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Title: Self-Styled King Of The Jews Tried, Executed

Author: Sam Reynolds

First Printed: The Missoulian - 1969.  Missoula, Montana

Contributor: Anonymous

Self-Styled King Of The Jews Tried, Executed

- by Sam Reynolds

JERUSALEM - A revolutionary conspiracy aimed at subverting and overthrowing Roman and Jewish civil and religious authority has been smashed here, officials said Thursday.

One Jesus of Nazareth, self-styled "King of the Jews," was arrested, questioned, tried and executed, police said. His supporters have been driven underground and one has committed suicide, according to the police.

They said at least one other suspect in the conspiracy has denied acquaintance with the executed Jesus and is under surveillance. When Jesus was arrested, police said that one of his henchmen resisted and cut off one of an arresting officers ears with a sword.

"He (Jesus) conspired to undermine the authority of the Roman government by denying the divine status of the Emperor Nero Caesar and by otherwise stirring up civil disorder," a spokesman for Roman Gov. Pontius Pilate told newsmen.

Gov. Pilate could not be reached for comment, but sources close to the governor said that he ordered the execution of Jesus after hearing damaging evidence furnished by elders, scribes and priests who testified against the Nazarene.

A Temple spokesman, who asked not to be identified, said Jesus for many years had been actively undermining the Temple's religious authority and urging people to transfer their allegiance to his so-called Christian sect, which responsible authorities have described as a small, tightly-knit conspiratorial and revolutionary group organized by Jesus and completely subordinate to his domination.

The full circumstances surrounding the conspirators arrest, interrogation, trial and execution were not immediately made clear, but conferences were under way late Thursday between Roman and Jewish authorities and a spokesman said a full report would be made public in due course.

One informed source said that Herod, tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea, was in the city when the conspiracy was broken, and that Gov. Pilate sent Jesus to Herod for questioning.

It is known that Jesus once publicly insulted the widely-respected tetrarch, calling Herod "that fox." The informed source said that Herod personally quizzed Jesus, who refused to reply, and that in disgust Herod dispatched the self-styled "Christ" back to Gov. Pilate for trail.

Unconfirmed reports Thursday said that Pilate at first was reluctant to condemn Jesus, and that the governors wife even tried to intervene in the case of the Nazarenes behalf, calling Jesus a "just man."

However, Gov. Pilate eventually was persuaded to condemn Jesus to death on a strength of testimony presented by scribes, elders, priests and other responsible citizens, according to an officer of the Scribes Association who attended the trial.

Jesus, he said, flatly declined to testify in his own defense, and those present felt that his default in effect was an admission of guilt.

"Its fortunate for Jerusalem and all Palestine that this conspiracy has been broken in time," the Scribes Association officer said. "We hope it is an object lesson to all those who would question long-established values, would attempt to undermine law and order or would foolishly try to subvert properly constituted authority."