reportedly queued up to drink poison women and children, many of whom

brewed in a vat, have been found in nia sect whose members killed five the jungle camp of a Califor- Americans, including Rep. Leo J. , Ryan, Guyana's minister of informa-

tion announced today.

thought to be suicide victims — but others "showed signs of violence, in- said some of the bodies showed cluding presumed gunshot wounds, cide." which were not consistent with sui- dicat.ons of violence — and thus present when Jones implemented a dying.'" Poison was handed out, he "the dignity of death, the beauty of leader Rev. , said said, and 85 burits of semi-automatic pact by speaking of gunfire accompanied the mass rite.

Lane said, Jones shouted mother, mother, mother." He and

The bodies of about 400 men,' Mass Suicide by-Poison Reported After Congressman's Slaying;

The minister, Shirley Field-Ridley,

Ma_rk Lane,

Just before the shooting began,

and Jeremiah O'Leary

Washington Star Staff Writers

By Robert Pear

the attorney for sect

;

"Mother,

he

no

were

•

was

in-

another lawyer, , were

in a house at the sect's commune place, Lane said. while the suicides and shootings took

outside the camp. More than 600 ing, Lane said he fled into the jungle counted for and may have escaped. members of the sect were unac- by Guyanese troops and police offi-

cers who went to a remote jungle area near the Venezuela border, where homes, some were found in clearings lished a temple and farm.

• in the forests, but no live persons them. We estimate some 600 persons were found," said Field-Ridley. " may be missing." 600 persons — who, like the dead cult followers, are former California resi- dents who came to this onetime Brit- Jim Jones — was unknown. ish colony at the behest of guru-like

port, unconfirmed by other sources, that he had committed suicide.

Amid further gunfire and scream-

Discovery of the bodies was made

"Some of the bodies were found in

The whereabouts and fate of the

AS FOR JONES, there was one re-

. The troops are searching for

WASHINGTON, D.C., MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1978

the religious cult has estab-

himself. California, said today that she talked Kathy Hunter, a free-lance writer in by telephone with a Guyanese legis- lator who claimed Jones had killed Guyana's capital, said the commune Guyana's capital, said they found the possessed a boat. ence today at a hotel in Georgetown, bodies of a woman and her three chil- yer, who held a poolside press confer- dren in a separate Jones-cult com- Jones may have escaped. The law-

ations of Americans. Guyana to aid in any possible evacu- have been cold-blooded murders and military aircraft were being sent to tary of State John Bushnell, said apparently many suicides." has been a great calamity in Guyana partment official declared: "There involving many Americans. There throats of all four had been slit. mune in a suburb of the city. The

However, Lane suggested that Meanwhile, police in Georgetown,

In the aftermath of the ambush of The official, Deputy Asst. Secre-

In Washington today, a State De-

See GUYANA, A-10

Some

Members Shot ETA

.`Ryan's investigative team, Guyanese

,troops and police officers yesterday : !honor of the sect's charismatic !pity and Marxism. :figure whose theology mixed Christi- ;frier San Francisco Housing Author- , cIty `resistance," Field-Ridley said. A- "They

..as saying: "It appears as if as many

entered the mune, which is called in

founder. the 48-year-old Jones, a for=

ment dead." People's Temple community may be

accompanied Ryan to Guyana in a Valley, Calif., psychologist who of Jonestown, said the residents of futile attempt to get his daughter out

In Washington, the State Depart-

STEPHEN KATZARIS, a Potter

chairman and California political

400 members of the Jonestown

Phone (202) 484-500

quoted a Guyana police official

••

■

•

■

did not encounter any

people's

■

••

■

•

■

••••

Tema's_ corn- yer who represented Jones in the

cide rehearsals and had signed

California for Guyana. undated suicide notes,before they left the camp had held bizarre mass sui- suicide," she told newsmen. administered to them, that they were firmed by Lane. the flamboyant law- congressman from San Mateo cocted in a tub. cussed at a community meeting of cult's dealings with Ryan. Lane, who ness. according to information minis- they looked genuinely happy." ter Field-Ridley. "A witness said that told him that "we are all going to die The death potion was reportedly con- was reported by at least one eyewit- the sect. traveled to Guyar.a with the Ryan now . . . They were smiling. . . . lining up for it," the official noted. people in the area were having mass party, said suicide was openly dis-,

east coast of South America.

former British colony on the north- the United States were fatally shot in the tropical rain forests of Guyana, a County, Calif., was on a fact-finding newsmen and a young woman from

mission Saturday when he, three U.S.

The mass suicide pact was con- The use of an unidentified poison

"He said the poison was being

RYAN, a 53-year-old Democratic

Inmeitme Later, he disclosed, two cultists

Sams Beni

000te R.

YEIillUflt

IRA/11.

lee vista

•

tose

GUYANA

•

lorestown t.

r

..

_ _

GtotEttm

100

-Force Base, N.J., to evacuate the

disenchanted members of the cult to said had been persistent reports from as the congressman was escorting two chartered planes. cruelly mistreated at Jones' agricul- constituents who said that their mam seven miles from Jonestown, plane landing strip in Port Kaitu-

escaped unhurt tural commune. friends and relatives were being fatigue, Flick said in San Juan, body trembling, his face heavy with shooting, NBC soundman Steve Sung, field producer for NBC News. His assassins carefully selected their vic- and shoot them point blank in the Americans. When the people would sought to slay Ryan but not the State head." fall wounded, the men would come at Andrews Air Force Base that the Puerto Rico: "They killed only the tims. For instance, he said, they told reporters at a news conference Department official standing beside

him. partment quickly dispatched a C-141

medical plane from McGuire Air wounded. Guyana at the request of the govern- with five of the survivors. drews, where it arrived last night in Puerto Rico for emergency treat- determine whether any U.S. laws had ham to assist in the investigation and ment. It then continued on to An- been violated. ernment expects to prosecute those that FBI agents were en route to jured persons at a U.S. Navy hospital Guyana until autopsies were per- him could not be removed from. ment of Prime Minister Forbes Burn- formed. bodies of Ryan and those killed with

responsible for the murders. The

Larry John Leyton, was arrested

The attack occurred at a crude air-

Ryan was investigating what he One of those in Ryan's party who

Another person wounded in the

MEANWHILE, the Defense De-

The plane left several seriously in-

The Justice Department disclosed

One member of Jones' community, A Guyanese official said his gov-

was

Robert Flick, a

'colony.

seven miles from their colony to shotgun blasts from cult members Gregory Robinson, 27, a photogra- dirt airstrip at Port Kaituma were: year-old American who had asked to when Jones' followers opened fire. be. taken away from the Jonestown iner; and Patricia Parker, an 18-' geles, a reporter for NBC News; yesterday by Guyanese authorities. pher for The San Francisco Exam- No specific charge was made public. who had followed the Ryan party night. According to one report, it was Ley- Robert Brown, 36, a Los Angeles- ton who began the shooting Saturday based cameraman for the network; 34, of Pasadena, Calif., a sound tech-

tal. after surgery at the Air Force hospi- to Malcolm Grow. Medical • the survivors — Speier, Sung, Reiter- scribed by official sources as "con- Oliver. San Francisco Examiner; Ron of infection" to her wounds. cerned relatives" of members of U.S. Embassy in Georgetown; Sung, tion of the five patients as follows: where they were admitted overnight Reiterman, 31, a reporter for The Among the wounded were RiChard said. Physicians feared a "possibility Krause, 31, a reporter for the Wash- Francisco Chronicle; Charles. Dwyer, deputy chief of mission at the hospital personnel. press conference, wheeled out by for treatment. Sung appeared at a man, Javers and Boyd — were taken Jonestown colony. Katzaris, Carolyn Boyd and Beverly with considerable damage to ex-* ington Post; Jacqueline Speier, legis- Javers, 32, a reporter for The San nician with the NBC News team; Tim lative assistant to Ryan; Anthony tremities," an Air Force spokesman wounds in the right thigh and elbow

SLAIN IN THE fusillade of 50 to 75 At least 10 others were wounded Speier was in serious condition ON ARRIVAL AT Andrews, five of Ryan; Don Harris, 42, of Los An-

Katzaris, Boyd and Oliver were de- Hospital officials listed the condi-

She had "extensive gunshot'

.

Center,

the

the

A hospital official said he had "extensive gunshot wounds in the •

•

of shock and emotional strain, al- right shoulder and elbow."

•

shot wounds in the left forearm and though she was uninjured. tory condition with "superficial gun-

spokesman at the hospital, said the shoulder. "He still has a metal frag-• • wrist." Lt. Col Bob Thatcher, said.

reporter was "in good spirits." tion with a gunshot wound in his left ambush were not entirely clear. Wit- went in the shoulder," Thatcher

after boarding a plane about to de-

nesses said one of the Jonestown set Three settlers jumped on the trailer, part for the Guyana capital. tlers had opened fire with a pistol shotgun blasts. Those not struck by hauled by a tractor, appeared on the and concealed themselves until units picked up guns and fired a barrage of road from Jonestown to Kaituma. of the Guyanese Defense Force ap- the gunfire fled into the thick forest

abandoned because the tires were peared at Kaituma yesterday morn- arrived in Georgetown bearing the tragic news. The other plane was ing. shot out. take off in the midst of gunfire and Guyana deeply regrets the death yes- and four other U.S. citizens.. . . The Congressman and his party were vic- terday of Congressman in a statement: "The government of Christopher Nascimiento, one of Burnham's most trusted aides, said tims of an attack by Americans. spokesman, said Ryan had he was embarking on a dangerous There were no Guyanese involved."

Jonestown settlement. journey when he ventured out to the

Sung was In satisfactory condition.

Boyd was admitted for treatment

Reiterman was listed in satisfac-

Javers was listed in stable condi-

THE CIRCUMSTANCES of the

It was then that a flatbed truck,

One of the two planes managed to

IN NEW YORK, Minister of State

All sources agreed that Ryan knew

Tom Reston, a State Department

.

been cau-

a ent Donald Neff and Washington Star

Staff Writers Ross Evans. Fred •

Time-Life News Service Correspond-

Barnes and Ron Sarro. ple's Temple. gle camp because his mission would be perceived tinned before he left for South gion. dence," Reston said, because of the remoteness and isolation of the re- been advised not to go to Jones' jun- America. "We urged general pru-

Also contributing to this story were

Guyanese sources said Ryan had

This was the scene at a jungle airfield at Port Kaltuma, Guyana, moments woman by members of a after the slaying of Rep. Leo J. Ryan, three newsmen and an American ible, the one at right believed to be the California congressman.

,

as hostile by the Peo-

.

California

-

based

cult. At least three bodies are vis-

0 IPS San Francisco Examiner vie AP

•