Part 7, page 10

Transcript

The scan is the source; the transcript is machine-generated from it.

Lookout D.B. Cooper in Cambridge

by Ken Lizotte

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The news media in this town ain't so special, nor are the F.B.I., anywhere. They've been tracking down D.B. Cooper for years, since 1971 in fact, and looking for the $200 G's he obtained in ransom from an airline hijacking, a feat of no miniscule proportion considering he escaped — yes, ESCAPED! — by parachuting into the Southern California countryside. The one that did it, AND GOT AWAY, that's Daniel B. Cooper.

Legend has it, however, that Cooper dropped the money, either in part or all, as he floated to earth, and that twenty-dollar bills were thus deposited [guess: throughout] the towns and villages in his landing area. Yet, strangely, none of the money, not one buck!, was ever found, and even more strange, every year, on the anniversary of his escape, the towns and villages in that area throw a "D.B. Cooper Celebration" to honor him for, well, for something! They appreciate him, though one can only speculate as to why, and there seems to be a genuine hope that the feds never catch him, wherever he may be.

And could that "wherever" be, or have been, Cambridge? According to a most reliable source of mine, a D.B. Cooper lived near Central Square during the winter months of 1978. His name was clearly displayed on a mailbox and correspondence to and from him was regularly delivered. Was this the same D.B.

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corresponded with many well-known public officials, including Arthur F. Burns, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Bob Bergland, Secretary of Agriculture, Benjamin F. Bailar, Postmaster-General of the United States, our own Mel Thomson of New Hampshire, and a Dr. Red Metrowich, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Southern Africa Freedom Foundation. Apparently, Cooper wrote to Metrowich asking about getting out of the country and escaping to South Africa. His initial contact, however, had been with Thomson, who had directed him to Metrowich. Was Thomson collaborating with hijacker Cooper to help him get out of the country? Or was Thomson unaware that a hijacker seven years earlier had been named D.B. Cooper? Whatever the answer, did Thomson, or any of the others report this correspondence to the FBI as any good law-abiding American should? A check with both the Bureau and offices of these gentlemen reveals they did not.

Where are you now, Alan Lupo? The Globe Spotlight Team? Mark Zanger? Peter Lucas? All the other great investigative minds of Boston journalism? Was D.B. Cooper, the hijacker-that-got-away, right here in the Boston area for a year or more? Is he now in South Africa? How can the FBI take so much credit for finding "bits of twenty dollar bills," as they did this month, when Cooper may not even be in the country any longer? After all, it's been nine years, and those bits they found in the California mud are the most they've got to show for the years and talent poured into this unending manhunt.

It would seem [illegible: one or two words] that if [guess: Abbie] Thomson wants to truly remain at large, the thing to do is change his name back to just that: [guess: Abbie] Thomson. No one would ever suspect that a fugitive would keep his true name. This obviously has been the case with D.B. Cooper. O

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February 25, 1980 — . . . Page 3

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164-2111-1289 ENCLOSURE