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The state's credibility was not bolstered by the bumbling response that officials made to Dr. Edland's finding. At first they denied the medical examiner's report; then Oswald wearily admitted that the throat-slashing reports were erroneous. Other spokesmen tried to suggest that the deaths were really the prisoners' fault, claiming homemade zip guns had been found in the compound. Rockefeller finally said flatly that the hostages "had died in the crossfire." He insisted, though, that the attack was "morally justified" and that there had been no "indiscriminate shooting."
Many — including some grieving relatives of the dead convicts — saw the state's effort to blame the prisoners for the deaths as an attempt to cover up a bungled job. To the families of the dead hostages, the news that police bullets had caused the deaths created a shocking sense of betrayal. One Attican charged emotionally that his relative "was killed by a bullet that had the name Rockefeller written on it." At week's end there were still many in Attica who would not or could not face up to the medical findings.
Gauntlet of Guards
The ferocity of the police attack apparently did not subside with the end of the shooting. Guardsman James P. Watson, 24, a law student, testified in a federal court that unresisting naked convicts, standing with hands on heads, were poked in the groin, rectum and legs with clubs to make them run through a gauntlet of guards, who kicked and beat them. Some inmates fell, he said, and guards chased others into a building. Standing near by, Watson heard "screams and moans and the sounds of clubs hitting flesh and bone." Days later, four outside doctors confirmed reports of brutality.
The bodies of fallen guards were tagged with their names, and their families were quickly notified. The bodies of convicts were labeled "PI, P2, P3." As late as four days after the gunfire, relatives of some convicts were still refused information on whether their sons or husbands were alive or dead. Those who were notified received the news in terse telegrams. One read: REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR HUSBAND RAYMOND RIVERA NUMBER 29533 HAS DECEASED. THE BODY REPOSES AT THIS INSTITUTION.
In some U.S. cities, there were sporadic demonstrations protesting the assault. From throughout New York and across its borders, prison officers, state troopers and other lawmen arrived in Attica to attend a solemn and trying round of wakes and funerals for the slain hostages. Dressed in trim uniforms and saluting sharply, but sometimes weeping, they helped the town mourn.
At least five investigations, including one by a congressional committee, began trying to find out just what went wrong at Attica. They threatened to get in each other's way and confuse matters even more. A single Warren-type commission commanding broad public confidence might be more useful—especially since many of the convicts have been shunted off to other correction centers and Robert E. Fischer, deputy attorney general, has imposed a total press blackout on the prison.
Caught in the swirl of praise and blame, Rockefeller was at week's end still firmly defending his action. "I used my best