The Road to Jonestown

by Jeff Guinn

  Peoples Temple socialism was intended: Neva Sly Hargrave and Laura Johnston Kohl interviews.

  For many blacks and whites, attending Temple services: Garry Lambrev interview.

  When Elmer and Deanna Mertle joined the Temple: Mills, Six Years with God, pp. 131–33.

  everyone was addressed in some personal way: Laura Johnston Kohl and Hue Fortson interviews; Neva Sly Hargrave, “A Story of Deprogramming,” Jonestown Report 6 (October 2010), last modified March 8, 2014, Jonestown Institute.

  After Jones fetched some strays out of a busy Ukiah street: Ukiah Daily Journal, October 27, 1975.

  The Temple process for breaking addiction: Neva Sly Hargrave interview.

  But in a handwritten document: RYMUR 89-4286-QQ-2-H-1 through 4.

  He found him: When I contacted Tim Stoen to request an interview for this book, he politely but firmly declined, citing a personal policy of not commenting on Peoples Temple that had been in effect for ten years. There are ample public documents and FBI files that describe many of Stoen’s actions, and other surviving Temple members offered me their memories and opinions of him. Several previous books about Jim Jones and Peoples Temple, especially Tim Reiterman’s Raven and Awake in a Nightmare: Jonestown, the Only Eyewitness Account (New York: W. W. Norton, 1981) by Ethan Feinsod, devote considerable space to Stoen. But I always prefer an individual’s own words. In 2003 Stoen had granted a lengthy interview to Hank Sims of the North Coast Journal, and I gleaned considerable information from Sims’s “Standing in the Shadows of Jonestown,” which was published in North Coast’s September 2003 issue.

  Then in December 2015, Stoen self-published Marked for Death: My War with Jim Jones the Devil of Jonestown (Charleston: CreateSpace, 2015). Though all memoirs are to some extent self-serving (we inevitably remember some critical things in ways that present us in the best light), Marked for Death is of great value to anyone who wants to understand the intricacies of Peoples Temple. I still wish Tim Stoen had talked to me, but I’m grateful that in Marked for Death he tells his story from his own perspective, frequently supplying specific dates that have been missing in previous Temple chronicles and church records. In particular, Stoen’s description of his first contact with Peoples Temple is invaluable.

  One Sunday in September: Stoen, Marked for Death, pp. 62–68.

  But it was different between Jones and Stoen: Jim Jones Jr., Garry Lambrev, Laura Johnston Kohl, and Tim Carter interviews.

  what other Temple members didn’t realize: Stoen, Marked for Death, pp. 24, 117.

  Stoen had concluded that God was too slow: Ibid., p. 59.

  Grace Grech was much younger: Reiterman, Raven, pp. 106–13.

  Soon afterward, she shocked her husband: Stoen, Marked for Death, p. 81.

  Grace felt overwhelmed: Rebecca Moore and Laura Johnston Kohl interviews.

  Seven years later, when they had become enemies: RYMUR 89-4286-FF-2-17-A and B.

  TWENTY-THREE: MONEY

  Ten percent of personal income: Laura Johnston Kohl, Tim Carter, Garry Lambrev, and Alan Swanson interviews.

  A running joke among the members: Laura Johnston Kohl interview.

  a document was eventually circulated: RYMUR 89-4286-X-3-f-38.

  The resulting inventory of donated property: Garry Lambrev and Alan Swanson interviews.

  $15,000 was a typical sum: RYMUR 89-4286-B-4-a-54 through 61.

  One of these, besides touting Jones’s appearance: San Francisco Chronicle, September 21, 1968.

  For the first time, Jones regularly attracted: John V. Moore interview.

  Jones and his close advisors quickly became expert: Teri Buford O’Shea, Laura Johnston Kohl, Rebecca Moore, and Fielding McGehee interviews.

  Soon, besides nursing homes, these included: Moore, Understanding Jonestown and Peoples Temple, pp. 24–26.

  he began scheduling the programs on a regular basis: Laura Johnston Kohl interview.

  Temple ladies offered snacks for sale: Laura Johnston Kohl, Jonestown Survivor: An Insider’s Look (Bloomington: iUniverse, 2010), p. 51.

  each photo was good for protection: Hue Fortson interview.

  Often, photo sales at a single service: Kohl, Jonestown Survivor, pp. 52–53.

  letters began offering additional personal protections: California Historical Society, MS 4124, Box 1, Folder 3.

  Jones’s new travel schedule kept him away: Alan Swanson interview.

  Others, loyal to the mission: Juanell Smart and Tim Carter interviews.

  By 1973, Peoples Temple of Redwood Valley claimed: Scott Seay interview. Reverend Seay also granted me access to Disciples of Christ denominational records, which allowed me to be exact in the membership and income reported by Peoples Temple from its Indianapolis inception.

  TWENTY-FOUR: WORKER BEES

  Sometimes a dozen people slept in space: Teri Buford O’Shea and Laura Johnston Kohl interviews.

  Experienced members like the Mertles didn’t consider it wrong: Mills, Six Years with God, p. 147.

  The approach to potential full-time Temple workers: Hue Fortson interview.

  Even car payments and automotive insurance: Ibid.

  whose operator followed rigid guidelines: California Historical Society, MS 3800, Box 4, Folder 57.

  This meant many communals dressed: Alan Swanson interview.

  sneaking naps in the church hallways whenever they could: Ibid.

  Stephan Jones would recall decades later: Stephan Jones, Bucknell University presentation.

  Going to a movie or to dinner: Alan Swanson interview.

  There was also the example of Jim Jones himself: Laura Johnston Kohl, Garry Lambrev, and Hue Fortson interviews.

  Anyone idle was sharply informed: Hue Fortson interview.

  Jones took particular pride in his knack: Garry Lambrev interview.

  Members often competed: Hue Fortson interview.

  Predictably, the atmosphere of mandatory humility: Laura Johnston Kohl interview.

  TWENTY-FIVE: ON THE ROAD

  These buses were purchased from Greyhound: RYMUR 89-4286-B-4-a-33.

  The Temple acquired a dozen: Neva Sly Hargrave interview. Some former members remember there being thirteen Greyhounds. Others recall ten or eleven. Neva Sly Hargrave, who trained and served as a driver, remembers twelve, plus the smaller yellow bus used to haul equipment.

  The Temple built an extensive garage: Alan Swanson interview.

  Seats were removed to make room for a private area: Neva Sly Hargrave interview.

  Temple members were trained to drive them: Ibid.

  The trips were planned with the precision: Tim Carter and Laura Johnston Kohl interviews; Kohl, Jonestown Survivor, pp. 54–56.

  Jack Beam and Patty Cartmell were nearly always present: Neva Sly Hargrave interview.

  sometimes there would be $10,000 or more in bills and change: Tim Carter and Hue Fortson interviews.

  Several weeks before the event: Laura Johnston Kohl interview.

  These touted Jones and the scheduled programs: California Historical Society, MS 4214, Box 1, Folder 9.

  When the venue opened: Alan Swanson, Neva Sly Hargrave, Tim Carter, and Laura Johnston Kohl interviews.

  By now they were presented in particularly compelling fashion: Neva Sly Hargrave interview.

  Jones could, if he wished, quote Maine senator Edmund Muskie: Perlstein, Before the Storm, pp. 590–92.

  Veteran political reporter Jules Witcover described it: Jules Witcover, Very Strange Bedfellows, p. xvi.

  an advance crew was already hundreds of miles away: Laura Johnston Kohl interview.

  TWENTY-SIX: FAILURES

  the vetting process was extensive: Tim Carter, Laura Johnston Kohl, Rebecca Moore, and Garry Lambrev interviews.

  Who brought with her: Deborah Layton, Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor’s Story of Life and Death in the Peoples Temple (New York: Anchor, 1999), p. 51.

  Moore and his wife, Barbara, were greatly put off: John V. Moore in
terview.

  He received an invitation: Neva Sly Hargrave interview.

  Jones personally passed out rolls of toilet paper: Joyce Overman Bowman interview.

  Jones couldn’t resist bragging: Reiterman, Raven pp. 209–10. Reiterman’s description in Raven of Jones’s disputed cancer healing is classic: “[He] ordered [the alleged cancer] paraded around like a saint’s relic.” Also Julia Scheeres, A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Jonestown (New York: Free Press, 2012), p. 52.

  Father Divine retired from public appearances: Watts, God, Harlem U.S.A., p. 173.

  Jones contacted Mother Divine and asked to visit: My description of the trip and its immediate aftermath draws on four sources: Leslie Wagner-Wilson, Slavery of Faith (Bloomington: iUniverse, 2009), pp. 27–28; also Reiterman, Raven, pp. 139–41; Mills, Six Years with God, pp. 176–79; and Watts, God, Harlem U.S.A., pp. 174–75.

  Simon Peter, one of the former Peace Mission members: In January 2014 I learned to my great astonishment that Mother Divine was not only still alive, but at least nominally in charge of what remains of the Peace Mission ministry. I contacted the Peace Mission office to request an interview. Though this was not allowed, Mission spokesman Roger Klaus did respond to my emailed questions with copies of documents from Mission files. I cite the material he provided regarding the letter from Simon Peter to Mother Divine and her reply to it. Klaus also quoted Mother Divine’s post-Jonestown comment about Jones, his charisma, and the perils of spiritual illusions. It’s hard to disagree with her about that.

  Jones sent them a new, lengthy letter: California Historical Society, MS 4124, Box 1, Folder 9.

  About a half dozen long-term members: RYMUR 89-4286-1776 and 1777.

  Jones occasionally mentioned Father Divine: Juanell Smart interview.

  TWENTY-SEVEN: DRUGS

  she gloried in her self-assumed role: Jim Jones Jr., Rebecca Moore, and Laura Johnston Kohl interviews.

  He sometimes appointed committees and advisory boards: Ron Haldeman interview.

  Survivors agree he led on a “need to know” basis: Tim Carter, Teri Buford O’Shea, and Garry Lambrev interviews.

  Once, just before the Temple’s Greyhound convoy left: Hue Fortson interview.

  He loved mysteries and action films: Jim Jones Jr. interview.

  he took vacations with his family: Ibid.

  On at least two occasions he withdrew: RYMUR 89-4286-A-2-A-31. One withdrawal was for $2,000, the other for $4,000.

  They knew him well and harbored no belief: Garry Lambrev interview.

  he began abusing drugs on a regular basis: Lawrence Wright, “The Orphans of Jonestown,” The New Yorker, November 22, 1993; Stephan Jones, “Like Father, Like Son”; Jim Jones Jr. interview.

  Access to these drugs wasn’t a problem: Garry Lambrev interview.

  A more obvious side effect: Laura Johnston Kohl interview.

  He claimed this was because: Hue Fortson interview.

  Everyone was to be on the lookout for questionable behavior: Laura Johnston Kohl, Teri Buford O’Shea, and Tim Carter interviews.

  Some of Jones’s bodyguards were armed: Reiterman, Raven, pp. 202–3.

  sentries posted outside his closed office door heard: Hue Fortson interview.

  TWENTY-EIGHT: SEX

  Carolyn initially found some solace: California Historical Society, MS 3802, Box 1, Folder 3.

  Ijames tried tactfully warning Jones: Reiterman, Raven, p. 172.

  Terri Buford was working in an adjacent office: Teri Buford O’Shea interview.

  Debbie Layton’s account in her memoir: Layton, Seductive Poison, pp. 73–83.

  he included Cartmell by putting her in charge: Tim Carter interview.

  Most, though not all, of the time Jones confined himself to adults: Fielding McGehee and Laura Johnston Kohl interviews.

  A young man recently recruited to the Temple: Tim Carter interview.

  the younger male leaders were warned: Hue Fortson interview.

  “I have to be all things to all people”: Ibid.

  Survivors remember Grace complaining: Rebecca Moore interview.

  she mentioned that she and Tim had not been intimate: Ibid.

  Tim Stoen was a passionate believer: Jim Jones Jr. interview.

  he adopted an “open marriage” policy with Grace: Stoen, Marked for Death, p. 85.

  TWENTY-NINE: FAMILY

  Tim Tupper, the child of a Temple member: Jim Jones Jr. interview.

  There were perks that all of them enjoyed: Ibid.

  Other Temple youngsters learned: Alan Swanson interview.

  trays of white liquid in the refrigerator: Talbot, Season of the Witch, p. 297.

  Once they found him facedown: Wright, “The Orphans of Jonestown.”

  “[It] looked like we were a family again”: Stephan Jones, “Like Father, Like Son.”

  Stephan Jones was twelve when he swallowed: Ibid.

  after hearing her brother-in-law preach: Janet L. Jackson interview.

  But on February 6, 1972, Tim Stoen signed a statement: RYMUR 89-4286-FF-4-A-175.

  Stoen said that as a lawyer: Stoen, Marked for Death, p. 86.

  If he had any doubt—or any hope—it wasn’t true: In his memoir, Stoen does not state whether he directly asked Grace if Jim Jones was John Victor’s biological father. Grace Grech Stoen has never made a definitive public statement on the subject. She did not respond to my request for an interview. Several former Temple members have told me that in 1972 and afterward, Grace said that Jim Jones was the father of her son.

  She told someone that if she could be any animal: Thielmann, The Broken God, p. 89.

  she rented an apartment in Santa Rosa: Jim Jones Jr. interview.

  new members felt Marceline was hard to get to know: Juanell Smart interview.

  She had fallen in love with a psychologist: This and my description of the Jones family meeting are based on an interview with Jim Jones Jr.

  Stephan said decades later: Stephan Jones, Bucknell University presentation.

  It was different for Suzanne: Jim Jones Jr. interview. Much of my description of Mike Cartmell’s courtship of and subsequent marriage to Suzanne Jones is based on articles contributed by Cartmell on the Jonestown Institute website.

  THIRTY: THE PLANNING COMMISSION

  Jones always maintained the illusion: Ron Haldeman interview.

  its Board of Elders consisted of loyalists: Garry Lambrev, “The Board (of Elders),” Jonestown Report 9 (November 2007), last modified March 4, 2014, Jonestown Institute.

  she would feed her three children only birdseed: Ibid.; Garry Lambrev interview.

  Membership on the formal Board of Directors of the Peoples Temple: Moore, Understanding Jonestown and Peoples Temple, pp. 35–36.

  No one other than Jones understood: Laura Johnston Kohl and Hue Fortson interviews.

  Marceline occasionally attended: Reiterman, Raven, p. 162.

  He viewed the P.C. as his best means: Juanell Smart interview.

  No matter how long the meetings dragged: Ibid.

  Marceline asked if she could respond: Mills, Six Years with God, p. 244.

  So Jones instituted a rule: Edith Roller Journal, 10/27/76, Jonestown Institute. As will be described in a later chapter, Jones assigned Temple member Edith Roller to keep a daily journal, which would eventually be used in a book about Peoples Temple. Until her death in Jonestown, Roller compiled notes about virtually every day of her Temple life, sometimes in excruciating detail, including what she ate at every meal and the occasional irregularity of her bowel movements. But there is also a great deal of fascinating information, including details about communal life in San Francisco and descriptions of Temple services. While transcripts of her journal are included in files provided by the FBI, the best transcript can be found on the Jonestown Institute website, and I urge readers who want to read Roller’s journal to look there.

  These often involved beatings: Alan Swanson, Neva Sly Hargrave, and Garry Lambrev
interviews.

  The belief was that it was better for the Temple to deal: Tim Carter interview.

  Consequences weren’t as severe: Garry Lambrev interview.

  THIRTY-ONE: LOS ANGELES

  Sometimes, seating in rented school auditoriums: Hue Fortson interview.

  1336 South Alvarado Street: For those interested, the church still stands. In 1978 it was sold by Peoples Temple to the Seventh Day Adventists for $378,000. Though it is currently not open to the public, you can park outside.

  Jones bragged that “if race wars and concentration camps don’t come”: Tape Q 612, Jonestown Institute.

  Just by its attractive appearance: Juanell Smart interview.

  Jack Beam would inform the latest soon-to-be corpse: Tim Carter interview. Carter tells a fascinating story of his experience as a temporary corpse. After he was “revived,” he came under considerable criticism for his performance.

  At the back of the main room: Rebecca Moore, Laura Johnston Kohl, and Teri Buford O’Shea interviews.

  At first, Smart was reluctant to attend: Most of Juanell Smart’s reminiscences about her time in Peoples Temple are derived from two interviews I conducted with her. A few of her quotes are taken from “My Life in—and After—Peoples Temple,” Jonestown Report 6 (October 2004), last modified March 13, 2014, an essay she wrote for the Jonestown Institute. It can be found on the Institute website.

  THIRTY-TWO: SAN FRANCISCO

  For information about San Francisco history and politics I frequently relied on Season of the Witch, David Talbot’s 2012 bestseller about the city. It’s an excellent book, and I recommend it to anyone interested in San Francisco or just looking for a rousing story about colorful people doing interesting, outrageous, and sometimes appalling things.

  But San Francisco’s considerable visual charms: Talbot, Season of the Witch, pp. xv–xvii.

  J. Alfred Smith, pastor of a politically active black church in Oakland: Moore, Pinn, and Sawyer, eds., Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America, p. 139.

  Jones had his followers inundate the district: Moore, Understanding Jonestown and Peoples Temple, p. 27; California Historical Society, MS 4124, Box 1, Folder 9.

  The Temple paid $122,500: Moore, Understanding Jonestown and Peoples Temple, p. 26.

  The black pastors banded together and called on: Reiterman, Raven, p. 264. In Marked for Death, Tim Stoen attributes this anecdote to “writer Kenneth Wooden.”