A Thousand Lives

by Julia Scheeres

  p. 56, San Francisco, nevertheless, felt the move: Marshall Kilduff, “Peoples Temple Speeds up Its Unusual Exodus to Guyana,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 17, 1977.

  p. 56, as entire communes were emptied in a matter of days: Kilduff, The Suicide Cult, 104.

  p. 57, Fred Lewis, who was not a Temple member: Kevin Fagan, “Haunted by Memories of Hell,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 12, 1978.

  p. 57, “This does not seem like the sister I know”: letter to Vernetta Christian from brother in Idaho, September 21, 1977, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE-1C1b.

  CHAPTER 8: PIONEERS

  p. 59, In July 1974, Jim Bogue boarded the Cudjoe: Cudjoe cargo manifest, July 12, 1974, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-PP2K5.

  p. 59, Their designated captain was an Indiana native: Vessel survey by “Nelson & Associates, Inc.” Miami, Florida, June 28, 1974, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-PPP2C7.

  p. 60, in February 1976, the Temple signed a twenty-five-year lease: Guyana Land Lease , RYMUR 89-4286-A-31-a-21a-21c.

  p. 60, Burnham was eager to use the settlement: Paula Adams memo to Jones,

  “Notes from conversation with Joe Lambert (Guyana Airlines),” February 20, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-x-3-g-2a.

  p. 60, encouraged the group to hire locals: Hamilton Green interview with author.

  p. 60, Guyana and Venezuela were embroiled in a long-simmering territorial dispute: Tim Merrill, ed. Guyana: A Country Study (Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1992).

  p. 60, Venezuelan militants attacked a Guyanese border town: “Guyanese Troops Move on Rebels; Sons of U.S.-Born Rancher Said to Be in Group,” New York Times, January 5, 1969.

  p. 60, By placing a large community of Americans along its border: Hamilton Green interview with author.

  p. 61, One amateur agronomist insisted on collecting all the pits and seeds: Don Beck interview with author.

  p. 61, The settlers hired a crew of local Amerindians: Wilfred Jupiter interview with author.

  p. 63, Like other members, the Bogues agreed to donate 15 percent of their income: Jim Bogue interview with FBI, December 28, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-254.

  p. 64, Jim Bogue dashed off a sentence: Jim Bogue false confession, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE1AB65.

  p. 67, The United Nations classified the jungle soil as “non-productive”: Timothy Stoen memo to Jim Jones, California Historical Society, MS 3800.

  CHAPTER 9: THE PROMISED LAND

  p. 72, Jones sentenced him to fifty whacks with the board of education: Roller journal, March 3, 1976 RYMUR-89-4286-Bulky 2018 C-2-A-7

  p. 72, After Tommy broke a Temple rule by associating with outsiders: Roller journal, May 19, 1976, RYMUR 89-4286-Bulky 2018 C-2-A-9 (1) to A-9 (143).

  p. 74, In the early days, residents ate well: interview with Jim and Thom Bogue.

  p. 74, Other times teens brought out a boom box: Leslie Wagner-Wilson, Slavery of Faith (iUniverse.com: 2009), 80.

  p. 74, Couples sneaked off to have sex: Wagner-Wilson, Slavery 70.

  p. 75, the Temple released a progress report: “Peoples Temple Agricultural Project: Progress Report, Summer 1977,” Jonestown Institute.

  p. 75, five times more than the land could support: Jim Bogue interview with author.

  p. 77, After showing the home movies: Sharon Amos, “Strategies and Problems Since JJ Left,” RYMUR 89-4286-2018-c-7-a-2a.

  p. 78, Babies slept in the nursery: Wagner-Wilson, Slavery, 72.

  p. 78, Each dwelling measured fifteen by thirty feet: “Jonestown, Guyana, “Housing site 102,” RYMUR 89-4286-2018C-7-b-1.

  p. 78, The cottages were crude: “Housing in Jonestown” Jonestown Institute.

  p. 78, Residents emerged onto the walkways in bathrobes and flip-flops: Wagner-Wilson, Slavery of Faith, 72.

  p. 79, At the end of July 1977, a group of thirty-nine Temple members flew to Guyana in a single day: Entry to Guyana, Sec 105, pp. 2–165 and Sect 106, pp. 2–202. [RYMUR 89-4286-2018-X-5 & X-7], prepared by the Jonestown Institute.

  CHAPTER 10: GEORGETOWN

  p. 81, He’d used this tactic to a lesser degree in California: Deborah Layton, Seductive Poison, 62.

  p. 81, sent out these “PR girls” to bedazzle influential men: Hamilton Green interview with author.

  p. 81, Located at the end of a quiet street, 41 Lamaha Gardens: Reiterman, Raven, 413.

  p. 81, the Temple women used provocative means to promote their cause: Nicholas Horrock, “Mass Cult Immigration Violated Jones’s Agreement with Guyana,” New York Times, December 24, 1978.

  p. 81, Some men were swayed by mere suggestion: Robert Lindsey, “State Dept. Called Lax on Mass Deaths,” New York Times, November 30, 1978.

  p. 81, Wives grew suspicious: Hamilton Green interview with author.

  p. 82, Jones’s envoys spent most of their time on Georgetown’s principal boulevard, Main Street: Reiterman, Raven, 274

  p. 82, “Don’t give me your California hard sell”: Meeting with Foreign Minister Fred Wills, January 30, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-x-2-a—5

  p. 82, He asked the team to bring him a pint of milk a day: Sharon Amos Meeting with Wills, 3.27.78, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-2-222-6.

  p. 82, Jones’s star performer—his “political prostitute”: Paula Adams memo on Guyanese ambassador Laurence Mann, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-1-xx-14.

  p. 82, Paula was quiet and down-to-earth: Laura Kohl interview with author.

  p. 82, entered the Temple a confused twenty-two-year-old: Reiterman, Raven, 274

  p. 83, They moved into an apartment together: Paula Adams memo on Mann, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-1-xx-14.

  p. 83, he was also related to Prime Minister Forbes Burnham: Paula Adams memo on Mann, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-Bb-1-ff-2.

  p. 83, radioed the information to Jonestown nightly: Laura Kohl interview with author.

  p. 83, When Paula wasn’t playing housemaid: Paula Adams memo to Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-1-KK-1.

  p. 83, “Most of Georgetown relates on a forum of drink”: Paula Adams memo on “constructive criticism for assimilation,” RYMUR 89-4286-2233Bb-1-ccc-1.

  p. 83, immigrating Temple members stopped at JFK’s duty-free shop to buy bottles of single-malt whiskey: Roller diary, January 16, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-C-2(Part I)-A-1-(1) to (8).

  p. 83, Twelve days after “John John” was born, Tim Stoen signed a peculiar document: Timothy Stoen sworn statement, February 6, 1972, RYMUR 89-4286-FF-4-A-175.

  p. 84, One gave the Temple parental authority over John: Undated note from Grace Stoen, RYMUR 89-4286-BB-31-a-43, Parental Consent and Power of Attorney, March 9, 1976; RYMUR 89-4286-FF-41-174.

  p. 84, A few months later, her estranged husband: Power of attorney, September 30, 1976, RYMUR 89-4286- BB-31-a-81.

  p. 84, Mann reported the conversation to Temple leader Jean Brown: Conversation between Jean Brown and Laurence Mann, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-FF-1-6.

  p. 85, “I consulted with my wife and my entire church before I did it”: JJ letter to Reid, September 10, 1977, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-17-WW-1.

  p. 85, On Main Street, Paula Adams assured cabinet ministers: Paula Adams, letter to Fred Wills, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-Bb-1-ww-1.

  p. 85, A staff member who was rummaging through his briefcase: Teri Buford memo to Jones regarding the contents of Timothy Stoen’s briefcase, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-31-a-178.

  p. 85, before leaving, Tim Stoen returned to 1859 Geary Boulevard to try to purge any compromising files containing his name: Layton, Seductive Poison, 132.

  CHAPTER 11: SIEGE

  p. 87, They left California believing they were going on a yearlong mission: Thrash, The Onliest One Alive, 83.

  p. 88, It was hard for Hyacinth to navigate: Thrash, The Onliest One Alive, 91.

  p. 88, Her days were largely unsupervised: Thrash, The Onliest One Alive, 88.

  p. 88, Hy chose not to believe it: Thrash, The Onliest One Alive, 78.

  p. 88, “And he’s doing so much better because of it”: David Wise interview with the author.

  p. 89, The c
onversation startled many: audiotape Q986.

  p. 89, “That’s Tim’s boy up there!”: Thrash, The Onliest One Alive, 70.

  p. 89, he told police that Jonestown was a “slave colony”: Memo to Jones from Paula Adams, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-1-X-1.

  p. 89, several members jumped him before making him crawl to Jones’s feet and beg for forgiveness: Reiterman, Raven, 356.

  p. 90, Jones told McCoy that Broussard was a liar: Reiterman, Raven, 359.

  p. 90, US embassy personnel had been making periodic checks on the American group: Memo of Marsha E. Barnes to Ashley Hewitt regarding contacts with Peoples Temple, “The Assassination of Representative Leo J. Ryan and the Jonestown Guyana Tragedy,” Report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, US House of Representatives, May 15, 1979, p. 131.

  p. 90, the Temple had caught wind of Looman’s phone call: Reiterman, Raven, 360.

  p. 90, John John was trotted out, and seemed healthy enough: Paula Adams letter to Ptolemy Reid, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-1-uu-1.

  p. 91, “the government does not approve of such tactics”: Jones letter to Reid, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-17-hhh-1.

  p. 91, Yet other regional bureaucrats pressured Jones: Notes from meeting with regional officials, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-2-lll-1, October 17, 1977.

  p. 91, Jones wrote Prime Minister Burnham complaining: Jones letter to Burnham, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-17-hh-1, September 26, 1977.

  p. 91, Burnham himself handed down the order validating the Jonestown school: Amos meeting with Wills, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-2-gggg-2, March 8, 1978.

  p. 91, customs agents did a spot check on ninety crates bound for the settlement: Reiterman, Raven, 355.

  p. 91, They found nothing, but passed along the tip to the International Police Agency, Interpol: Memo on Interpol report, RYMUR 89-4286-2018-H-1-d-2.

  p. 91, Emigrating Temple members turned in their weapons before leaving: Mills, Six Years With God, 57.

  p. 92, On the off chance that they did open a crate: Reiterman, Raven, 354.

  p. 92, “Merry Xmas from the system!”: Sandy Bradshaw memo to Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-6-HHHHHHH.

  p. 92, Jonestown’s arsenal would grow to include more than thirty firearms: List of weapons/rounds, RYMUR 89-4286-H-1-C-4.

  p. 92, used to kill Congressman Leo Ryan: Reiterman, Raven,355.

  p. 92, “there are enough bibles here to do a lot of praying if necessary”: Sandra Bradshaw note to Jones, “More contingency plans,” RYMUR 89-4286-2233-FF-13-A-18.

  p. 92, “It is my understanding we can get as many rifles/shotguns as we wish”: Sandy Bradshaw memo to Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-6-J7.

  p. 92, Paula Adams, informed of Hass’s arrival by embassy officials: Kilduff, The Suicide Cult, 105.

  p. 93, Reid suspended protocol to allow them to be processed posthaste: Nicholas Horrock, “Mass Cult Immigration Violated Jones’s Agreement with Guyana,” New York Times, December 24, 1978.

  p. 93, He also transferred several pesky regional officials: Nicholas Horrock, “Mass Cult Immigration Violated Jones’s Agreement with Guyana,” New York Times, December 24, 1978.

  p. 93, he crept into the bush, then turned and aimed the .38 at Jones’s cabin: Jim Jones Jr. interview with author.

  p. 93, When Stephan Jones, who was also on the security force: Jonestown security, original research document, Jonestown Institute.

  p. 94, No one was to surrender or be taken alive: Barbara Walker, “The Front Line in Ballad and Thought,” RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE-1-H-24.

  p. 94, Supreme Court Justice Aubrey Bishop ordered Jones to bring John Victor Stoen to his courtroom on September 8: Writ of Habeas Corpus ad. Subjiciendum, September 6, 1977, RYMUR 89-4286-U-1-c-1.

  p. 94, Minister of Information Kit Nascimento offered Hass his plane: Jones letter to Reid, September 10, 1977, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-17-WW-1.

  p. 95, he was certain that the Guyanese government had turned on him: FCC audiotape #9, courtesy Jonestown Institute.

  p. 95, Jones told Jim Bogue to stay behind: Jim Bogue, interview with author.

  p. 95, An eighty-year-old woman fell into the water and broke her hip: Thrash, The Onliest One Alive, 98.

  p. 95, One of Jones’s aides had thought to grab recording equipment: audiotape Q135.

  p. 95, that the “rivers were blocked to the rest of my people”: audiotape Q135.

  p. 95, When the truck returned the women to Jonestown at dawn, she found a stranger sleeping in her bed: Thrash, The Onliest One Alive, 99

  p. 96, Aides gathered the older children in the school tent: Wagner-Wilson, Slavery, 90.

  p. 96, Teenage boys tried to prove their valor by charging to the front lines wielding cutlasses: Wagner-Wilson, Slavery, 90.

  p. 96, When Jones wasn’t ranting, he led his people in civil rights anthems: Dawn Gardfrey, interview with the author.

  p. 96, walked down the line crying: Barbara Walker, “The Front Line in Ballad and Thought,” RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE-1-H-24, X-3-6-16.

  p. 96, stop forwarding Social Security checks: US Postal Service routing slip, September 9, 1977, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-Mm-3-9.

  p. 96, The move effectively cut off Jonestown’s monthly income of $35,000: FAQ “Was there Social Security fraud in Jonestown?” Jonestown Institute.

  p. 96, proof, Jones said, of a systematic plot to destroy them: Deborah Blakey affidavit, June 15, 1978, Jonestown Institute.

  p. 96, The meeting was dramatically interrupted by a second sniper attempt: “Temple Leader Shot at Four Times,” Associated Press, September, 10, 1977.

  p. 96, 700 followers: Jonestown population censuses, Jonestown Institute.

  p. 96, slapped their palms over their mouths in an Indian war whoop: Thrash, The Onliest One Alive, 109.

  p. 97, Only two people raised their hands in favor of mass suicide: Timothy Carter, “Murder or Suicide: What I Saw,” essay published on Jonestown Institute website.

  p. 97, they didn’t come to the promised land to die: Mike Wendland, “Some strange messages on radio from Jonestown,” Free Lance-Star, January 13, 1979.

  p. 97, This time he flew up on a Guyana Defense Force plane: Reiterman, Raven, 365.

  p. 98, he took a second suicide vote: Carter, “Murder or Suicide: What I Saw,” Jonestown Institute.

  p. 98, he radioed Marceline in San Francisco: Reiterman, Raven, 367

  p. 98, “That chap [Idi Amin] seems to be able to stand up for what he believes”: audtiotape Q135. The transmission was illegally broadcast outside ham bands, but was recorded by a Florida man, who told the FBI he thought a missionary outpost was under attack.

  p. 98, Jones then gave his San Francisco aides a chilling ultimatum: Blakey, Seductive Poison, 131.

  p. 98, In a taped message for Reid, Jones distorted the suicide vote: audiotape Q800.

  p. 98, a little over two hours to find Reid: Teri Buford memo to Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-7-K-1.

  p. 98, They popped tranquilizers: Buford memo to Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-7-J-1.

  p. 98, Marceline Jones, two aides, and Temple lawyer Charles Garry flew to Chicago: Miscellaneous information, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-17-aaa-1.

  p. 98, his wife assured the visitors that the Guyana Defense Force wouldn’t attack Jonestown: Reiterman, Raven, 370.

  p. 99, “We tried to get an arrest warrant for Jones”: Kilduff, The Suicide Cult, 108.

  p. 99, Jones gave various triggers for the plan: Teri Buford, interviews with author.

  p. 99, Teri Buford would later claim that Sandy Bradshaw: Doyle McManus, “Ex-Aides of Jones Trade Bitter Charges,” Los Angeles Times, December 22, 1978.

  CHAPTER 12: BULLETS TO KILL BUMBLEBEES

  p. 100, “Should anything happen that would kill Jim”: Buford letter to Pat Richartz, October 9, 1977, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-7-D10.

  p. 100, Garry’s secretary, Pat Richartz, fired off a six-page response: Reiterman, Raven, 374

  p. 101, Debbie Blakey, who was in the room, later informed Jones of her actions: Debbie Blak
ey letter to JJ, January 11, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-PP1A10.

  p. 101, US Consul Richard McCoy dismissed the stunt as a “psychological ploy”: “State Dept. Had Called Suicide Threat a ‘Ploy,’” Associated Press, December 6, 1978.

  p. 101, Guyanese Ambassador Laurence Mann grew irritated at the letters flooding his office: Notes on a conversation between Ambassador Mann and Paula Adams, RYMUR-89-4286-2233-Bb-1-ggg.

  p. 101, including a massive sugar strike that was crippling Guyana’s fragile economy: “Plot Seen in Guyana Strike,” Associated Press, October 26, 1977.

  p. 101, he told Jones’s representatives to direct all communication to his inferior: Jones letter to Reid, October 9, 1977, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-BB-17-gg-1.

  p. 102, Others secretly wondered why Jones … didn’t use his paranormal powers to save them: Wagner-Wilson, Slavery, 88.

  p. 102, why the enemy would hike through the virtually impassable jungle: Laura Kohl interview with author.

  p. 103, The family was further weakened when their children were moved: Jim Bogue interview with author.

  p. 103, His letter is remarkable for its bluntness: Undated letter from Gene Chaikin to Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-EE-1-C-10 ff.

  p. 104, he soon started complaining of a host of mysterious ailments: Gene Chaikin letter to Phyllis Chaikin, 10.4.78, RYMUR 89-4286-BB-10-d-8.

  p. 104, Jones assigned school secretary Inez Wagner to seduce and spy on him: Charles Garry deposition, Peoples Temple v. Attorney General of California, December 30, 1981.

  p. 105, “No one ever intended to die”: Reiterman, Raven, 376.

  p. 105, Jones casually mentioned that he’d once had to “fuck” sixteen people in one day: Charles Garry deposition, Peoples v. Attorney General of California.

  CHAPTER 13: RUNAWAYS

  p. 106, “No one leaves until all are here,” Jones announced: Roller journal, March 18, 1978.

  p. 107, “Well, Steve, I’ve been here seventy-two days”: Steve Addison note to Jones, May 28, 1978, RYMUR 89-4286-2233-EE-2-a-2.