Day 3: The following is my account of the 1967 Detroit Riot, as excerpted from a diary I kept and I am now posting, in advance of each day, 50 years later.

Tuesday July 25, 1967
By Tuesday morning the city was clearly in shock as the extent of the damage and violence became known. Detroit was under the media magnifying glass of the nation and world. Television images revealed alarmingly large stretches of commercial avenues burned out.

“I rose at 10 AM this morning. I went out to get some groceries, but all my usual stores were still closed and, only after much walking, did I finally find one small store that was open. However it had no milk or bread. In the papers I read the death toll had climbed to 23 much of it due to sniper fire last night.”

I had been on a change-over layoff for the previous two weeks and was supposed to return to work on Monday. Work was cancelled on Monday due to high absenteeism seen in the early shift and we were instructed come in Tuesday.

This now proved challenging. My Nash Rambler has died on me a couple of weeks previous and I had been using the buses to get to and from work. My usual Warren Crosstown bus was shut down due to riot activity and I had to use a different route.

“I went to work going down Woodward to Cadillac Square where I caught a Vernor highway bus to the Rouge area. The slummy pawn shop area of Woodward had been badly burned out. Incidentally, it is now common knowledge that the riot in Detroit is the costliest ever in the nation's history. As I retire tonight the statistics are: damage $200 million, deaths 26 confirmed, injured 1000+, arrests 2600+ and fires nearly 1000!

“Work lasted only until 8 PM due to the curfew. After waiting 20 minutes for the Oakland bus, that never came, I walked over to Gate 4 [[about 3/4 mile) where I barely missed the last bus. So I and some Negro coworkers hitched a ride. This ride took me to the heart of the Westside ghetto at W. Grand Blvd. and Warren. All about were looted and burned out buildings. Fortunately I caught a cab home for $1.10. Ouch! [A lot of money for me back then.]

“Tonight has been idled away listening to the worsening sniper war that has been reported on the radio. The east side, which is patrolled by federal paratroopers, appears to be under control, but on the near west side, where the riot originally began, things are going badly. Sniper fire there became so intense that the authorities had to retreat, abandoning a 200 block area to the rioters [for the night] until tanks and armored personnel carriers can be brought in to regain control.

“This is all fantastic and unfortunate. Now the rioting has spread to other cities—Saginaw, Flint, Grand Rapids and Toledo are all reporting rioting, fires, looting and killings. One gets the feeling that everything is collapsing. Even now the sound of continual gunfire can be heard from my apartment. What a mess!

My brother called me to ask how I was doing and if I was anywhere near trouble. In answer I held the phone up and let the continual rumble of gunfire punctuated by machine gun bursts be my answer.

The riot had taken a disturbing turn taking on elements of a guerrilla war. Firefighters, police and national guard reported being targeted by snipers. Already strained and tiring firefighters, now including those from surrounding communities and even Windsor, had to wait for police protection. Many fires could not be fought and spread to nearby residential housing.

Tuesday night became dubbed “The Great Sniper War” with over 30 sniper instances being reported.

Read: Day 1 | Day 2