The news story had ceased to have priority.
Her hand was shaking as she dialed 911 for police emergency.
6
The watch lieutenant presiding at the police department operations center knew he had to make a fast decision.
A few moments earlier, the male police operator taking Nancy Molineaux’s 911 call, and writing down the information, had signaled the lieutenant to cut in on the line. He did so. After listening briefly, he questioned the caller who identified herself by name and as a reporter for the California Examiner. She explained about the tapes, how she had acquired them, how they had revealed the information she was now passing on urgently.
“I know of you, Miss Molineaux,” the lieutenant said. “Are you calling from the newspaper?”
“No. From my apartment.”
“The address, please.”
She gave it.
“Are you listed in the phone book there?”
“Yes. Under ‘Molineaux, N.’ ”
“Please hang up your phone,” the lieutenant said. “You’ll be called back immediately.”
The police operator—one of twenty such operators handling emergency calls—had already found the number in a city phone directory. He scribbled it on a piece of paper which he passed to the lieutenant, who tapped the number out, then listened.
Nancy answered on the first ring.
“Miss Molineaux, did you just call police emergency?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you. We had to verify the call. Where will you be if you are required later?”
“At the Christopher Columbus Hotel,” Nancy said. “Where the hell else?” She hung up.
The police lieutenant debated briefly with himself. He had established that the call was genuine and not from a crank. But was the information strong enough to justify emptying the city’s biggest hotel, with resultant chaos, in the middle of the night?
Normally, in the case of a bomb warning—the police received hundreds every year—the procedure was to send an advance squad, consisting of a sergeant and two or three patrolmen, to investigate. If they were suspicious or found merit in the tip, they would phone the operations center and emergency procedures would begin. (Radio communication was never used at that stage for two reasons. One, if a bomb existed, a radio signal might set it off. Two, since police radios were monitored by all and sundry, the police sought to delay having press and spectators clog the scene.)
But, if the report just received was genuine, the danger real, there was insufficient time for normal methods.
In daytime, with emergency forces from the police and fire departments working together, a big hotel like the Christopher Columbus could be evacuated in half an hour. At night, however, it would take longer—an hour if they were fast and lucky. Nighttime evacuation posed special problems; there were always some heavy sleepers, drunks, skeptics, illicit lovers unwilling to be discovered, all requiring room-by-room checks and the use of passkeys.
But there wasn’t an hour. The watch lieutenant glanced at the big digital clock above him: 2:21 A.M. The newspaperwoman had said a bomb or bombs might go off at 3 A.M. True? False? He wished to hell a more senior officer could be briefed and make the judgment. No time for that either.
The lieutenant made the only decision he could, and ordered, “Start bomb evacuation procedures—the Christopher Columbus Hotel.”
A half-dozen phones in the operations center went into use immediately. Alarm calls were placed to central district police and fire units first; fire trucks and all available police cars would roll at once. Next, calls went directly to the police department’s night commander and deputy fire chief who, together, would direct the hotel.evacuation. Simultaneously, the police tactical unit, which included the bomb squad, was being alerted; they would follow other forces quickly. After that: a call to a nearby Army depot where an explosives ordnance squad would contribute experts in bomb disarming. Police departments in neighboring municipalities were asked to aid by rushing their bomb squads too. Ambulances—almost certain to be needed—were summoned. Continuing to work down a list, major law enforcement, fire, and city functionaries were notified, most aroused from sleep at home.
The watch lieutenant was speaking by telephone with the night manager of the Christopher Columbus. “We have a tip, which we believe to be authentic, that bombs have been placed in your hotel. We recommend you evacuate immediately. Police and fire units are on the way.”
The word “recommend” was used advisedly. Technically, the lieutenant had no authority to order evacuation; any such decision must be the hotel management’s. Fortunately, the night manager was neither a hairsplitter nor a fool. “I’ll sound the house alarms,” he said, “and our staff will do whatever you say.”
Like a war machine set in motion, the command effect spread rapidly, each component gathering momentum, each utilizing specialized techniques to become part of a total effort. The action had already moved away from the operations center, which would now become a conduit for reports. Meanwhile, answers remained unknown to two vital questions. First: Would bomb explosions occur at 3 A.M.? Second: Assuming they did, could the hotel be effectively cleared in the remaining time—an all-too-inadequate thirty-six minutes?
The suspense would be short-lived. The answers to both questions would be known soon.
She had done her bit for humanity, Nancy Molineaux decided. Now she could go back to being a newspaperwoman.
She was still in her apartment, though getting ready to leave. In between throwing on outdoor clothes hurriedly, Nancy phoned the Examiner’s night editor and gave him a fast rundown of what she had. As he asked quick questions, she sensed his excitement at the prospect of a big, breaking story.
“I’m going to the hotel,” Nancy told him. “Then I’ll come in to write.” She knew, without asking, that every available photographer would be dispatched to the scene at once.
“Oh, one other thing,” she told the night man. “I have two tape cassettes. I had to tell the police about them, and they’re sure to be wanted as evidence, which means they’ll be impounded. Before that happens, we should make copies.”
They arranged that a messenger would meet Nancy at the hotel and collect the tapes. From there he would rush them to the residence of the paper’s entertainment editor, a hi-fi nut who had his own sound lab. The entertainment writer was known to be at home and would be warned that the tapes were on the way. The copies and a portable playback machine would be in the newsroom, waiting, when Nancy got there.
Nancy had reached the outer door of her apartment, on the run, when she remembered one more thing. Racing back to the phone, she dialed the number of the Christopher Columbus Hotel, which she knew from memory. When the operator answered, she instructed, “Give me Nimrod Goldman’s room.”
In Nim’s dream, the GSP & L electric system was in desperate crisis. One by one, the system’s generating stations had failed until only one remained—La Mission No. 5, Big Lil. Then, exactly as happened last summer on the day Walter Talbot died, the La Mission No. 5 panel at Energy Control began emitting warning signals—flashing lights and a high-pitched ringing. The lights diminished but the ringing persisted, filling all of Nim’s consciousness until he awoke and found the bedside telephone shrilling. Sleepily, he reached out and picked it up.
“Goldman! Is that you, Goldman?”
Still only partially awake, he answered, “Yeah.”
“This is Nancy Molineaux. Listen to me!”
“Who?”
“Nancy Molineaux, you idiot!”
Anger fought its way through sleep. “Molineaux, don’t you know it’s the middle of the night …?”
“Shut up and listen! Goldman, get hold of yourself and come awake. You and your family are in danger. Trust me …”
Raising himself on an elbow, Nim said, “I wouldn’t trust you …” Then he remembered what she had written yesterday, and stopped.
“Goldman, get your family out of that hot
el! Now! Don’t stop for anything! Bombs are going off.”
Now he was wide-awake. “Is this some sick joke? Because if it is …”
“It’s no joke.” There was pleading in Nancy’s voice. “Oh, for Chrissakes, believe me! Those Friends of Freedom bastards have planted bombs disguised as fire extinguishers. Get your wife and kids …”
The words “Friends of Freedom” convinced him. Then he remembered the hotel, jammed with conventioneers.
“What about other people?”
“The alarm’s gone out. You get moving!”
“Right!”
“I’ll see you outside the hotel,” Nancy said, but Nim hadn’t heard. Instead he had slammed down the phone and was fiercely shaking Ruth.
Only minutes later, with the children crying, sleepily bewildered, and still in nightclothes, Nim rushed them from the suite. Ruth was right behind. Nim headed for the emergency stairs, knowing enough to stay away from elevators in a crisis in case they failed and occupants were trapped. As they began the long journey down twenty-six flights, he could hear the sound of sirens from outside, faint at first, then growing louder.
They were three floors down when fire alarm bells throughout the hotel began ringing stridently.
There were acts of gallantry and heroism that night. Some passed unnoticed, others were conspicuous.
Evacuation of the hotel proceeded swiftly and, for the most part, calmly. Police and firemen moved promptly onto every floor; they thumped on doors, shouted, brushed aside questions with commands, hurried people toward stairwells, cautioning them not to use elevators. Others from the emergency force, assisted by hotel staff, used passkeys to check rooms from which there had been no response. Through it all, the fire alarm bells continued ringing.
A few guests protested and argued, a handful was belligerent but, when threatened with arrest, even they joined the outward exodus. Few, if any, of the hotel guests knew exactly what was happening; they accepted the imminence of danger and moved fast, pulling on a minimum of clothing, abandoning belongings in their rooms. One man, obeying orders sleepily, got as far as the stairway door on his floor before realizing he was naked. A grinning fireman let him go back to put on pants and a shirt.
The evacuation was already in progress when the police bomb squad arrived in three trucks, tires and sirens screaming. The bomb men poured into the hotel and, working swiftly but carefully, checked every fire extinguisher in sight. Those which were suspect had ropes looped over them, after which—paying out rope as they went—the bomb men retreated around corners, getting as far away as was practical. When someone had made sure the immediate area was clear of people, the ropes were tugged. This jogged the extinguishers and toppled them—normally enough movement to set off any booby traps. However, there were no explosions and, after each extinguisher was dealt with, a bomb man lifted it and carried it outside. That represented the greatest risk of all, but was accepted because of the special circumstances.
From the street in front of the hotel, the extinguisher bombs were rushed, by a hastily assembled fleet of trucks, to a disused waterfront pier where they were dumped into the bay.
Soon after deployment of the police bomb squad, they were joined by an Army ordnance unit of a half-dozen officers and NCOs—bomb experts who helped speed the removal process.
Twenty minutes after the alarm was given, it became evident to those in charge that evacuation was going well, and faster than expected. The chances of having most guests out of the hotel before 3 A.M. looked good.
By now, every street leading to the Christopher Columbus was jam-packed with vehicles—fire equipment, police cars and wagons, ambulances, all with dome lights flashing. A huge van, operated by the city’s Office of Emergency Services, had just moved in and was setting up an on-site command post. Two GSP & L heavy-duty service trucks were among recent arrivals, one crew standing by in case of power problems, the other disconnecting gas service at the street main.
Representatives of press, TV and radio were arriving in growing numbers, eagerly asking questions of anyone who might answer. Two local radio stations were broadcasting live from the scene. The news was already international; AP and UPI had flashed bulletins nationwide and overseas.
Among the press corps, Nancy Molineaux was the center of attention by a group composed of several police detectives, an FBI special agent, and a young Assistant District Attorney. (The Assistant D.A. had been on the police operations center list.) Nancy answered as many questions as she could, but was evasive about the two cassette tapes which had already been collected from her as arranged. Under a stern near-threat from the Assistant D.A., she promised they would be handed to him within the next two hours. One detective, following discussions between his superiors and the Assistant D.A., left the group to telephone two instructions: Raid the house at 117 Crocker Street. Arrest Georgos Archambault and Davey Birdsong.
Through it all, police and firemen continued to hasten evacuation of the hotel.
Inevitably, as the hotel emptied, there were casualties. An elderly woman tripped on the concrete emergency stairs and fell heavily, breaking her hip and wrist. An ambulance crew carried her away, moaning, on a stretcher. A New England power company official had a heart attack after descending twenty flights and died on the way to the hospital. Another woman fell and suffered a concussion. Several more had minor cuts and bruises resulting from haste and congestion on the stairs.
There appeared to be no panic. Strangers helped each other. Boorishness or bad manners were almost nil. Some hardy spirits made jokes, helping others overcome their fear.
Once outside the hotel, evacuees were herded to a side street, two blocks away, where police cars had been parked to form a barricade. Fortunately, the night was mild and no one seemed to be suffering because of scanty clothing. After a while, a Red Cross van appeared and volunteer workers passed out coffee, doing what else they could to console people while they waited.
Nim Goldman and his family were among the early groups to reach the cordoned-off area. By then, Leah and Benjy were thoroughly awake, and now excited by what was happening. When he was satisfied that Ruth and the children were safe, and despite Ruth’s protests, Nim returned to the hotel. Afterward he realized he was foolhardy in the extreme, but at the time was prompted by the general heady excitement and the remembrance of two things. One was Nancy Molineaux’s hasty reference on the phone to “bombs disguised as fire extinguishers,” the other, the young man who, only yesterday, had placed a fire extinguisher behind a lobby chair while Nim and Wally Talbot watched. Nim wanted to make sure, with many people still in the hotel: Had that particular extinguisher been found?
By now it was close to 3 A.M.
Despite a stream of agitated guests emerging from the hotel’s main entrance, Nim managed to force his way back in. Once inside the lobby, he tried to get the attention of a passing fireman, but the man brushed him aside with a “not now, buddy,” and raced upstairs toward the mezzanine.
There seemed no one else in authority who was unoccupied, and Nim headed to where he had seen the fire extinguisher placed.
“Mr. Goldman! Mr. Goldman!” The call came from his right and a small man in civilian clothes, with a metal badge pinned to his breast pocket, hurried forward. Nim recognized Art Romeo, the shifty-appearing little deputy to Harry London in the Property Protection Department. The shield, Nim realized, was that of a GSP & L security officer, but it appeared to be giving Romeo authority.
Much later, Nim would discover that Art Romeo had been visiting the hotel, and was sharing a nocturnal poker game with out-of-town cronies from another utility, when the alarm was given. He had promptly pinned on his security badge and helped with the evacuation.
“Mr. Goldman, you must go outside!”
“Forget that! I need help.” Nim hurriedly explained about the fire extinguisher which he suspected was a bomb.
“Where is it, sir?”
“Over here.” Nim strode to where he had been seate
d yesterday and pulled a chair aside. The red extinguisher was where the young man in coveralls had left it.
Art Romeo’s voice took on authority. “Move away! Get out! Go!”
“No, it has to be …”
What happened next occurred so quickly that Nim had trouble afterward recalling the sequence of events.
He heard Romeo shout, “Officers! Over here!” Suddenly two brawny policemen were beside Nim, and Romeo was telling them, “This man refuses to leave. Take him outside!”
Without questioning the order, the policemen seized Nim and roughly frog-marched him toward the main front door. As Nim was thrust through it he managed to glance back. The little figure of Art Romeo had lifted the fire extinguisher and, with it clasped in his arms, was following.
Ignoring Nim’s protests, the policemen continued shoving him toward the evacuation area two blocks distant. When he was within a few yards of it, they released him. One said, “If you come back, mister, we’ll arrest you and you’ll be taken downtown and charged. We’re doing this for your own good.”
At that same instant there was the mighty roar of an explosion, followed by a cacophony of shattering glass.
In the days which followed, based on eyewitness accounts and official reports, it was possible to piece the various happenings together.
Using the information Nancy Molineaux had given the police operations center, obtained from the tape recordings and her notes, the bomb squad knew they had to look for high explosive bombs on the hotel’s main floor and mezzanine, incendiary bombs on the floors above. They had located—or so they thought—all the high explosive bombs and, with Army aid, removed them.
A bomb squad spokesman said next day, “In the circumstances, we and the Army boys took chances we wouldn’t have normally. We gambled that we’d have time to do what we did, and the gamble paid off. If we’d been wrong about the timing, God help us all!”
The bomb squad had been wrong, however, in believing they had located all the high explosive bombs. The one they missed was the one Nim remembered.