Part 54, page 74

Transcript

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

(Mount Clipping in Space Below)

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Weather frustrates hijacker hunt

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By JOHN PAINTER JR. and ANDREW MERSHON :of The Oregonian Staff

Frustrated by low clouds, fog and rain, law officials called off at dusk Friday the second day of an air-ground search for an airline hijacker who may have parachuted into Southwest Wash-

ington wood and farm country with $200,000 in ransom.

There were increasing indications searchers were pursuing a futile search based on a speculative gamble of where the calm, Latin-looking hijacker allegedly bailed out of the Northwest Airlines Boeing 727 tri-jet.

FBI and other accounts of what prompted the search were contradicted by statements made by the aircraft's pilot and its crew.

Varying accounts by officials at the search scene said, variously, a change in cabin pressure, a pitch in the plane's flight, the time the hijacker last spoke to the captive crew accounted for the manhunt in the Lewis River area of Southwest Washington, about 20 miles north of Portland.

At search headquarters in the Wood-land, Wash., City Hall, officials said the hunt was centered in a 10-by-15-mile strip of the Lewis River.

Cursory searches also were conducted at other possible drop areas further south.

At the height of the search Friday, 25 to 35 FBI agents and Clark and Cowlitz county, Wash., sheriff's deputies were involved in the hunt, which included some searches of farmhouses in the vicinity.

At least three helicopters were involved, as well as several patrol boats which cruised Lake Merwin and Yale Lake in the search area near the Cascade Mountain foothills.

At one point, helicopter hunters thought they had discovered a white parachute canopy along the Lewis River. It turned out to be a tarpaulin under which youngsters were fishing in the rain, enjoying their Thanksgiving holiday.

In St. Paul, Minn., Northwest Air-lines officials cast doubt on accounts here of where the hijacker might have bailed out.

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(e, name of city and state.)

THE OREGONIAN PORTLAND, OREGON

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Date: 11/27/71, pg. 1 Edition: Author: Editor: Title:

Character: or Classification: Submitting Office:

☐ Being Investigated

[guess: 164-71] [illegible] [illegible]

DB Cooper-23000