BB-31-a-27
Peoples Temple timeline in child custody case
SEQUENCE OF EVENTS IN BIRTH OF JOHN STOEN, LIVES OF GRACE AND TIM STOEN
– Tim and Grace were dating when they visited the church.
– Tim was the one who was primarily interested in the Temple and Rev. Jones’ teachings. Grace came mainly to be with Tim.
– They were married in the Temple in Redwood Valley by Rev. Jones. Both their parents attended the wedding.
– Grace was a spoiled young woman who had fits of emotional depression and expected everyone to cater to her. She had a manic-depressive personality.
– After they were married, Tim worked in the Mendocino County DA’s Office and Grace attended classes at Santa Rosa Junior College. Grace also got a job in the Mendocino County Welfare Department during the day. They set up housekeeping in a comfortable home in Redwood Valley.
– Grace’s insecurities continued despite their marriage. She threatened to leave Tim and leave the church. Tim was torn and wanted help so asked Rev. Jones to do whatever he could. He mentioned that sexual attention would be in order since Grace had placed much emphasis on her desire for Jim to relate to her.
– Grace conceived a child by Jim Jones. She and Tim were not relating at the time; Grace has told many people that Jim is indeed the father.
– Grace continued to demand time and attention of Jim. She would call him at his home, even intrude on the family by coming over and demanding that he talk to her. Jim talked to her many hours at a time, many times even when his own health was poor or he had no rest. She was extremely hostile if the slightest of her needs did not get met.
– During the early term of her pregnancy, Grace was encouraged by Jim and others to seek an abortion. She refused.
[Starred entry] – When John was just two weeks old, Grace allowed him to spend one day a week with Carolyn Layton. Carolyn had to have John treated for severe diaper rashes, resulting from neglect.
– John was only a toddler when Barbara Cordell started keeping him day and night. Grace would see him once a week, and would frequently choose to spend time at the church socializing with adults than spending time with John.
– John always made frequent visits to the Jones house. Grace had no success in toilet training the child, and gave him, after several others had failed, to Marceline Jones to train. She succeeded with ease in three days. John was noticeably relaxed and “at home” in the Jones’ home.
– John would spend time with the Jones family on vacations, when the whole church would go on summer vacations, and on week-ends when the church members went on the buses to Los Angeles. John rode on the bus with Jim and played and talked to Jim and the boys. John insisted on calling Jim “Daddy” and even when contradicted, he insisted that the Jones boy were his brothers.
– Jim took his adopted and “natural” family along to Hawaii on a business trip, and John accompanied them.
– If Jim would take his sons to the movies, John would go along.
– When John was approximately 3 years old, Gracde and John moved to San Francisco to stay in the church. Grace decided she did not like staying in San Francisco and left John in the church to stay with Jim and returned to Redwood Valley. Maria Katsaris would babysit John when Jim was busy – which was most of the time.
– John would also make daily visits to Jim’s mother Lynetta Jones, whom John called “Grandma.”
– Tim Stoen was in Redwood Valley/Ukiah when he joined [San Francisco Dist. Atty. Joseph] Freitas’ office in San Francisco. He lived separately from John when he moved to the City. He lived in the home of Leona Collier in his own quarters there and often would sleep at his office.
– When Grace was in Redwood Valley, she occasionally saw John, often not even once in a week. She would sometimes spent part of a day with him and become so aggitated that she would bring John back to the church early. John acted up terribly around Grace, and she had no ability to reason with the child.
– When Grace began her relationship with Walter Jones, she spent even less time with John. Her free time was spent with Walter usually at the Lake Mendocino or driving around. She did not make the effort to go to see John or to bring him to the Valley.
– July 4, 1976, Grace left with Walter Jones, abandoning John. She did not even say good-bye when she left. From July through October, she visited John only one time in Los Angeles, for a few hours. John was so upset by her visit that he had terrible temper tantrums and regressions and it took him several days to calm down.
– Grace talked to John a couple of times on the phone after she left. She told him to be a good socialist and that the church was good and that “Jim loved him most of all.”
– In October, 1976, John went to Guyana with Grace’s permission. She signed the papers for him to go. A round-trip ticket was also provided for her to go to Guyana in case she wanted to visit him. John has been in Guyana since that time.
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BB-31-a-91
Typed note with handwritten edits
Customs went through our crates with a fine tooth comb. You ought to know we couldn’t have gotten in with them. I would like to know where those 150 guns went? They were turned in to TOS [Timothy Oliver Stoen] some by even by older people, and they were supposed to be turned over to Mayor [George] Moscone in the drive they had. But TOS didn’t do it. So why did he have that cache of arms under his house? We were pacifists, so why did he keep them? Thus far, all that you have dug up he has been the most radical, vicious, communist wicked anarchist that you could name.
Little did we know he was planning to murder Lester Kinsolving until a social worker bothered to tell us after he left. He had asked her to research poisons. The custodians would no doubt remember him, staying there night after night, studying books on how people got away with murder. She has signed an affidavit and is taking a polygraph test. We also have witnesses in the Ukiah area who are not our members who are incensed now when he says things about God when he literally stomped on the Bible in front of a group of people and said it was a lie from cover to cover.
We sincerely hope you are not a party to this. If you print this article, we will know what a prominent Bay Area editor said about this being a combined media snare, is true. He has proven conclusively
[Page cut off]
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BB-31-a-48
Typed note with handwritten edits
Diversion to Tim Stoen
– a little old lady and a custodian told us about some things they heard. This should imply the stuff be researched regarding Lester Kinsolving
Diversion to the Olivers:
– we will pay their expenses down here to visit and see everything for themselves. And anyone else they know in the conspiracy who would be interested. It won’t cost them anything and they can see for themselves that it is not what they were told. JJ is trying to get your children to talk to you. Even tried to get them to go into town and they do not want to. He has tried to explain to them that the only thing you know is what you read in the paper. Please read the Sun Reporter and the Hearst paper and KGO channel 7, telling our side of the story, and praising us, and other papers throughout the nation. They would be open to ideas of reconciliation – if fairness is shown by you & respect for their beloved friend.
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BB-31-a-51
STRATEGY REGARDING THE CUSTODY ISSUE:
I. Lionel Luckhoo:
Joyce Touchette is to appear in court as personal secretary of Jim Jones. The Marshal of the Court claims to have served the papers on Sept. 9 by way of posting 3 copies on various buildings and the fourth copy being served on the personal secretary of Jim Jones, who is Joyce Touchette.
Joyce is to come down and say, “Yes, I am the personal secretary of Jim Jones but I do not know where Jim Jones or the child is at this moment.” “The papers were served on me thus giving me the right to intercede. I took the papers to counsel and he advised that all orders are wrong and of no effect, therefore, I move that the court throw the orders out for the following reasons:
- There was no personal service on Bishop Jones.
- Mother is not personally present.
- There is no jurisdiction.
- I, along with Jim Jones and other responsible persons were given full custody of the child. The mother, Grace Stoen, wrote in her own handwriting that she would never interfere with the child. (Luckhoo also mentioned something about affidavits sworn by Grace & lawyer have hidden and concealed from the court material facts (such as the powers of attorney, and other things which I didn’t get down).
II. [Eugene] Chaikin recommended adding the following to the statements made by Joyce (and other elements of the course of strategy to follow):
- The affidavits contain such inadmissible hearsay.
- The court order from California was made ex parte, neither Tim Stoen nor Jim Jones were present at the hearing; neither were served.
- The affidavits totally ignore the best interests of the child and do not reach the issue of Grace Stoen’s fitness as a parent.
Add about the healthy environment to the child (Jonestown) because the government has said it is a “model community.” If found unfit by the Guyana court, it is a governmental statement that this interior settlement is an unfit place for settlers and especially the children to live. (Get affidavits about what a healthy environment it is, how good the educational and recreational facilities are for children, how it looks like a small town, and anything else you can think of). (Trying to get Headmaster of PK [Port Kaituma] school, Mrs. Carmichael, Rose Ifill, government and community leaders.)
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BB-31-a-52
III. Miscellaneous Information:
- Find a “Commissioner of Oaths” or a “Notary Public” in that area because the statements must be sworn to in person to avoid any question in the court. The lawyer will have to draft the affidavits which are to be court record, however, I will have to consult Lionel about using the affidavits about Grace’s character which were made by many of our people.
- Lionel said that he had a long talk with the Chancellor of the Judiciary who is the very top person in the court system other than the minister of justice. He said that we should not allow [Jeffrey] Haas or anyone connected with Haas [inserted phrase: “except a Marshal of the Court”] on our property and Lionel said that we should throw them off if they come on. The Chancellor said that there will be no Marshal coming. Lio repeated this several times and said that he knew this for a fact that there will not be a Marshall coming onto the property, and in fact, the one person in the court system who is dead against us is going to be removed (his name is Burch-Smith). He is the person to make a court order effective and there was some concern earlier that if he were offered enough he might go against the Minister of Justice’s orders, however Lio was more certain tonight when he called that there was nothing to worry about anymore, that the man was being transferred.
- Lio said that by using Joyce as the person served with the papers that on the legal level with no governmental intervention, Jim and John [Victor Stoen] would not have to come out of the bush.
Clarke said that the Judge who made the bad orders was somewhat hostile toward us because he had heard that one of our members had called him stupid. He obviously wanted to believe it because it had to have come from someone connected with Haas.
[no entry for 4.]
- Lio wanted to have a good legal case as a contingency, however, he said not to tell [Minister of Foreign Affairs] Fred Wills how far we had gone within the legal framework so that the government will still feel pressure to do their part of intervening on our behalf. Wills said that Jim and John would not have to come out of the bush also, and we will find out on Saturday. (Wilson said that he does not want to discuss anything until the weekend. I called on Thurs. and he reiterated that he didn’t want to discuss it until the weekend.)
- Rex McKay wants his retainer in US $. He wants US $1500.
- Lio is not going out of the country after all therefore, he feels no urgency for Joyce to come in until he is ready for her.
- I don’t think we should discuss this strategy at all over the radio because [Clarence] Hughes quoted several conversations to Lio that we had with you. It would jeopardize our chances in court if we discuss this.
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BB-31-a-60
Tim Stoen Letter to Edith Roller, with Roller Response
Edith Roller
Jonestown, SA
Dearest Edith;
I have been thinking finally of you over these past several months since we’ve seen each other. I can say with utter sincerity that you have been the warmest, most satisfying companion to me in my loneliest hours that a human being could have possibly been. I long to see your cheerful face, and to hear your understanding voice in my ear again. It would be so good, Edith, just to touch your hand once more. I hope you can see past the differences that separate us now, and perhaps know that what I have felt for you, and am feeling now, is undiluted love. Just pure and simple love. Please, please don’t let circumstances of the present cloud your vision of what we had, and could have, if you were here with me now.
I could never have worked out my life as I must live it there at the Project in Guyana, Edith. First, my esteem, even adoration, of Comrade Cheddi Jagan was looked on with embarrassment and disapproval by Jim, who would not even tolerate my objectively discussing the merits of that great man with members of the Temple. I found this restrictiveness intolerable, both morally and practically. If Jim chooses to work with [Forbes] Burnham and his party, that is his business, he has no right refusing another side to be discussed among intelligent people. I personally disdain Burnham, and feels that he has cheapened the accomplishments of the People and their revolution. It takes guts to be the minority opposition in Guyana, and that’s what people like Jim Jones and Forbes Burnham don’t give enough credit to!
But one thing that I beg of you now, Edith. Do Not let your commitment to high principles (and I know that yours are the highest always,) delude you into thinking
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BB-31-a-61
that we cannot love one another as we have before, and at the same time serve those principles to the fullest. High ideals and great principles make people better able to love, Edith, and you and I can be happier than those uncommitted ones who have not developed their capacity to love by serving the greater cause of socialism. If you stay there in Jonestown, Edith, you’ll learn much of how to serve Jonestown, but you will lose sight of the greater movement now taking shape in America. This is where the real revolution is growing; at the root of the system. There, you are just fighting the peripheral skirmishes, while the actual struggle goes on in America.
I know you have given your all to the cause you believe in. That’s just the kind of person you are, and I love you the more for it. I hold these qualities in you like pearls of great value. Unprincipled people like Forbes Burnham can keep their own private funds and Swiss Bank accounts, and never feel a pang of remorse for their dishonesty. Not so with you, my love, for I know that you agonize over the minutest details of your life, to make sure that you are living in accord with the integrity to which you have committed your life.
I hope with all my heart you will forgive what may seem to you now like an inconsistency, but believe me when I say that I did it for love. Love I know you and I could share when the time and opportunity presented itself.
That time is now, Edith. Please, I implore you, reach out and take it. Do not send my love back void, for this would break my heart, more than you can ever know.
Loving you with my whole heart,
/s/ Timothy Oliver Stoen
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BB-31-a-62
28 May 1978
To: Dad
From: Edith Roller
Subject: Proposal re Class Enemy #1– Tim Stoen
In view of your remarks last night concerning the harm done to our family by this individual, I want to reiterate my offer to take care of him, with a few additional details. What I plan is to follow through on the basis of the letter he wrote to me, pretend I am browned off with communal living and miss him terribly, then as I am not much use to the present concerns of Jonestown, I can find a way to return, and shall look forward to seeing him. When I got to the States, I would proceed on that basis, presuming that, as I suspect, he hasn’t got a real friend in the world, nor anyone who cares about him. It always seemed strange to me, but I do seem to have some sexual attractiveness to him. I may add that the pleasure was one-sided, because I got no fun out of it at all, except, as I thought then, that I was giving some relaxation to a person who was serving the cause well. Now I would be serving the cause.
I would go ahead on the basis I could become intimate with him and induce him at least assure a cup of tea or coffee with me, if not liquor, into which at an opportune time I could slip some quick-acting poison. If the circumstances were such that it would be better for me not to live, I can take it too. I imagine such a portion could be obtained, say from a garden supply store – a pesticide of some sort. A pesticide would be appropriate.
As far as conspiracy charges against the church because I could not have done this without the help of the organization, I don’t see that one more charge to make a difference, what with war threatening. Before such charges could be tried, it would all be over. I think it wise that I should go out as a person who didn’t fit in here. If an attempt were made to force me to do harm to the church, I don’t see how this could be effective. In the first place, I don’t believe I know any secrets not already known to them. In the second place, by my association with Tim Stoen, I would be joining the conspiracy – for a while. If they tried me on any charge, including murder, I wouldn’t worry. I don’t mind going to jail. I know the CIA. If torture was threatened, I would commit suicide.
I further propose that during the time it takes to put this plan into action – I imagine the conspirators were testing for sincerity – I go to Bechtel’s and get my old job back or a similar one. Believe it or not, I feel sure that People’s Temple and all the publicity about it has scarcely made a ripple at that insulated institution. But if they have anything to say, I can get a job somewhere else. The advantage of going to Bechtel’s is, not only that I worked up to a pretty good salary, but I am familiar with the contracts they have in such countries as Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Algeria – where I know they have operations. This information might come in handy, as I wrote yesterday, because it could give access to electrical power plants where nuclear material could be obtained by guerrilla action. In case of nuclear war wiping out their top leadership in the States, a resultant gap an organization might offer a wedge for revolutionary activity in those countries and others where Bechtel is operating.
I have for some time felt a guilt because I did not stay longer in the States and contribute my considerable salary for a longer period of time – I just had to get over to Jonerstown. I was making around $10,000 a year. If I could kill two birds with one stone, I would feel it my duty to do so.
Ever since I joined the Temple, I have actually been somewhat convinced that I must have been in the CIA for some reason. My intelligence knowledge may perhaps be put to use. If, however, this just represents some Edgar Allan Poe dreams of glory, just ignore it.
[Addendum type along the side: “I may be able to get the money for my fare home from my family. They didn’t particularly want me to come here, and most people love saying, ‘I told you so.’”]
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BB-31-a-66
Undated note to Harriet Tropp from unknown writer
TO HARRIET:
The following is information from Terri’s notes which is probably nowhere in the documents it might be relevant and you can decide what would be helpful to the counselor.
Also, this whole file is all we have here in Guyana on Tim & Grace so it should be copied. Also, as you can see the Mazor file is included. We asked the States for more copies of this but just be sure we do have one available and that we have copies of this file or at least of the important parts of it such as the affidavits so that we can use the information wherever necessary.
Grace Stoen’s lawyer has told Gary [Attorney Charles Garry] that the San Francisco DA offered her immunity if she will testify before the grand jury. We do not know if they are going to do this (since obviously there is nothing to talk about.)
Tim Stoen is to their knowledge back home going to his brothers in France on his farm there.
I don’t know if Tim Stoen’s current lible [libel] suits against the media would be relevant in this case, but details on that would have to be gotten from Gary I would imagine.
Harriet: we began to be thinking more and more about the conspiracy end of this in the funding as you also have. Hill [codename for Jim Jones] is beginning to get together some of the pieces. We wonder if the agencies involved are just outright funding her to get the return of the child, which will be an exchange for her later testimony and immunity. How else would she be able to get the attorneys? You may already have more ideas from that end. It seems like it could be a low-level treas. [Treasury Department] attempt to get information, but maybe they think she knows more than she does, or they just plan for her to outright lie. If the latter is the case, then I would think it might be more than low-level. However, I believe Hill wants all concerned here are to know of it as low-level.
I and some others are somewhat paranoid the coincidental arrival of some others you know of at the exact same time. I hope it is just that. It seems hard to believe otherwise, but I am getting pretty skeptical at this point.
Someone is assigned to John at all times, but easier said than done.
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BB-31-a-73
Pat Richartz to Charles Garry memo on Joe Mazor
TO: CHARLES GARRY
FROM: PAT RICHARTZ
RE: Joseph Mazor, Investigator
His office in San Francisco is listed at 680 Beach St., with the telephone number 673-3077. When this number is called, a recording comes on saying the number is disconnected. I called the number on the letterhead and was told that the Beach St. listing is an old number, and the new number and address is 1800 Pacific, # 776-7232. I then spoke with Hal Lipset and was told that he used to be a polygraph operator and that he had been convicted at one time of a felony. I then called Sacramento and was told that he has a valid license number A6804 and that he received the license in May of 1977. Prior to that time he worked as an in-house investigator for his wife. He worked under the license of a Donald Morris who has since parted company with Mazor. The State of California asked me if I was working with Mazor and I said no that some clients of ours had some unpleasant dealings with him and I just wondered who he was. The man on the other end said he wasn’t free to tell me what was wrong with him but that I shouldn’t be dealing with him. I asked him if there was some way I could get more information and was told that the State wasn’t free to divulge anything else. I spoke with Fech about him and he said he had seen him at various meetings for investigators but didn’t know him. He said we could run a public check on him if you wanted to.
Lipset says that Mazor’s reputation is not too savory. He said that he would like to help People’s Temple and had called offering his services. In his opinion what is needed is a good PR man and a blue ribbon panel of friends to clear the Temple.