Bad Boy From Rosebud Read Online Free PDF Page A

through curt, military-style memos. The pep squad of Rosebud High School, for example, was trained in military fashion because that was what Mr. Mayo wanted. He had a "thump" on his forehead that astute teachers used as a barometer; if the "thump" got red it was best to get outfast. Post-World War II principals like D. L. Mayo were above question. They never smiled. They ran schools as they saw fit, and school boards and lawyers left them alone. Students behaved and learned because men like Mr. Mayo had taken care of the Nazis; discipline at Rosebud High was not a problem. Even the McDuffs found that out.
D. L. Mayo's discipline policy never took the form of an elaborate handbook. It was really quite simple: Students were not to lie or steal or show disrespect to teachers or anyone else. They were to respect property. If something had been stolen, Mr. Mayo found out who did it. Once a student with a nice new baseball glove sadly entered Mr. Mayo's office to report he had laid it down only long enough for it to have been stolen. Apparently, the boy and his parents had saved for quite some time to purchase the glove and were quite proud of it. Whether for the love of baseball, or an admiration for the virtue of a young man saving money for something special, or because stealing was wrong and he would not have it at Rosebud High, Mr. Mayo decided he would find the gloveand the thief. He put the pressure on. Shortly after the search began, Kenneth entered the front office with the glove, now smeared with black shoe polish, and announced, "Look what I found in a ditch!" 15

 

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No one remembers exactly what Mr. Mayo did to Kenneth that day. What everyone does remember was the reaction of Lonnie, who apparently was outraged at the thought of his brother being accused of thievery and being disciplined. In Texas Monthly, Gary Cartwright wrote that Lonnie pulled a knife on Mr. Mayo. At the very least Lonnie made some attempt to protest directly. At that point, D. L. Mayo lifted Lonnie off the floor and threw him down a flight of stairs. No one remembers Addie contacting Mr. Mayo about the incident. 16 Years later, Kenneth would boast to police officers that he had once knocked around a principal. When told that, Ellen Roberts laughed out loud, "Nobody knocked around D. L. Mayo. He was the Iron Man."
The incident with the baseball glove did, however, illustrate one significant fact about the life of Kenneth Allen McDuff. The only person he seemed to respect, or even like, was his brother Lonnie. They had a true relationship. Kenneth said that they were very close as brothers because they were friends as well. Otherwise, he added, "I don't have any friends." 17
Lonnie never earned the reputation Kenneth did. He was not a killer, but many thought he could become one. In the fall of 1964, Kenneth allegedly told Lonnie that he had raped a girl, cut her throat, and left her for dead. Lonnie reportedly replied that Kenneth should forget about it and go to bed. 18 Judging by their behavior, and the testimony of those who knew them, the brothers seemed to share a common sense of invulnerability. Something in their value system taught them that what they did could not be wrong, because they did it; what they said was the truth, because they said it; and whatever they believed was right, because they believed it. Like Lonnie, Kenneth existed in an extraordinarily self-centered world. Kenneth had his things, but what everyone else had could be stolen; Kenneth spoke, while others existed to listenand believe; and tragically, when he grew to be nearly 6'4" tall, weighing over 250 pounds, Kenneth would see other people as things to be "used up." As a result, he took pleasure in "performing" before an audience. This, of course, led to his downfall. To a lesser extent it would lead to Lonnie's downfall as well. Charles Meyer, an ATF Special Agent who came to know Kenneth as well as anyone, summed up his egocentric personality: "He loves the