Part 53, page 258

Transcript

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(Mount Clipping in Space Below)

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Cooper' pants report awaited

By DAVID KERN Columbian Staff Writer

ARIEL -- FBI agents are waiting for a crime rain," Shinn remembered. laboratory report before deciding whether a pair "The helicopters were three or four abreast, of pants found by a rancher in the Green going back and forth," Shinn added. Mountain area of northern Clark County will be Both Shinn and his wife, Maude, said Cooper a good clue in the five-year-old case of skyjacker Dan Cooper.

John Reed, agent in charge of the FBI's probably would have had a difficult time surviv- Seattle office, said when he told agents in the ing because of his fall and the weather that crime laboratory in Washington, D.C., that he night. The wind was blowing at 30 to 55 miles per would be sending them back a pair of dress hour. trousers which might be five years old they "I have my doubts that he survived because it responded: "Geez, that's really far out but we'll was quite cold that night," Mrs. Shinn said. kick it around."

Cattle rancher William Lynch was reluctant to Seven agents searched for 3 ½ hours comment on the trousers he found. He said it Wednesday for any clues in the area where was up to the authorities to determine if they rancher William Lynch found the trousers. belonged to Cooper.

"Nothing," responded FBI agent John Pringle. Lynch spotted the slacks about 25 feet above when he came out of the wooded area. And Reed the ground in a tree, while hunting about one said no more searches in the surroundings are month ago. After reading some stories about scheduled.

"We should have a preliminary crime Cooper, he called the Clark County Sheriff's laboratory report by Friday or Monday," Reed Office to report his find. Those slacks were resting crotch up in the tree said. He said that report might indicate where so that some parts had green moss stains and the laundry tag came from, whether the pants large tears were in the thighs and knees, appeared to have weathered five years of the The material seemed to be a double knit type, elements and other possible clues. and the blue-gray slacks are continental style.

"There's a lot of leads that could come from Whether Cooper could have worn them is one pair of pants," Reed said. But, he admitted, uncertain. The pants have a 36 inch waist and "Nothing looks good right now." about a 33 inch inseam, according to Dick Dyer,

It was Nov. 25, 1971, that a man who identified FBI agent in Vancouver. Cooper was described himself as Dan Cooper hijacked a Northwest those dimensions were accurate, the pants Orient Airlines 727 jetliner, gained a $200,000 might have been too large to fit the famed ransom, and ordered the jet be flown from skyjacker. Seattle to Mexico with a refueling stop in Reno. While the FBI waits for a crime laboratory Nev. He parachuted from the airplane, clutching report, folks in these parts may be stopping in at a briefcase full of the money in $20 bills, when a party in Cooper's honor at the Ariel Store the plane was 36 minutes out of Seattle. Saturday.

Asked if the found slacks could have been planted by someone wanting to play a practical joke, Reed said: "The pants are possible evidence as far as I'm concerned. This just hap- pens to be the fifth anniversary and these pants came in."

Rancher Lawrence Shinn hardly noticed the three FBI cars which were parked only a stone's throw from his barn off an abandoned logging road Wednesday.

Later, he poured a cup of coffee and said, yes, the case of Dan Cooper had created at least a ripple of interest in this mountain ranching community.

"I've set here a million times and said old Cooper is up in that timber," Shinn said, pointing north from a table near a kitchen window.

To my knowledge, nobody has been in that area -- only by helicopters. The wind was really howling that night and the there was a driving

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

Page THE COLUMBIAN 1 VANCOUVER, WASHINGTON

Date: 11-25-76 Edition: Author: Jack R. Campbell Editor: Title:

Character: or Classification: Submitting Office: b6 Being Investigated b7C

DB Cooper-22596