The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 1

SUNDAY EDITION 500 50 Cents re Llii Ji Lf TS HOWAW) ft, VOL. 95. No. I5i SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1978 TODAY Cloudy, cold. Now Shepherd earLed His Flock era Of I To Death Alvin B.

Webb, former UPI Europe and Asia news editor and chief reporter in Vietnam, is head of a special UPI news team in Guyana to gather facts on the mass suicide that the State Department says took the lives of 900 members of the Rev. Jim Jones' Peoples Temple in the Guyana jungle. In addition, UPI bureaus in San Francisco, Washington, Houston, Indianapolis and many other points have contributed additional information on Jones and his sect for this story. jr By ALVIN B. WEBB GEORGETOWN, Guyana (UPI) -They killed the babies first.

Mothers brought their infants to the altar of death, cradled in their arms. Children were led by the hand. Nurses moved from one trusting child to another, squirting cyanide down their throats with syringes while their parents looked on. Near the altar the Rev. Jim Jones, 46, sat on a throne-like chair on a platform, presiding calmly over this extravaganza of death.

i Within moments convulsions began to wrack the tiny bodies of the children, white foam frothing from their lips. The children began to cry, small voices wailing in a wilderness of murderous suicidal mania. They trembled, fear in their eyes. For one brief moment, "Then they would give them a small drink of punch to wash it down. "Many of the chiildrcn volunteered to take the poison.

I can't say why most people were found face down. They were falling different ways. "Then the children started to cry." Rhodes said he escaped when he went with a nurse to find a stethoscope. "I went out the back door and crawled under a said. Most of the disciples went into the main auditorium to die.

At the back of the hall, mounted on a stage, was a plaque. It read: "Love One Another." Not since the Nazi death camps of World War II has a scene so stunned the world. Fields covered with the dead, many lying in embrace, surrounded the Peoples Temple, a ramshackle wooden structure in the center of the commune victims of one of the most awesome mass suicides in history. Within the space of a few minutes at dusk on Saturday, Nov. 18, the lexicon of history's horrors had to be expanded to include Jonestown.

known living witness of the mass suicide. That last hour is almost impossible to visualize. Rhodes, 36, a recovered drug addict with a long arrest record in Detroit, provided a rambling account: "They (the medical teams) took equipment into a tent, used as a library and school, large syringes minus the needles, plastic containers with the poison." The poison was cyanide and contained tranquilizers and painkillers to ease the agony of the deadly poison. It was washed down with grape Kool-Aid. "They would draw an amount out in the syringes and administer it by simply squirting it in people's mouths.

mi ODELL RHODES Only known living witness. Jones loved animals as a child and Barbara Shaffer, a first cousin who still lives in Lynn, recalled, "sometimes he'd (Continued on Page A-12, Column 1) ask Done; 910 ount 11 WHIM" .4 -t rresi Photo by Lynn Johnson mother enjoy reunion hug. Governor GRACE STOEN Her child taken by Jones. James Warren Jones was bom in 1932 in Lynn, the son of a poor family which lived mainly off an Army pension the father received for being gassed in World War I. GEORGETOWN, Guyana (UPI) Army burial teams put the last of at least 910 bodies from the Peoples Temple in Jonestown on a helicopter and broke into a clapping, hand-slapping celebration of the end of their grim task almost a week to the hour from one of history's most bizarre suicide rites.

"The last of the bodies has been removed," the U.S. Embassy announced late yesterday afternoon. Soldiers at Port Kaituma put the final body on a Jolly Green Giant helicopter and, still wearing their combat helmets and surgical masks, began shaking and slapping one another's hands and clapping in a frenzy of relief that their search for corpses was over. A U.S. source in Georgetown put the number for those who died in the mass suicide at 910 and said it could go even higher.

A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Georgetown said earlier the death count had reached about 900 but "this is not the final figure." The U.S. Embassy said all U.S. military men would evacuate the jungle commune last night and Guyanese police would move in to guard the buildings. One embassy official, asked if more helicopter searches for possible survivors would be made over the dense rain forest surrounding the colony, said only: "I suppose we will have to review that now." The remark appeared to indicate U.S.

authorities now believe most if not all inhabitants have been accounted for, dead or alive. The recovery operation took about three days, exceeding early expectations as the initial body count more than doubled by the time the registration teams finished their task at the Rev. Jim Jones' jungle commune. There were still discrepancies in the figures. Guyanese officials had turned over 803 American passports to the U.S.

Embassy and reported that 915 members of the California sect had registered with Guyanese immigration. Officials said 39 of the cult members survived the mass suicide. The findings dispelled rumors that hundreds of the members of the fanatical sect had fled into the jungle to escape death. A U.S. helicopter flew along a trail as far as the Venezuela border yesterday in the faint hope some may nave gone there.

The helicopter landed and crewmen were told no Americans had been seen. The U.S. task force had to call for more shipments of plastic body bags and aluminum coffins to deal with the piles of corpses, some of them stacked three deep around the commune's open-air pavilion, 150 miles northwest of Georgetown. By noon yesterday, 532 bodies had been bagged and flown back to the United States. Seven newsmen flew to Port Kaituma Grim Body fame swept the disciples of the Peoples emple.

Jim Jones sensed it. He leaped to his feet, exhorting, shouting. "We must die with dignity." As if by godlike command, all doubt vanished and as the last rays of sun filtered through the Guyanese jungles, hundreds of followers of Jim Jones drank poison and died in satanic ritual. Most were Californians. Most were black.

"The first adult, to die was a young woman who went up with a baby in her arms, had the poison shot down her throat, walked into a field and sat down and died," said Odell Rhodes, the only Detective Reunites Girl, Mom By JERRY SHARPE Ten-year-old Colleen "Muffy" Faw has a small scale-model doll of the famous El Paso, private detective J. J. Armes. But the real-life Armes, who has only hooks for hands and is the subject of a novel, looms big for the girl. He came into her life as the hero who traced her to another continent and brought her back to mother, ending three months of agony and anxiety.

The bizarre tale began three months ago when the girl was living a quiet life with her mother, Gayle Gourley, in Brookville, Jefferson County. Muffy's parents were divorced when she was a toddler. In the last week of August, her father, Dr. Richard Gordon Faw, a psychiatrist at Veterans Administration Hospital, Butler, Butler County, picked her up for a "normal" weekend visit. That was the last time Mrs.

Gourley, a coordinator for Brookville School District, saw her daughter until the weekend of Nov. 11 when Armes found the girl living with her father in a tiny fishing village in the southwest tip of England. Last night Muffy and her mother were enjoying a reunion with relatives at the home of Mrs. Gourley's aunt, Mrs. Valerie McMichael, at a 500-acre farm near Clinton.

A happy mother and daughter had arrived on a 4:30 p.m. flight yesterday (Continued on Page A-4, Column 4) Dick Makes By PATRICK BOYLE Press Staff Writer WILLIAMSBURG Pennsylvania Richard L. Thornburgh today will present his credentials as a new member of the Republican Governors' Association at its winter meeting here. Thornburgh's national introduction will be made earlier in the day as one of four gubernatorial guests in Washington on ABC's "Issues and Answers" program, scheduled to be televised live at noon. Colville To For Grand (Colville's chief aide architect of new crime-busting law, page A-7.) By PAUL MARYNIAK District Attorney Bob Colville this week will petition Common Pleas Court for creation of a new investigating-in-dicting grand jury to look into a broad range of criminal activity.

The petition will be filed under the new grand jury law, part of "the most significant Pennsylvania crime legislation in the last 50 years," Colville said. Armed with new powers, including wiretapping, the proposed 23-member panel could remain in existence 18 months to two years and investigate criminal activities ranging from the Manpower case to massage parlors to murder. Ding Skates To Damp Chill The sun has been taken out of action. The National Weather Service is calling for cloudy skies today with a high in the mid-30s. There's a 40 percent chance today and 80 percent chance tonight of snow turning to rain.

Press Weatherbird Donald Dingbat said he's going to try to warm up today so he doesn't get called for icing. (Detailed weather, page Ml.) s-Sunday- Sampler Santa's Helper Ready to start making your list and checking it twice? Nicholas Knezevich has done some of the leg-work on the gift scene and details what's new in games on pje Romancing A Kennedy Caroline Kennedy, 21 tomorrow, has found a beau. Walter Scott's "Personality Parade" in Parade Magazine offers the low-down. Gerela Teed Off Steeler placekicker Roy Gerela is having an off-year. The reason is a mystery, he says on D-l.

Male A Date Demand for calendars is going up day by day. UPI predicts $350 million worth of calendars will be given away in 1979. Find out why on page C-l. Cashing In On Fame Entertainers and sports stars are vying for first place in the salary sweepstakes. Turn to page H-l to check out some of the checkbook notables.

Home, Sweet, Home If you are reading this in your own home, be thankful. "The Breeze-way" column on page K-l reveals that the average price for an existing home in this area in October was $64,700. up from $44,500 a year earlier. On Inside Pages SECTION A Lolery Number 4 People In Tht Newt. II Weather Mil II SECTION 2 Jack Anderson 9 Lelten To Editor I Washington Calling I SECTION Aik The Press I Business 4-1 Death Notices 10 Gilbert Love I .......9 Want Ads.

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263-1121 Want Ads Other Depts 263-1100 SECTION Boy McHugh Sports News SECTION Antiques Dear Abby 7 Fashions 2 Golden Weddings It living'7! 1-16 Lucille Rivers 4 Pat's Pointers 10 Veteran News It SECTION Ad Section 1-4 0 People who don't believe in a hereafter have never had a bill collector on their heels. I i. I I 7 "Muffy" Faw and her Debut As He will be joined on the show by Illinois Gov. James R. Thompson, also a former crime-busting federal prosecutor in Chicago, Vermont Gov.

Richard A. Snelling and Minnesota Albert H. Quie. Thornburgh was to rent a car for the drive from Washington to colonial Williamsburg this afternoon, arriving in time for a private dinner for GOP governors and their wives. While the national limelight appealed to some of his predecessors even before Petition Jury Here Creation of the new grand jury appears assured since the new law gives a judge no discretion on granting the district attorney's request.

The grand jury will not be empaneled until January. The proposed panel will have far more powers than the old indicting grand juries which were phased out two years ago and replaced with the more streamlined "informations" system. The latter system allows the district attorney to file charges directly with the criminal division of Common Pleas Court. The "informations" system will be retained for routine prosecutions. The proposed panel would have a broader scope as well as additional tools than did the out-going grand jury investigating payroll abuse within the county's old Manpower Department.

Unlike grand juries of the past, the proposed panel could both indict and investigate. It could supplement ongoing investigations by the district attorney's detectives and by city and suburban police or it can focus on areas where police are not actively involved. Moreover, unlike the special grand jury investigating Manpower which will be disbanded next month ths proposed panel would not be limited to one specific area of inquiry. "The new grand jury will allow sophisticated investigations. Without it, we have no way to get a subpoena to force witnesses to cooperate with our (Continued on Page Aolumn 4) mf.yr "et 1 LI I Jim Jones: Who Was He? He loved animals.

He opened a soup kitchen for the poor. He started nursing homes. Who was this seemingly admirable man? Jim Jones, the man behind the Guyana cult mass suicides, a man whose charisma left his followers spellbound and, finally, dead. His story starts on page B-l. I and walked along a muddy road into the Jonestown death camp Friday, including UPI correspondent Nigel Cumberbach and UPI photographer Les Sintay.

Cumberbatch reported that bodies of numerous dogs were strewn among the human remains still sprawled in the commune where army trucks were haul- (Continued on Page A-12, Column 6) Mideast Pact Weeks Away, Senators Say By THOMAS W. LIPPMAN CAIRO Weeks of negotiations ovrr two difficult issues remain before Egypt and Israel conclude a peace treaty, but both sides are determined to reach an agreement, two U.S. senators said after meeting with President Anwar Sadat. Sen. Henry M.

Jackson, said after the meeting yesterday that the remaining issues are "not going to be resolved before Dec. 10," the date on which Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Mcna-chem Begin are to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He said it might be two months before an accord is ready for signing. But Jackson, one of a group of senators who came to Cairo after talks with Israeli leaders, said "the mood is still favorable. I see an agreement The differences will be reconciled." Sen.

Jacob Javits, declined to say how long be thought it would take to wrap up the treaty. "If given an opportunity," he said, the Egyptians and the Israelis would work out their differences "within a proximate time." But he said that "some forum would have to be found" for the talks to resume. That was a reference to the fact that no formal negotiations are either in progress or scheduled. Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan said last week that (Continued -on Page A-4, Column 2) Elks County where townspeople gave the party directions through the mountainous terrain eastward towards Philadelphia. It was the last time Castleton was seen alive.

Two months later, Sgt. Jim Connors, a member of the expedition, staggered into Lock Haven in Eastern Pennsylvania and told a fantastic tale of the party being ambushed in Driftwood. AH other nine members of the expedition, including Castleton perished, he said. A court of inquiry was held in Clearfield that fall, but no charges were ever filed against Connors who was later tranferred to a remote military post in Arizona. For several years the government searched for the gold, turning up only one-naif of an ingot.

Connors, who sometimes boasted about knowing the gold's hiding place when he was drunk, died while in the service. they reached the state Capitol in Harris-burg, Thornburgh "is being very cautious and not going overboard," said an aide. His press secretary, Paul Critchlow, said Thornburgh has chosen "a slow and easy" approach as the successor to outgoing Democratic Gov. Milton J. Shapp.

Thornburgh, his wife, Ginny, his campaign manager, Jay Waldman, and Critchlow signed up for the two-day conference of the Republican Governors' Association. It's one of the smallest state delegations here. The Thornburghs returned home Wednesday from a two-week catch-their-breath vacation in Puerto Rico. The governor-elect plans to step up a screening process in search of new talent as members of his Cabinet, who will serve as secretaries of the various state departments. He also will have special assistants in his "front office." But Critchlow said it likely will be early January before Thornburgh begins to announce his first appointments.

The last may not be resolved until shortly before he is inaugurated at noon Jan. 16. None of Shapp's top aides or Cabinet members is expected to be retained, al- (Continued on Page A-4, Column 4) Tartans Beaten In Semi-Finals Carnegie-Mellon saw its dreams of an NCAA Division 3 football championship shattered today, losing 31-6 to Baldwin-Wallace in the semi-finals of the playoffs. In the high school ranks, Penn Hills won the WPIAL Class AAA championship with a 7-0 victory over Blackhawk while Knoch won the Class AA title with a 40-15 triumph over Beaver Falls. Press Football Contest scores: North Carolina 16 Duke 15 Clemson 41 South Carolina 23 Tennessee 29 Kentucky 14 Mississippi 27 Mississippi St.

7 Ohio State 3 Michigan 14 Purdue 20 Indiana 7 Wisconsin 48 Minnesota 10 Baylor 38 Texas 14 Southern Methodist 14 Arkansas 27 Washington St. 8 Washington 38 Oregon State 3 Oregon 24 (Details on snorts pages.) Is Elk County Hiding $4 Million In Gold? DENTS RUN, Pa. (UPI) Somewhere deep in the woods in Elk County there are 26 black-painted gold bars. The 50-pound barswere part of a Civil War mint shipment en route from Wheeling, W. Va.

to Philadelphia. At today's prices, the gold is valued at more than $4 million. In June 1863, Lt. John Castleton was ordered to transport the gold shipment to Philadelphia to avoid a confrontation with enemy cavalry. According to a weekly newspaper, only Castleton knew that 26 gold bars, disguised with black paint, were buried beneath a false bottom on a wagon.

Later that month, the party reached Clarion where they learned that the Confederate army had invaded Pennsylvania. The expedition was delayed when Castleton was hit with a malaria attack. In his delirium, he ranted about the gold. Castleton recovered and the expedition got und-V way from St. Marys in 'V.