Months before the final plans for revolutionary suicide became firm, Annie Moore – Jim Jones’ nurse and a trusted aide – wrote a note to the Temple leader with her opinions on whether (and how) the people of Jonestown should die, should they find themselves under attack by “the fascists.” The first sentence reflects her own ambivalence, but ends with the commitment to suicide, a position she argues for the balance of the four-page note.
There is no date on the document, but there are indications she wrote it early in 1978. It is located in Temple records among other documents with dates from January and February 1978. In addition, the memo raises the subject of several different methods for killing people – ranging from poisoning food and water, to carbon monoxide, to decapitation – all of which suggests that no decisions for cyanide had yet been made, much less that it has been ordered or delivered to Jonestown.
Annie Moore memo to Jim Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-EE-1-M-77 – EE-1-M-80
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