Women lead kidnappers

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33492, 25 March 1974, Page 16

Women lead kidnappers

By EARL CALDWELL of the New York Times News Service.

SAN FRANCISCO,

March 19

A groyp oT militant women has begun to emerge as leaders of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the professed kidnappers of Patricia Hearst.

Although the Federal Bureau of Investigation has refused to identify any of the women, well-placed sources said that they come from the Berkeley area, that they have been involved with inmates at various Californian prisons, and that they were associates of both Jack Remiro and Russell Little.

All are believed to be white, in their mid or late 20’s. None has been identified as a member of any other radical group in the Bay area. Two months ago in a small suburban community just outside Oakland, the police arrested Remiro and Little. Both were charged with the murder of Dr Marcus Foster, the Oakland schools superintendent whom the Symbionese say they killed. It was known that several women were involved in the kidnapping of Miss-Hearst, and there has been speculation that she is being held captive by a women’s unit of the organisation. Miss Hearst, who was abducted from her apartment on February 4, last communicated with her parents on March 9 when she said in a tape-recorded message that not enough was being done to bring about her release. In addition to the women qt the leadership level in the organisation, investigating authorities have also been seeking a number of other women who are suspectedof

having some involvement with the self-styled revolutionaries.

From the time the organisation became known publicly, after the killing of Foster, there was evidence that women had been involved. However, the belief that women are playing a central role is recent. Last week, in the latest taped message, the main message was delivered by a woman who gave her name as Genina ana said she was a General in the organisation.

In its own announcements, the group has attempted to make clear that the organisation is not only multiracial but that its leadership includes women.

“The Federation and the Symbionese Liberation Army is made up

of the aged, youth and women and men of all races and people. The name Symbionese is taken from the word symbiosis and we define its meaning as a body of dissimilar bodies ana organisms living in de,ep and loving harmony and partnership in the best interest of all within the body.” The first hint that women were involved came < from witnesses to the Foster killing, which occurred on November 6 last year outside his office in East Oakland. Witnesses said then that they through that at least one of the assassins might have been a woman. When Remiro and Little were arrested, the authorities were led to a house in Concord, a suburban community near Oakland. The authorities were attracted to the house, said to have been a headquarters of the group, by a fire.

A woman identified as Nancy Ling Perry was seen fleeing from the building.

Later she admitted membership in the group, and said that she was attached to an intelligence unit. She conveyed the information in a letter sent to San Francisco newspapers. The kidnapping of Miss Hearst provided further evidence of women in the group. One white woman was directly involved in the abduction, with two black men.

Publicly, there has been no identification of the woman.

However, it has been learned that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is seeking a woman known as Enuiy Harris, a resident of Berkeley who . moved there from Indiana several years ago. The authorities are reported to be attempting to locate for questioning another woman from Indiana who was an associate of Emily Harris and her husband. Two other women from Berkeley are also being sought for questioning.