FBI, Police, Postal Officials Investigate Threat Letters
The FBI, the Nassau County Police and postal
authorities are investigating the Minutemeni Death
threat letters received last week by five District
# 22 residents.
The Eighth Precinctof the Nassau County Police
reports no new developments leading to the apprehension
of those responsible for the Minute-men
death threat letters received a week ago
Tuesday by five residents. Only Farmingdale Library
Director, Orrin B. Dow, a resident of 110 North
Drive, North Massapequa, filed an official complaint
to the police .
Senator Jacob Javits, was mailed a copy of
a threat letter from former District 22 school
board trustee Bernard Lang, a resident of Quaker
Meeting House Road, Farmingdale, was not
available for comment, although his office secretary,
Betty Maul said that the letter could
help support gun control legislation,. She said
Javits may also take the matter up with the
postal authorities.
Mrs. Lucille Goulding, President
of the District 22 Board of
Education said that the people
who received the letter were
some of the people who had done
the most good for the betterment
of the Farmingdale community
and in particular that
a kind and gentle man such as
Dr. Albert Meyerstein should
receive such a letter was uncalled
for.
Last week, the Observer r e ported
that Library Director,
Dow, former school district physician
and present member of the
Farmingdale Public Library Bd.
of Trustees, Dr. Albert Meyerstein,
Observer columnist, Hillary
Boss, defeated Farmingdale
library trustee Paul Tilford of
Massapequa Park and former
School Board Trustee Bernard
Lang had received death threats
from the Minutemen on Tuesday
July 8, mailed in a plain envelope
with a Jamaica postmark.
The letter which was minmeo-graphed
and contained a mineo-graphed
typed Minutemen signature
at the end, admonished
" traitors beware". It warned
that patriots were not going to
let them take their freedom a-way
from them. The letter admonished
the recipients to beware
about boobytraps in their
automobile engines, arsenic in
their families milk, silent pistols
under the coat of the newsdealer
and cyanide gas guns in the
form of fountain pens in their
insurance man's pockets. They
said that the silent knife, the
stranglers cord, the target rifle
that hits sparrows at 200 yards
were known by the Minutemen.
The letter ended " Even now the
cross hairs are on the back of
your necks." The letter was
headed by a line drawing of a
gun site with cross hairs. Dow
said that he considered the letter
threatening enough to call
the police and added that he is
concerned, but, " not overly
worried."
According to Nassau County
detectives, they know of no formal
contingent of this militant
right- wings organization on Long
Island.
Farmingdale Library Trustee
Carl E. . Gorton, and an avowed
member of the John Birch Society
and a persistant critic of
Library Director Orrin Dow
called the threats " junk mail
from irresponsible individuals".
He said he knew nothing about
them.
Last week a letter to the editor
appeared in an other local
area weekly newspaper r e portedly
signed by a Robert Sebastian.
As far as can be determined
he is not a resident of
this area. The letter stated that
when the Second Amendment to
the Constitution was written as
part of the Bill of lUghts, one
had to be prepared to protect
oneself from Indians and later
In the days of the wild west
from bands of marauding bandits.
Although laws were passed regarding
the indiscriminate use of
firearms in public places, the
right to protect life and property
were sacrosanct, and laws regarding
ownership of weapons
were dealt with rarely. " One
no longer has to fear bands of
marauding Indians who would pillage
your home, rape your wife
and kill d your children, burn
the structure down." He continued,
" Unfortunately, in those
days the police - the well regulated
militia - and the government
troops many times arrived
too late."
Sebastians letter continues,
" But what of today?. One out
of three Americans feel it is
unsafe to walk the streets after
dark. One out of 25 will be the
victim of serious crime - either
directly or indirectly. 140 cities
across the country have been hit
by riots in one year's time.
Probably it was worse with the
Indians, but the government did
not recommend disarming the
law- abiding citizens. The government
did not protect the
Indians who were doing the burning
and looting. Today, when the
riots , which politicians help foment
and finance, hit your neighborhood
and government officials
decide your home is not worth
protecting and they have your
firearms besides ( as a result
of registration), what will you
do? ' Instead of registering firearms,
lets register criminals,
Communists, and aliens, and possibly
even the politicians who
are so eagerly experimenting
with our lives and property."
A letter signed by Joan Bergman
of 475 Pacific Street, Massapequa
Park, was read at the
Thursday night District 22 Board
of Education meeting. Mrs. Berg-man
said, " When I picked up the
paper this afternoon and read
that five of our most outstanding
citizens, Bernard Lang, Paul Til-ford,
Dr. Meyerstein, Orrin Dow
and Hillary Boss, received
threatening notes from the Minutemen,
I was outraged! These
people who by both word and
deed are fighting for brotherhood
and against bigotry, Birchism and
all the other cancers in our
society . . . and their lives are
being threatened because they
care enough to speak out. Well,
if they are in danger, than I
" am in danger, and you and all
other people of good will are
in danger too. But I would like
to serve notice that we will not
be intimidated. We will continue
to speak up for friendship among
all peoples, and if it is necessary
for us to share our educational
facilities with our neighbors so
it may enrich our children's
lives, we will speak up in favor
of it - for the sharing will enrich
our lives as well. We will
not be intimidated by Minutemen
today, or whatever they wish to
call themselves tomorrow, and
oh yes, there are more of us
then there are them, and we
shall overcome*."
The Observer research staff
came up with an article in the
New York Times, dated, July 4
1966 stating that the Minutemen
has formed a political party.
There were a few thousand members
and the group published a
newsletter called " On Target".
Other groups at the meeting were
named " Soldiers of the Cross".
" Farmers Liberty League",
" Spirit of ' 76 Committee" . The
writer, Donald Janson in the
Times said, they appeared to
have support of many members
of the John Birch Society, but
not of the organization Itself
because " they seem to feel we
are a competitive influence."
The national office was in Independence,
Missouri.
In another New York Times
story dated July 5,1966, headlined
" New Rights Groups Counsels
Leaders to Enlist Others", the
group discussed a political r e gional
convention In September.
The cities mentioned were New
York City, Birmingham, Alabama
and Phoenix, Arizona.
In a Newsday article dated
November 15, 1966, with the
headline, " Three Top Minutemen
Guilty in Gun Trial".
According to the reporter, Robert
Bolivar, Robert DePugh Is the
leader. " The organization trains
Its members In guerilla warfare
claiming that it is preparing
them to resist possible communist
invasion." A prosecution
witness, a former Mlnuteman
member, testified he had at one
time advanced an idea that the
Minutemen should put cyanide
( Continued on Page 10)
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Farmingdale OBSERVER, Thursday, July 18, 1968 Page 3
