2 ‘Freemen’ Leave Ranch and Surrender

Two of the “freemen” who have been surrounded on a Montana ranch by federal agents for nearly three weeks surrendered Thursday--talked out by relatives who persuaded them to leave peacefully.

The two, Agnes B. Stanton, 51, and her son Ebert W. Stanton, 23, drove out of the freemen compound in a pickup truck and surrendered. They were taken away in handcuffs and are expected to be arraigned this morning in Billings, Mont., on federal charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and mail fraud in connection with the writing of at least $19.5 million in bogus checks and money orders between August 1994 and December 1995.

Ebert Stanton is also charged with armed robbery for taking $66,000 in equipment from an ABC television crew in October 1995. He also was charged with threatening public officials.

The surrenders came as area residents began to increasingly voice frustration with the slow pace of the standoff between the freemen and federal agents here.

The freemen are a group made up primarily of ranchers in eastern Montana who have declared independence from the state and federal governments. Authorities have accused them of a variety of crimes, particularly a check-fraud scheme, and of a history of threatening violence against judges, prosecutors or others who stood in their way.

The arrests indicate that the FBI’s strategy of patiently waiting for the freemen to give up may be bearing fruit. Federal officials adopted the new tactics after the disastrous end of the face-off with the Branch Davidian cult members near Waco, Texas, three years ago.

On the other hand, the surrenders are not likely to entirely quiet local concerns. Neither of the Stantons was considered by local officials to be among the leaders of the freemen group and others still on the ranch, which the freemen call Justus Township, face more serious charges, including threats to kidnap and murder a federal judge.

About 10 fugitives and another 10 to 15 relatives, friends and supporters are believed to be still on the ranch.

The standoff began March 25 after the FBI arrested two freemen leaders who had left the 960-acre wheat farm. The Stantons are the fourth and fifth people to leave the ranch since then.

Last Friday, Ebert Stanton’s wife, Val, who is not charged with any crimes, and their 5-year-old daughter, Mariah, left the ranch, and relatives had been urging the remaining Stantons to leave as well. The family lives on a ranch a few miles west of the freemen compound.

Agnes Stanton’s husband, Bill, is already in prison, serving a 10-year sentence on a February 1995 conviction on charges of criminal syndicalism and passing a bad check.

Family members were “brimming with tears of joy” over the surrenders, said the Rev. Helen Young, a family friend. “They are relieved that this part of their ordeal is over,” Young said.

But while relatives of the Stantons are relieved, many others in this town and the surrounding ranch country remain uneasy with the continued standoff.

Gladys Stanton, for example, who used to be justice of the peace here and who, like most of this small town’s population, is related to some of the freemen, was elated when the FBI arrived in town. The federal agents seemed to be saviors who would bring a speedy end to the freemen’s intimidation and threats that seemed to be on the verge of erupting into violence.

Instead, Gladys Stanton and other townsfolk have watched the freemen on television news programs riding horses, sunbathing, receiving visitors, even dancing jigs on the 960-acre spread 36 miles northwest of here.

“A pimple on your face will go away if you ignore it,” said Stanton, 60, who manages the local senior citizen center. “But this freemen deal won’t go away without a little arm-twisting.”

Garfield County Atty. Nick Murnion, says he, too, is discouraged by what he calls the “kinder, gentler FBI approach” to the freemen.

“The only way negotiating works is if you apply pressure from a position of strength, and they are not doing that,” he said.

There is more at stake than the embarrassment of having federal fugitives relaxing under the eyes of FBI agents. So far, the strategy has cost the state $251,688. Federal authorities refuse to discuss the cost of their daily surveillance of the farm, although local elected officials say it is running about $300,000 per day.

The people of Jordan, the remote county seat for Garfield County and its population of 1,500 ranchers and farmers, are understandably anxious for a quick solution.

For three years the freemen plagued the community with specious liens filed on the property of neighbors, and by threatening the lives of local officials with impunity.

For the last three weeks, they have felt held hostage by the law enforcement effort, at least as much as the freemen who are allowed to roam miles of farm grounds on horseback, bicycles and pickup trucks, and compose and disseminate vitriolic announcements that they have stopped talking to the FBI and seceded from the United States.

In the meantime, as FBI agents keep tabs on the freemen, sympathizers from out of state have set up base camps at nearby ranches and farms, and at least one has threatened to kill federal agents if the standoff turns to bloodshed.

Fearing the worst, few people here let their children walk to school alone. Some are locking their doors at night for the first time. Everyone watches passing vehicles to see if they contain unfamiliar faces.

“Why is the FBI being so soft on them?” asked Marian Merlak, who works at The New “U” hair salon. “They’ve got to do something--they can’t just watch the freemen forever. Can they?”

“We wanted them to come in, take over and get it over with,” she added. “Instead of watching them dance jigs at the farm they should fire around their feet and make them dance a little higher. That’s the way they did it in the old days.”

At the very least, Murnion said, the FBI should tighten the perimeter around the ranch, cut off its utilities and cease visits by friends and relatives.

“The FBI is here and they’ll be here until this is over--that’s the good news,” Murnion said. “And, yes, we all have to guard against being too impatient. But, hey, after three years it mounts up. With every day that passes, it gets to be a bigger black eye for all of us.”

Even Young, who has pleaded for peace since the standoff began on March 25 with the arrest of two freemen leaders, agreed--to a point.

“It may be true that the FBI has allowed the freemen a little too much freedom,” she said. “But I’m willing to wait them out because this is bigger than Garfield County. If we set these people up as martyrs, other groups may become more aggressive.”

Seated at her kitchen table and clutching a glass candle holder shaped like a crucifix, she added: “Negotiations are going to be tough. But progress can be made without bloodshed.”

Gladys Stanton said that “nobody here wants to see the FBI storm the place. After all, there are women and children there.”

“It’s just that it’s dragging on and on and we want normal again,” she said. “We want that feeling back again of waking up in the morning and wondering whether the wind will stop blowing so you can go fishing.”