Police
sealed off the northeast quadrant of the city, but were powerless to stop the
looters, who ravaged stores along Joseph Avenue all night. Gov. Nelson Rockefeller
ordered state police into the city at 5 a.m. At dawn, an uneasy calm prevailed,
but rumors began to circulate that on Saturday night the large black community
on the west side of the Genesee River would also erupt in violence.
Black
leaders gathered at the home of 3rd Ward Supervisor Connie Mitchell, searching
for a plan to stop the violence. Mitchell lead a small delegation to City Hall
to seek a permit to ignore a citywide 8 p.m. curfew and walk the streets urging
calm. According to her account, an intercom was left on and the group overheard
top officials meeting in another room. “Don't give those niggers any permit,”
Mitchell claimed she heard one say. “Let them tear up the Third Ward, their
side of town. If they cross Main Street, shoot to kill.” The delegation walked
out in disgust, dashing hopes of peace.
Shortly after dark, the trouble
began. Gangs of youths roamed through the west side business districts, smashing
windows and looting. A 58-year-old unemployed white salesman named Perry Bryan
appeared in the area wearing a helmet, and appealed to the crowd to stop looting.
He was hit over the lead with a lead pipe by a black man, then killed by a passing
car–the first fatality.
Again police were powerless to stop the looting
and vandalism that continued through the second night. In the morning, crowds
of sightseers toured the war zone.
'There was a roar in
the sky, a noise I'd never heard before. You could hear glass breaking.' Wm. Lombard,
Rochester police chief Chief
“On Sunday, we went to Clarissa Street
(on the west side) to see what had happened,” one resident recalled. “We
all took our families. It was something historic, something to show the kids.
It was almost like a carnival.”
Sunday afternoon, Monroe County Civil
Defense Director Robert Abbott chartered a helicopter to survey the destruction.
At 3:15 p.m. the machine came crashing down into a house on Clarissa Street and
exploded into flames before a shaken crowd. The pilot was killed instantly, and
Abbott succumbed a few days later. Unknown to the crowd, two black men in the
house also died in the fire. Investigators later discounted rumors that the helicopter
had been shot down. Apparently the crash was just a tragic accident, but the incident
seemed to finally sober the community.
On Sunday night the National Guard
was called in. A convoy of 12 trucks swept into the city carrying 250 men armed
with unloaded M-1 rifles with bayonets fixed. The worst was over. A last pitch
battle was fought between police and residents of Hanover Houses, a large public
housing project in the city's northeast section. Molotov cocktails were no match
for police firepower, however, and the battle was soon over. It was later reported
that the Mothers Improvement Committee had raised $60 from the street dance.
