Freemen Talks In Lull After Papers Received Fbi Team Grows; No Afternoon Meeting Held

Surrender negotiations with the Montana freemen entered a lull Monday after a new player joined the FBI team and delivered a sheaf of papers to leaders of the antigovernment group.

The two sides held no afternoon meeting Monday for the first time since Colorado state Sen. Charles Duke brought them face-to-face last Thursday.

Duke did not speak to reporters afterward. The FBI has refused to comment on any aspect of the standoff, now 57 days old.

Monday’s 40-minute session appeared cordial but was the shortest yet and, for the first time, started late, by 15 minutes.

A third man, presumably an FBI agent, joined Duke and the two FBI negotiators who talked with the freemen at the previous twice-a-day meetings.

After the customary round of handshakes opened the meeting, the new player handed the several pages of papers to Edwin Clark and Russell Landers, the only Freemen attending Monday. Four men have represented the Freemen previously.

The significance and relevance of the papers were not known, but they apparently were the main, if not only, focus of the meeting. Clark and Landers withdrew a few yards to talk briefly at one point, and they carried the papers back to the freemen’s sanctuary when the meeting ended.

The FBI believes 18 people are in the compound. While some are wanted on charges ranging from writing bad checks to threatening to kidnap and kill a federal judge, others inside are not wanted.

Meanwhile, new concern was raised about three children known to be in the compound.

James “Bo” Gritz, a former Green Beret colonel who broke off his talks with the freemen earlier this month, wrote in his newsletter that leaders of the anti-government group “made it clear they knew the value of placing children between themselves and the FBI.”

Gritz said he had heard Gloria Ward, mother of two of the children, say she wanted to leave with her daughters, but that she had been criticized by freemen leaders.

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