ROCHESTER – Hostages played a pivotal role in ending a standoff yesterday at the local presidential headquarters of Sen. Hillary Clinton by becoming intermediaries between police and the man threatening to blow them up.

Leeland Eisenberg, 46, of Somersworth entered the headquarters at 28 N. Main St. about 12:30 p.m. yesterday with what appeared to be four sticks of dynamite duct-taped to his chest and held hostage four adults -- three campaign staffers and a volunteer -- and an infant younger than 1 year old in a standoff where his primary demand was to speak with Clinton.

Police secured Eisenberg's surrender just after 6 p.m. yesterday after hours of negotiations helped along by those being held hostage and found what Eisenberg claimed to be dynamite sticks were instead mere road flares.

"They were actually able to be the mediators between our negotiator and Mr. Eisenberg," Rochester Police Chief David Dubois said of the hostages.

Eisenberg is being charged with criminal threatening, reckless conduct and kidnapping, Dubois said, and authorities are also considering federal charges. None of the hostages was hurt during the ordeal; officials refused to release any of their names.

Police said Eisenberg is well-known to them from past incidents, but they refused to characterize those.

Chelsea Coull, 19, of Rochester said she was working at the Governor's Inn downtown yesterday afternoon when a young man came in asking for coffee and said his stepfather was the man holding hostages and that he had just been questioned by police.

Coull said the man, whose name she did not know, told her that his parents had recently divorced, triggering a downward spiral. He told Coull that he had stayed with his father the night before and Eisenberg had asked him where he could buy road flares. Eisenberg also indicated something would happen the next day.

"Listen, you need to watch the news for me," Coull said the man's father told him the night prior.

Police said they learned of the hostage situation just minutes after it began yesterday when Eisenberg allowed the mother and infant to exit the headquarters, leaving two women and a man behind, at which point they contacted authorities.

Eisenberg initially refused to talk to negotiators even as he made outgoing calls and allowed others inside the headquarters to call out as well, according to authorities.

Eventually, the people inside were able to get him to speak with a state police negotiator, who was able to get some of the hostages released.

"I don't think he fully had control over them through the process because obviously they were able to call out," state police Col. Frederick Booth said of the hostages.

As police negotiated with Eisenberg through the afternoon, two other women left the building, one who was able to escape on her own and the other after Eisenberg allowed her to. The last hostage, a man, was let go shortly before Eisenberg's surrender.

During the negotiations, Eisenberg asked to speak with Clinton and then also for cigarettes, Pepsi and alcohol, Dubois said. He said only the cigarettes were provided.

Officials said they were in contact with Clinton throughout the day yesterday, but would did not say why Eisenberg wanted to speak with her or why the campaign headquarters was targeted.

"She offered to do anything she could do; it was our decision to keep her out of the negotiations," Dubois said of Clinton.

The tense standoff crippled the city yesterday as police shut down the entire downtown "loop" and evacuated homes, businesses and a school in the area using a reverse 911 system. The busy area, usually rife with cars during the day, became a staging ground for police as they called in SWAT teams, the state police bomb squad and federal authorities for support.

Residents crowded around police tape in the area, mingling with dozens of journalists from across the world to try to catch a glimpse of the situation and to share rumors about what was going on.

An old mill city of about 30,000, Rochester is often left in the shadow of more lustrous cities such as Portsmouth down on the coast. Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter, a Democrat who lives in Rochester, said her thoughts were with the hostage victims and their families.

"Rochester is a wonderful community, but this is a reminder that this could happen anywhere, in any campaign," Shea-Porter said in a statement. "We need to work as a society to treat the mentally ill."

Several news outlets also reported that Eisenberg wanted to speak to Clinton regarding access to mental-health services.

Eisenberg had been scheduled to appear in court yesterday afternoon on a domestic-violence complaint filed by his wife, Lisa (Warren) Eisenberg, Foster's Daily Democrat reported.

Rochester police logs indicated Eisenberg was charged with two counts of stalking in April, followed by a driving while intoxicated charge in June. His address at the time was 182 Milton Road, Apartment 16. The latest police reports indicate he had since moved to Somersworth.

The Rochester school superintendent's office reported all students were dismissed by 3 p.m. The release was coordinated with the crisis response management team a spokeswoman said.

There was a "soft lockdown" as directed, but no hard lockdown at any school, the person said.

"It may take a little longer for the children to get home, but we made arrangements so they'll have safe trips homes," she said.

Across Rochester, Eisenberg is known as a bit of an eccentric, according to some residents.

Roy Allen recalled Eisenberg as a regular at his local bar, a man known to wear three-piece suits, even in the summertime.

Allen said locals had speculated on the identity of the hostage taker even before Eisenberg surrendered.

"No one was shocked by it," Allen said of bar patrons guessing possible suspects. "It was almost like a sports contest."

Eisenberg made headlines last spring when he challenged the Rochester Police Department's proposal to fight auto theft. Police began checking car doors to see whether they were unlocked, and if they were, leaving a flier urging owners to lock their vehicles. Eisenberg objected.

"It's an outrage," he said at the time. "It's an absolute outrage."

Rochester Mayor John H. Larochelle recalled Eisenberg coming to City Hall to argue the program as a violation of constitutional rights.

"He complained to me about an invasion of his privacy," Larochelle said last night.

Larochelle said it was his first and last interaction with Eisenberg.

-- Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.