Airtel
Date 12/18/78
TO: DIRECTOR, FBI (89-4286)
FROM: SAC, MEMPHIS (89-110) (P)
SUBJECT: RYMUR
Re San Francisco teletype to Bureau 12/13/78.
Enclosed for the Bureau is one copy and for San Francisco the original and one copy of FD-302’s continuing results of interviews of the following persons:
[Name deleted] on 11/29 and 11/30/78
[Name deleted] on 12/4/78
[Name deleted] on 12/4/78
[Name deleted] on 12/4/78
[Name deleted] on 12/1/78
[Name deleted] on 11/29/78
[Name deleted] on 12/8/78
[Name deleted] on 12/8/78 and 12/14/78
[Name deleted] requested his identity be retained in strictest confidence on each occasion he was interviewed.
[Page 2]
[Photocopy of cover envelope]
[Page 3]
FD-302
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Date of transcription 12/18/78
[First two paragraphs identifying witness by name, address, telephone number and place of employment heavily redacted]
About 4:00 PM on November 23, 1978, [name deleted] received a telephone call at her residence. The caller first stated she was going to think the call was a prank call and then identified himself as [name deleted] with the Walter Cronkite show. He told her he was calling regarding the situation in Guyana, pointing out that the telephone number [deleted] had been found in the effects of Jim Jones in Guyana. He told her that if she desired, she could call him back on telephone number [deleted] as an aid in establishing his identity. [name deleted] did not call him back and he continued his questioning by asking for her name. She told him and he said he would give her three names and requested that she tell him whether she recognized any of them. He gave her the three names, two of which she did not recognize and could not recall but one of which was [name deleted] her son.
She advised him that [name deleted] was her son. He told her the three names he mentioned were also found in Jones’ effects in Guyana and wanted to know whether her son had any connections with people in Jonestown, Guyana. She told him she does not see her son often, that he seldom comes by her residence, and she knew nothing regarding his connections. The call was thereafter terminated. [name deleted] called her son, [name deleted] on the evening of November 23, 1978, [half line deleted]. He told her he had no idea how his name was found in Guyana but did mention a call he had received about two weeks previously. This caller had asked about his knowledge of someone, name not recalled. He told her he thought it was possible someone with the Memphis Police Department calling without identifying themselves as representatives of that department.
[Page 4]
ME 89-110
2
[name deleted] stated that she has no knowledge of the People’s Temple (PT) other than recent information she has seen in newspapers and hears on news broadcasts. She has no information indicating her son or other relatives or associates are connected with the PT.
[Editor’s note: The balance of this serial, pages 5 through 19, consists of interviews which either contain so many deletions as to be incomprehensible for researchers into Peoples Temple and Jonestown, and/or which are with individuals with no connections to peoples Temple and the events of November 18, 1978. Until more information is released on this serial, it will not be transcribed.
[The only exception is a single-page report of a telephone call on page 18, the caller who is almost certainly Temple attorney Mark Lane. The deleted information from the memorandum – designated by brackets – which is known to the editor has been indicated by red type.]
[Page 18]
FD-302
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Date of transcription 12/18/78
[name deleted] [Mark Lane] residing at [address deleted], Memphis, Tennessee, was telephonically contacted at [identification of law office], telephone number [deleted] based upon a message left by him in a previous telephone contact with the Memphis Office of the FBI.
During the contact, [Lane] advised he had located a package of “Kool-Aid” with a note to the effect “You have 29 days”, stuck in his front door. He noted this was in a plastic envelope and he felt it had some undetermined significance relating to the People’s Temple cult. During questioning [Lane] had no information as to who might have been responsible regarding that incident and stated the incident did not cause him any special fears or concerns. He advised he was furnishing this information to the FBI for information purposes only.
[Lane] was instructed to contact the Memphis, Tennessee Police Department regarding this situation and he agreed to do so. It was explained to [Lane] this did not appear to be a matter of FBI jurisdiction. [Lane] stated he would furnish any additional information to the FBI for information purpose.