Koresh’s Lawyer to Try to Negotiate Surrender : Impasse: Cult member says leader is waiting for a ‘cataclysmic’ event, such as fire or earthquake, before surrendering. Standoff enters seventh week.

Lawyers for Branch Davidian cult leader David Koresh and another sect member made preparations Monday night to contact the group’s fortified prairie compound today in hopes of paving the way for a surrender.

Houston lawyers Dick DeGuerin and Jack Zimmerman, who traveled to Waco late Monday, said they expected the contact at noon today with sect leaders in preparation for a long-discussed exodus of the cult members after their eight-day Passover celebration. The two attorneys declined to speculate on the prospects of their talks with Koresh and his chief deputy, Steven Schneider. DeGuerin represents Koresh, and Zimmerman has Schneider as a client.

The lawyers’ presence did little to bolster the hopes of FBI officials. One senior FBI official said earlier that it appeared increasingly remote that Koresh and 95 members of the Branch Davidian sect would peacefully leave their compound after the end of their Passover.

Despite the delivery of a second letter written by Koresh in the name of God, federal authorities said the sect leader is waiting for a heavenly sign in the form of an earthquake or another natural disaster before he will agree to surrender.

FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks said that in 15 conversations during the weekend with Koresh aide Schneider, negotiators were told that the cult leader awaits verbal signs “from God” and “certain cataclysmic events to take place, either fire, earthquakes or other events of that nature.”

Ricks added that if the end of Passover was once “significant to their coming out, it seems to be that they’re downplaying that significance now.”

According to authorities, the Branch Davidians celebrate Passover, and not Easter, because of its prominence as a rite celebrated in the Old Testament.

The Branch Davidians appeared to become “very excited” by reports of a minor earth tremor last week in south Texas, Ricks said. Their interest apparently waned when they learned that the quake had no impact in the Waco area.

“They were hoping it was a lot closer to here, that it would affect us,” Ricks said.

The second letter written by Koresh was delivered at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in similar fashion to another communication given to federal authorities Friday. Schneider left the letter outside the compound after emerging from the door after a brief telephone conversation with negotiators. Federal agents protected by a Bradley personnel carrier retrieved the missive.

Declining to detail the letter’s contents, Ricks said it was again larded with warlike passages from the Bible. It said that “if we do not listen to Koresh, we will be devoured by fire or destroyed by other means,” Ricks said.

The communication contained a warning to authorities not to hurt Koresh. “Please do not hurt my lamb,” Ricks said the letter warned.

The letter was signed “Yahweh Koresh.” Yahweh is a Judaic word for God frequently found in the Old Testament.

Ricks said that at least two women in the compound are pregnant, one due in May. In the case of one woman, Ricks said, “we do have our suspicions with regard to who is the father”--a reference to Koresh and his relations with a number of Branch Davidian women.