It was a dangerous time.

After Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, a stunned nation hurtled into a period of mourning and violence that would impact American culture for decades.

Pittsburgh, Washington, Baltimore and other cities were the scene of riots, fires and looting.

There was serious concern in the Mon Valley the same thing could happen " and to some extent it did " but those who were close to the action said the violence was nowhere near as bad as it could have been.

Police were among those on the front line during the riots. Retired McKeesport police officer Eugene Grimball, 85, recalled long shifts and after-hours meetings with city officials and other people of influence at the time to discuss how the city would respond to violence if it started.

Grimball, who had been a member of the force since January 1954 and was the oldest of seven black officers in the McKeesport police department at the time, remembered a sit-down meeting with a representative of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Thomas D. Mansfield, who was then editor and publisher of The Daily News.

Grimball, who retired in 1994, said it was his first meeting with Mansfield.

"He said, 'What can I do as the owner of The Daily News to ease the problem if there is a problem here?'" recalled Grimball. "I said, 'Just be fair with how you write things in the paper.'"

Grimball noted he didn't favor the journalistic approach taken by Now -- a newspaper dedicated to covering the black community in the Mon Valley that was published in the late 1960s and early 1970s -- because he felt it tried to agitate readers. "But I knew their principle was the same as mine: equality."

The Daily News and other papers carried many photos of burning buildings days following the assassination and reports of rioting in Pittsburgh.

In Pittsburgh, the mayor had instituted a dusk-to-dawn curfew, banned the sale of alcohol by bars and liquor stores, forbid the sale or transport of weapons, and did not allow gasoline to be pumped into containers. Windows were broken and store fronts burned in the Hill District. The National Guard was called in to bring order to the streets.

In the Mon Valley, city police departments were on alert.

In Duquesne, rioting by a group of approximately 35 people damaged grocery stores and resulted in an 18-year-old being stabbed in the hand.

There were broken windows reported along Miller and St. Clair avenues in Clairton.

In McKeesport, police officially said at the time there didn't appear to be evidence of racial discord, but there were reports of broken windows along Walnut Street at Jack's Pharmacy and Progressive Music and at a gas station along Patterson Street.

Though violence dominated news coverage, there also were reports of memorial services and closings in response to the shooting.

There was an interdenominational and interracial memorial march in McKeesport organized by St. Paul AME and Immanuel United Presbyterian Church (now McKeesport Presbyterian Church) on the weekend following the assassination, and the Downtown McKeesport Association asked city businesses to close the morning of King's funeral. Area schools also closed.

Grimball said responding to the tragedy wasn't something police discussed among themselves. Whether police were black or white, he said, "We only thought one way " B-L-U-E. We're policemen here to uphold the law and order."

"We kept the beer gardens open. People would come from Pittsburgh, Rankin, Braddock to drink here," Grimball said. "We never had any trouble because we would not let it happen."

Robert Mulgado, another retired black McKeesport police officer who was on the force in 1968, also recalled that the strife that affected so many other American cities at that time "didn't happen in McKeesport."

"If there were problems, I don't remember them," said Mulgado, 75, though he said he did have to contend with issues of race during his time on the police force between the early 1960s and early 1990s, and even after his retirement.

In September 2009, Mulgado complained he was the target of racial profiling by a white police officer as he sat in a car listening to a radio near the Jerome Bridge. Mulgado said then the officer approached his car and asked him if he had guns or drugs in the vehicle. Mulgado said the officer gave him a rough frisking before another officer came along and told the first officer who he was.

Mulgado complained publicly to city officials at the time but said little was done to address the matter.

Mulgado said there were instances during his years on the force when he had to deal with racism from other police officers and the public -- homeowners would call to report a problem and then refuse to let him in their home when he arrived to investigate, he recalled -- but he, too, noted the bond of being a police officer could often overcome differences of race.

His detective partner on the force for many years, the late Thomas Pipp, was white. Mulgado said he formed a close bond with his partner and was his friend outside of work. On the job, he recalled, "They called us Salt and Pepper."

Mulgado, who was a halfback in the Canadian Football League playing for Saskatchewan and Hamilton prior to becoming a police officer, said black or white, the job he made his career could be a thankless one.

"People would cuss at you and abuse you," he said. Then, when things get tough, "Police are the first ones they call."

Both Mulgado and Grimball credit sports with helping them find their careers as police officers.

Mulgado said he had a connection with the late Andrew Jakomas -- who was mayor of McKeesport when he joined the force -- through his years playing football in McKeesport.

Grimball, who also joined the force during the Jakomas administration, said that during his early years on the force he was befriended by then police veteran Lt. John Duke O'Hara, who is now deceased, because O'Hara had been his boxing coach.

Grimball was a runner-up in the 1947 Golden Gloves competition and has an impressive knowledge of local sports lore spanning decades. He chairs a committee that is creating a tribute wall to the city's athletic heroes at Moran Field in Harrison Village that benefits an athletic scholarship fund. Grimball is also well-versed on the subject of prominent local blacks, past and present.

Grimball said he stuck to a philosophy as a police officer that served him well through the years. "You got to be fair, firm and flexible," Grimball said. "It all comes from respect."

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)