FBI FRUSTRATED IN SEARCH FOR ANTI-RED LEADER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000300450005-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 27, 2000
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: August 16, 1964
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2000/jkW7i :U/j96ltUS l~! (00
CPYRGHT
CPYRGHT
ST. LOUIS, MO.
POST-DISPATCH
e. 344,575
S. 569,578
Date:
3A
1f
AUG 16 1964
CPYRGHT
FBI Frustrated in Search for Anti-Red Leader
Family of Eight Dish~~??? Friend Believes Har-
appeared 16 Month raj: ` Pell Is Held by Com-
Ago-Car Found munists or CJA
By ROBERT H. COLLINS
of the Post-Dispatch Staff
16 months ago of John R. Harare
and seven members of his fami]
has been a frustrating case f
the Federal Bureau of Investig
pion, which has had as many a
100 agents working on it at on
time, an authority connected hi.
the search told the Post-Dispatc
yesterday.
Harrell was the wealthy leade
of the anti-Communist Chrisria
Conservative Church. His aut .
mobile was found on a side rea
near Springfield, III., April
11963. Be was reported to hay
been carrying between $?14,00
,and $20,000 at the time of hi.
disappearance.
Robert B. DoPugh, national('
,leader of the Minutemen andj{
friend of Harrell, said he be-1,
lieved Harrel and his family arel
being held captive.
Dead or In Hiding
Some law enforcement officialsi
believe that Harrell and his fam,
i~
ly are hiding. Others think they
may be dead. _
Shortly after arrel?1's disap-
pearance, DePugh offered a re-
ward of $5000 for information
about the family's whereabouts.
DePugh, Norborne, Mo., is presi-
dent of Biplab Corp., a pharma-
ceutical firm.
Questioned by FBI
DePugh said the FBI has ques-
tioned him many times about
Hanrell's disappearance. "FBI
agents try to leave the impres-
sion they believe John is hiding
out," DePugh said.
At the time of his disappear-ance, Harrell was en route to
Springfield for a conference with.
officials of the Internal Revenue'
Service about income tax prob-.
lems. Harrell operated a mauso-?
leum and construction business.
John'R.Harrel1 ,- ,holdings.
-11 'don't believe it is posse The FBI first showed official.
r a man and seven meinbe interest in the Harrell case Ia t
his family to hide from November when he did not a
I this long," DePugh sae .!pear for trial in United Stat
It's almost impossible for o district court at East St. Lou
an to elude the FBI for th on charges of harboring
ngth of time, not to mentti AWOL Marine.
o women and five children ' In August 1962, the FBI an I
c FBI officially entered. Illinois State Police raided IIa
rch h laot November. :cell's 100-acre estate, at , Loci
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CPYRGHT'
"I heard from John two days'
before he disappeared," DePughI
ville, III., to seize the Marine;;} Letter Cited
who had been
Harrell given refuge by ?So I find it difficult to be-
.
f some highly placed people in convinced that, as the letters: were his prime suspects but that
lovernment. He di'd nit name said Harrell was ~bein held he would gat eliminate ft- CIA
,
roof of Communist memlbershap one of the letters, said he was He said that the Communists
Evidence on Reds president of the Christian Con-
"He said he had documents servative Church
who received
lieve he's hiding. The letter he
wrote saying he was being held'
prisoner seems to indicate he is
extremely important information alive."
and would meet me at the Lex-' Last October, three letters
ington, Mo., ,airport, but he signed "John H. Harrell" were
called later and said he had de-'mailed with Cairo, Ill., post
tided to drive his automobile. marks. The Rev. A. Vance Comer,
l
the g cap from suspicion because "it has
m .over_the.nhone- Ike said he tive by Communists and was be- come under Communist influ-
f~al+ he ~d,.....tA _e._,. __
z_ -- _&_- ,
_,_ ,
his
we
formation in person." movement and knowledge ?De.Pugh stand that the CIA "has
DePu h in that Harrell was bof ' exceeded its
g Communists in the United States. was S grant of auae out-r anot ember of the Mint te , "I feel that the FBI is skeipti- side theUnitedeSt States. The FBI
group cal about the letters from what that specializes in armed guer-'they have said to me," the Rev. States. Surisdiction FBI,in the U vely
villa tactics in preparation for, Mr. Comer said. " I know it does eThe FBI, relatively
"a last-ditch fight against the sound fantastic and unbeliev- dspoeaking, is a twri hy. org!andza-
Communists when they finally able, but everything the Com- ! John IHariell wasn't, the fana-
subvert the United States." munists do is unbelievable."
"There are two reasons why DePugh said that FBI agents tic a lot
said. "I kno theuCht, . of "
it is illogical to assume the Hair- have told him that handwriting DePugh considered the Cam-
munists considered him danger
rells are hiding out somewhere, 'l analysts have determined that it
DePugh said: Wa.c Har?all1s h.,
:-_ , Gus.
d
n
wr
hind. I know of an instance in
which John and his wife went'
on a vacation without the chil.
dren. After four days, she in-
sisted they out the vacation
short and return home because
she missed the baby and was
worried about him. It doesn't
make sense that they would
leave the baby for a year and
four montths.
"(2) John's mother was with
him. I could conceive that he
might have felt himself in dan-
ger and that there was so much
pressure against him that he
would hide out, but his mother
was a hard-headed old business
lady who was not the type to
who was
,
have
to do with any I no ream why it should be, so case some seven months after
that leaves the Oilier two," De- the and this family disappeared',"
voluntary disappearance.
Pugh said. , DePugh said.
AUG 1 9 .1964
pie woo know John also have
saiid it was his handwriting,"
DeP?ugh related, " I don't com-
pletely discount the possibility it
was a forgery. It could be -that
he was dead and somebody
wanted the authorities to tiunk
for some reason, that he was
stillalive."
Lists Possible Abductors
Only three organizations in
this country-'.t:he FBI, the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency and the
Communists-are capable of "so
completely hiding a man, two
women and five chi!idmen for such
Tells of Hideout
"Some time before his dis-
appearance, John had bought
a hideout and about $100,000
worth of food, general supplies
and military equipment, inculd-
ing several hundred rifles and a
large quantity of ammunition.
I don't know where the hideout
was, but I would guess it was
in New Mexico."
DePugh was highly critical of
the Federal Government for its
"long delay" in beginning an
investigation of the disappear-
ance.
a long period of time," DePugh "John"s friends asked the FBI
asserted. I to investigate, and they said it
"The FBI would never be is i was beyond their .jurisdiction un
and there's ! til they finally- came into the
party to such a trick
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