{"id":28324,"date":"2013-06-16T00:18:54","date_gmt":"2013-06-16T00:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alternativejonestown.com\/?page_id=28324"},"modified":"2014-03-31T13:39:10","modified_gmt":"2014-03-31T13:39:10","slug":"933-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=28324","title":{"rendered":"Q933 Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you.<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n

To read the Tape Transcript, click here<\/a>. To listen to MP3, click here<\/a>.
\nTo return to the Tape Index, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FBI Catalogue<\/b>: Jones speaking<\/p>\n

Date cues on tape:<\/b> Jonestown meeting, November 1977 (verified by Thom Bogue)<\/p>\n

People named:<\/b><\/p>\n

Public figures\/National and international names:<\/i>
\nFormer Chinese leader Mao Tse-Tung
\nFormer U.S. President Richard Nixon
\nGuyana Prime Minister Forbes Burnham (by reference)
\nGuyana Deputy Prime Minister Ptolemy Reid (by reference)
\nGuyana Foreign Minister Fred Wills (by reference)
\nGuyana Commissioner of Police C.A. “Skip” Roberts (by reference)<\/p>\n

Peoples Temple members<\/i>
\nChris Lewis, murdered in San Francisco in December 1977<\/p>\n

Temple members not on death or survivors\u2019 lists:<\/i>
\nMr. Tucker<\/p>\n

Jonestown residents, full name unknown:<\/i>
\nAnthony (numerous)
\nLeon (probably Perry)
\nSteve (numerous)<\/p>\n

Jonestown residents:<\/i>
\nPaula Adams
\nSharon Amos
\nEdith Bogue (speaks)<\/b>
\nTommy Bogue (speaks)<\/b>
\nBrian Davis (speaks)<\/b>
\nMarceline Jones (speaks)<\/b>
\nCleave Swinney
\nDebbie Touchette
\nWalter Williams<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Bible verses cited:<\/b> None<\/p>\n

Summary:<\/b><\/p>\n

(Note:<\/strong> This tape was one of the 53 tapes initially withheld from public disclosure.)<\/em><\/p>\n

The tape consists of a portion of a meeting in Jonestown during which two young men \u2013 Tommy Bogue and Brian Davis \u2013 who made an unsuccessful escape attempt appear before the community to explain their actions and to learn what discipline they will face as a result. Neither the beginning nor the end of the meeting appear here, so there is no firm indication of what the community\u2019s decision will bewhen the tape ends. (The boys\u2019 voices are difficult to differentiate, and both are indicated on the accompanying transcript as “young man in trouble.”)<\/p>\n

Tommy and Brian had apparently left the Jonestown community under cover of darkness after having stolen several items such as flashlights and matches. They had made few plans beyond the escape itself, and weren\u2019t even going to stay together: one had planned to go to Venezuela, and the other planned to live along a local river, catching fish to survive. Jim Jones is upset, in part, because he says he has had to involve the Guyana government in locating the young men, costing him good will and political capital; the community is upset, in part, because it lost a day of work searching for them.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the tape, Jones is reminding the young men of the dangers they faced while they were gone. There are wild animals in the jungle, he says, ranging from tigers and ocelots, to several kinds of snakes that can kill a human being. The animals don\u2019t bother the people of Jonestown, he reassures them later in the tape, “because we have a protective aura. Nothing comes in here.” But that protection doesn\u2019t extend beyond the perimeter of the community.<\/p>\n

Jones also tells Tommy and Brian that everyone in the country was on the lookout for them. He had alerted every person in the government, from the prime minister on down to the local police. There is a law, he says later, making everyone in the country responsible for returning Temple members to Jonestown. And that\u2019s how they were caught. “How do you suppose we knew where you were? You passed two government people. They informed us. All the natives informed us.”<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, he adds, had they made it to the Venezuelan border, “[t]he Border Patrol said, if you try to cross, you\u2019d be shot.” If they had been captured by the local police, they could have been thrown in jail and “whipped 39 times with a cat o\u2019nine tails.” And if they hadn\u2019t been caught soon, someone would have found them in the jungle after five or six days, and they would have been barely alive.<\/p>\n

At some points in the tape, Jones asks the young men what they would have done to survive, although \u2014 apparently in an effort to prevent them from lying \u2014\u00a0he reminds them that the Jonestown leadership knows a lot already. When the escapees say they would have found jobs, Jones sounds perplexed. There are jobs available at Jonestown, he says. Beyond that, they have free medical care, as well as the love of the community.<\/p>\n

Later in the meeting, though, Jones offers another reason the young men shouldn\u2019t have left, and the tone of his voice suggests this one is closer to his true belief: “There\u2019s no possible way we can tolerate anarchy,” he says, “no possible way that we can tolerate people going out and living on their own.”<\/p>\n

Tommy and Brian apparently have declared they wanted to return to the U.S., but Jones says they won\u2019t return to what he calls “that fascist Babylon” until everybody in San Francisco has joined them. At that point, he says to cheers and applause, “then we\u2019ll be glad to be rid of the likes of both of you.”<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 anger seems genuine. He speaks through gritted teeth on several occasions. He sets the tone of the abuse leveled at the boys by calling them “vermin,” “parasitical,” “contemptible.” At one point, he snaps, “You\u2019re vile<\/i>. You\u2019re evil<\/i>. You\u2019re insidious<\/i>. You\u2019re low<\/i>.” At another, he literally spits numerous times in disgust.<\/p>\n

While Jones\u2019 criticism of the boys is the most prolonged, he is by no means alone, and other community members follow his lead. While tentative at first, eventually a number of voices speak against them. The anger of the community is as deep as Jones\u2019. “We didn\u2019t want to look for you at all,” one woman shouts. “We woulda left you [in the jungle].”<\/p>\n

A woman who had counseled one of them, promising him confidentiality, says she thinks their actions have relieved her of that obligation. Jones agrees \u2014 “It\u2019s all obliterated\u2026 Your privileged relationship with your counselor no longer exists in this room. She\u2019s ordered by the good of the collective to tell everything you\u2019ve said” \u2014\u00a0and the woman speaks of the young man\u2019s lack of interest in the community, in the cause, and in socialism itself. At other points in the tape, other women \u2014 or perhaps the same one \u2014 says the young man described himself as being more of a capitalist than a socialist, although he is apparently willing to accept the benefits of a socialist life.<\/p>\n

Tommy Bogue apparently takes physical punishment from his mother, Edith. Following one of the tape\u2019s edits, there is a sound of slapping, which continues until Jones stops it. “That\u2019s a mother\u2019s heartbreak,” he says in defense of her action. “You stomped over her goodwill and intention. And she\u2019s striking out because justice and reason did not prevail.”<\/p>\n

A few minutes later, Edith Bogue speaks in an anguished tone about her own disgust. “I can\u2019t tell either of you how much I despise both of you for what you\u2019ve done for Father and this cause,” she says. “I\u2019m the one that brought you into the world. I am responsible for your being here. I feel I should be allowed to shoot you tonight, and if nothing else, kill myself, to keep the church from getting in trouble.”<\/p>\n

Jones responds to her proposal by calling for a vote on it, although the results of the vote are lost in another tape edit.<\/p>\n

A new revelation during the meeting rekindles Jones\u2019 anger. When the boys were caught, according to someone on the security team, one of them tried to resist being taken in by waving a cutlass. “Do you want the cutlass with somebody here? Would you like to take the cutlass?” Jones says, then adds: “The government will not hold us a bit responsible. Give us a reason why not.” The accompanying movements are not communicated on the tape, but Jones seems to be offering the cutlass to the boy to fight the others now.<\/p>\n

The same threat against their lives returns a third time, when Jones demands that Tommy and Brian justify to him why they deserve to live. They reply that they can\u2019t, and say they don\u2019t deserve to live.<\/p>\n

As the tape ends, the man who acted as supervisor of the boys asks for the same punishment that will be meted out to his charges. After all, he had put them in a situation where they could run away. Jones replies that his was an error of love, so he will not be punished. The tape ends a few seconds later.<\/p>\n

FBI Summary:<\/b><\/p>\n

Date of transcription: 6\/27\/79<\/p>\n

In connection with the Federal Bureau of Investigation\u2019s investigation into the assassination of U.S. Congressman LEO J. RYAN at Port Kaituma, Guyana, South America, on November 18, 1978, a tape recording was obtained. This tape recording was located in Jonestown, Guyana, South America, and was turned over to U.S. Officials in Guyana and subsequently transported to the United States.<\/p>\n

On June 8, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B102-1. This tape was found to contain the following: JAMES JONES speaking to two male members of the community who ran away and were captured.<\/p>\n

JONES stated that this community cannot tolerate people leaving and living on their own.<\/p>\n

The mother of one of the runaways says they should be killed and she wants to kill them, and then commit suicide so no members of the community will get in trouble with the government.<\/p>\n

Differences with FBI Summary:<\/b><\/p>\n

The summary is accurate and meets the FBI\u2019s purposes.<\/p>\n

Tape originally posted September 2003<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you. To read the Tape Transcript, click here. To listen to MP3, click here. To return to the Tape Index, click here. FBI Catalogue: Jones speaking Date cues on tape: Jonestown meeting, November 1977 (verified by Thom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":27996,"menu_order":615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-28324","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28324"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59444,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28324\/revisions\/59444"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}