Let's Sell These People a Piece of Blue Sky: Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology (40 page)

68.
 
Foster,
paragraph 30.

69.
 
Rolph,
p.78.

70.
 
ibid
,
p.85.

71.
 
24
December 1970 - exhibit 38 in CSC v. Armstrong.

72.
 
CSC
v. Armstrong, vol.9, pp.1416-7.

73.
 
CSC
v. Internal Revenue Commissioner, ruling of 24 September 1984.

74.
 
Garrison,
Playing Dirty,
p.80.

75.
 
HCOPL
“Ethics Penalties Re-instated”, 19 October 1971.

76.
 
Foster,
q.v.

Chapter twenty-one

Susan Meister was introduced to Scientology in San Francisco
in the autumn of 1970.
¹
By November she was working at the San
Francisco Org. She was an eager convert, and tried to persuade her parents to
become Scientologists. She wanted to be close to the “Founder,” and contribute
to “Clearing the Planet,” so in February 1971 she joined the Sea Org. By the
end of the month she was aboard the “Flagship”
Apollo
. Her stay there
was brief and tragic.

On May 8, she wrote to her mother:

Mother,

Do you recall talking to me about WW III - and where
it would start if it were to start - father and most everyone else maintained
that it would start in either China or Russia vs. U.S. and you said - oh no -
it would originate in Germany - that the Nazis hadn’t given up yet - ? Well
babe, you were right - there is a new Nazi resurgence taking place in Germany -
so now it’s a race between the good guys in the white hats (Scientologists)
[sic] and the Leipzig death camp (Nazis) [sic] the bad guys in the black hats –
we’ll win of course - but the game is exciting. Truth is stranger than fiction.
As Alice [in Wonderland] says “Things get curiouser and curiouser!” Get into
Scientology now. It’s fantastic.

Love, Susan

Four days later, Susan Meister wrote this letter:

Dear Family,

I just had a session - an auditing session. I feel
great! Great GREAT!

and my life is EXPANDING EXPANDING -

And it’s ALL SCIENTOLOGY Hurry Up, Hurry, Hurry

Be a friend to yourself - Get into this stuff NOW -

It’s more precious than gold it’s the best thing
that’s
ever
ever
ever

ever
come along

Love, Susan

Her last letter to her parents from the
Apollo
was
dated the June 15, 1971. In it she thanked them for a birthday card, and a
variety of gifts, including a new dress. She continued, showing the effect of
Hubbard’s talks about the “great conspiracy” against him, upon a young and impressionable
mind:

I can’t tell you exactly where we are. We have enemies who are
profiting
from peoples’ ignorance and lack of self-determinism and do
not wish to see us succeed in restoring
freedom
and
self determinism
to this planet’s people. If these people were to find out where we are located
- they would attempt to destroy us. Therefore, we are not allowed to say where
this ship is located.

She once more urged her mother to read Hubbard’s books, and
take Scientology courses. Ten days after writing the letter, Susan was dead.

George Meister, Susan’s father, was away from his Colorado
home on a business trip when Guardian’s Office Public Relations man Artie Maren
phoned. George Meister met Maren the next day, and was presented with a “fact
sheet” giving the Scientologists’ account of events as a series of numbered
statements, which read as follows:

COMPANY MEMORANDUM - TSMY APOLLO

Data Concerning the Death of Scientology
Parishioner

Susan Meister

Basic Facts:

1. Miss Susan Meister was found dead from a gunshot
wound in her forehead at approximately 7:35 PM on Friday, June 25, 1971.

2. The door was locked and admittance to the cabin
was only gained after a key had been obtained from the Berthing Steward.

3. She was lying fully clothed on a bunk in the
cabin. There was no pulse.

4. The police authorities were immediately notified
and the body was taken ashore to the police mortuary for an autopsy as required
in such circumstances. On the floor of the cabin the police found a suicide
note which they took as evidence.

5. The Captain had all persons restricted to the
vessel except for senior officers assisting the police in their investigation
until such time as the autopsy was completed and the police investigation
completed.

6. The gun used was a .22 target revolver belonging
to another person on board. Susan knew that he had such a gun as she had
watched him clean, reassemble and replace it in a drawer in his cabin. The gun
was found clasped in her hand.

7. On the particular day of her death, Susan was
seen aboard by many people, particularly up until 2:30 PM. She appeared to be
quite happy and not in the least distressed or disturbed. As her job entailed
the delivery of communications to all parts of the vessel, this explains why so
many saw her in the time period mentioned.

However, in the afternoon she was found missing at
her work as clerical assistant and a crew member looked for her and found her
alone in the cabin where she later committed suicide. This was 3:00 PM. He
asked her to come back to work, which she did as she was seen by her senior at
4:00 PM. However, she did not make her usual communication deliveries at 5:00
PM, nor did she appear for dinner at 6:00 PM.

8. Susan arrived on board February 19, 1971. Although
the police took the suicide note as evidence, one of the ship’s officers was
asked to read it to them. He stated that in the note Susan mentioned that she
wanted her possessions to be sent to her parents, especially her books and she
was sorry for any mess caused anyone.

The note was unsigned. Meister told Artie Maren that he
wanted the body to be flown back to the US for burial. Meister received a
letter from Bob Thomas at the Church of Scientology in Los Angeles - that the
“Panamanian” owners of the
Apollo
were not obliged to give information
to the Church of Scientology. However, the
Apollo’s captain
, Norman
Starkey, had offered to pay for a Christian burial in Morocco, but regretted that
they would not pay for the body to be returned to the United States:

I am sure you understand that the ship’s company, an
independent Panamanian agency, is under no obligation to The Church of
Scientology of California to provide information that it might deem goes beyond
the scope of a reasonable inquiry by bereaved parents...

As to shipment of the remains, the ship’s captain
[Norman Starkey] has indicated that should you wish local Christian burial with
monument, such will be arranged in a Christian cemetery in Morocco at company
expense. If the remains are to be shipped to the United States, which I
understand is your desire; the company regrettably is not in a position to bear
the considerable costs involved.

The letter was signed off “Yours in God.” George Meister,
dazed by the news, decided to go to Morocco to try and verify the circumstances
of his daughter’s death. He was told he would be able to see the body in the
morgue in Safi. He left for Morocco on July 14th. Meister was met at the
airport in Casablanca by Sea Org member Peter Warren, who escorted him to the
Marhaba Hotel. Meister met the US vice-consul, Jack Galbraith, and explained
the purpose of his mission.

During this meeting with Galbraith, Warren phoned to say he
would drive Meister the 120 miles to Safi. Warren said the
Apollo
was
already past its scheduled departure date, but would wait a little longer,
because of Meister’s presence.

Meister arranged to leave the following morning at 6:00 AM,
accompanied by Galbraith, Warren and a Sea Org girl called Joni. Their first
stop in Safi was the police station. Meister says the police official he spoke
to genuinely tried to help. He showed Meister a photograph taken aboard the
Apollo
,
showing the dead girl.

According to her father, Susan was, “lying on a bunk,
wearing the new dress her mother had made for her, her arms crossed with a long
barreled revolver on her breast. A bullet hole was in the center of her
forehead and blood was running out of the corners of her mouth. I began to
wonder how Susan could possibly shoot herself in the center of her forehead
with the long barreled revolver. She would have had to hold it with both hands
at arm’s length. There were no powder burns on her forehead, which certainly
would have been the case if the gun was against her forehead as it would have
to be to shoot herself as the photograph appeared.”

The police said the revolver was not available for
inspection. Meister was shown the police report, but it was not in French,
which he nor Galbraith spoke. Meister was told that the police were unwilling
to release copies of either the report, or their photographs.

Meister and Galbraith went on to the hospital where Susan’s
body had been taken. During the autopsy her intestines and her brains had been
removed. Meister says that Warren admitted that he had given permission,
believing that Susan might have been on drugs. Meister asked to see the body,
which he had been told was in a refrigerated morgue. To his amazement, he was
told by a doctor that they did not know where the body was.

The next day, with Warren and Joni still in attendance, they
had an audience with the Pasha of Safi. The Pasha told Meister he could not
have copies of the police report, or the photographs. He said he had
transferred the records to the provincial capital, Marrakesh. When Meister
pressed him to find the whereabouts of Susan’s body, the Pasha told him the
interview was over.

Meister asked Warren if he could see Ron Hubbard. He knew
that Hubbard’s daughter, Diana, was about Susan’s age. In Meister’s own words:

Passing the guarded gates into the port compound, we had our
first look at Hubbard’s ship
Apollo
. It appeared to be old and as we
boarded it, the girls manning the deck gave us a hand salute. All were dressed
in work type clothing of civilian origin. Most appeared to be young. Upon
boarding we were shown the stern of the ship, which was used as a reading room,
with several people sitting in chairs reading books. The mention of Susan
seemed to meet disapproval from those on board ... we were shown where Susan’s
quarters were in the stern of the ship below decks where it appeared fifty or
so people were sleeping on shelf type bunks. Susan’s letter had mentioned she
shared a cabin all the way forward with one other person. Next we were shown
the cabin next to the pilot house on the bridge where the alleged suicide had
taken place. It was a small cabin and appeared to be one where a duty officer
might catch some sleep while underway ... we were not allowed to see any more
of the ship ... I requested an interview with Hubbard as he was then on board.
Warren said he would ask ... He returned in about a half hour and said Hubbard
had declined to see me.

Meister and Galbraith returned to Casablanca. Meister found
that the thirty or so films he been carrying with him had disappeared,
including the film he had shot of Safi and the
Apollo
:

As I was preparing to leave the hotel [to take the flight
home], the telephone in my room rang. It was Warren who said he had to see me
at once on a matter of utmost urgency. I told him I would see him in the lobby
... Warren came into the lobby a very frightened man. His face was pale and he
motioned me to a chair in the corner of the lobby ... he told me he was sent to
make a settlement with me in cash.

Meister was furious at this suggestion, and told Warren to
deal with his attorney. “At the airport, just prior to boarding, I was accosted
by a large man in a pinstripe suit carrying a briefcase. He said ‘we are watching
you and so are the CIA and the FBI.’”

After his return to the US, Meister found that his daughter
had been buried in a Casablanca cemetery, wrapped in a burlap sack, before his
visit to Morocco. He arranged to have the body exhumed and shipped to the US in
a sealed tin coffin. His local Health Authority, in Colorado, received an
anonymous letter before the body was returned. It said in part:

There has been a Cholera epidemic in Morocco ... there have
been a recorded two to three hundred deaths. And it’s been brought to my attention
that the daughter of one George Meister died in Morocco, either by accident or
from cholera, probably the latter.

The
Los Angeles Times
picked up the story: “According
to a Nov. 11, 1971 letter from Assistant Secretary of State David M. Abshire to
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - the
Apollo’s
Port Captain threatened
in the presence of the American Vice Consul from Casablanca, William J.
Galbraith, that he had enough material including compromising photographs of
Miss Meister, to smear Mr. Meister ... Meister is said to have left Morocco the
day before the threat was made.”