The Closing Argument...

Deputy Dunlop. He testified he was among the forty or so armed deputy sheriffs who raided the Spahn Ranch on August the sixteenth, 1969. He testified that when he first saw Mr. Manson, Manson was in a little hole beneath the floorboards of one of the buildings on the ranch. Manson refused to come out, and Dunlop had to crawl under the building and pull Manson out by his hair. So, just one week after the seven Tate-LaBianca murders he ordered, Manson is hiding out under a building at the Spahn Ranch. It certainly shows a consciousness of guilt on his part.

Of course, Manson had no idea why the sheriffs came to the ranch. He could have easily thought they were coming out there to arrest him for these murders. He was probably extremely relieved to find out that they were just making a bust at the ranch for the grand theft auto ring. Everyone at the ranch was arrested, and shortly thereafter released, on the grand theft auto charges.

Out of the twenty-seven adults at the ranch who were arrested, nineteen were girls.

Paul Watkins, Mr. Watkins as you know, is a young lad, twenty years of age, also a member of Charles Manson's Family, who knew Mr. Manson rather intimately. Paul is not a bad-looking young man, and Manson apparently realized this because he told Paul to go out and get young women and bring these women in to him.

Manson was sure to add, parenthetically, however, that he didn't want Paul to touch these girls before Paul brought them in to him. Watkins, in reflecting back, observed, "That was a pretty good trip on Charlie's part." Charlie liked young love, and he wanted them to be untainted; he wanted to taint them himself He had this discussion with Watkins about Helter Skelter.

"During your association with Charles Manson, did he frequently discuss Helter Skelter with you?"
"Constantly."
"He used the word 'Helter Skelter' constantly?"
"I wouldn't go so far as to say constantly. He did not say, 'Helter Skelter, Helter Skelter, Helter Skelter.' But he did quite a bit, yes, it seemed to be the main topic."

Manson told Watkins, in January of 1969, the reason Helter Skelter hadn't started yet was because the black man could
release his frustrations by going up to Haight-Ashbury and having the white man's young daughters. He said when the young white love left Haight-Ashbury, "Blackie" would have to release his frustrations elsewhere, and that elsewhere would be Helter Skelter. He said it was going to start that summer, that is, the summer of 1969. Manson told Watkins how Helter Skelter was going to start.

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