Elmer Hardie was 57 and worked as an Industrial Training Supervisor at Attica Correctional Facility when he was taken hostage during the prisoner uprising that began September 9, 1971. Hostages were held for four days as inmates negotiated demands over conditions and treatment.

On the morning of September 13, 1971, state troopers and correction officers forcibly retook the prison. Official statements at first blamed inmates for slitting hostages’ throats, but autopsies later showed Hardie and the other nine hostages died from gunshot wounds inflicted by law enforcement during the assault. Despite that finding, no individuals were ever charged or convicted for Hardie’s death; only one state trooper faced reckless endangerment charges, and convicted inmates and that trooper were later pardoned by Governor Hugh Carey.

What can readers who knew Elmer Hardie or who have information about the events that day add to the record?