Hostages Freed by Indians After 10 Hours

Two heavily armed American Indians who had taken over a newspaper office Monday to protest the death of a black jail inmate released their hostages after a 10-hour standoff.

“It’s over. The hostages have been released,” Jim Sughrue, Gov. James G. Martin’s press secretary, said shortly after 8 p.m.

The Indians, who had identified themselves as Tuscarora-Cherokees, had demanded to speak with Martin.

Charles Dunn, deputy director of the State Bureau of Investigation, said the gunmen did not talk directly with Martin before releasing the last hostages from the offices of The Robesonian newspaper.

“The governor did not talk directly to him (Eddie Hatcher, one of the two Indians),” Dunn said. “We didn’t want him to do that because it would set a precedent. The governor did agree to look into the allegations.”

Held by FBI

Ray Little Turtle, a Lumbee Indian who was part of the negotiations, said Hatcher and Timothy Jacobs had been taken into custody by FBI agents and would be transported to a jail outside Robeson County.

Seventeen people were in the offices of The Robesonian when the two men charged in, one of the hostages, Eric Prevatte, said.

More than half of the hostages were released within the first few hours of the crisis. State Rep. Sidney Locks, who was involved in some of the hostage negotiations, said that seven people were in the last group of hostages released when the gunmen gave up.

One hostage said two of those released had complained of heart trouble.

Melissa Talbert, a reporter who was out of the office when the hostages were taken, said the newspaper’s managing editor, Donna Pipes, had been released after 15 hamburgers were sent into the building.

Inmate Death

The Indians had said they would surrender to federal agents or the State Bureau of Investigation after pressing their concerns for a new investigation into the death of a black inmate, Billy McCullough, at Robeson County Jail, Police Chief A. L. Carroll said. They were seeking an investigation by authorities from outside the county, he said.

“We’re trying to get some justice in Robeson County among the minorities,” Jacobs had said in a telephone conversation with Associated Press. “We want to see (Sheriff) Hubert Stone out.”

Stone, reached at his home, said he had not been to the hostage scene and refused to comment on the situation.

Jacobs had told WFNC radio in Fayetteville that he and his companion were armed with pistols, shotguns and hand grenades. Jacobs said the hostages were “quite comfortable. They’re all sitting in chairs. We haven’t tied anybody up.”

The Rev. Joy Johnson, who had aided in negotiations with the hostages, said he had worked with Hatcher on Concerned Citizens for Better Government. The group was formed after the shooting of an unarmed Lumbee Indian by Stone’s son, Deputy Sheriff Kevin Stone, during a narcotics investigation. Kevin Stone was cleared of wrongdoing by a coroner’s inquest.