November 27, 1978, The Daily Register – AP, page 1, Cultists explored exodus to Russia, by Peter Arnett,
November 29, 1978, The Daily Register – AP, Woman tells about the Rev. James Jones,
November 30, 1978, The Daily Register [Shrewsbury, N.J.] page 1, Holding hope relatives survived Jonestown; Tinton Falls woman had many there, by Robin Goldstein,
November 30, 1978, The Daily Register [Shrewsbury, N.J.] AP, page 5, Frisco is still stunned,
November 30, 1978, The Daily Register [Shrewsbury, N.J.] AP, page 5, Suicide Complex,
November 30, 1978, The Daily Register [Shrewsbury, N.J.] AP, page 5, 7 survivors home,
December 1, 1978, The Daily Register, page 1, Woman's grandson is alive in Guyana, by Robin Goldstein and David Turner,
December 1, 1978, The Daily Register - AP, page 3, May release more survivors,
December 4, 1978, The Daily Register, page 1, 'Jim Jones was a friend of mine'; Rabbi warns about power of cults, by Julie Wolf,
December 4, 1978, The Daily Register, page 1, 2 Jonestown survivors home to Tinton Falls,
December 4, 1978, The Daily Register, page 2, Synanon chief too drunk, arraigned in hospital,
December 5, 1978, The Daily Register, page 7, Identity still a question in link to death of Ryan, by Steven L. Lubetkin,
December 5, 1978, The Daily Register, page 3, How Jones got all the guns in, by Peter Arnett, AP Special Correspondent,
December 5, 1978, The Daily Register, Ryan's sister bitter on Jonestown, by Wendy Diller,
December 6, 1978, The Daily Register - AP, page 3, U.S. knew, but didn’t believe suicide pact,
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November 27, 1978, The Daily Resister – AP, Page 2, Grisly task comes to an end,
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November 27, 1978, The Daily Register – AP, page 1, Cultists explored exodus to Russia, by Peter Arnett,
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November 29, 1978, The Daily Register – AP, Woman tells about the Rev. James Jones,
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December 4, 1978, The Daily Register, page 1, 'Jim Jones was a friend of mine'; Rabbi warns about power of cults, by Julie Wolf,
VISITING SPEAKER — Rabbi Maurice Davis of White Plains, N.Y. (center) spoke last night on cults at the Beth Miriam Synagogue in Elberon. Dr. Richard Zaback, the Mens Club president and Mrs. Judith Berg, the Sisterhood president, are shown with the rabbi.
December 4, 1978, The Daily Register, page 1, 'Jim Jones was a friend of mine'; Rabbi warns about power of cults, by Julie Wolf,
ELBERON -- A New York rabbi, who has spent the past five years "deprogramming" young people involved in cults, last night explained and warned against the power of cults over the nation's youth
Rabbi Maurice Davis, of the Jewish Community Center in White Plains, NY, said during a speech at Temple Beth Miriam that he was not surprised by the mass suicide ritual of members of the People's Temple in Guyana several weeks ago.
His work involving young cult members, particularly the Unification Church of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, has led him to believe that the "brainwashing" that people undergo when they join cults lays the foundation for "that kind of a tragedy."
Rabbi Davis described a cult as a group with "a leader with absolute power, now the slightest indication of democracy, followers who have given up their right to think, no checks and balances, an ideology whereby the end justify the means and a fear of the outside world."
"Jim Jones was a friend of mine." the rabbi began his speech, stunning the audience of approximately 100 people.
Rabbi Davis and Rev. Jones of the People's Temple worked together on community projects in Indianapolis during the late 1950s and Rev. Jones bought the building he used as his first temple from Rabbi Davis. The temple had been used to house Rabbi Davis's Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation
"Jim was a nice guy. although he wasn't charismatic.
He was young. Idealistic, altruistic. humorless, a do-gooder and very hard-working." the rabbi said of Rev. Jones, who killed himself in the suicide ritual in Guyana
"When the story broke. I sat wondering about the guy I knew, who didn't start out as a madman or a tyrant," the rabbi said He said he had virtually no contact with Rev. Jones after the People's Temple moved to San Francisco.
"He went to California where all kooks eventually go and he attracted many people The power of love ended with the love of power." Rabbi Davis said.
"It wasn't enough for him that people follow him. He had to control their lives and these people, who found this world too big for them, who couldn't cope, turned to him." Rabbi Davis said
"The power that he had over them eventually killed him. I was shocked horrified m that people follow him. He had to control their lives and these people, who found this world too big for them, who couldn't cope, turned to him." Rabbi Davis said
"The power that he had over them eventually killed him. I was shocked horrified and sick, but not surprised when I heard the news." the rabbi said,
After his speech, the rabbi said that a parallel could be drawn between the People's Church, which has had members of all ages, and other cults that tend to be made up of young people.
"They (the members of the People's Temple) were children of a different age They needed to have someone to give their lives direction and in fact they called Jim father," the rabbi explained. Six young people, all former members of various
See Rabbi, page 1
cults, joined Rabbi Davis last night in explaining the process of "brainwashing" and the reasons people get involved with cults. The attractive and "articulate young people are the "success stories" of rehabilitation programs, including Citizens Engaged in Reuniting Families (CERF), which Rabbi .Davis has been active in.
The rabbi said that his contact with cults began five years ago, when two members of his congregation asked him to help them get their children back from the Rev Moon's Unification Church. The Iwo young people, who were both freshmen at Albany State College in New York, had joined an on campus organization that was part of the Rev. Moon's Church, called the College Association for the Research of Principles (CARP)
"The boy was easy. We got him back in two or three days. but the girl was a problem," the rabbi said.
"When I saw Janet, although I had known her for several years. I hardly recognized her I couldn't get to talk to her alone. There were these clean cut, nice looking young people who were always with us. They all looked like John Dean," the rabbi said.
He said after a day of coaxing, the girl was taken back to White Plains to the synagogue, because she refused lo set foot in her house, saying that Satan would take her soul. After weeks of psychiatric care, including time in a hospital. the girl went back to the movement, the rabbi said.
"Along the way I've gotten 128 kids out and I can't stand still until I get her out." he said.
He said that the young people people recruited into these cults are often searching for a purpose in life.
"The typical kid is age 18 to 26. white, from an uppermiddle class family and warm and loving in nature. He wants to see a better world and he is the kind of kid who finds the world scarey," the rabbi said.
He said there are more and more such young people around, because they are growing up in nuclear families, isolated from the world
"There is no one in the world so lonely as a teenager," Rabbi Davis said
"The kids only have their friends When I was growing up, you could trust a cousin more than a friend
We also had neighborhoods to hang out in They don't even have sidewalks." the rabbi said.
He said the element that draws young people into cults are the other people "The kids feel that maybe they've found a safe and secure place and they are given a purpose in life." Rabbi Davis said.
He said in the Moon organization, as well as in many other cults, that purpose is to raise money for the leader He said investigations he has conducted and those of a congressional committee appointed to study Rev Moon's finances, have found that Rev Moon's fund raisers gather between 100 and 1400 a day each
"He (Rev. Moon) owns so much land He owns property in nearly every state in America," the rabbi said. He also said that the Moon Organization is a political one. saying that Rev Moon states in his doctrines that his aim is to "create a Christian political party in this country "
"Many of these cults use the haze of religion to hide behind the first amendment and congress won't go after them." the rabbi said
The young people explained how they were drawn into the cults by other "smiling people, who made the group seem so perfect."
"I got a B S. in accounting, but I just felt so worthless. I wanted to do something and I would sit there and listen lo these people and say wow. this is what I was looking for," Nancy Fruchtman, 23 of W. Orange, who spent a month with the Rev Moon group, said.
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SLEEPING SURVIVOR — Security man carries a sleeping Jakarri Wilson, 3,at New York's Kennedy Airport last night as the boy's grandmother, Anne Freeland of Tlnton Falls stays close by. The boy's mother, Leslie, 21, along with other survivors of the Peoples Temple cult from Jonestown, Guyana, was undergoing questioning from the FBI elsewhere at the airport.
December 4, 1978, The Daily Register, page 1, 2 Jonestown survivors home to Tinton Falls,
TINTON FALLS -- Mrs. Anna Freeland was reunited last night with her daughter-in-law Mrs. Leslie Wilson and grandson, three-year-old Jakarri, two of the survivors of the People's Temple mass suicide in Guyana.
Mrs. Wilson and her son arrived on an airplane from Georgetown, Guyana, last night, with 10 other survivors of the Jonestown suicide.
Mrs. Wilson, along with the other survivors, was detained for lengthy questioning by officials from the F.B.I, and other government agencies.
Jakarri Wilson was the youngest survivor of tragedy in Jonestown two weeks ago, according to state department sources.
Neither Mrs. Freeland nor Mrs. Wilson could be reached for comment last night.
There was no official report on the fate of Mrs. Freeland's son Joseph Wilson, 24 and reports that he had been found dead in Jonestown could not be confirmed.
F.B.I, and state department sources also could not confirm reports that Mr. Wilson was one of the armed People's Temple members at the scene of the murder of Rep. Leo J. Ryan. D-Calif. and four other persons who were killed as they were attempting to leave after visiting Jonestown.
Also unknown were the fates of six other members of Mrs. Freeland's family, reported to be devotees of the Rev. Jim Jones's religious sect.
A spokesman for the state department said there was still no information on Mrs. Freeland's sisters. Constance Harris and Shwanna Soloman, her niece, Dorothy Harris, 15, and nephew, Davis Soloman, 22.
Until last week, when a picture of Mrs Wilson and her son Jakarri appeared in the New York Times, Mrs. Freeland did not know whether any of her relatives had survived the mass suicide, according to friends.
Mrs. Freeland, who teaches at the Gregory Elementary School in Long Branch, has been very active In her community as assistant pastor of the Fisk Chapel AME Church in Fair Haven. Last November, she was a Democratic candidate for the Tinton Falls Borough Council.
Mayor Gabriel E. Spector said yesterday that he had arranged for a ride for Mrs. Freeland to and from Kennedy Airport.
The two area people got back but but 18 men were left behind because three were carrying knives, the plane's pilot said.
Pan American Flight Capt Albert Brockob said he refused to let the men board after a dispute with the FBI over a lack of FBI escorts for the group.
He said he had not seen the knives, but he had been told they were not pocketknives. He said lie did not know which men were carrying the knives, which were discovered by Guyanan security.
Guyanan officials were not available to verify that the knives had been found.
Among the men who stayed behind were two of cult leader Jim Jones' adopted sons. Several of the men, including Jones' sons, are reputed to have been Jones' personal bodyguards or members of the
See 2 survivors, page 3
Brockob, 41, a former U.S. Air Force pilot, said the cult members on his flight were "very nice, very well mannered and very calm."
In addition to the Ms. Wilson and her son, FBI officials identified the survivors arriving Sunday night as Frances Dawn Gardfrey, 15; Ruby Johnson, 56; Yolanda Mitchell, 18; Versie Perkins, 32; Andrea Walker, 32; Beatrice Grubbs, 52, and Laflora Townes, 56. Their hometowns were not available
Brockob said two FBI agents had been scheduled to escort the group to New York but they did not show up at the airport, and he decided not to let the 18 board the plane.
"As far as I'm concerned the FBI has dropped the ball," Brockob said
They were among some 80 persons who lived through the weekend of horror at the Temple's Jonestown camp two weeks ago, when more than 100 cult members died. The survivors had either fled the camp or happened to be in Georgetown at the time.
At daybreak Sunday. 32 members of the cult — 11 men, 12 women and one child — were cleared by the U.S. Embassy here to leave on Pan Am Flight 228. Two middle-aged women and a young man then chose to remain in Guyana indefinitely. They declined to give their names or their reasons for staying here That left 21 survivors to board the flight — 18 men, 10 women and one child.
They were taken by bus from Georgetown to Timehri International Airport, an hour's drive, passed through Immigration and customs with U.S. passports and were sitting in the waiting room.
Their Luggage had been loaded aboard Then Brockob agreed to allow the 10 women and one child In the group lo board the plane, but not the men. One of the women cleared to go then withdrew, apparently to await the next flight, so only nine women and one child departed.
There was no word from the U.S. Embassy on where the 18 male members of the cult would stay. Most of them had been held in protective custody at the Peoples Temple headquarters in Georgetown. At least two of the survivors of the Jonestown mass deaths had been staying In a downtown hotel.
US Embassy sources said the airport hassle apparently resulted from a mix-up between the State Department in Washington and Pan American headquarters in New York.
The embassy sources said the State Department and Pan Am headquarters apparently had agreed on FBI escorts but that no word was passed to either Pan Am or the embassy here. The embassy sources said that when they arranged for seats Saturday for the group of survivors, Pan Am officials made no mention of escorts.
Sunday's Pan Am flight, with 138 other passengers aboard, was delayed for one hour and 40 minutes because of the confusion. The baggage of the Peoples Temple members not allowed to board the plane was pulled back.
U.S. Embassy sources said they did not know whether plans were being made to arrange a special flight for those left behind. The next regularly scheduled Pan Am flight is Wednesday
"You can be sure we will do our utmost to get these people back to the United States via the fastest possible method," an embassy spokesman said "They have the option to travel anyway they see fit "
The 18 men not allowed to get on board were bused back to Georgetown to await further arrangements for their travel. The group includes five men who reputedly were part ol the security force for Jones, who died in the communal suicide, and who other survivors say had beaten dissidents at Jonestown on Jones' orders
Six Jonestown survivors who arrived in New York on earlier flights were questioned by the FBI on Saturday and cleared to fly home to California.
Of the known survivors of Jonestown. 24 have now returned to the United States. Those still in Guyana include two men charged with murder and others who are being held as material witnesses
Larry Layton, 33, of San Francisco, is being held without bail on charges of murdering Ryan and the others at the airstrip. Charles E Beikman, 43, of Indianapolis, Ind., faces a preliminary hearing Monday on charges of murdering Sharon Amos, the sect's public relations officer and her three children al the cult's headquarters in Georgetown, also on Nov 18.
If the "picture of Mrs Wilson and her son Jakarri [which] appeared in the New York Times," is the one below, then we have a serious public relations problem on our hands. Like the image above of Mrs. Anna Freeland hanging on the arm of a good-looking "security man" who's carrying her grandson (Why was she tired? "Mayor Gabriel E. Spector...arranged for a ride for Mrs. Freeland to and from Kennedy Airport.") The concerted effort at rehabilitating the surviving cultists is belied by the report of the adult males being kicked off the flight for carrying knives. (Shades of box cutters?) By the way, the cute kid, Jakarri Wilson, is presently serving a 105-year sentence in prison.
Three years old Jakarri Wilson, youngest survivor of the mass suicide-murder rites at Jonestown, Guyana, 11/19, strokes his mother's chin as she talks to newsmen Georgetown's Park Hotel 11/28. His mother, Leslie Wilson, said she escaped through the jungle to a railroad track and made her way to Matthew's Ridge, the largest settlement in the area.
A different image by a Times' staff photographer and I rest my case.
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November 30, 1978, The Daily Register [Shrewsbury, N.J.] page 1, Holding hope relatives survived Jonestown; Tinton Falls woman had many there, by Robin Goldstein,
TINTON FALLS - A photograph published in yesterday's New York Times gave Mrs. Anna Freeland the first hope that her three-year-old grandson and her daughter-in-law were among the 71 persons who survived the Peoples Temple mass suicide In Jonestown, Guyana, according to friends and neighbors.
It's a small light, though, in a very great dark void for Mrs. Freeland and her family—the fate of her son, two sisters, and two nieces, all of whom were devotees of the Rev Jim Jones, are still unknown
Mrs. Freeland left her classroom at the Gregory School, in Long Branch, after learning of the mass suicide Rev. Jones ordered following the murder of California Congressman Leo J. Ryan and four other persons who had come to Jonestown to investigate the Peoples Temple cult.
Officials now believe that 911 persons perished 12 days ago in the mass suicide.
Until yesterday, her friends say, Mrs Freeland had no idea If any of her seven relatives involved with the Peoples Temple had survived.
A photograph in yesterday's Times, however, identified three-year-old Jakarri Wilson as the youngest known survivor of the Jonestown carnage. The picture, taken in Georgetown, Guyana, shows the youngster nestling next to his mother, Leslie.
Jakarri Is Mrs Freeland's grandson, and Leslie Wilson is her son's wife. Friends say that Mrs Freeland still doesn't know if her son, Jakarri's father, is dead or alive.
Apparently, the Freeland family has little hope that Mrs Freeland's two sisters in Jonestown or her two nieces are not among the deal
A shaken congregation at the Saint Thomas Episcopal Church, in Red Bank, was asked to say prayers for the Freeland family, and friends and neighbors In the community have been trying, as best they can, to lend comfort and support to Mrs. Freeland, her husband and two daughters
Jakarri Wilson's father is Mrs. Freeland's son by a previous marriage.
The family has contacted Sen. Clifford Case, who is attempting to find out the sad details of the tragedy for them.
I think the hardest thing now for them is not knowing," one friend surmised. "The strain is awful "
Friends could say little, yesterday, about how seven of Mrs. Freeland's relatives came to be involved with the Peoples Temple.
Mrs. Freeland. herself, is a well-known and highly respected member of this community, active in the church, politics, and public service.
See Holding, page 5
She is assistant pastor at the Fisk Chapel AME Church, in Fair Haven, and has been a frequent speaker at other local churches.
For many years, she has taught elementary classes at the Gregory School, in Long Branch.
In last November's election, here, Mrs Freeland was chosen by the local Democratic organization as their candidate for Borough Council, although she did not win election.
Mrs Freeland, who holds a master's degree in philosophy from Kean College, Newark, has also been active within the black community here, and chaired a committee planning local observance of a Martin Luther King Day.
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December 1, 1978, The Daily Register, page 1, Woman's grandson is alive in Guyana, by Robin Goldstein and David Turner,
TINTON FALLS - Jakarri Wilson, thought to be the youngest survivor of the Peoples Temple mass suicide in Guyana, celebrated his third birthday yesterday somewhere in Georgetown, Guyana, state department, sources said.
Jakarri is the grandson of Mrs. Anna Freeland, a resident here, and one of seven of the Freeland family's relatives who were believed to have been In Guyana with the Peoples Temple.
A picture of Jakarri and his mother, 22-year-old Leslie Wilson, appeared in Wednesday's edition of The New York Times, and state department sources confirmed yesterday that they are two of the 79 known survivors of the' tragedy in Jonestown 13 days ago.
No Information was available yesterday, however, on the fates of Jakarri Wilson's father, Joseph, 24, or of Mrs. Freeland's two sisters, a niece and a nephew, all of whom were reportedly devotees of the Rev. Jim Jones' doomed religious sect.
A spokesperson from U.S. Sen. Clifford Case's office said yesterday that the senator's office was still trying to find out for the Freeland family whether Joseph Wilson, 24, Mrs. Freeland's son, her sisters, Constance Harris, and Shwanna Soloman, her niece, Dorothy Harris, 15, and nephew. Davis Soloman, 22, had survived the mass suicide which claimed 911 lives.
State department sources said last night they had confirmed that Mrs. Freeland's grandson, Jakarri. and daughter-in-law, Leslie Wilson, are among the survivors.
Leslie and Jakarri Wilson are somewhere in Georgetown, Guyana, although their exact whereabouts were not known
State department sources also said it is not known when the Guyanese government would allow them to leave the country
Seven elderly members ol the cult were the first survivors to be allowed to return to the United States, on Wednesday.
Mrs. Freeland, who teaches at the Gregory Elementary School, in Long Branch, yesterday expressed anger at newspaper accounts of her relatives' plight in Guyana.
"I will release all the facts when we know all the facts," she said.
Mrs. Freeland has been very active In the community, as assistant pastor of the Fisk Chapel AME Church in Fair Haven, and. last November, as a Democratic candidate for the Tinton Falls Borough Council.
Jakarri Wilson was born 0n Nov 30, 1975 in San Francisco, which had been the home base of the Peoples Temple in this country.
Mrs Freeland's two sisters, her niece and nephew were all from Georgia, and her son, Joseph, was born in Atlanta, Georgia, according to sources in Washington
Stephen Gibson, from the
See Woman's, page 3
Guyana Working Group which was hastily set up by the state department in the wake of the Jonestown mass suicide, said that only a fraction of the 911 dead, whose bodies were flown into the Dover, Del Air Force base have thus far been identified.
"The original list of victims identified by the Guyanese authorities had 174 names," Mr Gibson said "and the names of 50 or 60 more were compiled through identifications at the Dover Air Force base
"There may be some duplication in those two lists, and there are still hundreds who have not been identified
We really don't have anything other than the Guyanese immigration records to go on. and we don't know how accurate they are."
Authorities are attempting to contact the next of kin of the dead who have been identified, and also of the known survivors.
The state department has asked those who believe they may have friends or relatives among the Jonestown victims to send information on their medical history, dental charts, x-rays and records on previous surgery or broken bones to William Courtney at the base mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, to aid in the grim task of identification.
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December 5, 1978, The Daily Register, page 7, Identity still a question in link to death of Ryan, by Steven L. Lubetkin,
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December 5, 1978, The Daily Register, page 3, How Jones got all the guns in, by Peter Arnett, AP Special Correspondent,
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December 5, 1978, The Daily Register, Ryan's sister bitter on Jonestown, by Wendy Diller,
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December 6, 1978, The Daily Register - AP, page 3, U.S. knew, but didn't believe suicide pact,
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