Edith Roller – January 26, 1978 – Thursday

Transcript | Annotation | Source: 89-4286-C-1(58-59)(PDF) |  January 1978 Index


We were told to have our bags packed, to be taken to the boat at 9.00 o’clock. The van went back and forth loading the boat all morning.

Three hundred half-grown pigs were loaded.

I was charged for sometime with watching the two little girls and making them clean up their plates at lunch. I was not very good at it.

We had a light lunch.

We were taken to the boat at 3.00.  The journey started at 4.00. Besides our own party who came from the states, (Roosevelt has been working on the boat) the others going to Jonestown were Sharon Amos, Norman Ijames, Debbie Touchette, Tim Swinney, Pauline Simon, Lenora Perkins, and Richard Janaro.

Ujara Sly was at the controls of the boat. Tim Swinney and Davis Solomon were helping him. We steered out to the ocean and went along the coast.

I went to bed about 8.00. My blanket was in the hold so I used a pair of overalls of Roosevelt for cover and the rest of his luggage for a pillow. The other passengers had been given Dramamine, but I didn’t take any. The seniors were given the bunks and I had a top one. The younger people were on the deck under a panoply.  Then, when it started to rain, they came in the cabin.

The motion in the top bunk was extreme and I began to feel sick. I went out on deck and stayed for a while and felt alright the rest of the night. Slept well.