Screed 11: THE HEARST ARREST ORDER
In their search of the "Information Unit" headquarters in Concord, police found sketches of plans to kill and kidnap selected business executives residing in the Bay Area. "Declarations of War" had been drafted against the companies which employed these men, the usual ground being that the companies sold their goods in Rhodesia and South Africa. Among the other records assembled by the Information Unit, but not understood till later, were the name of Steven Weed and the address and telephone number of the deluxe town-house apartment which he shared with Patricia Hearst. Weed, a graduate student in Philosophy, had been Patricia Hearst's mathematics teacher at a private school on the San Francisco Peninsula. They had lived together for two years.
Miss Hearst, as a woman dwelling on a quiet street in a familiar neighborhood, seemed a more simple target to the Berkeley-oriented SLA. She was also a more profitable target. Though she had led an active, even reckless, kind of life, she would register to the public in the familiar double pattern of Child-Victim and Beauty in Distress. From the SLA point of view, her "political" ambiance made her still more attractive. She belonged to the fourth generation of the most distinguished of California dynasties. Her father, Randolph Hearst, had his modest million or so, but also had some access to dozens or scores of millions in the Hearst Foundation and Hearst Corporation. By an even luckier chance, her mother was a member of the Board of Regents which controls operations of the University of California. For many years the Board of Regents had been under violent attack by Berkeley radical and left-wing forces on such matters as government-supported research, "People's Park" development, and student fees. The most recent of the continuing battles against the Regents came from the fact that some University monies were invested in American firms which traded with such no-no nations as South Africa, Portugal, and, unbelievably, Great Britain. The fact that the Hearsts were a newspaper family, with large interests in other media as well, made a grand addition to Patricia Hearst's eligibility as a victim of the SLA.
In the fall of 1973 the Weed-Hearst apartment was looked at by members of Fahizah's SLA Information Unit. On Februaiy 2, 1974, a racially mixed SLA team attempted to enter it on a ruse. In the evening of February 4, another racially mixed team one white girl and two Negro men -- got the door opened with a story about an automobile accident, thrust Steven Weed back into the apartment, and chased the screaming Patricia Hearst from room to room. Weed's hands were tied and he was beaten with a wine bottle. A neighbor, Steven Suenaga, rushed in to offer aid, and was clubbed down and left for dead. Weed freed his hands, ran out the back door, and hurried through four back gardens and over three fences before stopping in the safety of another street. After his escape, Patricia Hearst, clothed only in a nightgown, was hustled out of the apartment. A little armada of three cars a Volkswagen bug, an old Chevrolet station wagon, and a stolen convertible had been assembled there by the SLA, and Miss Hearst was thrown bodily into the trunk of the convertible. Some of the six or seven SLA members had begun shooting by then, and the three vehicles disappeared with the revolutionary guns still blazing.
There was a brief news blackout, then some inconclusive statements by police. It seemed understood from the first that it was not a money-oriented kidnapping. Within a few days, the news media had become aware of the marvellous possibilities of the crime as a news story, and crews of reporters and cameramen began to assemble in the grounds of the Hearst estate in the wealthy suburb of Hillsborough, south of San Francisco. On February 7, the SLA sent its "Communique #3," to the left-cum-culture Berkeley radio station KPFA.
Communique #3 is a "warrant order" for the "arrest" of Miss Hearst, and follows the form used in Communique #1, the "warrant order" for the execution of Marcus Foster and Robert Blackburn. Three of its stipulations were to become fixed objectives of the SLA in its long subsequent contest with the Hearst family, the police agencies, and American society in general. These were that "any attempt. - . by authorities to release the prisoner" would cause her to be executed; that "any attempt... to witness or interfere with any operation" of the SLA will also be met with shootings; and that SLA documents "MUST be published in full" by "all newspapers, and all other forms of the media." Never in history has an outlaw demand so successfully publicized and protected an outlaw organization.
SYMBIONESE LIBERATION ARMY
WESTERN REGIONAL ADULT UNIT
Communique #3
February 4, 1974
Subject: Prisoners of WarWarrant Order:
Arrest and protective
Target: Patricia Campbell Hearst,custody,and if resistance
daughter of Randoph A. Hearst,execution
corporate enemy of the people
Warrant Issued By:
The Court of the People
On the afore stated date, combat elements of the United Federated Forces of The Symbionese Liberation Army armed with
cyanide loaded weapons served an arrest warrant upon Patricia Campbell Hearst.
It is the order of this court that the subject be arrested by combat units and removed to a protective area of safety and only upon completion of this condition to notify Unit #4 to give communication of this action.
It is the directive of this court that during this action ONLY, no civilian elements be harmed if possible, and that warning shots be given. However, if any citizens attempt to aid the authorities or interfere with the implementation of this order, they shall be executed immediately.
This court hereby notifies the public and directs all combat units in the future to shoot to kill any civilian who attempts to witness or interfere with any operation conducted by the people's forces against the fascist state.
Should any attempt be made by authorities to rescue the prisoner, or to arrest or harm any S.L.A. elements, the prisoner is to be executed.
The prisoner is to be maintained in adequate physical and mental condition, and unharmed as long as these conditions are adhered to. Protective custody shall be composed of combat and medical units, to safeguard both the prisoner and her health.
All communications from this court MUST be published in full, in all newspapers, and all other forms of the media. Failure to do so will endanger the safety of the prisoner.
Further communications will follow.
S.L.A.
DEATH TO THE FASCIST INSECT THAT PREYS UPON
THE LIFE OF THE PEOPLE
