testify to their character and reputation as well as their academic performance and leadership abilities."
"The list of their collective and individual achievements would be too long to outline in a letter of this nature. However, some specifics might be briefly mentioned. Mr. Delaney has been a member of the student government, and outstandingly served on student government committees, as well as having served on faculty-student government committees by appointment of the President of the College."
"They are the kind of young people that Moorhead State College is proud to have enrolled as students."
