Part 53, page 118

Transcript

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

...were concerned about the hazards presented to passen- gers and crew and to the possibility of encouraging fu- ture similar hijackings. But all agreed on one point: The hijacking has raised an un- dercurrent of admiration for the manner in which it was committed.

"Part of the reason is probably the great contrast to the original skyjackers," Professor Larsen speculated. "This man was neither polit- ical nor neurotic. His motive was simply $200,000 and peo- ple can understand that much better.

"His was an awesome feat in the battle of man against the machine — one individu- al overcoming, for the time being anyway, technology,

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the corporation, the estab- lishment, the system."

Larsen compared the inci- dent to the 19th Century stagecoach robberies, widely romanticized in Eastern magazines. Black Bart and the stagecoach outlaws were after money, not to make a political statement.

"So he comes off as a kind of curious Robin Hood," Lar- sen said, "taking from the rich — or at least the big and complex. It doesn't mat- ter whether he gives, to the poor or not.

"He had to have a broad range of skills to manipulate people, to choose the right time and place, to survive. But even if they find him somewhere in the bush with his skull crushed, it will still

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be dramatic and mysteri- ous."

There were a few, ques- tioned by The Times, who were not carried away by the romantic aspects of the crime. They saw it only as a crime.

A Seattle attorney, who declined to give his name: "The hijackings—all of them —represent a breakdown in the nation's enforcement system. I believe that hijack- er should be hunted down and killed."

A uniformed member of the Marine Corps Reserve, also anonymous: "People's lives were involved, and I can't see making a hero out of him. I hope he is caught."

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"He showed ... all the necessities for the per- fect crime." —Dr. Otto Larsen

"I'm not saying he's right ... but he plain had guts." —Gordon Embree

"... I hope he isn't caught." —David Ricardo

"... I think it's all right if he gets away with it." —Charldene Ashley

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DB Cooper-22456