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Senator Long's version of the battle of the washroom was ridiculed by the club's guests, including Edward Pierce Mulrooney, onetime New York Police Commissioner, now head of the State Beer Board. Mr. Mulrooney, who knows many a gangster by sight, saw none at the club. Neither did Chief of Police Steven Webber of Port Washington. The club's board of governors found that Senator Long had been hit by "a gentleman not a member of the club." Exploded Head Waiter Krull: "Senator Long is just a pig! I never saw a person conduct himself so boorishly. He should not be permitted to associate with ladies and gentlemen."
Who it was that had blacked Louisiana's Long's eye was made the subject of a wide guessing contest. Some thought it was Flyer Al Williams. Others believed it was Police Chief Webber. Both denied the distinction. The Chicago Defender, Negro weekly, declared it was Dallas Turner, Negro musician at the club show, who resented the Senator's calling him "nigger," "coon" and "shine."
The young man who really did the deed is the son of a famed naval architect. Long Island sentiment was ready to make him a national hero. Owen P. White, a Collier's editor, Texas-born, started a fund with which to strike off a special gold medal. Its design: a fist rampant; a Kingfish couchant at a washbasin.