"All accounts agree that the demonstration was without violence until the construction workers reached the scene.

"The construction workers, most of them wearing brown overalls and orange and yellow hard hats, descended on Wall Street from four directions. A thin line of policemen had blocked off the steps of the Federal Hall National Memorial at Nassau and Wall Streets, from about a thousand students who were sitting on the sidewalk and pavement listening to speakers denounce the war abroad and repression at home.

"The morning was chilly, with a light rain. But toward noon the sky lightened and the day became warm and humid. The students were in good humor; they cheered a Broad Street lawyer, Charles F. Appel, 56 years old, who told the youths: 'You brought down one President and you'll bring down another.'

"Then came the moment of confrontation. The construction workers, marching behind a cluster of American flags, swept the policemen aside and moved on the students. The youths scattered, seeking refuge in the lunch hour crowds.

"The workers sought them out, some selecting those youths with the most hair and swatting them with their helmets.

"There did not seem to be more than 200 construction workers, but they were reinforced by hundreds of persons who had been drawn into the march by chants of 'All the way, U.S.A.' and 'Love it or leave it.'

"On reaching the Federal Hall National Memorial, the workers at first pushed halfheartedly against the police line. 'All we want to do is put our flag up on those steps,' one worker said quietly to Inspector Harold Schryner. 'If you try, there'll be blood to pay,' the inspector replied.

"But within two minutes the workers had surged over the memorial's steps, planting American flags on the statue of George Washington. Then they outflanked the police, driving demonstrators before them and hitting the youths with their helmets.