(Also contributing to this article were staff writers Russell Cooke, Jim Detjen, Joyce Gemperlein, Tom Infield, Larry Lewis, Vernon Loeb, Dianna Marder, William W. Sutton Jr., Robert J. Terry and Fawn Vrazo.)
In a long, contentious news conference at City Hall yesterday, Mayor Goode and his top aides disagreed with each other on the most basic questions concerning the events Monday that left at least 11 people dead at the MOVE compound in West Philadelphia.
The uncertainty that has reigned since Monday continued as Goode, Police Commissioner Gregore J. Sambor and Fire Commissioner William C. Richmond made contradictory remarks about how the fire that destroyed or damaged 61 homes started; whether authorities deliberately let the MOVE house burn after police dropped explosives on its roof, and whether police exchanged gunfire with MOVE members in the alley outside the burning house.
Goode, for instance, said that as far as he knew, police never fired any shots in the alley behind the burning MOVE house. Sambor, however, said at one point that police officers "did return fire. " Then he qualified that by saying he believed that they fired shots. Finally, after conferring with aides, he said he was certain that they did no shooting.
In discussing who decided to permit the fire to burn - conflicting reports put the length of time at half an hour to an hour - before trying to put it out, Sambor said: "The decision was made to let the bunker burn. I made the recommendation, and it was concurred in by the fire commissioner."
Richmond, however, did not answer directly, but said the events are still under study.
"There was a hell of a lot going on that day, and there were a lot of incidents," Sambor told reporters who continued to question him after the news conference. "Do you remember everything you do every day, and can you recount it, and can you recount it under fire? Then please give me that same damn consideration."
Although most of the news conference dealt with the events of Monday, Goode sought in an opening announcement to look to the future. He unveiled a three- part, $6 million to $7 million plan to rebuild the fire-ravaged neighborhood and reimburse homeless victims.
He said the city would establish three funds, one to rebuild the 61 destroyed or fire-damaged homes in and around the 6200 block of Osage Avenue at a cost of roughly $4.6 million; the second to reimburse fire victims for lost personal belongings and furniture at a cost of $2 million, and the third to provide for the relocation of residents who elect to live somewhere else.
In City Council yesterday, perhaps reflecting the deep divisions within the city, Council members voted 9-8 against a proposal to authorize an investigation independent of the one the mayor announced earlier this week.
Elsewhere in the city, Goode received a strong vote of confidence for his handling of the MOVE crisis from black ministers, who offered prayers and hymns on Osage Avenue.
Meanwhile, at 6221 Osage Ave., the site of what had been the MOVE compound, authorities continued to dig through the charred rubble, using a huge red excavating crane and smaller yellow earth movers.
They found no new bodies beyond the 11 - including four children - dug up Tuesday and Wednesday. But they did find a human arm, believed to belong to a previously recovered victim, two .38-caliber handguns and evidence that the basement and rooftop bunkers had been reinforced with 16-inch-thick railroad ties.
Assistant Managing Director Clarence Mosley said late yesterday afternoon that the excavation of the MOVE compound had been completed, with the exception of a rear garage area and a section leading into the alley. He said that when searchers resumed their digging today, they would begin working in three adjacent homes, where, police believe, MOVE members may have fled during the fire.
Mosley said investigators had dug through the concrete floor of the basement without finding any sign of tunnels. Rumors of tunnels had, at one point, prompted speculation that MOVE members might have escaped the inferno.
In the medical examiner's office, officials who were busy with the grisly and extraordinarily difficult business of identifying the bodies enlisted the assistance of the FBI yesterday. City Health Commissioner Stuart Shapiro said initial studies found no evidence of metal in the bodies.
"We have X-rayed each of the bodies, and at this time, we see no evidence of bullet fragments," he said. However, he said that given the condition of the bodies, it was possible that some victims had been shot and that fragments were not present.
Public concern for the 250 individuals left homeless by the fire continued to produce massive private donations of food, clothing and money. Among the larger contributions announced yesterday were $100,000 from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, $100,000 from the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania and $100,000 from an anonymous donor in the name of the Sisters of Mercy, who run Misericordia Hospital, the medical facility closest to the devastated area.
In Washington, Samuel R. Pierce Jr., secretary of Housing and Urban Development, announced that he would tour the Osage Avenue neighborhood this morning. He is then expected to explain the extent to which the federal government will provide housing subsidies and reconstruction money.
Pierce will be joined in his tour by Mayor Goode and Pennsylvania's two Republican senators, Arlen Specter and John Heinz 3d.
In Harrisburg, Gov. Thornburgh said late yesterday that he was still awaiting a formal request from Goode that the neighborhood be declared a disaster area. Goode said earlier in the day that the city had already made such a request.
In Philadelphia, Council members, after defeating the proposed investigation, met privately in their caucus room with Goode for more than an hour. But many of them, including some who had been supportive of the mayor in the past, came away dissatisfied.
"Nothing has been resolved for me," Councilman John F. Street told reporters. "There's a serious unresolved issue as to why the situation was allowed to develop to the point that it developed before any action was taken."
"There's a serious unresolved issue as to why any explosive device was used at all with the children in the building. There's a serious unresolved issue as to why no immediate effort was made to fight the fire once the fire was started. There's a serious unresolved issue as to why even after the fire was started and appeared to get out of hand, adequate efforts weren't made to contain it."
The day culminated with a tense, often argumentative news conference late yesterday afternoon at City Hall. There, Goode, Sambor and Richmond sought once again to address the key strategy decisions in the operation Monday.
On how the fire started, Goode said he remained unsure. "The only thing that I have seen was some film from a TV station that in fact showed the throwing of an object (the bomb dropped from a police helicopter) against a (rooftop) bunker. Shortly thereafter, there were some flames that I saw on the TV camera."
Sambor, however, stuck to his "personal opinion," which has received considerable attention in the media, that MOVE members may have "started or assisted" the fire. He said his opinion was based on the 15-minute delay between the dropping of the bomb on the roof and the sighting of the first flames.
On the issue of whether police traded gunfire with MOVE members who ventured out of the burning building, three knowledgeable police officials were divided on the issue, one telling that The Inquirer they did, one saying they did not and one saying he was not sure.
Sources told The Inquirer that police stakeout officers were the targets of gunfire as they rescued 13-year-old Birdie Ward Africa, who had emerged from the house with Ramona Johnson Africa, 30. When a police officer grabbed the boy, the police officials said, Ramona Africa apparently signaled to the flaming MOVE house and ducked as MOVE members inside the house opened fire.
Sambor, after giving conflicting answers to the question, said he was sure that police withheld fire "for fear of hitting the child. "
Richmond, in answering a question about the delay in vigorously fighting the fire, pleaded for more time for city officials to investigate the incident.
"We just spent three hours (yesterday) trying to piece together, in a reasonably accurate time frame, the sequence of events. I said this two days ago, and I still say it again. My professional ability has been challenged; my integrity has been questioned. There are those who would threaten my job, not to mention my life. . . . On the basis of those points, we are entitled to the time to do a proper presentation of events. You have to give us the courtesy of preparing a proper presentation."
Earlier in the day, at its regular weekly meeting, City Council engaged in a restrained but intense debate before opting not to appoint a commission of its own to investigate Monday's events and the decisions that produced them. Council President Joseph E. Coleman cast the decisive vote in defeating the proposal to create the commission.
On Wednesday, Goode announced that he would appoint a commission, perhaps as early as next week, to investigate all elements of the disaster on Osage Avenue. He said the commission would be "independent," in the sense that it would include no members of his own administration.
The assault Monday on the MOVE compound ultimately led to a six-hour, six-alarm fire that destroyed 53 homes and burned at least eight others.
Ramona Africa and Birdie Africa are the only two residents of the home known to have escaped the fire. Ramona Africa was being held at the House of Corrections in lieu of $3.25 million bail on several charges. She was taken yesterday afternoon to the prison department's medical facility for treatment of second-degree burns over 40 percent of her body.
Prisons Superintendent David Owens said her condition had deteriorated but had not reached the point of being life-threatening. He said the woman had not indicated whether she would submit to treatment. Asked what prison officials would do if she refused, he said, "We will do what we can."
The boy, Birdie Ward Africa, 13, was listed in good condition at Children's Hospital, where he was being treated for burns.
Authorities, who were uncertain how many people were inside the MOVE house when the siege began early Monday morning, could not say whether all the group's members were now accounted for, whether more bodies would be found or whether some individuals remained at large.
Yesterday, for the first time, reporters were allowed to enter the 6200 blocks of Osage Avenue and Pine Street to view the full extent of the devastation.
On Pine, where houses on the south side were destroyed, everything on the north side facing south was blackened or melted - automobiles, vinyl tops, tires, trees, telephone poles. The devastated south side of the street, where all that remained standing were brick outer walls and steel beams, was so hot - three days after the fire - that the rubble was still smoldering and firefighters were still pouring water on it.
On Osage, where the pavement was still hot under foot, all that was left of most of the block were the shared brick firewalls. At 6221, where the MOVE house had stood, there was not even that much. There was just a huge gap, a pile of dirt and debris at basement depth with metal pipes, bottle and cans sticking out.
Outside, on the opposite sidewalk, there were piles of evidence gathered by investigators - a waist-high stack of soaking wet manuscripts from trials involving MOVE members, carcasses of dogs on a yellow body bag, brass shell casings, a newly recovered handgun and what appeared to be an antique spinning wheel. Nearby, police wearing baseball caps gingerly sifted through the debris with pitchforks, rakes and their hands.
At 11 a.m., at the barricaded east end of the block, 23 ministers from an organization known as the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity set up two amplifiers and a podium, then conducted an event that was part news conference, part prayer vigil.
The group's president, Dr. O. Urcille Ifill Sr., spoke for his fellow ministers, declaring their "universal support for Mayor W. Wilson Goode and his handling of the MOVE situation. He had a difficult decision to make, and he made it. . . . Our community has been severely wounded in body and spirit. We must begin the process of healing immediately."
He said the group had declared this Sunday, May 19, and Sunday, May 26, as Cobbs Creek Emergency Fund Days and would urge all churches to conduct special collections for area residents who lost their homes and belongings.
Then Dr. James Allen, minister of the Vine Memorial Baptist Church, delivered a stirring prayer, saying that the disaster had "troubled the city,
from City Hall to the pulpits of the churches to the hearts of the nation. . . . From this, we will learn that we are our brother's keeper."
With that, one minister spontaneously started to sing the hymn, "God Will Take Care of You." In seconds, he was joined by the others, their voices deep and loud, their faces streaked with tears.
But their sentiments were not shared by a nationally prominent black clergyman. Dr. Josephy R. Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, blasted the Philadelphia Police Department and accused it of a "mentality . . . still very much pervaded by the ghost of (former Mayor) Frank Rizzo."
Lowery, in a statement issued by his office in Atlanta, said city officials must show "more sensitivity to the well-being of citizens, including children." He concluded, "This bombastic action has created far more problems than were resolved and failed absolutely to address the critical issues posed by the dissidents."
At Goode's news conference, city officials were asked whether they would have allowed a city block to burn in a white neigbhorhood.
Fire Commissioner Richmond, who was at the podium when the question was asked, called the question unfair and declined to respond. But Goode did have an answer.
"I will just simply take that as a question that, as the mayor of this city, to simply say that that issue did not enter into anything at all in this overall situation. None whatsoever."
After the news conference, Thomas O. Muldoon, president of the Philadelphia Visitors and Convention Bureau, said that it appeared that Willard Rouse 3d, developer of the 60-story Liberty Place tower in Center City, would be the prime developer for the West Philadelphia rebuilding project.
But Rouse, who said his company had sent some preliminary sketches and plans to the city along with estimated costs and timetables, added that other firms might be involved. Two others companies that have offered plans are Daniel J. Keating Co. of Villanova and the Korman Corp. of Trevose.
The last time police converged on a MOVE headquarters to evict members of the radical group was on Aug. 8, 1978, when the group was housed in a large twin Victorian home in the Powelton Village section. On that occasion, during the Rizzo administration, police stormed the building after attempting to force members out through a 55-day blockade.
In that attack, one police officer, James Ramp, was killed and several other police and firefighters were wounded in an exchange of gunfire between MOVE and police. Before the day was over, authorities bulldozed the house. Nine MOVE members were convicted on murder charges and are serving prison terms.
About four years ago, MOVE members began to take up residence in the Osage Avenue house, which is owned and was then occupied by Louise James, the sister of MOVE co-founder John Africa.
Neighbors complained to city officials about serious sanitation and noise problems in the home, and about the nightlong, obscenity-filled tirades that blasted out over the group's roof-mounted loudspeaker system. These complaints built in a crescendo in the last few weeks, increasing pressure on the city to take action.
On Sunday, after negotiations between the city and MOVE broke down, the clash between the group and its neighbors moved rapidly toward a climax. Late in the day, city officials ordered all residents around the Osage Avenue address to vacate their homes.
At 5:35 a.m. Monday, Police Commissioner Sambor issued an ultimatum: ''Attention, MOVE. This is America. You have to abide by the laws of the United States." He gave the members 15 minutes to evacuate their compound.
When that time expired, an intermittent, two-hour gun battle broke out while city officials attempted to destroy MOVE's rooftop bunker by pelting it with torrents of water from deluge guns. Throughout the day, police sharpshooters in riot helmets and bulletproof vests kept watch from nearby roofs.
Shortly before 5:30 p.m., a police helicopter swooped low over the house and dropped a canvas bag containing explosives onto the roof. Within an hour, the entire house was on fire, and the blaze spread quickly as firefighters, some of whom were being shot at by MOVE members, took cover and did not try to extinguish what rapidly became an inferno.
The fire ultimately consumed both sides of the 6200 block of Osage Avenue and most of the south side of Pine Street.
MOVE - the name is not an acronym and does not stand for anything in particular - is a controversial organization that says it shuns technology. All of its members take the surname Africa.