Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 6, 1990 TAG: 9007060644
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
His body was discovered Thursday afternoon in a 1,400-bed homeless shelter in a ragged neighborhood a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol. An autopsy was performed but results were not made public.
A police statement called the death "an apparent suicide by hanging." Spokesman Lt. Reginald Smith said a note containing "suicidal references" was found near Snyder's body.
"It was a domestic situation, something to do with his girlfriend," one source said. "The note indicates there were problems there."
A second note, found in Snyder's room and written last spring, "talked about this possibility, sort of outlined what he might do," said a police source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Carol Fennelly, Snyder's companion of 15 years and partner in running the shelter, read a statement on the building's steps amid the drops of an approaching thunderstorm. She said the community was "greatly shocked and saddened."
Moments later, she departed from the written text and said, "Mitch always said good things happen when it rains. He was wrong today."
A funeral is scheduled for Tuesday outside the homeless shelter.
His group - the Community for Creative Non-Violence - was given the rundown government building by the Reagan administration only after he staged a hunger strike in 1984 to demand federal aid and publicize the plight of the homeless.
David Hayden, founder of the Justice House in Roanoke and a friend and fellow homeless activist, said, "Obviously there are no words in the English language to describe the deep-felt hurt I felt when I heard the news. This is a tragedy. I loved him very, very much.
"We were co-workers for the struggle for justice in this country and perhaps two of its more disruptive figures," Hayden said. They shared a 48-day hunger strike in 1988 and often worked together in the fight against homelessness.
Snyder, who had beaten the federal government in numerous confrontations over the years, lost a battle with the city government on June 26 when a city law guaranteeing overnight shelter to everyone was scaled back because of budget pressures.
"I think that's what did it, I really do," said Bill Draughn, a shelter resident. "It was a slap in his face."
Rep. Henry Gonzalez, D-Texas, chairman of the House Banking Committee, which handles housing issues, called Snyder "a man of action" who at times became depressed by the problems of the homeless.
He was a "man on the edge - at the cutting edge of the homeless and the street people and his own ethos and rationale for existence," said Gonzalez.
Soon after the discovery of Snyder's body, scores of shelter residents lingered outside the shelter, some with tears in their eyes, others angry. Many blamed the relentless pressures Snyder faced in his fight for the poor.
"The man had done all he could do," said Richard Coles, 28, a former shelter resident who visited after hearing the news. "He was under a lot of pressure, the day-to-day struggle."
Shortly after word of Snyder's death spread, the shelter was visited by Mayor Marion Barry and civil rights activist Jesse Jackson.
"It's tragic, he's gone, we'll miss him," said Barry, whose drug possession and perjury trial is under way at the federal courthouse nearby.
"Two things remain very clear," said Jackson. "The homeless must not surrender, and the government must not abandon the homeless."
Last spring, Snyder refused to let Census Bureau workers into the shelter to count its residents, calling the government's effort "grandstanding." He was criticized by other homeless advocates for his stance.
In recent weeks, he came under pressure from some volunteer staff aides at the shelter to fire other workers who they said were engaged in illegal activities such as drug use. Eight staff workers were fired, The Washington Times reported.
Snyder grew up in New York City. He remembered his father ordering him to keep his car windows closed when he drove in the Bowery "to keep out the bums."
Snyder worked selling washing machines and vacuum cleaners and as a job counselor before quitting and leaving his wife and two children in 1969. He later was sent to the federal prison in Danbury, Conn., for auto theft. While there, he met anti-war priests Daniel and Philip Berrigan, who were serving time for destroying draft records.
Snyder moved to Washington in 1973, as the Vietnam war was winding down. He was arrested Christmas Day that year, trying to climb the White House fence.
He later said that he soon learned that "homelessness became the domestic counterpart to what was happening in Southeast Asia."
Snyder first received public attention on Christmas Eve 1974, when he announced he would live with three other community members in plastic boxes on the streets to honor four homeless people who had died of exposure.
It was the first of many hunger strikes, sleep-outs and other attention-getting actions he would be involved in over the next 16 years.
by CNB