Fire Set in Philadelphia House Vacated by Blacks

Mayor W. Wilson Goode extended a state of emergency by two weeks in a racially troubled neighborhood after a fire blamed on arson raged through the empty house of a black family driven out because of protests by shouting white neighbors.

“This act of arson was caused by a coward or cowards,” said Goode, who last month ordered the state of emergency, which prohibits gatherings of four or more people.

Goode, speaking at a special City Hall news conference to announce results of a preliminary investigation of Thursday night’s fire in southwest Philadelphia, said that someone “entered the home through a rear window and poured a flammable liquid on the floor and ignited the liquid.”

“This kind of lawlessness will not be condoned or tolerated,” he said.

The fire damaged the inside of the house as well as clothing and home furnishings belonging to Charles Williams and Marietta Bloxom, who moved into the home with their 7-year-old daughter in mid-November.

On Nov. 20, 400 demonstrators, shouting racial slurs, demanded they leave. The family left and gave the $21,000 property back to the Veterans Administration, which had acquired it through a foreclosure.

Flames erupted in the southwest Philadelphia row house Thursday night despite a 24-hour police guard in front of the house. The living room was gutted, the front windows were blown out and the porches of adjoining homes were slightly damaged. No one was injured.

“The FBI is on the scene and is looking at it since the government owns the house,” said Robert Welsh, acting first assistant U.S. attorney. He indicated that the investigation centers on civil rights violations and on destruction of federal property.

Williams, reached at his new home in a mostly black neighborhood, said he was glad he had moved away. The fire “means exactly what it says: Blacks and whites can’t live together and probably never will be able to live together,” he said.

White neighbors, although divided over the idea of blacks moving in, were united and angry about the fire. “I wanted them out,” said Anthony Mangan, who lives next door, “but not like this.”