November 22, 1978

Stephan Jones, son of cult leader, describes his father as fanatic in ill health who had turned paranoid in recent yrs, news conf, Georgetown; says cult members were forced to drink cyanide-laced potion; he describes life in commune; illus of Tim Carter, suspect in death of Repr Ryan; S Jones por (L)

Guyanese troops and police hunt in jungle for up to 500 members of cult who are believed to be missing for 3d day; US Army graves regis team is due to begin task of identifying bodies of 409 members of cult, who committed suicide; US Amb to Guyana John R Burke comments; sect members Mike Prokes and Tim Carter arrested in Ryan murder; charges are not announced, but it is presumed they are being questioned about ambush; Stephan Jones is concerned about missing cult members; he estimates that about 500 members fled into jungle; illus; por of Grace Stoen, former cult member who flew to Jonestown with Repr Ryan; she is seeking custody of her son, allegedly fathered by Jones (L)

JUST before the game season, a note arrived on my desk from Berton Roueche, a neighbor author, best known for his New Yorker essays, many pertaining to food or medicine. In it, he cluded a quotation from Sydney Smith, a 19th‐century clergyman most often referred to as English writer and wit.” On that occasion, Smith had written a friend: “Your grouse are come by today's mail, but I suppose they will come tomorrow. Even the rumor of grouse is agreeable.” It is lost to history as to whether those birds ever did arrive and, if so, in what condition, but it is convenient at this season to turn Smith's words to my own good purpose and say that “even the rumor of game is agreeable.”

“ALL the vases are full. The mistress keeps kasha in them,” a housemaid explains to a flower‐bearing visitor in Isaac Bashevis Singer's latest novel, “Shosha.”

Hassan Ali Mehran, who has just been named oil min, says strike-related production losses averaged 2.5 million bbls a day over last mo; says production has climbed back to 4 million bbls a day; if production gets back to normal within 10 days, as Iran predicts it will, dollar cost of strike will be $1.5 billion (M)