[Editor’s notes: The letters on this page derive from several sources, principally FBI Section 126 • EE-1 • Letters to Dad (N-Z); FBI Section 130 • EE-2 • Letters to Jim Jones; and FBI Sections 121-123 • BB-31 – BB-32 • Tim Stoen, D Touchette.
[Insofar as possible, these letters have been arranged in alphabetical order of the writer’s last name. Unless otherwise noted, the letters retain their original spelling and grammar.
[Peoples Temple member often used old reports and documents as scratch paper, using the reverse side of these pages for their letters. We have labeled and transcribed those scratch pages which include information about Jonestown.]
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Undated Memo to Jim Jones from Larry Schacht
EE-2-r-12a – 12b
Explanation of my hostility – I think it is wrong that Karen [Layton] asks me to sit next to her in a film come up with her hands on me in public in front of Jean Brown, Dick Tropp, Lee Ingram (who are alone). He did the day before Larry Layton’s landed in the SCU [Special Care Unit]. I do not like her manipulating me with public expressions of “affection”, I am not a Maser [Joe Mazor] or a Georgetown technocrat; I am a communist and I do have human desires. I do not need her & do not want her now. I was liberated when she told me she was making out with Maser. I was free! But since then you have said she is my “girlfriend” & you mention this when I see or speak with you. She misinterprets me. She told Phyllis I had a relationship with her. I do not. I do not want to hurt her but I am only human & I do not like being played with. I despise the games she played with me, leading me to suicidal fantasies and desire to be away. She can keep her [illegible word]! I volunteered to take on S.B. if it would help. I work with women who turn me on. Leslie W. [Wagner Wilson] for example. But don’t take advantage of my position or the knowledge I have about them. That self-control was leaking out as hostility. I was angry that she insults me & the above people Dick, Lee, Jean B. yet would never actually be with me. I will gladly go on alone & be loyal.
I even dislike her more for the Demands she put on you through the years.
This is the core of my hostility. But actually this sex bullshit is just a diversion from my job which is likely the real core of my resentment from authority. My job is hard & get my diversion seeking is always thwarted, denied while I see others as less confining responsibilities have their “fulfillment”. But I would not trade it, I would not trade it, I would not trade it. I would not trade the feeling of being a comrade to the people for the narcissism of a one-to-one trip. I take this stand & I mean it.
I don’t like to abuse the channel you open to us to discuss personal things. But this has affected my work somewhat & is important.
This is bullshit but I needed to write it.
L. [Larry] Schacht
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EE-2-s-3
Undated Letter to Jim Jones from Jerome Simon regarding Tim Stoen
[Editor’s note: Spelling errors corrected throughout.]
Dad I would like very much to kill any of our enemies. I know I can do it and I don’t mind dying and I think the one that should die first is the one that knows the most and that has hurt the people the most and I really don’t mind going out but I must take a few enemies with me. Another thought I had was the one that hurt us the least could be gotten & we would be less suspected if they pass the right way and Tim Stone [Stoen] and the others would get the message to get up or shut up.
Jerome Simon
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Undated Note on Jim Jones’ Pain from Marcia Simon
EE-2-r-4
Dad what I think you are sad about is that people you love and have tried so hard to educate just don’t seem to care about what your teachings, because they don’t grasp it and absorb the way you know they can.
I also think that you hurt because people don’t have the concern they should over our property and they don’t worry about making and saving money the way they should. All they want it to do is eat it at dinner time. I know it hurt you when you hear people talking about how they missed the US states foods. But Dad to be quite frank with you the only thing I miss is my grandpa who is so determined to get here. He said he will let anyone stand in his way, that my grandpa George [last name illegible, could be Henderson]. He loves your teachings and he gotten stronger since we been gone I’m sure. I thought that it would be really nice if we could have like a carnival or fairgrounds for money raising. That way everybody can participate, even the children and animals.
Marcie Simon
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Thank You Note to Jim Jones from Michael Simon
EE-2-r-2
[Editor’s note: Spelling and grammatical errors corrected throughout.]
8-1-78
Dear Dad
I like to thank you for the par excellent medical & dental staff. I (Michael Simon) and a molar tooth pulled today, it was so infected & painful that the whole asserted by face was throbbing all day and Emprin #3 and aspirin didn’t help the pain. Joyce Parks gave me the anesthetic, I was shocked that I could even feel the injection which gave me complete anesthesia. The 1st time (unlike in the States where I had to get 4 or 5 shots to get it done right). Shanda James, Tommy Rochelle & Dale [Parks] & Joyce Parks helped pull it. It was the only time I had a tooth pulled without any pain whatsoever. Thanks to the concern and care you show our medical people. Thank you. To me you have achieved more results than all the leaders in history. Thank for you, Dad
Thank you dad, M. Simon
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Undated Memo to Jim Jones from Ujara (Don Sly)
EE-2-r-8
Dad;
While coming downriver on the Cudjoe this time, I took a good look over the boat. There is a lot of work to be done that hasn’t been kept up since I’ve been off of the boat. Clifford [Gieg] has been doing a lot of the wood repair jobs that need doing and is doing a good job. There is a lot of work on the chipping of rust and repairs of linkage to the throttle and forward and reverse gears. The work can best be done on the days that the boat is in Port Kaituma when it is not on the river run. Some can be done while on the run, the major part while at Port Kaituma. The boat needs to be repainted along with all the other repairs. It is in poor condition at present, though it can be brought up the shape in a months time of working on the off days from the river run. After it is brought up to good running order, it must be kept up by following through with constant checking. When I get back I would like to take this job on. It would be going out in the mornings and returning in the evenings. I feel that I can get the job done and keep it up once it is completed.
Ujara [Don] Sly
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Undated Memo to Jim Jones from Ujara (Don Sly)
EE-2-r-13
Dad:
The reason for the Cudjoe being late is that I overshot the Waini Pt and wound up at the mouth of the Barimi River. We went we ought to see an accounting that we overshot our mark. It was 3:00 PM when we turned around and headed back to the Waini Pt. We got to the Waini Pt at dark and anchored out till morning. The error was on my part and I take full responsibility.
Ujara Sly
P.S. Everyone aboard work together as a group and faced the situation calmly and did what had to be done. Thank you for your protection. Ujara
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Self-analysis by James Alfred Smith, July 1978
EE-2-h-13a – 13b
[Editor’s notes: Insofar as this handwriting can be deciphered, grammar and spelling errors have been corrected.]
Self-analysis by Alfred James [James Alfred Smith]
July 4, 1978
Anyalsis
Dad I didn’t really want to have it but I had traitorous thoughts at times like after you give us some general [several illegible words] just to see what it would be like. I admit that I don’t love you because I don’t know how to love and I [am] resentful to authority figures because they make [illegible word] right when I realize if we didn’t have at that Italian that we wouldn’t have this movement. I admit that I wouldn’t go to jail for you because I don’t like to be penned up and as for dying for you I really don’t know if I would but I doubt it. And I don’t think I could really come to killing myself, but would have to make someone else do it. However I do want to have alpha [White Nights] where we all die. Then I admit that I think a lot about myself and very little of others, that I am lazy, resentful to work, and don’t like to obey orders. I realize that I need help in these areas. Dad I can’t say I’m sorry for when I’m really not. All’s I can say is I’ll work on it to the best of my ability and I’d appreciate any help I can get. I also admit that I’m a very vengent [vengeful?] person who wouldn’t tell most on some because it’s right but just to get back at them and I don’t appreciate the things you’ve done for me enough.
Thank you Dad from Alfred James
Dad I’m also disrespectful to seniors and feel that I don’t owe anything to them because they didn’t do anything for me but they did and I think I know too much and flapped my own way to learning and I don’t want to listen to anyone. I also want a lot of attention that I can’t get so I act up sometimes.
[Marginal notes: “Dad, I think the reason I do these things is because I think I’m above everybody else”
[“I also belittle people a lot and make fun of their physical features that they can’t help. And I disrespect my teachers also. [Several illegible words] someone not as smart as I am.”]
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Undated Note of Apology to Jim Jones from Alfred James Smith
EE-2-h-27a – 27b
[Editor’s note: Spelling and grammar errors corrected throughout.]
Dad, I wasn’t it in a way I was [illegible word] Ronnie but it seems like Shanda [Oliver] wanted to go with, because she kept asking me what I thought about Val & I see her & talk to her a lot after she said she did not want a relationship. I’m sorry I wish I hadn’t said anything. I made myself sick to get into SCU [Special Care Unit] so I could see her & I wasted a lot of oxygen that could have been used on someone who really needed it.
Alfred James
At the time I was highly upset & I said to myself I couldn’t handle all that’s happening to me. I was going to commit suicide but it didn’t work out. I got in SCU. What I mean is I wanted company of adults & well Rhonda [Fortson] this tossing most of the time so she can’t spend time with me & Beverly got sick & was sent to Georgetown. Gene [likely Chaikin] click stateside, Guy wasn’t much fun, Evon [Eyvonne] James work from 3 to 11 pm so I can’t talk to her & then Shanda got sick & I said the fuck with everything so I went home & held my breath, then when I didn’t pass out I quit & went on about my business, fell asleep in the pavilion & that’s when it took full effect.
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Undated Note to Jim Jones from Tobi Mtendaji (Sharon Lee Stone) on Tim Stoen
EE-2-l-12a – 12d
from Tobi [Mtendaji, Sharon Lee Stone]
Dad;
I’m not too much on ideas. But when I think of all you’ve done for us in terms of Tim Stoen, what’s to say, how come he can’t be dealt with, on his own terms. By another homosexual. Obviously he turns tricks. I believe he can be killed along the same method, as the hitman in the movie, The Day Of The Jackal, and his killer whomever it may be, could quietly leave him dressed as a woman, in total appearance to the last hair line.
Or Dad any good-looking man, he’d I’m sure when he’s desperate as frntic homosexuals get, when they accept almost anything, a pattern of the desperate males as when they don women’s clothing will do; this man could be a well-trained woman in the art of assassinating. I feel one in the most successful way to eliminate him his at his own game, with every loophole covered. This is the best I can offer you Dad.
Tobi Mtendaji
By the way, Dad, I’m sure there’s a way by whomever is watching Tim, what type of man he is attracted to that brings him to his weakness; this would also be an even greater help to achieving in getting him successfully.
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Undated Note on Jim Jones’ Pain from Martha Souder
EE-2-r-5a – 5b
5-26-78
Dear Dad,
I think you are thinking about the whole world on your shoulders & you are very tired of pouring your heart out to the whole world & us. I think you have your mind on doing everything to get the people to come together as one. I know it broke your heart when some of us don’t listen to you & go on doing our thing. I think you are burdened with our own members turn on us & do all kinds of evil things to us.
I think it hurt you when some of us still work to help get our people safe. I believe you are hurt more when Tim Stone [Stoen] keeps stirring up more trouble for you to take on. I believe you are tired of all the White Nights that come. I think you have on your mind that you are tired of not getting enough sleep because you have to be on the radio all night sometime. I thank you for all the truths you have taught me, Dad. I thank you for giving your whole life & your family’s life you have given to make us free, & you have given everything you have for this cause & some of us don’t care about that. Dad, & it hurt me also to know this about some of us.
Martha Souder
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Thank You Note to Jim Jones from Bob Stroud, October 1978
EE-2-r-10
[Editor’s note: Bobby Stroud was injured while working in the jungle in the fall of 1978, and flown to Georgetown to recuperate from his injuries. He was still there on November 18, 1978. This letter was written during his hospital stay there.]
Dear Dad,
I am using this opportunity to catch up on my reading right now. I am reading George Jackson’s Blood In My Eye, a very inspiring account of his courage, plus other things on CIA and corruption in American gov. Plus I would like someone to send me copies of the news because the papers here don’t give the info or details that you provide (if possible). But mostly I want to say thank you Dad, thank you so much for saving me from death or worse, being paralyzed. I remember laying in the mud, my leg bent up like pretzels, and I kept calling your name – then, I heard your voice coming on a news tape [3 illegible words]. I heard your voice, it saved me. Please excuse my writing, I am on my back presently, but in time, I’ll be home soon. I really also can’t describe the feeling I get when I think of a Dad who has provided so much for me. In a couple of days it will be 1 year in Guyana for me can about 11 years since you’ve been my Dad. The doctors were at my bedside and Marie asked them if I should be sent away for surgery. I cried come up where else in the world could anyone get so much. What did I ever do to deserve a Dad and a family as this. I’ll never know because I certainly don’t deserve the extreme love you put out for me.
See you soon,
Your son, Bobby [Stroud]
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Note to Jim Jones from Helen Swinney, July 1978
EE-2-r-3a – 3b
Monday 31-7-78
Jim I am sorry I was so “out of it” the other night when you came in. Cleave [Swinney] had a couple of Valiums and I took one, since I am not used to taking things like that, it really affected me. I didn’t know who you were for a bit and then you were gone. If I remember right you seem to be defending Larry [Schacht], and rightly so – you must have heard what I said about him and some of the other medical crew – Twice I have forced Larry to explain about this arm – Twice he said he didn’t know what to do about it – said he would contact another doctor. I asked if he had done so. He said he had forgotten but promised again he would – several weeks later I reminded him again – again he had forgotten but for sure this time he would do it – at that time, Kay Nelson was flying in to Georgetown and I suggested to him that he send my x-ray in for Dr. Ali to see, said he was glad I thought of that, that was a good idea. I have not heard from him since. So the six weeks were up for this cast to be on. I would to Larry, told him the six weeks were up, so he ordered an x-ray. I was with the x-rays when they were taken to Larry – He looked. Larry Layton said there were no difference no more healing than the previous one. Want to know what was to be done – he just shrugged his shoulders. This made me mad and very hurt – He could have said come in we will talk about it (which I forced him twice before to do) I was hurt over his lack of concern – since I reminded Larry (Sat 29th) that it was time for x-ray (or whatever). I have wished a thousand times I had not of reminded him. I would venture to say I would have gone on for weeks or months before he or any of the staff would have remembered about when the cast should come off, or something done about it.
Now from all indications the arm should have surgery done again – I do not want this because I am sure the insurance does not pay for the same thing twice – I feel too much guilt over this plus the weeks and months I am not able to work and earn my own way. Knowing it cost $1500 a month to feed me, plus the space I take up – I have stopped taking all these vitamins I have been taking, and have sent the remaining ones back to the dispensary since they were not doing any good in the unending [issue?] of this arm. I know how much they must cost.
I will not bother you with any more writing but I have a plan I will do with your approval when you have time for me to tell you. I will not put it in writing because I am sure other people will read it before it gets to you – until then I will only eat every other day which will cut down on some of the food, and it won’t hurt me any.
Helen Swinney