ATASCADERO, Calif., Nov. 4 – Charles “Tex” Watson, a defendant in the Sharon Tate murders is reported to be eating well and “getting the same treatment” as other patients at a state mental hospital.

Watson was sent to Atascadero state hospital in an ambulance last Friday from the Los Angeles County jail after a court-appointed psychiatrist described him as insane and in danger of dying from not eating.

L.C. Wayne, hospital administrator, said Monday that the 6-foot-2 Watson, whose weight had reported dropped from 160 to 110 pounds, is sitting up in bed and eating solid foods. He added that as soon as physicians and psychiatrists think it advisable, Watson would be given regular exercise periods.

“It would seem there has been a marked change since I examined him,” said Dr. George Y. Abe, one of three psychiatrists who had said Watson should be committed to the mental hospital as a life-saving measure.

Wayne refused to discuss Watson’s mental condition or whether he had gained weight. But he said the 24-year-old Texan was being kept in a single room by himself with no guard at the door.

Watson was arrested in Texas and fought extradition to California for eight months. He has never been arraigned on murder-conspiracy charges stemming from the deaths of Miss Tate and six others in August, 1969.

Charles Manson and three women co-defendants indicted with Watson have been on trial in Los Angeles for the Tate deaths for five months.