Sol ier Saturday, N6vember 25,1978 find more vic By LEW WHEATON it was not until Friday 'morning, after three days_of working at the camp, that GEORGETOWN, (AP) —Un- military search teams realized bodies in suspecting American soldiers clearing one, area were Stacked In.: several away 's field of death un- layers," covered "more and more and more" The soldiers began clearing out what• bodies Friday. The grim arithmetic they thought would be the final group of showed that at least 775 men, women bodies,' said Air ',Force Capt. John and children — twice as many as first Moscatelli. "We got. into an area on a thoughtdied in the,. mass - different side of the temple and found t murder, 11.S. officials reported. tf. more and nor,,bocupc4404 ,TC,f940- Many of the newly discovered bodies more and more and more." The "tem- ' were those of children hidden beneath ple" apparently refers to the camp's corpses of their, parents, U.S. Embassy central pavilion. officials said, and, the toll might con- Moscatelli said smaller adulti also lay tinue to rise as new victims are found. under the bodies of larger adults, and he The discoiery was the tragic solution said as far as Can he determined the Soldiers find to a-puzzle that had baffled investigators newly found victims, like those counted 4.1CoMinued from Page A-1) since the ritualistic deaths first came to earlier, died by swallowing poison doled . light last Sunday, when about 400 bodies out by Jones' medical niartif jungle: About *I cultisti whO tied were reported found. It was thought. The embassy sourteache,italcOaikot to during the communal self-destruction then that -hundreds of residents ot the be identified, said the original count was ceremony have since emerged from the Peoples Temple camp must have fled in- made by Guyanese)anthorities and the wilderness. to the surrounding jungle rather than American troops did not make their own lifoscatelli said that as of 1 p.m. local take poison with the rest of the Rev. Jim estimate once they arrived. 4 time Friday, 485 bodies had been flown Jones' fanatical followers. , The source said. no bodies were found by helicopter 'the 150 miles bran A Guyanese government leader outside the • catht'st main-- clearing. Jonestown southeast to the Georgetown said airpert, 20 were ' in body ' bags at Friday that, based on 'the death toll of Mopeatelli said there were' "no indica- 775, about 100 members remain ' tions" of any additional survivor; t.he Jonestown, 270 others were counted at unaccounted for. . , the camp and "more may be expected to., A U.S. Embassy source explained that (Continued on Page be found." . A-8) ' bodies were being loaded onto Air lrorce transports and flown to Dover Air Force Base, Del. fine ea-member of the , Debbie ' Layton, said she -had told the State Department last summer that Jones forced ,followers to practice a weekly suicide drill using a non-toxic fruit drink as "poison." ge A-2 — THE POST, Frederick, Md., Saturday, November 25,1978

have "zero in identification" evidence. Officals in Guyana tentatively identified 174 of the bodies, but Shuler said 'only 20 of those bodies arrived on the first three C141s. He said identifica- tion experts were working on those bodies first. - . . The FBI was sending eight more , fingerprint experts here to boost its' 10- • person team because of the additional bodies. Shuler estimated that. it could take three weeks to finish preparing the bodies for burial,' but he said that estimate could be revised later. Shuler said he had seen some of together in death the bodies, but he would not describe them. One officer said privately that the A man and woman He face down with a child between them in bodies "had maggots all over them," Jonestown, Guayana, Monday following a late and that limbs had fallen off some. "I've last Saturday. At least 775 bodies have been found, a figure been through two wars," he said, "and Much higher than the toll earlier estimated. See story on page this is the worst I've ever seen." A-1. (AP Laserphoto) Jones reportedly ordered his followers to drink a mixture of juice and cyanide . Saturday night after Rep. , and four others were killed in Dover AFB strains an ambush near the camp. — The bodies of Jones' followers have been rotting there ever since. The ones here had been in r the damp,,tropical • weather for at least four days and some to process victims longer.•• , iDover with. more on the way aboard •Shuler said 182 of the victims were By PATRICK BRESLIN :C141 cargo jets. The fifth planeload was children under 15 years. Some of them Writer ' 'due at 7:25 p.m. with 81 more bodies and *ere among those not counted originally , DOVER AIR FORCE . BASE, DeL the•sixth at 8:50 with 70 corpses. because they were bidden, under the (AP) — The startling recount of the Officials had no estimate of when bodies of adults. - suicide-murder victims in Guyana will more planeloads of bodies would arrive There is no necessity for autopsies on prolong the grisly, tedious process of nor of when the grisly ferrying operation the bodies because the cause of death :identifying and embalming the dead, •would be completed. was. apparent, the operation spokesman ,but Defense Departmnent Officials said Meanwhile, two C141s were loaded said. He said there was no other legal "Friday that they can handle it here. .with aluminum caskets which had car- reason for autopsies in the incident. I • "We're beginning to feel the pinch at qied the first victim", brought here and n' this time," said Army Maj. Brigham ;were later cleaned; steamed and :Shuler, shortly after the toll of 408 vic- *disinfected for reuse in Guyana. The tams was revised to at least 775. bodies in the altuniqum boxes also were He said the base would lease three ad- :enclosedin plastic Pouches. 'ditional refrigerated trucks to house the Only the body of the Rev. , :additionil bodies. Five of the trucks, leader of the Peoples Temple cult in :each able to hold 100 corpses in body ;Jonestown, •Guyana, was positively shags, had been rented earlier for the. :identified here. None have been em- :clean up operation. balmed, Shuler said, because By Friday afteroon, 270 bodies were ,identiffcation was the top priority. "This is a sery tedious process," EMIller said, *Mule most of the bodies _ Mass suicide has been only one of the

•

- ancient

:are apparent, many of *them strlldngly ,..belie7ing they were crossing over to the A bloody

. imagined, they often killed themselves

- When pressed by their enemies, real or ever happened before? One need not look far to discover an unbroken chain of bizarre that have left a bloody, come more questions. Why? Has this bewildering trail throughout history.

of them,, certain patterns of behavior horrors of these fanatical causes -or , tire people, the Cimbres Of ancient,Ger-

cults. Although little is known of many

pie's Temple. similar to several, aspects of the Pao-

They surrendered their sense of respon- movements withdrew from the world to seek a life based on absolute values. sibility to leaders claiming to be a messiah or even God. They clung to the leader, shunning. those outside the

plotting their destruction. mysterious enemies they believed were violently, often trying to seize power. group, and were obsessed with

rather than surrender. According to the heaven their leader' had promised. some besieged cities killed themselves

With each new shock from Jonestown

In ancient times the inhabitants of The followers of many such

Fearful of the world they reacted to it

•

Associated Press Writer

By BARRY RENFREW'

historian Plutarch

. .

an

an-

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.

many, wiped themselves out after being city or nation fell its gods were in- variably replaced by those of the enemy defeated by the Romans. gods of their Roman overlords, rebelled struggle of men and their gads:The ant don their faith. t mass suicide, exemplified associated with religious duty. When a their stronghold atop the mountain of time and again. In 79 A.D. the dent Jews, who refused to aCceptihe and some chose to die tether than aban- and children, threw themselves from vivors of one revolt, 960 men, women, rash of messianic cults. In the for- ly attracted armies of followers. boding, anarchic conditions of medieval society leaders promising paradise easi- to the accompaniment of

Albigenses, a 12th century sect that flourished ,in • southern France' and greatly. On the one hand were the

sought the end of the human race by for- bidding sexual intercourse; on the other, the Tabors, a movement that century, killing indiscriminately and living on the roasted corpies of ,their spread across half of Europe in the 11th victims.

This preference for death was often

Masada, perhaps

The Middle Ages witnessed a Ireilt

Their beliefs and pratices .difiered

bewildeiwing part of history

Today's Focus

.

-

the ' most famous

this

last

deadly song.

sur- •

•

.

Critics say U.S. could

cause. One leader mirrored their life, sacrificing everything for the bridles ... It was a just and wonderful destruction of a town that had refused to fanaticism when he described the blood "What do I care if I die, since I am doing accept his faith: "The horses waded in underlain fanaticism in. every age in- what I want to do," a cry which has eluding our own. ' • . Friday to the large number of critics allegations of mental, physical or sexual have prevented the - the Peoples Temple cultists. Department officials reacted angrily every time they tried to corroborate who claim the .U.S. government might ' abuse made by relatives and friends of judgment of God." Another wrote, suicide at Jonestown, Guyana, which claimed 775 lives last weekend. sions it was believed that the end of the conducted at Jonestown during the past year by U.S. consular officers. -The in- world was near. Believing they had terviews suggested that agriCultural angered God, .men sought forgiveness little more than an off-beat religious hideaway. commune led by the Rev. Jim Jones was

'In

These groups placed little value on

WASHINGTON (AP)

The officials cite a series of interviews

According to the State Department, repressive activities went unheeded.

the Middle Ages, on several occa-

-

up to their knees, nay up to their

•

•

State the officers came up • empty-handed

have averted tragedy

by mercilessly whipping themselves

umns of these flagellants marching whips. The 13th century saw long col- and each other with metal thonged themselves and each other into un- across the countryside, beating consciousness and sometimes death. hunted down and killed those who refus- ed to accept their beliefs. Priests of the hatred and intolerance of fanatics they take their own lives. Fired with all the established church were frequently at- tacked, but the favorite victims were

Christianity. Jews. In the city of Worms hundreds of Jews trapped in a castle committed suicide rather than convert to

official, when asked whether preventive

day, some friends and relatives of the action should have been taken at cult victims have complained that their Jonestown. warnings to the Sta

''Since the disaiter

Many of these cults drove others to

"We're not baby sitters," fumed one

te.Department about

.

occUrred last Satur-