17-Year Odyssey Ends for Bissell Heir : Weather Underground Fugitive Caught

Silas Trim Bissell, a founding member of the Weather Underground and a fugitive for 17 years, was under arrest today on charges of trying to bomb an ROTC building at the University of Washington in 1970 at the height of the anti-Vietnam War movement.

Bissell, 44, an award-winning poet and heir to the Bissell carpet-cleaning fortune, surrendered when 10 arresting officers swarmed into his home Tuesday night.

“I would say he probably thought it was a relief to him,” FBI spokesman Norman Mollerup said. “I can’t probe into his mind. I think he would have preferred he not be arrested but I think he now realizes that he can put this behind him and get on with his life. I would say he was relieved.”

Bissell had been living in the Eugene area “for a number of years” under the alias Terrence Peter Jackson and had worked as a physical therapist and free-lance artist, said Theodore M. Gardner, FBI special agent in charge in Portland.

Bissell was charged with conspiracy to destroy government property and possession of a destructive device. He was held overnight at the Lane County Jail pending an appearance before U.S. Magistrate Michael Hogan.

FBI spokesman Bart Gori in Portland declined to say how federal agents had finally managed to track Bissell down. “We’re not going to jeopardize some of our sources,” he said.

Mollerup first began looking for Bissell in 1973, when he was an agent in Puerto Rico, where Bissell’s parents had a winter home. But he said it was just a coincidence he was transferred two years ago to Eugene, where the fugitive finally turned up.

“Fourteen years ago, this guy was a big deal then. It was during the anti-war movement,” Mollerup said.