Indians Take Documents as They Leave U.S. Building
Indians Take Documents as They Leave U.S. Building
Loaded with what they called "incriminating" documents purloined from Federal files, Indian militants began leaving the Bureau of Indian Affairs Building today. They took over the building a week ago.
Federal officials reported late tonight that the building had been cleared and would be sealed until tomorrow when security forces would inspect it. They said that the Indians had left before a court-imposed deadline of 9 P.M. when the Government would have been free to force them out.
The Indians began to leave the building soon after reaching an agreement with White House aides on review of their grievances. Also agreed on were proposed solutions to Indian problems. These problems include century-old treaty rights, education, economic opportunities and self-determination in the white man's world.
Presidential assistants agreed to create a special Federal body, headed by the White House, to come up with recommendations to be presented to President Nixon by June 1, 1973.
Given Financial Aid
The Indians were granted financial assistance to return to their homes. Federal officials said that $60,000 in Government funds had been made available to assist the Indians.
The initial payments were made to Indians who left the building tonight. Indian leaders distributed the money as the Indians passed through the building auditorium. The money was in piles of bills that appeared to be of $100 denominations.
Dennis Banks, a spokesman for the Indians self-styled "Trail of Broken Treaties," said the protesters had collected at least two truckloads of "highly incriminating evidence" on Indian affairs against present and past members of Congress.
"Four of us have got the documents," he told reporters. He said that the documents had been "safely removed from the country" and that "we are going to get legal assistance to see wht justice we can get."
"The evidence is highly incriminating against two or three ex-Senators from Western states," he said, adding that judging from what they had found in Federal reports "we could nail down four or five Congressmen."
He said that some of the documents included reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation but he did not elaborate.
"We have destroyed the B.I.A.," he said.
Throughout the day, groups of Indians could be seen leaving the six-story structure, carrying rolled-up paintings and other Indian art that had been in display in the building. Policemen in plainsclothes made no effort to stop them.
The Indians had dwindled to about 100 within the building. They numbered about 500 at one time. Most of the women and children and elderly persons who had accompanied the protesters moved two days ago to donated private housings.
Interior officials said the building had been looted. No only of files, but of "priceless Indian art and artifacts." Until the end of the occupation, newsmen were not permitted to enter the structure, which Federal authorities said was heavily damaged.
The Indians broke up furniture and other equipment to fashing clubs and spears and other weapons against a threatened Federal take-over.
Officials of the Department of the Interior, of which the Indian Bureau is a part, issued orders that only authorized personnel would be allowed in the building after the Indians had gone. The first step in regaining the building, they said, was for a thorough shake-down of the building by a "bomb squad" to make certain the Indians had not planted explosives or other devices in an effort to destroy it.
Mr. Banks is a field director of the American Indian Movement, the backbone of the protest here. The organization itself has been wracked by internal dissention in the last year but Mr. Banks has managed to maintain a major position among the militants.
In a final negotiating session with Federal officials today, the Indians won a pledge that the White House aides would recommend that the government not prosecute the Indians who took over the building last Thursday.
When the Indians arrived in caravans from the West Coast and the South last week they faced shortages of food, housing and funds, which they demanded from the Government. Turned down at first, they took over the building's auditorium. In succeeding days, officials withdrew from the building and began a series of fruitless negotiations that ended when the White House took over mediation on Monday night. Food and other supplies were brought into the building by Indian and white sympathizers.
Earlier, the Government won an eviction order from Judge John H. Pratt of the United States District Court here, but he ordered the negotiations to continue. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia stayed Judge Pratt's eviction order from last night until tonight to give the Government time to end the deadlock.