by John Hersey
2. Quiet over Here
“I called back over there about twelve,” Mrs. Gill, Carl Cooper’s mother, told me, “and talked to the girl on the switchboard, and she said she couldn’t accept any calls and I said, ‘Well, why?’—you know. And she said, ‘I just can’t accept any calls right now. Soon as I get a line clear.’ And I said, ‘Well, what’s going on?’ And she said, ‘Nothing. It’s quiet over here.’ So that was a puzzle to me, you know. Like I say, I was nervous for some reason.”
Carl was already dead.
19
ENTER AND EXIT: STATE POLICE
1. Deployment
Outside the building, the sequence of events had been this:
Warrant Officer Thomas had called in his alarm, and foolish horseplay with a blank pistol had been escalated into a dispatcher’s phrase: “Army under heavy fire.”
Task Force #36 of Kiefer Command, a scout car and three jeeps manned by August, Paille, Senak, and several Guardsmen, had responded promptly and had swung into Woodward from the east and had parked in front of the main part of the Algiers; the men had deployed to surround the annex, starting from the screening walls at Woodward and Virginia Park.
At almost the same time, three state-police cars, which had come under gunfire a few blocks to the west, had swung eastward onto Euclid and had been stopped by one or more of Thomas’s men on the corner of Woodward by the Great Lakes Building and had been informed of the supposed sniping; the troopers had not heard the broadcast alarm. Their deployment, somewhat delayed by the encounter with the man in the yellow shirt, had mostly been concentrated to the back of the annex, in the parking lot.
2. A Zigzag Approach
“The way we were operating, it’s a standard operation,” Trooper John M. Fonger testified at the conspiracy hearing, “one man watched the car, so this left three men watching the cars and the rest deployed towards where we were instructed the shots had come from. . . . Ran around a house that’s right next to the Shell gas station, ran up to a tree, and from there worked over to what I believe is a brick wall. . . . I was crouching, running through the parking lot in a zigzag pattern . . . because I had been shot at previously and I didn’t want to take a chance.” In his report to his superiors, Trooper Fonger wrote that this wall “was at the back of a parking lot of the building in mention. From there this officer followed two Detroit City Policemen and one State Trooper up to a set of stairs that led to a door on the left rear of the building.” The two city policemen must have been Paille and Senak, who by their own accounts entered the annex by this door; August went in the front door on the Virginia Park side.
“We had seen a person in this room prior to this . . .” Fonger testified, “standing by the door. . . . I saw a person standing, look out, and duck back. . . . He never came outside. What he was doing is looking out the door.” This was evidently Lee Forsythe, who, as we have seen, had gone down to check his room and had been warned away from the door by someone outside.
3. We Are Going Inside
“I remember,” Warrant Officer Thomas testified, “one policeman—or there was a group of policemen going into the building. One yelled, ‘Hold your fire please. We are going inside.’ And this was at the back side of the house. I assumed it was a house. At this time I didn’t know it was the annex of the Algiers. I remember one policeman having a difficult time breaking a window. He hit at it three times. The third time he broke it.”
4. Followers
Since the deduction probably has to be made that Carl Cooper was killed when he rushed downstairs, apparently trying to escape outdoors through Lee’s apartment, only to run headlong into the first wave of the assault, the crucial question becomes: Who were the first uniformed men to enter the French doors at the back?
It was clearly not modesty that impelled all those witnesses who admittedly went inside the back way to characterize themselves as followers, not leaders; they all say they saw the body in A-5 already lying there as they entered. In these moments rival services seem to have deferred to each other with unusual generosity.
From Paille’s statement to the detectives: “Patr. Paille saw men rushing the Motel Manor and he followed, entering through a door at the N. E. corner of the Motel. Paille stated that he saw a body lying on the floor.”
From Senak’s statement: “I believe State Police broke open the rear door of the Manor House and then I watched the roof of the Manor House as I approached the back door and went in.”
Trooper Fonger, like other state troopers in their testimony and reports, speaks of his having followed in the train of Detroit policemen.
5. Appeared Like He’d Been Shot
“When we got to the back door,” Trooper Fonger testified, “I hollered, ‘Come on out, we won’t shoot.’ Well, we received no reply to this, so we went into the door. I believe there’s two doors, which weren’t locked”—causing wonder why the window had had to be broken. “We went in. Just as we got inside the door we heard some shots to the exact number, I believe, possibly three and one, but I can’t state that for sure. . . . We went into a room. There was a bed to the left, a closet to the front, and a door to the right. I saw a television going to the right. . . . We checked this room initially to make sure there wasn’t any snipers in this room.”
——
“The door,” Fonger wrote in his report, “was opened by a Detroit City policeman. This officer then followed another City policeman into the room. In the room a subject was observed lying face down, with blood and other parts of the inside of his body on the floor by his stomach, arm, and face.”
——
“He was lying,” Fonger testified, “with his head facing . . . away from the door. That’s about the only way I can describe it. I can’t remember as far as south, north, east, or west. But he appeared like he’d been shot. There was quite a bit of matter lying around him and it would appear coagulated blood.” This phrase led to a theory, which we shall see unfold, that Cooper was killed some time earlier by black criminals, not by policemen at all; the theory came to nothing in the end. Coagulation, at any rate, served to emphasize Fonger’s followership. “I would say was body to it. In other words, it wasn’t blood,” Fonger went on to explicate. “The blood, it was enlarged. . . . It was either lung tissue or body tissue and blood, or else it was coagulated blood. . . . I couldn’t say how fast it takes blood to coagulate, but it had to sit there some time. . . . As far as turning the man over to see if he was still bleeding, we did not do this. Somebody felt for his pulse and couldn’t find one. . . . There was also a spent red shotgun shell laying on the floor. This would be to the victim’s feet or who was supposed to be the victim.” (I cannot help commenting that racism tiptoes its guilty way through quiet phrases like that last one.) “His head was facing a door. We opened this door and . . . we then went into the hall or lobby, but anyway, all I can recall is it had a marble floor”—actually, a black-and-white-checked composition-tile floor. “I also noticed what would appear to be dry blood on the floor, a couple dry blood spots on the floor. . . . It would appear to be dried blood. . . . Ketchup could also appear to be dried blood. . . . I saw a brown stain on the floor which I associated with blood, but this is going back—well, to the medical, I cannot testify that it’s blood on the floor. . . .
“Before we went into the hall, we heard some other shots which sounded like to our right or the back of the building. . . . One line of speculation followed by the investigators associates these shots with the death of Fred Temple in room A-3; the timing of this death is not agreed upon by various witnesses. “We went into the hall. There was a few people out in the hall going back and forth in the rooms and coming out. They were dressed in light-blue shirts, dark-blue pants, and were wearing helmets”—uniform, during the uprising, of the Detroit police.
——
“At this time,” Fonger wrote in his report, “a Detroit Officer came out of the room followed by another unloading a nickel covered pistol, and saying, ‘That one
tried for my gun.’ It is not clear to this officer if these men were City Policemen, or private policemen, as they were not wearing a badge or other identifying items.” It had, however, been clear to Fonger, in the darkness at the back door, that Detroit policemen preceded him into the building.
——
“There were two officers that came out,” Fonger testified, “and one of them had a nickel-plated revolver and he was taking the shells out of the gun and he said, ‘That one tried for my gun,’ . . . or, ‘That one had a gun.’ We then went into the room and there was a Negro male lying against the bed with numerous holes in him—or I should say—I’ll have to clarify that also. He was bleeding from the front in numerous spots. His eyes were open.”
——
“It appeared to this officer,” Fonger wrote, “that this subject was still alive, as it appeared as he was breathing. . . .
“This officer then went back into the hall and observed two officers dressed as those described above, drag a Negro male with black pants and a black piece of material over his hair out of a room, and put him against a wall of the hall. Another Negro male, with only his under shorts, was then dragged out and also placed against the wall. . . . A remark was made that they should pray.”
——
“We checked the room which would be to the front,” Fonger testified, “to the west, which would be probably the southwest corner. . . . We checked this room for snipers. We checked the closet, we checked the bathroom. We came out of the room.”
——
“Shortly after this,” he wrote, “two white females were thrown down the stairs, one with a large cut on her cheek. They were told to get against the wall and pray. Other Negroes were also brought down from upstairs and placed against the wall.”
——
“I was out by the front of the hall,” he testified, “the front of the building. I walked out to see where I was, and I leaned over and I looked at a sign that said ‘Algiers’ on the front of the building, and I walked back in. . . . And as I was walking through, a subject was taken into the bedroom and was struck. I saw one blow. That was all I saw. . . . He was a Negro. . . . I was making my way to the back of the building. . . . I walked out the same way I came in.”
——
“At this time,” Fonger reported, “this officer felt the situation was completely out of control, and started outside to get Cpl. C. ROSEMA, who was in charge of this officer. As this officer was going outside a Negro was taken into a room by a large Negro officer and was being beaten.”
——
“At this time,” Trooper P. A. Martin, also present, reported, “Cpl. C. Rosema came into the room and advised this officer, undersigned, that we were leaving immediately as he didn’t like what he had seen there.”
——
“The corporal who was in charge of my unit,” Fonger testified, “said that . . . we would leave because there was somebody else handling the matter, and we were to be relieved anyway. . . . So we got the rest of our unit and we left.”
6. Walkout
Of all the chapters in this narrative, this may have been the most inglorious. Law-enforcement officers of the State of Michigan, having seen actions by policemen of the City of Detroit that were “out of control,” were evacuated by a commander “as he didn’t like what he had seen there.” Faced with the evident need for strong measures to prevent the crimes of that scene from being carried farther, the state troopers simply washed their hands of the whole nasty business and walked out.
20
CONDUCT BECOMING AN OFFICER
1. Courteous but Firm
How had Ronald August, Robert Paille, David Senak, and the other Detroit police officers at the Algiers during the incident been trained to behave in these circumstances?
The Riot Control Plan of the Detroit Police Department, in a chapter entitled “Guide Lines for the Individual Officer,” gives these instructions:
“Maximum effectiveness will result if the officers at the scene are able to gain and hold the respect of the rioting element. This respect will be attained by a thoroughly professional approach to the problem. . . .
“Conduct: Courteous but firm. Policemen must maintain a completely neutral attitude at the scene of a disorder and completely avoid fraternization with either element. He should strenuously avoid the use of insulting terms and names. Expressions which may be used casually without thought of offending are nevertheless offensive to members of minority groups and invariably antagonize the person or group to whom they are addressed. . . .
“Listen to and take command from your superior officers. . . .
“ ‘Hand-to-hand’ fighting or individual combat must be avoided as far as possible. . . .
“Never at any time should a single officer attempt to handle one rioter. The idea of individual heroic police action is not only unnecessary, it may be positively damaging and foolhardy. . . .
“Don’t be prejudicial or guilty of unnecessary or rough handling of persons involved. Use only that force which is necessary to maintain order, effect the arrest, and protect oneself from bodily harm.
“The officer assigned to crowd control must always act in such a manner as to insure impartial enforcement of the law, and afford to all citizens the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution and the legislative statutes.”
21
UP AND DOWN THE LINE
1. Butt-Stroking
In the hallway, milling, cuffing, and calling out commands, the uniformed men drove the occupants of the annex against the east wall. “They made us stand,” Roderick Davis told me, “with our legs and arms spread, our hands up against the wall.” “Had us spread-eagle,” Robert Greene told Prosecutor Eggleton.
When he first arrived in the line, Roderick told me, he heard a voice say, “We’re going to kill all you black niggers off one at a time.”
The hallway was sparsely furnished. At the north end a small wooden office desk stood catercorner next to a large mirror centered on the north wall. Along the west wall were the entrance to A-3, where the Dramatics had been staying, the stairway, the door to A-4, and, close to the front wall, some overstuffed chairs, one yellow and one blue, with a low table between them. Over the chairs was a painting—“On the Beach,” by Margaret Keane, according to a prim little brass plaque on the frame—a portrait of a slender blonde in a white shirt open quite far down the front.
Victims were now ranged along the east wall, Lee Forsythe first, next to the door to A-2, within which Carl’s body lay. I am not certain of the order in line, but from what I have been able to piece together I think Fred Temple and Larry Reed may have been next—if, indeed, Fred ever reached the line at all; Michael Clark was surely next. Beyond him stood a sentimental Victorian fountain, consisting of two large plaster shells, cupped upward, the smaller one above markedly scalloped and containing a fat little boy-girl in bloomers pouring air from a waterless amphora. To the right of this bad recommendation for purity, standing with raised hands against wallpaper of dogwood blooms and leaves, were James Sortor, Auburey Pollard, Robert Greene, the two white girls, and Roderick Davis, I believe.
“They started butt-stroking us on the back and shoulder blade . . .” Robert Greene told Eggleton. “They were trying to make us say that did we know who was shooting in the building. . . . And one of the police officers said, ‘I’m gonna kill you all.’ Then he turned to the two white girls, and he said, ‘We have two nigger lovers here.’ . . . So he started hitting . . . with a weapon; this was with a shotgun. Butt of his shotgun. . . . He started going up and down the line hitting. One police officer pulled out his blackjack. He beat one colored guy down to the floor. Then beat him back up. He said, ‘Who’s firing in this building?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, ’cause I was sleeping in the bed by eight thirty. I didn’t know anything about it until the girls come upstairs, knocking on my door.’ He was going up and down the line.”
“It was two more officers,” Michael testified, �
��they was going up and down the line, hitting everyone with their rifles and things, and they kept on asking about a gun, and when they got to me, they asked me had I seen a gun. I told them, ‘No,’ then they hit me, then they went down the line and started hitting everybody else.”
“And there was another officer there,” Michael testified on a different occasion, “he was going up and down the line beating everybody and asking where was the pistol at that was shooting at him. So everybody kept saying they didn’t know nothing about no shooting and hadn’t seen no shooting and hadn’t seen no pistol. . . . They was beating us, and then while our hands was on the wall, they would come by and hit us on our fingers and everything and kick us and hit us in our head. . . .
“They would ask us a question, and then before they would get the answer they would hit us. . . . I was hit in my side, in my back, I was kicked, I was hit in the head. . . .”
Early’s notes of Karen Malloy’s story: “Told Michael to take the rag off his head and started to beat him and he started to fall down. Policeman said, ‘Don’t fall down or we’ll shoot you.’ ”
——
“This guy Senak was the one doing most of the beating,” Lee told me. “After the officer told me to get in the line,” he testified, “first he pointed to the body and asked me what did I see, and I told him I seen a dead man. And he hit me with a pistol and told me I didn’t see anything.” Lee identified Senak as the man who pistol-whipped him. “It was quite a few of them there,” he testified. “They was just going down the line. One came down and then another came down and started beating us.”
