Rahm's Trial Opens Monday in Orange

Rahm's Trial Opens Monday in Orange

Orange, Texas (AP) - Dr. Charles C. Rahm will go on trial here Monday for a slaying which grew out of a long-time Brownsboro school controversy.

He is charged with the shooting death of Turman (sic) Jackson at a school board meeting last June 16.

Jackson, 42, a lumber company operator, was felled by two bullets during the melee that broke out minutes after school board president Ivan Long adjourned the meeting.

Judge Homer E. Stephenson of 128th District Court, who will preside at the trial moved here from Athens, ordered a special venire of prospective jurors for the case.

Charles Tessmer of Dallas, Rahm's attorney, said he was ready for trial barring some unforeseen last minute development.

Tessmer last September made an unsuccessful effort to have the indictment dismissed. He argued that William Steger, who has been hired by Jackson's family to help with the prosecution, was present when witnesses were examined by the Henderson County grand jury. Dist. Judge Melvin Johnson overruled Tessmer's motion.

Rahm has been free on $15,000 bond since July 28. He resigned as secretary of the school board and has resumed his practice as an osteopath.

The school district had been long divided by a controversy between backers and opponents of Dr. Homer Bass, superintendent of Brownsboro schools for 23 years.

Tension increased last spring when the school board fired Bass, and all but one of the pro-Bass members of the school board were defeated in an election in April. Bass appealed to the Texas Education Agency. Voters circulated a petition asking the school board to resign.

Rahm, who had served as mayor of Brownsboro gave this account of events immediately after the adjournment of the June 16 meeting:

"The space in front of the table was packed with people, three and four deep.

"I saw a deputy sheriff at the door. 'Get us out of here,' I said to him. 'I'll try,' he said."

Rahm said that before he got to the door someone slugged him from behind and knocked his glasses off and Rahm fell to the floor. He continued:

"One man said, 'You're not going anywhere.' I tried to get up but someone was kicking and stomping me. There was blood all over my face and shirt and I reached for his pants leg.

"He stepped back and I shot him.

"I knew I would be killed."

After negotiations between lawyers for Bass and the Brownsboro school board, Bass resigned and was replaced by H. H. Riley of Canton. Bass is now supervisor of junior high schools at Mesquite in Dallas County.

Dallas Morning News
Monday, December 12, 1960
Section 1, Page 11
source: GenealogyBank.com