Abadie says told not to talk with governor during illness: Long, Roy Expected to Testify Today

              Fired state police Sgt. William R; Aba-die said Tuesday that he and other officers were under orders not to talk with Gov. Earl K, Long in his period of alleged mental illness.
He   was   the   anal   witness late  Tuesday  afternoon at  a hearing before the state civil service commission on his ap­peal of his dismissal for al­legedly refusing to obey Long late last spring* The     32-year-old    Abadie, charged with  refusing  to  help Long at the mansion and' later at    Southeast    State    hospital, said his orders came from Mrs. Earl K. Long and the state po­lice superintendent.
The hearing was recessed about 5:20 p. m. until 9 a. m. Wednesday. Gov. Earl.;K. Long was expected to appear as wit­ness for state police about 1C a. m. Most witnesses were heard Tuesday.
ONLY WITNESSES Also to be heard will be state public safety director E. P. Roy, who fired Abadie, on orders from the governor. Roy and Long will be the only witnesses apparently for state police.
Abadie told the commission members /he had only two contacts with Long during the period of the governor's re­straint in the mansion, and his repose in various institu­tions.
About 5 or 6 p.. m. Friday, May 29, be said, the telephone rang in the office on die first floor at the mansion, where state police officers were sta­tioned.
Mrs, Long was on the line, calling from upstairs, he said. This was the n i g h t prior to Long's removal to a mental clinic in Galveston, Texas. STARTED UPSTAIRS
"She told me to come up right away, and to get the other troopers. I started up the stairs and I saw Long sitting in a little ante-room at the top of the stairs with some others.
"He told me to get on down­stairs; he didn't want any po­lice around, and that's the last I saw of him."
Later, after Long had been! committed to Southeast StatW Hospital, Abadie was among officers assigned to keep ■"Red Hartkins, Dick Davis, reporters, and sigh t-seeers away."
Abadie said he was on duty ii small room, a nurses' station when Long walked up outside th< glass paneling.
"I was standing where you coult get a fleeting glimpse through tin glass," he said.
CALLED  ABADIE
"He mentioned my name threi times, and upon hearing him ; stepped aside, where there was i wall." (Later, he testified that hi heard his name mentioned afte: stepping aside).
"We were under orders not to talk with him, and not to contact him. Also, I w a s afraid he might ask me to do something I know was wrong, and I did not want to put myself in that position."
Abadie testified that a prime part of his duty was to prevent
'Red" Hartkins and Dick Davis irom contacting the governor.
He said the two were suspected Df having smuggled whiskey "and other things" to Long at John Sealy hospital in Galveston.
Hartkins and Davis, both of Alexandria, have been frequent aides of the governor, and have accompanied him on various phases of his stumping within the state.
The governor had said at his press conference early Tuesday that he had hoped the hearing would be postponed, and that he wouldn't have to appear as a wit­ness on behalf of state police.
However, commission chairman Moise Dennery of New Orleans, refused to grant a postponement, after it was requested by state po­lice attorney N. Cleburn Dalton, shortly after the hearing opened Tuesday morning.
Virtually every witness who appeared Tuesday agreed that the decision to send the governor to Galveston last May was not opposed by anyone at the man­sion.
A controversy revolved around the issue of the governor's mental health at the time of the episodes. State police wanted such testi­mony barred, whereas attorneys for Abadie wanted it in the rec­ord.PHOTO: LISTENING TO TESTIMONY in the civil service commis­sion hearing Tuesday for a state police sergeant fired by Gov. Earl K. Long are the trooper's attorney, Elvin Ponder (left) and former state police superintendent John Nick Brown (center). The dismissed police j&fficer, former Sgt. William R. Abadie, arrives for the heaiing (right).