Part 53, page 109

Transcript

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

FD-350 (Rev. 7-16-63)

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Hijacker Catches Public Fancy

Associated Press

Like Robin Hood, the mysterious skydiving hi- jacker who bailed out of a Northwest Airlines jet south of Seattle with a $200,000 ransom Wednesday night appears to have captured the imagination of the man in the street.

While the search for the man continued in south- western Washington, most of those responding to ques- tions said they hoped the daring hijacker would es- cape.

A professor of sociology at the University of Wash- ington, Dr. Otto Larsen, said the hijacker had won the public's admiration through "an awesome feat in the battle of man against the machine — one individ- ual overcoming, for the time being anyway, technol- ogy, the corporation, the es- tablishment, the system.

"We all like adventure stories," said Larsen. "That hijacker took the greatest risk. He showed real heroic features — mystery, drama, romanticism, a high degree of skill and all the necessi- ties for the perfect crime."

"You've got to admit, he was clever," said Seattle taxicab driver Gordon Em- bree. "The way I see it, anybody smart enough to take $200,000 just like that ought to make a clean get- away. I'm not saying he's right, understand, but he plain had guts."

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"Technically, of course, he should be caught," of- fered Chuck Miller, a sailor at Sand Point Naval Air Station in Seattle. "But in a way, I'm glad he got away. I can't help thinking: if I were going to do something like that, I wish I could do it as well as he did."

Rose Ann Coffey of Wood- land, from where the hi- jacker search is being con- ducted by the FBI, said most people there had a "Robin Hood attitude."

"He didn't hurt anybody," she said of the hijacker. "And if he took the trouble to plan this thing out so thoroughly well, good luck to him. Most of the people around here kind of hope he makes it."

Larsen said part of the reason for the hijacker's popularity probably is "the great contrast to the origi- nal skyjackers. This man was neither political or neu- rotic. His motive was sim- ply $200,000 and people can understand that much bet- ter.

"So he comes off as a kind of a curious Robin Hood," Larsen said.

Public opinion was not unanimous on the matter, however. A Seattle attorney, who declined to give his name, put it this way:

"The hijackings — all of them — represent a break- down in the nation's en- forcement system. I believe that hijacker should be hunted down and killed."

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(Indicate page, name of newspaper, city and state.)

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P. [illegible] Seattle [guess: Post- Intelligencer] Seattle, [guess: St.a.]

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Date: 11/29/71 Edition: [guess: Final] Author: Editor: [illegible] Title:

Character: or Classification: [illegible] -5/7- Submitting Office: [guess: Seattle]

☐ Being Investigated

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164- [guess: SI]- [guess: Sect] [illegible]

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DB Cooper-22447