2D Fri., February 2, 1979 St LOWS POST-OISPATCH "and he asked me to do mat,- Lane. sum "I was not planning to return there," he continued. "I was wait- ing for material when I received a call from Temple people in San jape me earthy Francisco saying that Ryan had a personal opinion sent a message to Jones that he was coming to Guyana. "Jones' said by radio that he didn't want Ryan to come. He saw this as the great provocation. He believed that, since he had set up a Guyana Diary I communist society in Jonestown, lie Mark Lane, the attorney who would be subject to harassment by enjoys turning' over rocks on the the FBI and the ,CIA if he were to visit Jonestown and deliver a lec, return to the U.S." Ainerican soil to let the bugs crawl ture on the King assassination. el)t, says the State Department Lane and Dick Gregory in 1977 had • According to Lane, Jones had sent a message early in 1978 "ask- knew 13 months in advance that the co-authored a book on the King ing for assurances that if he came fiev. Jim Jones was serious about murder, titled "Code Name 'Zor- ro.," back to the U.S. he would not be *ass murder in Jonestown, Guya- harassed, and in return he would na. Lane knew others who had visit- pull an Eldridge Cleaver, tour the Terri Buford, 26, formerly one of ed Jonestown "and a colleague of country and denounce communism. .l9nes' top aides, says that in Octo- mine had just come back and said it But this project failed, and it was ber 1977, Jones threatened to kill was Interesting," he told me. "They one of the reasons he was panicky." the entire colony, which he had Said they had no money to pay me, but would send me a ticket. I went Another reason, said Lane, is kunded earlier that summer. But that Jonestown had failed as a tones was talked out of it by radio because it was just an intriguing idea to observe what they said was communal experiment., "After iftessages from militant leaders heroically Clearing a part of the Huey Newton, Angela Davis and the an experiment in communal life." So Lane went and met Jones tot jungle," Lane said, "they found - American Indian Movement's they could grow almost, nothing. tfennis Banks, all of whom Jones the first time. ; "The first thing that struck me They had to import rice. They had ;Oinked. / • some cattle, but the grass had para- At the time, says Lane, Jones' was that the power structure in the ▪ organization was not very different sites and the cattle would die. They radio broadcasts back to the states had to import food for their chick- were being monitored daily by the from the United States. It was basi- cally white middle-class profession- ens. They couldn't feed themselves. Federal Communications Commis- It was costing them $500,000 a year sion. Jones' knowledge of this in- * dominating a vast majority of pg~oor blacks. It was more a to keep it going and feed the peo- flamed his paranoia. And, says tarn of American society than a ple." Lane, Jones had 'pleaded by radio After Jones' overtures to the with government authorities not to rejection of it," Lane said. Nevertheless, he went on, he State Department had failed, said let U.S. Representative Leo J. Ryan detected a sense of panic on the part Lane, Jones began to negotiate with of California come to Guyana on a the Soviet Union and had met twice tact-finding mission. Ryan and four with the Soviet Embassy in George- members of his party were assassi- town -- not to take 1,000 Americans nated as they tried to leave, and the ' at once but to absorb them gradual- great disaster of Jonestown fol- ly as family units, after which the lowed the same day, Nov. 18. Americans could later leave the Lane was there. He was one of U.S.S.R. if they. wished. the few to leave alive: I talked with Of the Peoples Temple that the U.S., "But when Jones learned that him by phone from Memphis the would destroy it. Jones had been Ryan was coming, accompanied by other day, where he has taken up told by a private investigatar in- some of the most hostile parents of residence while he is representing volved in Temple affairs that there Jonestown residents, people who James Earl Ray in the case of the were CIA agents in Jonestown and had filed many lawsuits, he saw this assassination of the Rev. Dr. Mar- this, said Lane, "helped drive him as the 'great provocation,'" said over the edge." tin Luther King Jr.-It is this work, ' Lane. "By now he had been driven Lane believes, that saved his life in On this first visit in September, beyond paranoia and was heavily Jonestown. said Lane, Jones told him that medicated.,I. begged Ryan not to go. Lane also represents Terri Bu- "they are trying to destroy us; they I said, 'Jim JOheeliikand will see ford, who is the chief witness in are working out a provocation in it as a provocation." grand jury proceedings now taking Georgetown (capital of Guyana) But Ryan went, and so did Lane. place in San Francisco. She was in and probably in. San Francisco as. What Lane saw will be reported Lane's office when I called, and I well."' The Peoples Temple, Lane next time. . spoke to her, too. Her life was alleged, had already drawn up a spared because she fled from Jones- "hit list" of enemies, and Jones, town two months before the end. Who apparently knew of the FCC Her life was threatened when she monitoring, was convinced that the returned to America. CIA had become involved. Lane says he had never heard of Lane told Jones that he could file the Rev. Jim Jones or the Peoples suit under the Freedom of Informa- Temple or Jonestown until last tion Act to ascertain if this was true September, when he was invited to