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Charles Manson never met his father and was deserted by
his mother for years at a time. When she finally abandoned
him at the age of 12, he trusted no one and was hardening
into a tough and self-reliant petty criminal more familiar
with the inside of prisons and reform homes than the freedom
of the streets.
Charles Milles Manson was born 'No Name Maddox' on 11
or 12 November 1934 -his mother could not remember which,
so she chose the 11th. Kathleen Maddox was just 16 and
had run away from her home in Ashland, Kentucky, because
of the repressive Bible thumping behaviour of her mother.
Manson's father was "a drugstore cowboy" who
called himself Colonel Scott. He did not stick around
long enough to see the birth, however, and it was William
Manson. to whom Kathleen was married for a brief time,
who gave the boy his name. Kathleen Maddox found it difficult
to cope with motherhood so young, and Manson was regularly
abandoned.
When he was six. Manson was left with his grandparents
while his mother and her brother. Luther, robbed a gas
station. They were caught and jailed for five years. Manson
went to live with his strict grandparents for a few weeks,
and then his mother's sister. Joanne.
Nomadic Life
A year later. Kathleen Manson came back for Manson. The
boy was ecstatic. They began a nomadic life together,
but Manson could never be sure whether he would be with
his mother or pawned off on to someone else. Manson and
his mother moved around Ohio. Kentucky. West Virginia
and Indiana.
They lived a haphazard existence, that verged on the edge
of crime. Until Kathleen met a man who wanted her but
not Manson. She arranged for her son to be made a ward
of court and Manson was sent to the Gibault Home for Boys
in Terre Haute. Indiana.
Although his mother visited him there and promised that
'pretty soon he would be back with her, it never happened.
From then on, Manson's life is a sad tale of boys' homes
and reformatories, running away, stealing cars and food,
and trying to endure the sadism meted out in some of these
establishments.
He became increasingly hurt, bitter and angry. He also
picked up some useful survival tricks on the way, to ensure
that nobody messed with him.
Petty criminal
After the age of 16, he spent his time in reformatories,
which were apparently an improvement on the Homes, and
a great way to learn the ins and outs of petty crime.
In May 1954, Manson was paroled out on the recognizance
of his aunt and uncle.
He went to live with them in McMechen. where he met a
miner's daughter. Rosalie Jean Willis, and married her
in January 1955. Manson tried to go straight, but was
soon seduced back into a life of crime by an older man
who asked him to steal a car and drive it down to California.
The deal backfired and for a while afterwards Manson wobbled
along the thin line between crime and hustling. But the
car thefts caught up with him and he was jailed for five
years. He was sent to Terminal Island, San Pedro. Soon
afterwards his son was born, then Rosalie divorced him
and went out of his life, taking little Charlie with her.
Manson devoted himself to learning how to pimp, so that
he would have a career when he got out. In 1958 he was
released in Hollywood. Soon he was arrested again for
taking girls across the state line and trying to pass
a stolen cheque worth $38.
Manson ran to Mexico, but the police caught him and this
time probation was turned into a ten year stretch at McNeil
Island Penitentiary, and Terminal Island Penitentiary.
He next saw the outside world in the spring of 1967. |
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