SAN QUENTIN. Calif., Sept. 6 – “Oh my God,” Charles Manson was quoted as saying after learning that one of his followers had been charged with trying to assassinate President Ford.

San Quentin Prison spokesman Bill Merkle said the 40 year-old convicted mass murderer heard through the “prison grapevine” that Lynette Alice Fromme was arrested in Sacramento on Friday after pointing a .45-caliber automatic pistol at the President at point blank range.

“His initial reaction was noncommittal and surprised,” Merkle said.

He said Miss Fromme, a Manson family member nicknamed “Squeaky,” frequently corresponded with the cult leader and applied several times to visit him since his transfer from Folsom Prison June 6.

Merkle said each application has been denied because of her past association with Manson, and an application made “within the past week” was in the process of being rejected.

“Nobody may visit Manson except possibly his attorney,” he said.

As for letters between Miss Fromme and Manson, Merkle said, “We don’t have any record of how often they correspond, but the guys in the mail room tell me it is quite frequent.”

He said Manson’s correspondence is not censored but is checked for contraband, as is the mail for all maximum security prisoners.

Merkle said state prison rules provide for confiscation of “any letters containing threats of physical harm against any person” or encouraging criminal activity.

“I’m not saying something couldn’t get by,” he added. “We usually scan it looking for key words. We’re not concerned about the contents of personal or love letters. We weed out threatening mail.”

Merkle said he knew of no Manson letters that have been confiscated and said he has been “a pretty good prisoner” since coming here.

However, one of Manson’s prosecutors in Los Angeles, Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen Kay, said he believes Manson masterminded the attack on the President.

“The Manson girls just don’t act on their own, they act at the behest of Charles Manson,” he said. “I think Charles Manson had a hand in it. It’s very easy to slip messages in and out of prison.”

Kay added, “Knowing ‘Squeaky’ as I do, I think it will come out that it was done for publicity. I think the motivation is that they just wanted a forum for Charles Manson and his philosophy, and what better way to get it than to assassinate the President of the United States.”

Another prosecutor in Manson’s 1971 mass murder trial, Vincent Bugliosi, said, “This attempted murder is totally consistent with the past murders of the Manson family in that the past murders were designed to shock the world and nothing would have shocked the world more than the assassination of President Ford.”