Dr. Rahm Released on Bond In Brownsboro School Slaying

Dr. Rahm Released on Bond In Brownsboro School Slaying

By Hilton Hagan
News Staff Writer

Athens, Texas - Dr. C. C. Rahm, accused in the Brownsboro school slaying last month, was released Friday on $15,000 bond.

Signs of the long-standing tension that surrounded affairs of the Brownsboro schools, 15 miles east of Athens, still were evident nearly a month after the fatal shooting of Thurman Jackson during a school board meeting.

A Henderson County deputy sheriff stood at the door of Dist. Judge M. V. Johnston's courtroom, frisking spectators and newsmen for possible hidden weapons before they were admitted.

When Judge Johnston abruptly called a halt to the hearing after four witnesses had testified, he instructed spectators to remain in their seats until Dr. Rahm was clear of the courthouse area.

Judge Johnston acted quickly on the application for bond, filed earlier this week by Dr. Rahm's attorney, Charles Tessmer of Dallas.

Tessmer still had some 14 witnesses waiting outside to testify when Judge Johnston granted the bail. Only one defense witness took the stand.

The state's first witness was Sheriff J. W. Brownlow of Athens.

He said Dr. Rahm had called on three occasions to ask protection at meetings of the Brownsboro school board, of which he was secretary.

A few days before the shooting, Brownlow related, Dr. Rahm told him that he had bought a gun, "because he had trouble in his office."

Two Brownsboro residents told varying stories of the shooting that climaxed into a free-for-all that started in the school board meeting June 16.

Riley Hopson, who said he was standing within 10 feet of Dr. Rahm and Jackson, a lumberman, said Jackson was falling backwards when Rahm, standing, fired the fatal shot.

Arland Boles, however, said both Dr. Rahm and Jackson were lying on the floor when the shot was fired.

Dr. Rahm, who did not testify Friday, told newsmen Monday in the Smith County jail in Tyler that he had shot after he had been slammed over the head with a chair, knocked to the floor and repeatedly kicked.

The defense's only witness Friday was Dr. J. P. Mullowney, Tyler pathologist who performed the autopsy on Jackson.

He said the fatal bullet entered Jackson's upper chest and traveled a course parallel to the gourd, slanting slightly backwards.

Midway in the pathologist's testimony, Judge Johnston halted the proceedings and set the bond.

Dallas Morning News
Saturday, July 16, 1960
Section 1, Page 12