The Summer of ’65 Revisited – Part 5 – The Bikers Threaten to Return
The call came in from the Ohio State Police Intelligence Unit to the Ocean City Chief of Police. One of their undercover agents infiltrating criminal motorcycle gangs in that state reported that a group of Hells Angels with California rockers passed through and complained about being ticketed for speeding and kicked out of Ocean City, New Jersey, causing them much ridicule and embarrassment. They threatened to return to Ocean City with their entire club and all of their allies for a Labor Day run and ransack the town. This information was relayed orally with the request that the information not be put down on paper or documented or released to the press or the public in order to protect the identity of the undercover informant.
The Ocean City Police Department’s Intelligence Unit chief was already preoccupied with keeping tabs on the growing hippie threat, so much so that he had a surveillance team stationed above Shriver’s candy store to film those conjugating at Shriver’s Pavilion across the boardwalk.
Mrs. Helen Shriver Schilling, whose father started the candy store, now owned the entire block, all of the boardwalk movie theaters as well as the boardwalk parking lots. The boardwalk used to be a block further from the ocean but after the great fire of 1927 her father and other boardwalk property owners arranged for the new boardwalk to be built a block closer to the ocean, making the beach smaller, but giving them a free block of land, which was mainly converted to parking lots. And Mrs. Schilling was more than happy to assist the police in their monitoring of the drug crazed hippies that took over her pavilion and drove most of her friends away.
As his attention shifted from the growing hippie menace to the threat of an invasion of criminal bikers on the biggest holiday of the year, a policeman handed the chief a redacted FBI report.
FOR RESTRICTED EYES ONLY
AT APPROXIMATELY NINE PM MDS COMPOSED OF MOTOR CYCLISTS RIOTED AT WEIRS BEACH LOCATED ON LAKE WINNIPESAUKEE, NEW HAMPSHIRE. TWO HUNDRED NATIONAL GUARDSMEN RESPONDED COUPLED WITH RIOT TRAINED DEPUTIES FROM BELKNAP COUNTY AND LACONIA…POLICE DEPT.
DAMAGE HAS INCLUDED BURING OF BOARDWALK, OVERTURNING OF POLICE CRUISERS AND ADDITIONAL FIRES. RIOTERS HAMPERED FIRE FIGHTERS AND THUS FAR TEN HAVE BEEN ARRESTED. MATTER BEING FOLLOWED CLOSELY BY BOSTON AND BUREAU WILL BE KEPT ADVISED. END
FBI WASHINGTON DC
JUNE 23 1965
LACONIA, NEW HAMPSHIRE Riotous conditions developed at Weirs Beach located on Lake Winnipesaukee at Laconia, New Hampshire, on the night of June 19, 1965, when a crowd of 6,000 to 10,000 men and women who had congregated on Lakeside Avenue at the resort became disorderly and defined the local police.
NATURE OF THE CROWD The crowd was composed primarily of motorcyclists from all parts of the United States who were in the area to attend the annual motorcycle races at nearby Loudon, New Hampshire. Most of the individuals were in their twenties or early thirties.
INITIAL INCIDENTS: Trouble first occurred at about 7:00 p.m. on June 19, 1965, when someone threw a smoke bomb and the crowd converged in that area. Several more smoke bombs were thrown in the next hour with similar results. The crowd became disorderly and noisy, taunted police officers with vulgar and profane remarks, and interfered with traffic.
RIOTING ERUPTS: By 9:00 p.m. the crowd had become an unruly mob completely defiant of police orders. Members of the mob fought among themselves, threw firecrackers, rocks and over turned two automobiles, one of which caught fire. An unsuccessful attempt was made to burn a bowling alley by pouring gasoline into the air-conditioning system of the building and igniting it. At 9:30 p.m., traffic was completely stopped in the area and some of the motorcyclists were drag racing amid the mob.
POLICE ACTION: The Riot Squad of the Laconia Police Department, consisting of thirty men, moved into the area at 10:10 p.m. equipped with shotguns and other riot gear. They were met with a barrage of flying objects from the mob which refused to move. At that time the local police were joined by sixty New Hampshire State Police troopers and by officials of the Belknap County Sheriff’s Office. Tear gas was used by the police with little effect, the mob still refusing to disperse. Shotguns were then brought into play by the police who fired birdshot at the feet of the rioters Approximately 200 members of the National Guard detail assisted the police in the clean-up operation. A rumor that the motorcyclists would attempt a similar riotous disturbance on the night of June 20th 1965 did not materialize. As of 12:45 a.m., June 21, all of the motorcyclists had left the area and conditions were quiet.
ARRESTS AND INJURIES Thirty-three rioters were arrested and each is being held in custody in default of $500 cash bond. Fifty were charged with failure to disperse under a new State anti-riot law, eleven were charged with participating in a riot and the remaining were held on charges of drunkenness or assaulting an officer. Thirty-one rioters were treated for birdshot wounds at the Laconia General Hospital. Two of the injured reportedly received eye injuries. Several police officers were victims of minor injuries. REDACTED……
CAUSE OF THE RIOT: no evidence to indicate that any racial aspects were involved or that subversive, radical, or criminal influences were present.
NOTE: See memorandum W.C. Sullivan to A. H. Belmont….original to White House,…copies to General Counsel, President and Attorney General. The mayor then read aloud a report from the Attorney General of California: “On July Fourth, 1965, the Oakland Hell’s Angels made a ‘run’ to Willits, California. An advance group of 30 entered the city the previous day and by the afternoon of the Fourth there were some 120 motorcyclists and their female companions congregating at a local bar. Periodic fighting between the motorcyclists and the local citizens broke out with beer bottles, belts made from motorcycle chains, and metal beer can openers being used as weapons…Assistance was obtained from the California Highway Patrol….and the group was instructed by the chief of police to move out of town to the city limits.”
The mayor then said, “I’ve contacted Governor Hughes and he’s prepared to help us. He said that he will make a contingent of State troopers available to us, as well as the 300 cadets at the State Police Academy, and put the National Guard on alert in case they are needed. The President and Attorney General have also been advised and they have indicated they will back us if we need any national support.
“The president of the United States?” the chief said incredulously.
“Yes,” the mayor said. “The President of the United States has taken a personal interest in this matter. I’ve also informed Mr. Kirkman and he said for us to take care of it. So I’ve asked Mr. Stretch the public safety commissioner to work with you and come up with a contingency plan that will effectively deal with over one thousand outlaw bikers and ensure the public safety is maintained. Now get to it.”
Next Up in the On Deck Circle - THE SUMMER OF ’65 – PART SIX – The Hangover League Plays Ball
The call came in from the Ohio State Police Intelligence Unit to the Ocean City Chief of Police. One of their undercover agents infiltrating criminal motorcycle gangs in that state reported that a group of Hells Angels with California rockers passed through and complained about being ticketed for speeding and kicked out of Ocean City, New Jersey, causing them much ridicule and embarrassment. They threatened to return to Ocean City with their entire club and all of their allies for a Labor Day run and ransack the town. This information was relayed orally with the request that the information not be put down on paper or documented or released to the press or the public in order to protect the identity of the undercover informant.
The Ocean City Police Department’s Intelligence Unit chief was already preoccupied with keeping tabs on the growing hippie threat, so much so that he had a surveillance team stationed above Shriver’s candy store to film those conjugating at Shriver’s Pavilion across the boardwalk.
Mrs. Helen Shriver Schilling, whose father started the candy store, now owned the entire block, all of the boardwalk movie theaters as well as the boardwalk parking lots. The boardwalk used to be a block further from the ocean but after the great fire of 1927 her father and other boardwalk property owners arranged for the new boardwalk to be built a block closer to the ocean, making the beach smaller, but giving them a free block of land, which was mainly converted to parking lots. And Mrs. Schilling was more than happy to assist the police in their monitoring of the drug crazed hippies that took over her pavilion and drove most of her friends away.
As his attention shifted from the growing hippie menace to the threat of an invasion of criminal bikers on the biggest holiday of the year, a policeman handed the chief a redacted FBI report.
FOR RESTRICTED EYES ONLY
AT APPROXIMATELY NINE PM MDS COMPOSED OF MOTOR CYCLISTS RIOTED AT WEIRS BEACH LOCATED ON LAKE WINNIPESAUKEE, NEW HAMPSHIRE. TWO HUNDRED NATIONAL GUARDSMEN RESPONDED COUPLED WITH RIOT TRAINED DEPUTIES FROM BELKNAP COUNTY AND LACONIA…POLICE DEPT.
DAMAGE HAS INCLUDED BURING OF BOARDWALK, OVERTURNING OF POLICE CRUISERS AND ADDITIONAL FIRES. RIOTERS HAMPERED FIRE FIGHTERS AND THUS FAR TEN HAVE BEEN ARRESTED. MATTER BEING FOLLOWED CLOSELY BY BOSTON AND BUREAU WILL BE KEPT ADVISED. END
FBI WASHINGTON DC
JUNE 23 1965
LACONIA, NEW HAMPSHIRE Riotous conditions developed at Weirs Beach located on Lake Winnipesaukee at Laconia, New Hampshire, on the night of June 19, 1965, when a crowd of 6,000 to 10,000 men and women who had congregated on Lakeside Avenue at the resort became disorderly and defined the local police.
NATURE OF THE CROWD The crowd was composed primarily of motorcyclists from all parts of the United States who were in the area to attend the annual motorcycle races at nearby Loudon, New Hampshire. Most of the individuals were in their twenties or early thirties.
INITIAL INCIDENTS: Trouble first occurred at about 7:00 p.m. on June 19, 1965, when someone threw a smoke bomb and the crowd converged in that area. Several more smoke bombs were thrown in the next hour with similar results. The crowd became disorderly and noisy, taunted police officers with vulgar and profane remarks, and interfered with traffic.
RIOTING ERUPTS: By 9:00 p.m. the crowd had become an unruly mob completely defiant of police orders. Members of the mob fought among themselves, threw firecrackers, rocks and over turned two automobiles, one of which caught fire. An unsuccessful attempt was made to burn a bowling alley by pouring gasoline into the air-conditioning system of the building and igniting it. At 9:30 p.m., traffic was completely stopped in the area and some of the motorcyclists were drag racing amid the mob.
POLICE ACTION: The Riot Squad of the Laconia Police Department, consisting of thirty men, moved into the area at 10:10 p.m. equipped with shotguns and other riot gear. They were met with a barrage of flying objects from the mob which refused to move. At that time the local police were joined by sixty New Hampshire State Police troopers and by officials of the Belknap County Sheriff’s Office. Tear gas was used by the police with little effect, the mob still refusing to disperse. Shotguns were then brought into play by the police who fired birdshot at the feet of the rioters Approximately 200 members of the National Guard detail assisted the police in the clean-up operation. A rumor that the motorcyclists would attempt a similar riotous disturbance on the night of June 20th 1965 did not materialize. As of 12:45 a.m., June 21, all of the motorcyclists had left the area and conditions were quiet.
ARRESTS AND INJURIES Thirty-three rioters were arrested and each is being held in custody in default of $500 cash bond. Fifty were charged with failure to disperse under a new State anti-riot law, eleven were charged with participating in a riot and the remaining were held on charges of drunkenness or assaulting an officer. Thirty-one rioters were treated for birdshot wounds at the Laconia General Hospital. Two of the injured reportedly received eye injuries. Several police officers were victims of minor injuries. REDACTED……
CAUSE OF THE RIOT: no evidence to indicate that any racial aspects were involved or that subversive, radical, or criminal influences were present.
NOTE: See memorandum W.C. Sullivan to A. H. Belmont….original to White House,…copies to General Counsel, President and Attorney General. The mayor then read aloud a report from the Attorney General of California: “On July Fourth, 1965, the Oakland Hell’s Angels made a ‘run’ to Willits, California. An advance group of 30 entered the city the previous day and by the afternoon of the Fourth there were some 120 motorcyclists and their female companions congregating at a local bar. Periodic fighting between the motorcyclists and the local citizens broke out with beer bottles, belts made from motorcycle chains, and metal beer can openers being used as weapons…Assistance was obtained from the California Highway Patrol….and the group was instructed by the chief of police to move out of town to the city limits.”
The mayor then said, “I’ve contacted Governor Hughes and he’s prepared to help us. He said that he will make a contingent of State troopers available to us, as well as the 300 cadets at the State Police Academy, and put the National Guard on alert in case they are needed. The President and Attorney General have also been advised and they have indicated they will back us if we need any national support.
“The president of the United States?” the chief said incredulously.
“Yes,” the mayor said. “The President of the United States has taken a personal interest in this matter. I’ve also informed Mr. Kirkman and he said for us to take care of it. So I’ve asked Mr. Stretch the public safety commissioner to work with you and come up with a contingency plan that will effectively deal with over one thousand outlaw bikers and ensure the public safety is maintained. Now get to it.”
Next Up in the On Deck Circle - THE SUMMER OF ’65 – PART SIX – The Hangover League Plays Ball
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