On the morning of March 6 , the collective began unloading several large , heavy boxes from a white station wagon and bringing them into the townhouse . A few minutes before noon , an explosion in the townhouse basement tore the building apart . Two more large explosions followed , collapsing the front of the building . The ruptured gas mains below the building caught fire , consuming part of the structure . Robbins and Oughton , presumably assembling a bomb in the basement , died in the blast . Gold was trapped under falling beams and died from asphyxiation . Boudin , taking a shower at the time , fled the building naked . Wilkerson , who was dressing , ran from the rubble clad only in jeans . Anne Hoffman , wife of actor Dustin Hoffman and the Wilkersons ' next-door-neighbor ( the Hoffman apartment was partially damaged in the blast ) , grabbed a shower curtain and covered Boudin with it . Susan Wager , ex-wife of actor Henry Fonda , rushed up the street and helped the two women to her home . Wager gave them both some clothes , but the two women fled . Jacobs was not in the townhouse at the time , and went into hiding after the blast
an explosion
Greenwich Village townhouse explosion
John Jacobs (activist)