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As police set up a roadblock just outside the civic center, Jim Kean, 47, a photographer for the San Rafael Independent-Journal, who had heard the alarm on a police radio in his car, arrived in the building and practically collided with the escaping gunmen. "You take all the pictures you want," said one. "We are the revolutionaries." As they briefly discussed whether or not to take Kean hostage as well, he and his Independent-Journal colleague Roger Bockrath caught an astonishing series of photographs (see following page). The gunmen decided to leave Kean behind. They walked out into the warm sunshine wielding guns and highway flares disguised to look like dynamite, then loaded themselves and their five captives into a rented Ford panel truck.
Incredibly, the police, though they knew there were five hostages inside, by most eyewitness accounts opened fire on the truck as it approached the roadblock. They exchanged gunfire with the men in the truck for one mad minute of hell. When it was over, Judge Haley was dead, his jaw and part of his face blown off by a blast from the shotgun taped to him. James McClain, William Christmas and the young intruder lay dead as well. Magee, Deputy District Attorney Thomas and one of the jurors were wounded.
Verbal Fencing. It was in Denver's Federal Building that President Nixon committed the startling gaffe of prejudging the case of Charles Manson. While complaining that the press had made Manson a glamorous hero, Nixon said: "Here was a man who was guilty, directly or indirectly, of eight murders without reason." For a lawyer who occasionally delivers homilies on legal propriety, this was a serious breach.
Attorney General John Mitchell, who was standing at Nixon's side, instantly recognized Nixon's error. "This has got to be clarified," he told Presidential Aide John Ehrlichman immediately afterward. Unhappily, what ensued was a series of errors compounded by instant communications. Startled reporters dashed to the pressroom, and within minutes, the bulletins were moving across the land. The statement was filmed and broadcast later on network television, with a clarification appended.
But the damage was already done. It was not until half an hour after Nixon spoke that Press Secretary Ron Ziegler reappeared before the newsmen. After some minutes of verbal fencing, Ziegler agreed that Nixon's words about Manson should be retracted. When Ziegler told Nixon what had happened, the President was surprised: "I said 'charged,' " he replied. During the 3½-hour flight back to Washington, Mitchell persuaded Nixon to put out a statement backing Ziegler up. It read in part: "The last thing I would do is prejudice the legal rights of any person in any circumstances. I do not know and did not intend to speculate as to whether or not the Tate defendants are guilty, in fact, or not."