Sam Melville

Infobox Criminal
subject_name = Samuel Melville


image_size =
image_caption =
date_of_birth = 1934
place_of_birth = Tonawanda, New York, USA
date_of_death = death date|1971|9|13
place_of_death = Attica, New York, USA
education =
occupation = draftsman
spouse = Ruth
charge = conspiracy, explosives
penalty = 18 years in prison
parents = Dorothy and William

Samuel Joseph Melville (born Samuel Joseph Grossman, 1934 – September 13, 1971), was the principal conspirator and bomb setter in the 1969 bombings of eight government and commercial office buildings in New York City. cite news
url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00A15F6355B107B93C1A8178AD95F4D8685F9
last= Treaster
first= Joseph B
title= Court Building Bombed; F.B.I. Seizes 2 at Armory
date= 1969-11-13
publisher= The New York Times
quote= A bomb extensively damaged a part of the fifth floor of the New York City Criminal Courts Building last night in the fourth explosion in a Manhattan public building in two days.
accessdate= 2007-12-12 ] Melville cited his opposition to the Vietnam War and U.S. imperialism as the motivation for the bombings. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to bombing the Federal Office Building in lower Manhattan, as well as to assaulting a marshal in a failed escape attempt. cite news
url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0A16FA385A157493C7A9178ED85F448785F9
last= Lubasch
first= Arnold H
title= 3 in Bombing Plot Plead Guilty Here
date= 1970-05-05
publisher= The New York Times
quote= A bomb extensively damaged a part of the fifth floor of the New York City Criminal Courts Building last night in the fourth explosion in a Manhattan public building in two days.
accessdate= 2007-12-12 ] A key figure in the 1971 Attica Prison riots, he was shot and killed when the uprising was put down by force. cite news
url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F5081EFE3B5C177B93C7A81782D85F458785F9
last= Tomasson
first= Robert E
title= Melville, Attica Radical, Dead; Recently Wrote of Jail Terror
date= 1971-09-15
publisher= The New York Times
quote= Samuel J. Melville, the terrorist radical who pleaded guilty to the 1969 bombings of eight buildings in Manhattan, was one of the Attica prisoners killed Monday by state sharpshooters, Deputy Correction Commissioner Walter Dunbar said yesterday.
accessdate= 2007-12-12 ]

Early life

Sam Melville (a name borrowed from author Herman Melville) was born to Dorothy and William Grossman in 1934 in New York City. Dorothy left William and moved with Sam back to her hometown of Tonawanda, New York, a suburb of Buffalo. Melville lost sight in one eye at a young age due to a flying cinder. He claimed to have had a rough childhood due to his mother's series of alcoholic and abusive boyfriends. He left home and moved to Buffalo as a teenager, making his living as a bowling alley pinsetter.

Melville later met his father, who had come to Western New York to look for him. His father convinced him to move back to New York City, finish his high school education and pursue his passion for singing. Back in New York Melville completed high school, studied singing, found employment as a draftsman, got married and started a family.

Politics

Melville enjoyed his job but hated the company he worked for. When he was ordered to work on a project for Chase Manhattan Bank designing new offices in the then apartheid based Union of South Africa, Melville became outraged and quit his job. This contributed to a rift and eventual estrangement from his wife and child cite book
last= Pickering
first= Leslie James
title= Mad Bomber Melville
publisher= Arissa Media Group
date= 2007
pages=
isbn= 978-0974288444 ]

Melville survived on odd jobs, including working for the Guardian, a leftist weekly newspaper published in New York City. He joined various groups in opposition to the Vietnam War, became familiar with social issues, and met many radical activists. Melville became interested in the story of George Metesky, who had terrorized the city with 37 bombings of theaters, terminals, libraries and offices between 1940 and 1956 and was then in a state mental hospital. cite news
url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40815FF385D127A93C1A81789D95F478785F9
last= Kaufman
first= Michael T
title= Mad Bomber,' Now 70, Goes Free Today
date= 1973-12-13
publisher= The New York Times
quote= George Metesky, the onetime "Mad Bomber," who for 16 years in the nineteen-forties and fifties terrorized the city with the explosives he set off in theaters, terminals, libraries and offices, is going home to Waterbury today.
accessdate= 2007-12-12 ] Melville began writing "George Metesky Was Here" on buildings around the city.

Bombings

Melville was responsible for at least the following bombings, all of them in 1969. The majority were preceded by telephone calls warning building security personnel and featured simultaneous political communiques to the press. Although most explosions were timed for late-night hours, the bombing of the Marine Midland Building resulted in 19 injuries.

* July 27, Grace Pier, owned by United Fruit Company
* Aug 20, Marine Midland Building
* Sept. 19, Federal Office Building on Federal Plaza, offices of the Department of Commerce and the Army Inspector General
* Oct. 7, Army Induction Center on Whitehall Street
* Nov. 11, Standard Oil offices in the RCA Building
* Nov. 11, Chase Manhattan Bank headquarters offices
* Nov. 11, General Motors Building
* Nov. 12, New York City Criminal Courts Building on Center Street, where the Panther 21 trial was being held.

Accomplices

Melville had met and become romantically involved with Jane Alpert, a recent graduate from Swarthmore College, while she was enrolled in a graduate program in journalism at Columbia University. The pair were also close with Pat Swinton and Dave Hughey who assisted them with several bombings. Other members of their group were never identified. Melville and Alpert became increasingly involved with the Weather Underground and the Black Panther Party.

Arrest and charges

Melville had been working with George Demmerle, a well known radical activist in New York. Demmerle was an FBI informant, and assisted in the gathering of evidence and apprehension of the group. On November 12, 1969, hours after the Criminal Courts Building bombing, police arrested Melville and Demmerle as they placed dynamite charges in National Guard trucks parked outside the 69th Regimental Armory at 26th Street and Lexington Avenue. Alpert and Hughey were arrested shortly thereafter. cite news
url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40D12F83E591A7493C6A8178AD95F4D8685F9
last= Arnold
first= Martin
title= F. B. I. CHARGES 4 WITH 8 BOMBINGS HERE SINCE JULY
date= 1969-11-14
publisher= The New York Times
quote= The Federal Bureau of Investigation charged three men and a woman yesterday with being left-radical terrorists who had set off the bombs in eight major corporate and governmental structures in the city since July.
accessdate= 2007-12-12 ]

Escape attempt

On March 7, 1970 Melville overpowered an unarmed marshal at the Federal Courthouse and tried to escape. During a conference with his attorney on a Saturday, when the building was almost deserted, he jumped the marshal, knocked him down and tied him up with his own belt before running out of the room and down a stairway. Melville was recaptured by an armed marshal on a landing two floors below. cite news
url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70C15FD3C5A157493C0A81788D85F448785F9
last= Whitney
first= Craig R.
title= Suspect in Bombing Conspiracy Foiled in an Attempt to Escape
date= 1970-03-12
publisher= The New York Times
quote= Samuel J. Melville, accused of being the explosives expert in a group that was alleged to have bombed six buildings in Manhattan last fall, overpowered an unarmed marshal and tried to escape from custody at the Federal Courthouse last Saturday.
accessdate= 2007-12-12 ]

Imprisonment and death at Attica

Melville was eventually transferred to Attica Prison in Western New York. There he began an underground publication called Iced Pig and began to organize the prison population to fight for better conditions. Melville and Tommy Hicks are thought to be among the principal organizers of the Attica Prison riots in September 1971, in which ten hostages and twenty-nine inmates were killed. Melville was killed on September 13th when the uprising was put down by force.

Legacy

A book was published with the letters he wrote from prison, "Letters From Attica", with a foreword by William Kunstler, and additional contributions by Jane Alpert and John Cohen.

On the basis of the text of a letter he wrote on May 16, 1970, Frederic Rzewski wrote a musical composition, "Coming Together". The text used is

Prettyquote|I think the combination of age and the greater coming together is responsible for the speed of the passing time. it's six months now and i can tell you truthfully few periods in my life have passed so quickly. i am in excellent physical and emotional health. there are doubtless subtle surprises ahead but i feel secure and ready.

As lovers will contrast their emotions in times of crisis, so am i dealing with my environment. in the indifferent brutality, incessant noise, the experimental chemistry of food, the ravings of lost hysterical men, i can act with clarity and meaning. i am deliberate--sometimes even calculating--seldom employing histrionics except as a test of the reactions of others. i read much, exercise, talk to guards and inmates, feeling for the inevitable direction of my life.

On August 28, 2000, a Federal judge awarded $8 million to the survivors of the Attica riots. The son of Sam Melville, Josh Melville, was awarded $25,000.

References

Further reading

*Leslie James Pickering. "Mad Bomber Melville". (paperback). 2007; Portland, Oregon: Arissa Media Group, 2007. ISBN 978-0974288444.