A Thousand Lives

by Julia Scheeres

  p. 164, “An Accusation of Human Rights Violations by Rev. James Warren Jones”: List of demands of Concerned Relatives, April 11, 1978, d-20.

  p. 164, “I will not be writing you anymore”: “Peoples Temple in Guyana Is ‘Prison,’ Relatives Say,” Bob Klose, Press Democrat, April 12,1978.

  p. 165, That night, an agitated Jones summoned the community to the pavilion: White night meeting as described in tapes Q 635, Q 636, Q637, Q 638 Q 639, Q594.

  p. 165, “nearly all of your goddamned relatives, have signed a petition”: Q635.

  p. 165, describe how they’d torture their family members: Q594.

  p. 166, the press release much debated by Temple leaders: Q635-639.

  p. 166, Harriet Tropp, in the Jonestown radio room, read a statement: Q 736.

  p. 166, “Patrick Henry captured it”: PT press release, April 18, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-I-1.

  p. 166, But listen carefully to the tape: Q736.

  p. 166, Of the sixteen people who raised their hands: Rally notes, “thinks will live a long time,” RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE-10-14.

  p. 166, shots from automatic weapons rang out in the darkness: Roller journal, April 22, 1978.

  CHAPTER 21: THE E9781451628968MBASSY

  p. 169, Jones brushed their comments aside: Roller journal, May 13, 1978.

  p. 169, the tape would be released to the world press after they died: Q245.

  p. 169, “I hope it will be an inspiration”: Q245.

  p. 170, “I figured if we just quit arguing with him, we could get some sleep”: Harold Cordell interview with author.

  p. 170, “In view of the death of myself, and the destruction of my life’s work”: letter written on May 13, 1978, signed “Rev. James Warren Jones,” California Historical Society MS3800 XX.

  p. 171, Back home in San Francisco: Affidavit of Deborah Layton Blakey, RYMUR 89-4286-B-2-d-3.

  p. 171, He found it impossible to believe that nine hundred people would line up and kill themselves: United States of America v. Peoples Temple, Deposition of Richard McCoy vol. 1.

  p. 171, “The more ‘secretive’ we need to be”: Harriet Tropp note to Jones, May 1978, RYMUR-89-4286-2233-EE-1-T-64.

  p. 172, prompting Jones to place her on his list of enemies: Roller journal, May 20, 1978.

  p. 172, Temple members surrounded her on the street: Reiterman, Raven, 420.

  p. 172, Georgetown officials did little to reassure her: UPI, “Ukiah Reporter under Protection,” May 27, 1978.

  p. 172, Lindsay never cleared customs: National Enquirer letter to Gene Chaikin, June 22, 1978, RYMUR-89-4286-2233-NN-1-CC.

  p. 173, “cyanide may take up to three hours to kill”: Schacht memo on cyanide, RYMUR-89-4286-2233-EE-1-5-55x.

  p. 173, enough poison to kill 1,800 people: “Laboratory Dept.” Order RYMUR 89-4286-2233-00-3-E2.

  CHAPTER 22: CONTROL

  p. 174, Some tried to gain favor by informing on people who didn’t smile: Bob Davis note to Jones, June 25, 1978, no FBI#.

  p. 174, Larry Schacht reported patients who took pain poorly: Schacht note to Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-FF-5-b-8.

  p. 174, Jones himself sometimes administered pain tests: Roller journal, February 14, 1978.

  p. 174, Some residents informed on themselves: Roller journal, May 4, 1978.

  p. 175, Bea Orsot, told Jones about Grubbs’s private fears, dreams, and sexual proclivities: Orsot note to Jones, May 28, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE-1-D-2-a; Orsot note to Jones, July 8, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE-2-M-5; Orsot note to Jones, July 10, 1978, RYMUR-89-4286-2233-EE-2-m-3B.

  p. 175, Grubbs would find himself in trouble: Grubbs note to Jones from extended care unit, October 27, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-FF-2-29-A.

  p. 175, a juvenile court in Oakland sent him to a foster family that belonged to Peoples Temple: Vince Lopez, Jr., background notes courtesy of James Polk, NBC.

  p. 175, He was one of twenty-two foster kids sent to Jonestown: California Attorney General investigation/James Polk, NBC.

  p. 175, “The woodshop wants to know”: Memo to JJ from Geraldine Bailey, June 10, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE-1AB-32-a,.

  p. 175, Jones gave Vince the chance to dance his way off the learning crew: Q597.

  p. 176, Jones didn’t drink the milkshakes himself: Memo to Jones, November 5, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-NIA4-3B.

  p. 176, Joyce Parks would regularly sedate troublemakers: Bob Kice, Tuesday Day Helper Report, September 12, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-C-11-b-7B; Day Helper Report, September 29, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-C-11 -A-15B.

  p. 176, residents who were in danger of being confined to the SCU: Medical department instructions from Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-J-3-e-la.

  p. 176, Eavesdropping ham-radio operators: FBI interview of ham radio operator, November 29, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-590.

  p. 176, Sedatives were always requested in one thousand doses: List of requested medical supplies, RYMUR89-4286-2018-E-3-A-2-170.

  p. 176, Jean Brown couldn’t find injectable tranquilizers: Jean Brown memo to Jones, October 2, 1978, RYMUR-89-4286-2233-BB-29-XXX-1.

  p. 176, “The only way it can be gotten is if you get a personal prescription”: Jean Brown memo, 10.2.78, BB-29-XXX-1.

  p. 176, buy all the tranquilizers and disposable syringes she could get her hands on: Traffic from Georgetown, October 11, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-E-3-A-2-194, Georgetown traffic, October 18, 1978, E-3-A-2-160.

  p. 176, she’d located 100 vials of Thorazine: Georgetown traffic, October 12, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-E-3-A-2-192.

  p. 177, every resident continually sedated for two years: Department of Justice memo.

  p. 177, “I feel awful”: Shanda James note to Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE-2-L-22.

  p. 177, swallowed a handful of oral contraceptives to avoid getting pregnant: Teri Buford interview with author.

  p. 177, rash of violence, runaway attempts, and mental breakdowns: Q265.

  p. 177, reprimanded for singing slave songs: Roller journal, August 25, 1978.

  p. 177, residents’ apathy was just as serious as the garden infestation: ACAO/ Steering, October 3, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-PP3AF5.

  p. 177, leadership considered different ways to motivate people: Steering Notes, July 31, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-PP3D1.

  p. 178, handing out wooden beads as merit badges: ACAO/Steering notes, October 3, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-PP3AF5.

  p. 178, “It will provide a kind of psychological balance”: Tropp note to Jones, May 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE-1-T-64.

  p. 178, a five-year swine breeding plan: Jonestown Farm Swine Breeding Program RYMUR 89-4286-2018-C-8-a-43a.

  p. 178, a new school: Jonestown Community School, Primary Division, Report of July 7, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-C-12-c-1.

  p. 178, a 100-acre citrus orchard: Gene Chaikin, “Projected 100-acre citrus orchard,” June 30, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-C-8-a-42a.

  p. 178, “make the place more liveable”: ACAO & Steering combined minutes, October 3, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-PP-3-A-F1.

  p. 178, “a perfect reminder of what you have taught us”: Liz Ruggiero note to Jones, October 25, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE-1-R-34.

  p. 178, “I am very impatient with you that still fear death”: Q220, late summer 1978, Lee Ingram note to Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE-1-I&J-154.

  p. 178, Jonestown library stocked five hundred copies of The Question: Box 3, “Books for the Jonestown Library,” No FBI markings.

  p. 179, “You would rather kill yourself first”: Deborah Touchette deposition, Peoples Temple v. Attorney General of California.

  p. 179, “I’m a mutation that dropped off some asteroid”: Roller journal, May 15, 1978.

  p. 180, Several onlookers chided Edith for not hitting her hard enough: Roller journal, April 4, 1978.

  p. 180, Lucas, seventy-four, confided in Edith that she was lonely: Roller journal, May 15, 1978.

  p. 180, “we have orders to report all negative comments”: Roller journal, May 17, 1978.
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  p. 180, members signed a release promising to “work diligently” at the settlement and “to keep a cheerful and constructive attitude”: Release signed by Zipporah Edwards, April 12, 1977, California Historical Society, MS 3800, folder 1108, 11B. p. 180, she promised to send him a “box of jewelry” each month: Lovie Jean Lucas note to Jones, undated RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE-3-KKKK-2.

  p. 180, Danielle Gardfrey, thirteen, was assigned to the learning crew: Roller journal, August 4, 1978.

  p. 181, “Sometimes I feel like getting away from it all”: Brenda Warren note to Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-FF-11-A-9.

  p. 181, “a chowder of fish heads and greens”: Roller journal, March 2, 1978.

  p. 181, “curried chicken necks”: Roller journal, April 21, 1978.

  p. 181, a few slices of watermelon or pineapple: Roller journal, May 12 and 31, 1978.

  p. 181, the farm would only produce enough beans to feed residents every third day: “Anticipated Harvest,” July 15–January 15, RYMUR 89- 4286-2233-PP-8-n-3.

  p. 181, Bogue suggested visitors bypass the fields altogether: Analysts Meeting Follow-up, August 11, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-C-8-a-21a.

  p. 181, Jones complained constantly about how much it cost to feed residents: Roller journal, February 7, 1978.

  p. 181, far from enough to sustain one thousand people: Patty Cartmell note to Jones, RYMUR-89-4286-2018-N-I-A30-a.

  p. 182, Doing so would take energy away from him: Teri Buford interview with author.

  p. 182, she’d be willing to return to her Bechtel job: Edith Roller memo to Jones May 28, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-BB-31-a-62.

  CHAPTER 23: ESCAPE

  p. 184, She thought about taking up her cane: Thrash, The Onliest One Alive, 94.

  p. 184, “I am blessed to be here”: Zipporah Edwards note to Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE-1-E-10-b.

  p. 185, Jones had engineered such mishaps: Grace Stoen interview with author, November 18, 2009. Jones would have wives drug husbands to make them think they were having a heart attack and bring them back into the fold.

  p. 186, who flirted openly with other men: Bonnie Simon “Dear Dad note,” RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE-1-5-132.

  p. 186, “the lives of my kids meant more than mine”: Al Simon note “To Dad,” April 9, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE-1-5-11.

  p. 186, Bogue sent Jones periodic updates: Gold Prospecting Report, James Morrell, May 7, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-PP-8-a-104.

  CHAPTER 24: CHAOS

  p. 189, rehearsed the answers to questions Freed might ask: Q279.

  p. 190, Cottage supervisors coached residents: Undated list of questions/ responses for guests, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-C-8-a-34-e and c-8-a-14d.

  p. 190, Jones’s lieutenants went from cottage to cottage: ACAO, House Drill, August 7, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233- PP3AD1.

  p. 190, “It’s important that we all appear happy and exhibit satisfaction”: Roller journal, August 27, 1978.

  p. 190, “Everyone is to smile constantly and make the victory sign”: Minutes from peoples rally RYMUR 89-4286-2018-c-8-a-28a.

  p. 190, even scripted the escorts’ seemingly spontaneous jokes: Preparation for Freed Visit, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-c-8-a-15b.

  p. 190, Details about Freed’s trip to Jonestown: Don Freed, interview with author.

  p. 191, she struggled to keep up with Freed’s jumbled stream of thought: Roller journal, August 22, 1978.

  p. 191, Freed told the crowd that Tim Stoen was a CIA agent: Roller journal August 15, 1978.

  p. 191, she also noted … what he and the other Temple leaders were eating: Roller journal, August 24, 1978.

  p. 192, proceeded to interrogate him over a September afternoon: Reiterman, Raven, 435.

  p. 192, Mazor had a reputation as a con man: “Report to Adult Authority,” Parole report for Joseph A. Mazor, December 16, 1970, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-S-1-0-1a.

  p. 192, repeated the fallacious expedition story to Jones’s lieutenants: Reiterman, Raven, 439.

  p. 192, Jones never left his cabin during the day: Robert Scheer and Henry Weinstein, “Lane Talks of Temple Connection,” Los Angeles Times, December 6, 1978.

  p. 192, behavior didn’t stop Lane from promising the Temple leader that he’d get to the bottom of the conspiracy: Deborah Touchette deposition.

  p. 192, a coordinated campaign to destroy Peoples Temple: “Counteroffensive program,” September 27, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-NN-6, A1.

  p. 192, he and Don Freed held a press conference: Press conference transcript, October 3, 1978

  p. 193, embarrassed by the success of the socialist experiment: “Peoples Temple Colony ‘Harassed,’” San Francisco Examiner, October 4, 1978.

  p. 193, accuse them of being CIA agents: KSAN Radio New Broadcast October 3, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-7-D-3.

  p. 193, San Francisco’s largest paper was part of the vast plan to destroy him: Richard Tropp letter to San Francisco Chronicle, November 1, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233--NN-6-P. p. 193,

  Charles Garry thought Mazor’s jungle tale was “bullshit”: “Reports,” Jean, October 23, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-7-A-49.

  p. 193, he’d once been a member of the service group himself: Law Office Report #50, August 16, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-B4B, (15a1).

  p. 193, Only the FBI sent him its information on Jim Jones: Charles Garry deposition, Peoples Temple v. Attorney General of California, December 30, 1981.

  p. 193, suggested Garry might also be “in the pay of the CIA”: Roller journal, February 25, 1978.

  p. 193, Jones hired Lane as a red herring: FBI interview with Garry, December 4, 1978.

  p. 193, Garry would accuse Lane of being “morally responsible” for the mass deaths: Diane Alters, “Garry Labels Lane Catalyst for 900 Jonestown Deaths,” McClatchy Newspapers Service, September 20, 1979.

  p. 194, “mixture of Moon and Manson”: Draft of Gordon Lindsay article for the Enquirer, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-I-l-c-1p.

  p. 194, “I ain’t dealing with ‘old toupee Garry’ now”: Q265.

  p. 194, Lane would say Lindsay’s article was “absolutely, 100 percent true”: John Crewdson, “Mark Lane and Peoples Temple: A Cause to Back, Then Condemn,” New York Times, February 4, 1978.

  p. 194, Residents signed a petition: Petition to immigrate to the USSR, undated, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-G-1-c-9.

  p. 195, “Are we or are we not welcome in the Soviet Union?”: Message from Jim Jones, undated, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-G-1-b-3a.

  p. 195, “The Temple thinks every movement of the moon deals with it”: Sharon Amos meeting with Russian embassy, October 20, 1978 RYMUR 89-4286-2018-G-1-b-1a.

  p. 195, Although Buford sent numerous memos to Jones supporting the “last-stand” plan: Buford Memo to Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-7-W.

  p. 195, Details on Buford’s relationship with Jones: Teri Buford interview with author.

  p. 196, it only cost $500 to hire a hit man: Teri Buford deposition, United States of America v. Peoples Temple

  p. 196, Lane was constantly coming on to her: “Stateside traffic,” October 8, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-PP-9-h-1.

  p. 196, He had a mysterious ailment that gave him 106-degree fevers: Message from Jim Jones, undated, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-G-1-b-3a.

  p. 196, He had a bad heart: Untitled, undated, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-G-1-9-6.

  p. 196, He had lung cancer: 10.8.78, Russian Embassy, October 8, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-G-1-e-2a.

  p. 197, The medical department had even sent diseased cells: Visit to Russian Embassy, October 13, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-G-1-b-7a.

  p. 197, the Soviet Union would not allow the group to immigrate: Meeting at Russian Embassy: October 24, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018 -G-1-f-a.

  p. 197, She later publicly apologized: Roller journal, May 15, 1978.

  p. 197, Marcie wasn’t told of his first mass suicide threat: Teri Buford memo to Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-7-J-6.

  p. 197, she made it abundantly clear that she was opposed to killing children: Marceline Jones note to Jones, RYMUR 8
9-4286-2233-EE-1-K-1.

  p. 197, Jones recorded a private message of “utmost gravity”: Georgetown traffic, October 8, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-E-3-A-2(208).

  p. 197, Mingo rummaged through papers on his desk: Mingo visit, October 9, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-D-2-K-19a.

  p. 197, Mingo canceled his weekly meetings with Sharon Amos altogether: Georgetown radio traffic, October 21, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-E-3-A-2-140.

  p. 197, He told his followers that he had lung cancer: Roller journal, August 8, 1978

  p. 197, complaints must stop: Follow-up notes from Peoples Rally, August 8, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-c-8-a-23a.

  p. 198, aside from a urinary tract infection: Schacht note to Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE-1-5-210.

  p. 198, they refused to commit their promises to writing: Sharon Amos, “Mingo Visit,” October 9, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018- D-2- K-19a.

  p. 198, Goodlett suspected Jones was suffering from manic depression: The Need For A Second Look At Jonestown, edited by Rebecca Moore and Fielding M. McGehee III (Edwin Mellen Press: 1989).

  p. 198, He reassured Jones that he wasn’t dying: “Notes on Peoples Temple” by Carlton B. Goodlett, Jonestown Institute.

  p. 198, “If you can’t convince him, then take him”: Guy Young interview with author.

  p. 198, Sometimes he even sounded some words out: Q216.

  p. 198, he ordered nearly twenty people to be medically sedated: Reiterman, Raven, 468.

  p. 198, “No, Jim! That’s not necessary!”: Harold Cordell interview with author.

  p. 198, He stationed armed guards outside his door: 10.16 Q384, Job Description, Internal Security Patrol, RYMUR 89-4286-2018—c-11-b-16cc.

  p. 199, He carried a .357 magnum revolver in his waistband: List of guns by carrier, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-H-1-c-4.

  p. 199, according to a memo she sent him: “Analysis of Future Prospects,” Carolyn Layton memo to Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-X-3-e, pp. 32a-32e.

  p. 199, in Jonestown’s last weeks: Fielding McGehee, interview with author.