The Nation: War at Attica: Was There No Other Way?

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of Oswald's moves. Rocky remained in Washington for the first two days of the rebellion, then spent the weekend at his Pocantico Hills estate north of New York City. He kept in touch, but played it low key.

On the first day of talks, Oswald made two other conciliatory moves that he hoped might gain release of the hostages. While insisting that he could not agree to amnesty for any criminal acts committed by the convicts, he signed a pledge that prison officials would take no administrative action against the rebels for their revolt and would not punish them physically (which is against state law anyway). He also supplied Attorney Schwartz with transportation to Manchester, Vt., where Federal Judge John T. Curtin put the prohibition against reprisals into the form of a highly unusual court injunction. The brief for the injunction was drafted by a prisoner who provided an odd element in the largely black cast of rebels: Jerome S. Rosenberg, 34, a slight, round-shouldered son of a middle-class Jewish Brooklyn merchant. After a career of lesser crimes, Rosenberg was convicted eight years ago as a cop killer. Governor Nelson Rockefeller commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment in 1965, giving Jerry Rosenberg a chance to become a skilled jailhouse lawyer.

As the bargaining continued, tensions grew. Oswald and Schwartz were bitterly disappointed when the inmates discarded the court injunction as worthless. Apparently the rebels feared both physical beatings by guards if they surrendered—despite the promises—and criminal prosecution. They also felt that if they released the hostages, they would lose their bargaining power.

In talking with inmates, most members of the committee of overseers gained the impression that a way out of the impasse could eventually be found. In fact, a settlement seemed imminent after Oswald surprised the visiting mediators by agreeing to 28 of the 30 prisoner demands. He balked only at complete amnesty, which he considered both unlawful and "nonnegotiable," and at the prisoners' insistence that Warden Mancusi be fired. Dumping Mancusi, Oswald contended, would undercut superintendents throughout the New York system.

Then came two blows: the death of Guard Quinn, which made the prisoners liable to prosecution for murder, and the arrival of Seale. At first, officials turned Seale away from the prison. But when the inmates learned he was on hand, they refused to talk further until they heard from him. Seale spoke to the prisoners for only about five minutes. He was apparently uninterested in cooling the situation, telling the prisoners that they must make their own decision on Oswald's offer. But they wanted his advice; he said that he would have to consult with the Black Panthers' Huey P. Newton and would return in the morning. The momentum toward a settlement had been lost.

Seale did return next morning but —unknown to some of the visiting committee—Oswald told him he could not address the prisoners unless he urged acceptance of the final offer. Seale refused, and left for California. As for William Kunstler, a few members of the committee have charged that he told the prisoners to hold out for amnesty; he denies this. Kunstler did, however, tell the convicts that representatives of "Third World nations are waiting for you across the street." This was an