CHARLESTON. W Va., Sept. 25 — Sara Jane Kahn and Charles Manson bought a lot of candy from Van Watson when they were children.

Sara Jane was a serious pupil, but Manson “liked to play a little hooky,” says Watson.

Sara Jane, now Sara Jane Moore, is in jail charged with trying to kill President Ford. Manson is serving life in prison for the 1969 murder of actress Sharon Tate and six others.

And one of Manson’s followers, Lynette Fromme, also is charged with trying to kill the President, in a separate incident.

“Kathleen Manson, Charles mother, was a clerk in my store for three or four months,” Watson said in an interview Wednesday.

“Charles was about 9 or 10 years old then, around 1942. He was just an ordinary boy, nothing outstanding. I sold him a lot of candy.

“He’d come in two or three times a day, whenever he got a penny.”

Watson said he was shocked to learn that Sara Jane Kahn was the person accused of shooting at the President.

“I knew her from childhood,” he said. “She came in the store to buy candy on her way to school. She was a loner — almost always by herself. She never had much to say about anything. She always had a couple of books under her arm and seemed to take school seriously.”

The Kahns lived in a log house up Woodward Drive from his store and the Mansons lived in house across the street from the store.

“I was very much surprised at the way those two children turned out,” Watson said “Charles wasn’t much good at going to school — he liked to play a little bit of hooky.

“But I expected Sara Jane to grow up and become somebody with a good education and a responsible position in life.

“I never dreamed she would be somebody who’d try to kill the President.”

It was not known whether Manson and Sara Jane Kahn knew each other while living here.