Humid
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Mostly cloudy, warm and humid today; a little cooler tonight. Scattered thunderstorms likely today and ending tonight. High today mid 90s. Low tonight 65 to 71. Rain probability 60 percent today and 40 percent tonight.
81st Year, No.4 The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas Wednesday, Sept. 2, 1970
Bumper Stickers
See page 6
No Killer Named
Coroner's Inquest Sheds Little Light on Rice Death
Grim Reminders of a Tragic Day in Lawrence
. . Harry Rice, Nick's father, enters courtroom for inquest
'End-the-War' Attempt Fails in Senate, 55-39
WASHINGTON (UPI) With young people watching intently from the galleries, the Senate Tuesday rejected, 55 to 39, an "end-the-war amendment" that would have forced President Nixon to withdraw from Indochina by the end of 1971.
"The next move is up to the people, to the voters who will be going to the polls in November," said Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif., moments after defeat of the last major Senate anti-war drive of the year.
Only seven Republicans joined 32 Democrats in voting for the McGovern-Hatfield proposal, and administration forces portrayed the result as a vote of confidence in Nixon's withdrawal policy.
Their defeat was assured when such solid antiwar Republicans as Sens. John Sherman Cooper, Ky., and Charles Percy, Ill., sided with the administration, arguing that adoption of the amendment might jeopardize the Paris peace talks.
Fourteen senators, including the Democratic and Republican
leaders, urged President Nixon Tuesday to propose a cease fire throughout Vietnam in an effort to try to move stalled Paris peace talks off dead center.
See END WAR page 6
By DAVID BARTEL
Kansan Staff Writer
Few of the questions surrounding the shooting death of a University of Kansas student during a July 20 disturbance near the KU campus were answered Tuesday at a Douglas County Coroner's inquest
The shooting victim, Harry Nicholas "Nick" Rice, 19, was a KU freshman last year and had been working this summer as a surgical assistant at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Kansas City. He was not sure he would return to KU this fall because he drew number 27 in the draft lottery and thought he might be drafted, his mother, Mrs. Harry Rice of Kansas City, said.
Rice was shot the night of July 20 on the sidewalk in front of 1233 Oread during a street battle between self-proclaimed "street people" and Lawrence police in the 1200 block of Oread.
After hearing seven hours of testimony and deliberating about one hour, the coroner's jury of six Lawrence businessmen ruled the death was caused by a person or persons unknown, by means of a gunshot wound.
The written verdict of the jury stated: "There was not sufficient evidence presented to determine whether the death was or was not caused feloniously."
Rice's girlfriend, Cecily "Sam" Stevens, a KU graduate student, was with Rice during the entire evening and staunchly denied that he was involved in the street battle.
"I just want to make it clear," she said at the end of her testi-
money, "that he wasn't involved in any confrontation."
Rice's mother, who graduated from KU, also wanted her son's connection with the July disturbances clarified.
Both of Rice's parents graduated from KU. His father, a Kansas City insurance man, and his mother were present at the inquest and both, particularly Mrs. Rice, were upset with the hearing.
"What really shakes me up," Mrs. Rice said during a recess, "is that they're trying to prove what was happening in the area, not where Nick was, to exonerate the police."
"I played in this courtroom as a child and worked downstairs in the Register of Deeds office while I was in college. It doesn't seem possible that I'm here for this now."
From the day of testimony by 24 witnesses it is possible to construct the following chronological account of what happened the day of the shooting and how Rice probably was killed.
Rice worked that day—a Monday—at the hospital and in the early evening met Miss Stevens, his fiancee of three days, at the Kansas City bus terminal for a date. He had received a parking ticket on a previous visit to Lawrence, according to both Mrs. Rice and Miss Stevens, and decided that they should go there for their date and at the same time pay the ticket, "so he wouldn't get in trouble," Miss Stevens recalled.
'Single Tactic' Plan
SMC Presents Platform
Rice, Miss Stevens, and another witness, James Shofstall, also a KU freshman last year, arrived in Lawrence about 7 or 7:30 p.m. They went directly to the police station to pay the ticket, but Rice was told to mail the payment or come back when the clerk was there. They decided to go to the Rock Chalk Cafe, located on 12th Street at the end of Oread.
The Student Mobilization Committee (SMC) outlined its single tactic platform for broadening the anti-war movement in Lawrence last night.
A five member steering committee explained specifics of proposed nonviolent mass demonstration to approximately 150 students in the Big 8 Room of the Kansas Union.
SMC plans to include members of the Lawrence community in a coalition framework. Gene Beauthien, a steering committee member, explained that the coalition approach would
give the SMC "support of people who have power in the community -- union members and blacks."
Beautihen also stated that the single tactic platform did not rule out other means of protest against the war, but emphasized that this approach was a broad goal that would draw many supporters.
STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS presented plans for a mass demonstration in Lawrence on Saturday, Oct. 31. The committee felt that contact with community members that had already expressed interest in the
anti-war movement would be the most effective procedure for gaining broader support.
In response to comments from those in attendance that local support would be difficult to obtain because of last spring's riots, Gene Beauthien said, "we can't write off people who have power; this method has to be followed instead of throwing the Molotov cocktails." Others anticipated doors closed in their faces due to long hair and their attire. They were countered by students willing to sacrifice locks for the cause.
At the time Rice was arriving in Lawrence and at the police station, police officers and "street people" engaged in the first of three confrontations that led to the tragedy.
Both police and other witnesses, in a calmer mood than must have prevailed that night, sketched this and a succeeding confrontation in relative agreement. A fire hydrant had been opened at 12th and Oread and police arrived to close it. As they did, they were pelted with rocks, bottles and tomatoes. They left the area.
A short time later, Rice, Miss Stevens and Foostall arrived at the Rock Chalk, just across the street from the fire hydrant. Rice and Miss Stevens
See INQUEST page 9