THE BATTALION
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1978
Page 5
Jones attracted masses to Temple sect
ew ran gefa ( j
e tested [(r
' the pron
''"g position
"Ston 40s ,s
target rifle.''
'lualifj-attk
'as Cadet Tij
'"ioial seienj
tales
United Press International
The Rev. Jim Jones was such a
dynamic preacher that he built the
People’s Temple into the biggest
Protestant congregation in Califor
nia during the late 1960s.
His flamboyant religious mixture
of old-time faith healing, suicide
pacts, racial integration. Socialism
and raising people from the dead
drew converts from throughout the
state. His membership included
minorities, elderly dowagers and
young divorcees.
The whole concept, including an
occasional “seniors’ dance” —
featuring people in their 80s and 90s
who boogied on a raised platform in
front of the congregation — tum
bled into apparent ruin during the
Mtion Coir.: weekend.
)a d Commi
Departmeii
to spend a
money anil
lelp the Fi
rv Commis
islation
S. DistrM
district o(
if statute a
'Ongressto
ml gas prei
ds and pn«
m of natal
ates.
f the legal
the first tit
ols to inti
three statei
mergency
■rstate
beast.
ts
tnts
5:30
As echoing gunfire faded at the
church’s jungle headquarters in
far-away Guyana, the bodies of a
U.S. congressman and four others
fleeing the sect were left crumpled
in the mud.
Jones, 46, who at various times
called himself “The Prophet of God”
and “Father,” professed to have
raised more than 40 people from the
dead at the height of his ministry
and to have caused the “passing” of
cancerous tumors from the bodies of
the faithful.
A short, slightly pudgy man with
straight black hair, he wore glasses,
second-hand suits and exuded a
dynamic self-confidence.
Jones moved his multi-million
dollar religious operation to the
South American jungle outpost of
Jonestown last year. There a dra
matic change apparently began in
the man who claimed the ability to
cure disease through faith.
“Jones has struck us as a mad
man,” said San Francisco Chronicle
Guyanan deaths
included suicides
United Press International
GEORGETOWN, Guyana — At
torney Mark Lane said Monday a
band of American religious fanatics
who massacred a California con
gressmen and four members of his
party apparently used a tub of
poison in a mass suicide ceremony
rst . )te . i that left 400 of them dead. Six
hundred others were missing.
Lane told a news conference he
counted 85 bursts of semi-automatic
weapons fire when the Peoples
Temple sect gathered at an open air
auditorium of its commune at the
Guyanese jungle town of Jones
town, presumably for a mass suicide
rite.
The American lawyer said he had
heard that the doctor and nurse of
the commune carried a tub of poison
to the auditorium prior to the mass
suicide.
Lane said the Rev. Jim Jones, a
former San Francisco city offiicial
3 who heads the religious community,
had sent him and fellow attorney
Charles Garry away from the scene.
I#A “Jones had sent me (and Garry)
|yU away to the East House,” said Lane.
We could hear him speak of the dig
nity of death, the beauty of dying.
Annie Jones shouted ‘mother, mother,
y*! mother, mother!’ Then there was
atiOD the first burst of shooting.”
Lane said he and Garry fled into
VY the bush near the commune settle-
/\ ment after the massacre Sunday
/AY night. He said they heard lots of
nfire and people screaming, in-
luding children, fleeing through
the jungle.
r— The attorney told newsmen at an
impromptu poolside hotel news con-
J ^ ference that in a statement to
^ Guyanese police he suggested that
Jones may have escaped from the
commune. The commune was
known to possess a launch.
Earlier, Guyana Minister of In
formation Shirley Field-Ridley, who
i/ERSH
•HERAI
JAPEL
ain -8 1
_ A_
KOA
first reported the mass suicide, said
Guyanese troops Monday captured
the headquarters of the Peoples
Temple in Jonestown and found that
some of the victims apparently were
murdered.
The bizarre case blazed into vio
lence late Saturday when an ambush
by members of the sect at a jungle
airport killed Rep. Leo J. Ryan,
D-Calif., and four other Americans
when Ryan was leaving with 20
members of the sect after investigat
ing reports that many Americans
were being held against their will.
Killed with him were NBC televi
sion reporter Don Harris, 42, and
NBC cameraman Robert Brown, 36,
both of Los Angeles; San Francisco
Examiner photographer Gregory
Robinson, 27; and Patricia Park, 18,
an American settler.
Lane, who had accompanied the
investigating party to the jungle
commune, said that after Ryan and
his group left for the airport, he and
Garry attempted to calm an atmo
sphere of panic that swept through
the commune.
He recalled that months earlier
Jones had been accused of suggest
ing a mass suicide. Just before the
suicide ceremony. Lane said, he
and Garry encountered two armed
black members of the commune en
route to the auditorium where
others had assembled.
“They said to us with smiles on
their face, “We are all going to die.’
They were relaxed and happy and I
wondered if they were not doped. ”
Shortly after that they heard the
shooting.
Field-Ridley said, "Some of the
bodies were found in homes, some
were found in clearings in the
forests, but no live persons were
found. The troops are searching for
them. We estimate some 600 per
sons may be missing. ”
A PRESENTATION BY LLOYD SUMNER ON
HIS 4 YEAR, 28,478 MILE BICYCLE TRIP
AROUND THE WORLD
• pm
-A CA
in
VOfit® I
-I Easy I
3 ed^i
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 27, RM. 206 MSC, 7:30
BROUGHT TO YOU BY: MSC OUTDOOR RECREATION
TAMU WHEELMEN
THE SIERRA CLUB: BRAZOS VALLEY CHAPTER
Lloyd Sumnor’a book, THE .LONG RIDE, will boon sale after the presentation
for $8.95. The book Is hard bound, has 2 24 pages, and 60 photos and maps.
reporter Ron Javers, who was
wounded in the arm during the
Guyana ambush. “We watched him
as he kept taking pills until he
seemed dazed by them. He listed a
whole catalogue of diseases he said
were afflicting him, starting with
cancer. ”
Jones began his ministry in In
dianapolis, where he said he
founded a church at the age of 18.
Jones, who claims to be part Ameri
can Indian, grew up in Lynn, Ind.,
once the national headquarters of
the Ku Klux Klan.
Blacks were not allowed in town
after sundown, Jones would tell
interviewers, adding that his own
father, a disabled war veteran, was
sympathetic to the Klan.
Smarting from his “racist” back
ground, he attended Indiana Uni
versity and graduated from Butler
University in Indianapolis with a
teaching certificate. He attended
Cleveland Bible College and was
ordained a minister of the Disciples
of Christ.
A stout advocate of civil rights, he
was a pastor of churches in and near
Indianapolis. He worked as a nurs
ing home director and served as a
missionary to Brazil in the early
1960s.
Proclaiming Indiana too “racist,”
Jones moved in 1965 with about 100
of his followers to an area near the
Northern California city of Ukiah.
He began expanding his holdings as
he received “gifts” of land and
money from followers, which in
cluded a number of rich, elderly
widows.
His preaching became a mixture
of healings, help programs for the
disadvantaged and warnings that a
race war was inevitable in America.
The People’s Temple, said Jones,
with its vision of a peacefully inte
grated society, would provide pro
tection for its members.
But disaffected followers charged
he often practiced “mass suicides’
with his congregations, explaining
while they all drank a dark, evil
looking liquid that it may become
necessary for them to die rather
than submit to evil.
His following grew until it
boasted more than 20,000 mem
bers, making it possibly the largest
single Protestant congregation in
California. He commuted, with 13
special Greyhound buses and about
200 of the hard-core faithful, be
tween church centers in San Fran
cisco, Los Angeles, Bakersfield and
the Redwood Valley, near Ukiah.
Jones also became a powerful
force with local politicians, winning
letters of praise from Gov. Edmund
RESUME SERVICE
Sell yourself effectively. Have a
professional resume prepared by
D| IQIBJCQQ SL
COMMUNICATION SERVICES
Call 846-5794 for an appointment
23122
The
SOFT
TOUCH
ELEGANCE
IN
LINGERIE
707 TEXAS
^Mc < TKeh0ie- c BaQdwin
mSINESS CIlLEtE
Inquire About Our Term
Starting January 2
Phone 822-6423 or 822-2368
For more information call
822-6423
Radio Shack
tPie-CVtfistmas\
SALEI
G. Brown Jr., as well as legislators
and city officials, once he became
known for his ability to produce
hundreds of supporters at rallies
within a few hours’ notice.
He was appointed by San Fran
cisco Mayor George Moscone to the
City Housing Authority, where he
served as chairman until he gave
notice of his resignation with a letter
from Guyana in the summer of
1977.
Jones had founded the Guyana
“Agriculture Mission ”in 1973 with
about 200 “misfits” whom he said
needed the rigorous work of the
outdoors.
As the pressure mounted to in
vestigate complaints from relatives
of church members that physical
force was used to punish Temple
members or force them to turn over
properties and money to his group,
Jones began moving his operations
en masse to the 27,000-acre South
America settlement.
SHIRTS +
693-9308
Woodstone Center
907 Harvey Rd. (Hwy. 30)
"We Se// Shirts”
Open 9-9
9
WANTED
- CYJ
c\0
EVERY DAY AT THE
The best fried catfish and chicken in
Texas, served with Texas fries, pinto
beans, coleslaw and homemade rolls.
Try our famous mile high pie.
Just 2.5 miles west on Hwy. 60
Introducing Something New Especially For Ladies
"Where
Everybody
Meets**
813 Wellborn Rd.
Bryan-Cotlege Station's
Big City Disco
846-1100
Tuesday Is For Ladies
ANNOUNCING LADIES NIGHT
alias
(Sure happy its Tuesday)
For Ladies Only
5C CHAMPAGNE l/ 2 PRICE DRINKS
LADIES NO COVER CHARGE (Guys $2.00)
AND DON'T FORGET
WEDNESDAY
"HAPPIEST HAPPY HOUR"
5c Beer Vz Price Drinks
Thank God IPs Thursday"
XC BEER, WINE, COKES 25c BAR DRINKS
V2 PRICE CALL ICE CREAM DRINKS
Radio /hack
Culpepper Plaza
1125 Villa Maria
693-1444
846-7384
GREAT GIFTS FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
Reg.
59 95
^ SrtO ^ ’
a., *»«*** **
^ ®» ** «* W
9* **
«r* «| Plei
Now
5495
TIME KUBE®
THE CLOCK THAT "TALKS"
NOW
29 95
' v
Reg.
$34.95
• Over 80 Pre-Programmed Functions
• Stores Up to 150 Keystrokes
• 8-Digit 12-Character Display
Radio Shack EC-4000. The calculator you
can "teach" to do your work! Accepts 50
multi-key programs, 9 levels of paren
theses, branching, subroutines and
labels. Keys for easy editing and debug
ging. Plus trig functions of the best scien
tific calculators. With AC adapter/
charger, rechargeable batteries, fitted
case.
1 li«KT
ELECTRIC FEVER
THERMOMETER
FOR HOME AND
PROFESSIONAL USE
Easy pushbutton frequency selection, Play-Bar for instant-on, volume control,
telescoping antenna, sliding scale for converting universal time to local.
External-antenna and ground terminals. Simulated rosewood. With crystals, 9V.
V/SA
Hrs. M-S - 10-6
Villa Maria Store open reg. hours
Villa Maria 846-7384
College Station 693-1444