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Nine—“We die a million deaths.”
- University of North Texas Press
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85 At one point on Thursday, things started looking up— somewhat. Tables were set up in the center of the library forming a dining area and the hostages ate the food the TDC sent up in short-lived comfort. They had taken turns ordering food for the group. Ann Fleming remembered “When I was trying to make up my mind about what I wanted, Carrasco asked, ‘Don’t you like Mexican food?’ and I said I love Mexican food.”1 Linda Woodman had been appointed to be Carrasco’s secretary. “He had no reason to just choose me,” she stated. “I think I may have instigated some of that. I am a person, if I’m involved, I want to be in the know. I don’t want things going on I don’t know about.”2 She had to place his phone calls to the warden and others on the outside—such as Carrasco’s mother-inlaw , his San Antonio lawyer Gillespie, and the governor of Texas. She typed up his demands for presentation to TDC. She put a call through to Cuevas’ wife, via the sheriff’s office in Pecos, Texas. The inmate Chapter Nine “We die a million deaths.” —Linda Woodman, hostage 86 CHAPTER NINE told his wife Juanita she “should look for something better and (their) kids should abandon” him. After an angry exchange, Cuevas slammed down the receiver and told Woodman, “Never place that call again. I don’t want to talk to my wife any more.”3 Father O’Brien was still the official food taster while Cuevas, Dominguez, and Carrasco gobbled theirs down from their stash of cans of fruit, tuna fish, chili, and crackers. Lesser demands were made. Dominguez called for the San Antonio Express newspaper delivered to him daily. The only problem with the delivery demand was that it was almost impossible to find the San Antonio Express at any newsstand in Huntsville. As the FBI’s Wiatt remembered, “We would fly in the papers because we were stalling for time.”4 And when that did not work, officers were sent out on the early morning streets of Huntsville to find copies of out-of-town newspapers on locals’ lawns and “borrow” them. No matter what delivery system brought the newspapers into the library, Cuevas and Dominguez often had to have them read or explained to them by civilian hostages. Carrasco and the hostages even engaged in some small talk, which was, he said later “just like being out to sea in a raft. You all get to be very tight.” He said of his children, “They’re my whole life.” He said he was married in 1968 to Rosario Leyva, who he described as la hembra, “the woman,” whom he considered perfect. She had a daughter, Lorraine, from a previous marriage. He told how his daughter, Leticia Ana, was born in 1969, and his son, Emiliano, two years later. He proudly told them his son was named after his hero, the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. “I’d rather,” he said, “die than to be separated from them.”5 He went on to say he was just a “simple rancher and stockman” in Nuevo Laredo in Mexico. He then told the hostages to telephone their families, tell them they were all right, and will be “as long as the TDC does right.”6 One of the first things the hostages told their families was they needed clothing changes—especially guard Bobby Heard. His fellow hostages advised him to get out of his uniform as quickly as possible. “You’d be safer,” they said, because “they won’t view you as the enemy if you’re not in uniform.”7 [44.192.247.144] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 09:20 GMT) 87 “WE DIE A MILLION DEATHS.” When Heard called his wife to ask for clean clothes, he emphasized, “Whatever you do, do not bring my uniform.” She brought him brown and blue slacks, black and gray suede shoes, and a new white, shortsleeved dress shirt. However, more than forty-eight hours would pass before the Carrasco would allow the guard to clean up and get out of his uniform soiled by the dirt and dust and sweat from his venture into the false ceiling at the opening of the siege.8 Things continued to look up. Carrasco told Ruben Montemayor he expected all hostages would be “seeing their families tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow the situation will be resolved,” he said. Continuing...