Bombing: Sterling Hall

In another trial of a war dissenter, the issue for the prosecution was again the method of dissent, while the issue for the defense was the war itself. Karl Armstrong bombed the Army Math Research Center at the University of Wisconsin in 1970, unintentionally killing a physics student and injuring five other persons.

Two hours before dawn on Monday, August 24, 1970, the Madison, Wisconsin police dispatcher heard the following message when he answered the phone: “Okay, pigs, now listen and listen good. There is a bomb in the Army Math Research Center, the University, set to go off in five minutes. Clear the building, get everyone out, warn the hospital. This is no bullshit, man.â€�⁸

In less than three minutes the squad cars hurrying to the location were lifted off the ground by the force of an explosion, although they were several blocks away. Sterling Hall, which on its upper floors held the Army Math Research Center (AMRC), was in flames. The bomb had been located in a Ford Econoline van parked next to the basement on a ramp outside the Physics Department labs. The explosion drove the van’s rear axle through eight inches of reinforced concrete on the ramp and three feet into the ground below. Pieces of the van, bricks, and debris were blown three blocks away. Four researchers and a night watchman in the physics lab and offices were severely injured, and Dr. Robert Fassnacht, working late on his project in low temperature electricity so that he and his family could leave on a vacation, was killed.⁹

Karl Armstrong, who placed the phone call to the police and lit the fuse, had driven the van gingerly through the streets of Madison and had parked it on the ramp next to what he thought was the army’s computer center. After the explosion he, his brother, and a friend fled in the Armstrong family’s 1966 yellow Corvair. When stopped for speeding, they explained to the deputy sheriff that they were on their way to Devil’s Lake State Park to do some camping. Although they did check in at Devil’s Lake and registered for a campsite, they hurried back to Madison to return the car on time, as Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong expected their boys would. After having breakfast with his folks, Karl started east. In New York City he abandoned the Plymouth he had taken in Madison and, in a stolen Pontiac, headed for Canada. In upstate New York a patrolman stopped him for a noisy muffler, but erroneously transposed digits in his report. Consequently, the computer did not identify the car as stolen, and Karl continued on. He was arrested a year and a half later in Toronto. An informant tipped off the police and collected a $25,000 reward.¹⁰