Transcription:
Jones among 383 suicides
By The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS -The Rev. James Jones, who died in Guyana along with almost 400 members of a sect he founded, was "articulate and outspoken, willing to risk opposition," but non-violent, acquaintances in Indiana said.
“He was much concerned with the welfare of those he considered to be underprivileged," said Barton Hunter, who said he met Jones while working for a missionary society. "His group was at least 50 percent black, and that led to some negative feeling in Indianapolis. People were either very strongly drawn to him or very sympathetic."
Jones' body, that of his wife Marceline and one of their children were found in the camp of the People's Temple, the group founded by Jones, in the steaming jungles near Georgetown, Guyana, on Monday.
Soldiers counted 163 women, l38 men and 82 children among the dead. They all were believed to be Americans. Many reportedly had lined up to take doses of poison from a tub.
The mass deaths occurred about an hour or more after members of the People's Temple ambushed a visiting investigative group led by Congressman Leo J. Ryan, killing Ryan and four others.
Still unaccounted for were between 500 and 900 of Jones' followers, who fled into the jungle around the agricultural mission.
The killings and mass suicide, triggered by Ryan's inspection visit, apparently were the final cry of a violence-hardened and paranoid group that saw the world closing in. The cultists reportedly had long considered mass suicide if they felt their sect threatened.
The cult’s lawyer, Mark Lane said a meeting began at about 5 p.m., minutes after a half-dozen sect members ambushed Ryan's group at a nearby air-strip, where they were trying to fly out some disenchanted sect members.
Jones was born and raised in Lynn, Ind., a small town near the Indiana-Ohio border. He graduated from Richmond, Ind., High School in 1949. In the school's yearbook, the notation under his picture read: "Jones, James Warren. Academic. Senior High-Y. Jim's six-syllable medical vocabulary astounds us all."
"He was very reserved. He would hardly speak to you," recalled classmate Natalie Forbes. "When I saw the story on television Sunday night, I thought it might be him. The hair and the eyes were the same.
"Then I got out the yearbook and I wondered how anybody got him to use the six-syllable words because he was so quiet. This may sound like hindsight, but he gave me the impression in high school that he was someone who would be a missionary."
After high school, Jones moved to Indianapolis, where he began the People's Temple in the early 1950s. He acquired a church building near downtown and quickly acquired a large, interracial following. Jones was part American Indian.
Jones was ordained by the Disciples of Christ in 1964. He claimed to have the power to heal physical ailments, but had refused to have the healings verified by doctors.
In 1965 Jones left Indiana, declaring it was too racist, acquaintances said. He moved to Ukiah, Calif., and established his religious organization there with 145 of his followers.
After moving to California, charges arose that the healings were faked, that some sect members were beaten or were subjected to mass hypnosis and that those who tried to leave the group were threatened.
