The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 1

400 dead, 600 missing in Guyana Mass suicide follows massacre GEORGETOWN, Guyana (UPI) A Guyana government official said Monday the band of American religious fanatics who massacred a California congressman and four members of his party had begun a wave of mass suicide and murder that left 400 persons dead and 600 missing. Guyana Minister of Information Shirley Field-Ridley, who at first reported the mass suicide, said Guyanese troops Monday captured the headquarters of the Peoples Temple in the jungle city of Jonestown and found that some of the victims apparently were murdered. Mrs. Field-Ridley told a news conference that some of the victims "showed signs of violence, including presumed gunshot wounds, which were not consistent with suicide." She said some of the victims showed no signs of violence and were presumed to have been poison victims. Victims and survivor Listed as killed in ambush at Guyana airstrip are (from left) California Congressman Leo Ryan; San Francisco Examiner photographer Greg Robinson, She said a man who fled from the religious community headed by a Californian, the Rev.

Jim Jones, reached a police station in the jungled interior of Guyana Sunday and reported that leaders of the sect were preparing or a and NBC News correspondent Don Harris. Attorney-author Mark Lane (right) survived the slaughter. (UPI Photos) mass suicide by poisoning. Jones, 46, variously called himself the "prophet of God" and "father" and preached a flamboyant mixture of old- time faith healing, racial integration and socialism. 15 CENTS The HOME EDITION Salina Journal 107th YEAR No.

324 SALINA, KANSAS, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20,1978 24 Pages See Page 2 for reporter Ron Javers' graphic account of the massacre, and other related stories. Mrs. 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 persons may be missing." It was not immediately known if they had fled into the jungle surrounding the Peoples Temple 150 miles west of Georgetown near the Venezuelan border or if they were dead. 5 Americans slain The bizarre case blazed into violence at 4:20 p.m.

Saturday when an ambush by members of the sect at a jungle airport killed Rep. Leo J. Ryan, and four other Americans when Ryan was leaving with 20 members of the sect after investigating reports that many Americans were being held against their will. Killed with him were NBC television reporter Don Harris, 42; NBC cameraman Robert Brown, 36, both of Los Angeles, San Francisco Examiner photographer Gregory Robinson, 27, and Patricia Park, 18, an American settler. "Rev." Jim Jones, cult leader Mrs.

Field-Ridley said troops had been unable to locate Jones, a former San Francisco Housing Authority director, but refugees said he had forced his followers known locally as "a bunch of crazies" to make a suicide pact with him and predicted all 1,200 members of the sect would die. Mrs. Kathy Hunter, a free-lance writer from Ukiah, who is familiar with the Peoples Temple sect, said a Guyanese parliament member had told her in a telephone conversation that Jones had committed suicide a fate many cultists had predicted for the bizarre figure. Mrs. Field-Ridley said U.J> lawyers Mark Lane and Charles Garry were in Georgetown and not in custody.

They had been at the settlement when the shooting incident occurred. She said she did not know where they were staying. Lane and Garry accompanied Ryan on the investigative trip as attorneys for the religious leader. Lane wrote Ryan an unfriendly letter Nov. 6 speaking of "dire consequences" if the American government continued to harass the Peoples Temple, Ryan's administrative assistant Joe Holsinger said in Washington.

A short time before the massacre on the airstrip, Ryan had escaped a knife attack by a young cultist in the Jonestown compound. The congressman, whose shirt was drenched with his assailant's blood, credited Lane with saving his life at that time, but he lived only a few minutes longer. Mrs. Field-Ridley said one suspect, Larry Layton, 32, an American member of the sect, had been arrested but no charges had yet been filed. Police reported nine other suspects had been arrested in connection with the murder of the California congressman.

The minister also confirmed that a mother and her three children, members of the sect, were found with their throats cut in Georgetown in a presumed murder-suicide. The sect maintained an office in Georgetown, the capital. State Department officials in Washington said a plane is expected to bring the bodies of Ryan and other victims of the airport massacre to the United States Monday afternoon and that Gu- (Continued to Page 2) Gef used to weather; It'll be around awhile (Detailed forecasts, Page 11) Kansans probably have many things for which to be thankful this Thanksgiving, but the weather won't be among them. The sudden arrival Saturday afternoon of a broad front of cold Arctic air brought freezing drizzle and light snow to the Sunflower State. The gloom is expected to remain until late Tuesday and then be replaced by another front, which should provide much of the same weather.

Freezing drizzle, which started falling Sunday morning in Western and North-Central Kansas, continued Monday. Early-morning traffic in Salina slipped and slid on icy streets at speeds of 10 and 15 miles per hour, causing traffic tieups and resulting in at least 25 accidents since 6:30 a.m. two of them involving minor injuries. Police Sgt. Carl Kiltz advised Sali- nans to avoid accidents by driving slowly and maintaining a safe distance between vehicles, and to stay inside if at all possible.

A travelers' advisory was posted for North-Central Kansas through Monday because of icy roads. Temperatures aren't expected to inch above the freezing mark until Wednesday. By noon Monday the freezing drizzle had left .03 of an inch of moisture. By late morning the drizzle had changed to snow grains, somewhat improving traction on the sheet-ice streets. The temperature had dropped to 22 degrees.

Kansas Highway Patrol headquarters at Norton also reported a rash of accidents More than a dozen since 1 p.m. Sunday. The front which was causing all the problems had moved past Kansas Monday and was hovering over Southern Ok- Crash is fatal on 1-70 A young woman was killed and her mother injured when their auto left Interstate 70 and overturned at about 11:45 a.m. Monday east of Salina. Two ambulances were dispatched to the scene of the accident, 10 miles east of Salina near the New Cambria exit.

The injured woman was rushed to St. John's hospital. The women's car, with Kiowa County plates, apparently was westbound on I- 70 when it went out of control, crossed the median strip and eastbound lanes, and overturned in the south ditch of the highway. The dead woman was believed to be in her late teens or early 20's, witnesses said. Authorities were still at the scene at presstime.

lahoma. However, the National Weather Service at Concordia said it was expected to reverse itself and begin the return trip to Kansas sometime Monday. It wasn't expected to leave the state until late Tuesday, at which time the freezing rain should stop. "Wednesday will probably be the best day we have this week," an NWS spokesman predicted. "It'll be nice just long enough to get everyone home for Thanksgiving." Temperatures, he added, could climb into the 40s Wednesday.

The weather is expected to take another bad turn on Thanksgiving Day. Brief power outage affects East Salina A portion of East Salina suffered a power outage Monday morning. Norm Jackson, manager of the Salina Kansas Power Light office, said the outage occurred at 6:24 a.m. Power was restored at 7:45 a.m." The area affected by the outage was relatively small, extending east of the 1400 block of East Iron to near the Country Club area. A cracked insulator in a substation was blamed for the outage.

Bodies lie sprawled on airstrip in Jonestown, Guyana, near plane which was to carry them back to Scene of massacre the capital of Georgetown. Among victims of slaughter was California Congressman Leo Ryan. (Photo Copyright 1978 by San Francisco Examiner via UPI) Ryan: A new of congressman By United Press International Rep. Leo J. Ryan's heavy schedule of foreign travel was a major issue in his recent political campaign, but the voters of San Mateo County, south of San Francisco, overwhelmingly reelected him to a fourth term in the U.S.

House. He was a congressman who liked to see for himself, to check out the situation personally before taking a posititon or casting a vote. The 53-year-old Democrat was killed Saturday on one of the investigative trips a fact-finding visit to the steamy South American nation of Guyana to check out a controversial religious cult founded by a San Francisco man. Ryan was generally considered a liberal, but he had substantial support in his home district from the wealthy Republicans of Hillsborough and Burlingame as well as the workers in the industrial north of the county. BRAZIL of the ambush.

(UPI Map) At the time of his death, Ryan was looking forward to an increasingly active role as a member of the House International Relations Committee and chairman of the Environment, Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee. Ryan, twice-divorced father of five, also served on the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee and on the board of directors of Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C. As chairman of the environmental subcommittee, Ryan had investigated whether the Auburn Dam being built in northern California would be earthquake-proof. He was sharply critical of assurances by the Bureau of Reclamation. Ryan went on his tragic, last trip to check out reports of beatings and other abuses at a Guyanan religious settlement run by Jim Jones, a former San Francisco city official.

Rep. Lester Wolff, a fellow member of the international relations committee, called Ryan one of a "whole new breed of investigative congressmen who go out to see things for themselves." Ryan was born in Lincoln, Neb. Diggs sentenced, may have to give up seat WASHINGTON (UPI)' A federal judge Monday rejected Rep. Charles Diggs' bid for freedom and a chance "to redeem myself" and sentenced Congress' senior black to three years in prison for taking payroll kickbacks. The sentence, imposed by U.S.

District Judge Oliver Gasch before a packed courtroom, could eventually force the 12-term Michigan Democrat to give up his seat despite his landslide re-election two weeks ago. But Gasch left open the possibility he might trim Diggs' sentence if he reduces the large personal debts that allegedly led to the payroll kickback scheme. Gasch stressed he has "wide latitude" for reducing sentences if the defense seeks such a reduction within 120 days. There is no minimum term for the sentence concurrent three-year terms for each of 29 counts charging Diggs with mail fraud and filing false payroll vouchers. Gasch left Diggs' release date to the discretion of the L.S.

Parole Commission. Diggs presumably will keep his seat until an appeals court acts on his bid to overturn his conviction. He avoided reporters after the hearing and a spokesman said Diggs would have no state- Rep. Charles Diggs i ment on his future plans until later in the week. In passing sentence, Gasch said he understood Diggs had personal debts totaling $174,000.

It was Diggs' burdensome debts that caused him to raise the salaries of some of his staff members in return for kickbacks allegedly totaling $100,000. Inside today Area News 19 Comics 23 Courts 11 Crossword 17 Deaths 11 Fam. Hospitals 11 Local 11,12 Markets 11 Opinion 4 Sports 13-16 Thosteson 6 TV-Films 20 Weather 11 Women 8, 9 Is there hope for New York on World Hello Day? Don'f forget your quota of 10 By BRENT BOWERS NEW YORK (UPI) I said hello to New York, but New York didn't say hello to me. However, an elderly woman said "hi" and a pretty girl smiled and that was considerably better than I fared five years ago on the first World Hello Day. In case you don't know it, on Tuesday you're supposed to blurt out a cheery "hello" to 10 total strangers.

Well, I jumped the gun and did it Sunday. Yale student Michael McCormack dreamed up the idea in 1973 as a way to "promote peace and understanding" across the globe. Then, he estimated, 300 million people took part. This year, he believes the number will top 2 billion. For both years, those figures included me.

In my first assignment at UPI, an editor told me to go out onto the streets of Manhattan and greet five strangers. As I recall, one man nodded, another glared angrily, two women ignored me and a third pursed her lips, raised her umbrella dangerously and looked around for a policeman. I beat a hasty retreat back to the newsroom. Five years later, the editor decided I should try again. Maybe the city had gotten a little friendlier, he reasoned.

It has. Not a lot, just a little, but friendlier nevertheless. UPI Reporter Brent Bowers is all smiled out as he writes up his account of World Hello Day on video display terminal in New York. (UPI Photo) "Huh? Uh, hi there," a middle-aged man in a tweed coat said. He squinted, puzzled.

Where had he met me before? We both kept walking. I glanced back. He glanced back. We waved. To my second "hello," a stout, bearded man in a three-piece suit glared in scorn, then stumbled, then weaved, then shouted a phrase not aimed at promoting peace and understanding.

In quick succession: Two beautiful women ignored my "hellos" with utter, crushing indifference, not so much as glancing my way or breaking their stride. It looked like my ego would be taking quite a beating. A street vendor raised his hand barely in a bored gesture of recognition. A handsome young man in a tweed jacket wilted me with a sneer of infinite contempt. Two men nodded curtly.

Two hellos left Now I had two "hellos" left the alloted number has doubled from five in 1973 to 10 this year and turned again to the opposite sex. "Hello," I said to an elderly lady in a black dress, black hat and black umbrella. But she didn't lift it menacingly; her face lit up and she answered, "Well, hi, young man." My spirits thus bolstered, I made one last stab at charming a beautiful woman. "Hello, "I said. She didn't answer.

She just walked straight ahead. But she smiled. And I walked back to the newsroom and told my editor I thought "Hello Day" is a pretty good idea, after all. Dear Sal: Midwestern hayseeds unused to the ways of such sophisticated folks often are shaken to the core by the Big Apple's bite. Yours, Ina.