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KEVIN MCKIERNAN: When the novitiate was finally surrendered about 11:00 PM last night, 39 persons were placed under arrest by the Shawano County Sheriff's Department. The rest of the Indians had escaped, presumably through the thick-wooded area surrounding what is now the former Alexian estate. Only 30 of the 39 arrested were above 18 years of age. Of the 30, 15 were female.

But to be in Shawano at the jailhouse, one would think the entire Algonquin Nation had finally been corralled. Four dozen state and local squad cars were in evidence when the first of two yellow school buses arrived. In front of the jail building, 100 to 150 Indian supporters chanted and beat war songs on a large Menominee drum.

Reporter teams on foot using walkie-talkies and others with two-way car radios signaled each other from National Guard checkpoints, and then scurried through snow around the jail as the first bus drove up. A helicopter passed overhead. A Black man with a blue and white flag of the United Nations draped from his shoulders walked in the direction of the running crowd of spectators.

Policemen drilled glaring spotlights into the eyes of supporters who huddled behind a snow fence, one which has ringed this jail since a few days after the New Year's day takeover of the novitiate. Several squad cars moved aside to let the bus pull behind the jail, then close ranks against the press of family and friends of the prisoners.

The entire jail had been emptied earlier in the day, and the routine prisoners moved to another county to make way for what was expected to be a far greater catch than this. The bus pulled across the back parking lot to the first floor doorway, where windows had been taped in the jail with newspaper to prevent onlookers from seeing inside. In fact, it was difficult to see very much at all.

Each Indian had been handcuffed to a state trooper 10 miles away at the abbey, but the cuffs apparently were undone inside the school bus at the back door of the jail, as Indians then filed out and into the building through a short line of other troopers. Soon, from inside the building, came the yelling and familiar Indian chants. Hoops and cage rattling inside were greeted on the outside by drums and chants from the supporters.

And then actor Marlon Brando and civil rights activist Father James Groppi appeared. They had been in the abbey, but had not been arrested. Photographers and reporters clamored around the two men. A police car pushed the crowd back. Out in the street, away from the parking lot, the two men, looking haggard and drawn from their four days in the novitiate, held an involuntary press conference under a half dozen portable TV lights.

JAMES GROPPI: I would think it's just settlement. I don't know exactly what the settlement is. The deed has not yet been turned over to my knowledge. The conditions for the deed, I think, have been met. But until the deed is turned over, it is not. I would consider just a full settlement, and I don't think one that-- would be one that one could consider complete.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: you feel the National Guard handled the situation properly?

JAMES GROPPI: I would think that they were exemplary in the manner in which they conducted themselves. I think Colonel Simpson and his assistants have done their utmost to make all sides as comfortable as possible in a very distressing situation.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: Well, is there a consensus of the Indians inside about the agreement and about the manner of the occupation over so many days?

JAMES GROPPI: Well, the feeling was one of gladness and sadness because it's not pleasant when people have to go to jail. And in respect to going to jail, my view is that, of course, the United States has been at war with the Indians for 200 years. And its people think that those wars are over, and they are not. And eventually, the United States will have to deal with the issue.

And it can't be an issue that will be any longer swept under the rug. And it's something that I think that in all fairness, and justice, and decency, that we have to recognize an obligation to do. We have to make room for other cultures.

And I think we can't talk about self-determination and fight for it and send people to Vietnam and elsewhere, and have them die for self-determination for other people without considering self-determination for Indians. These people are prisoners of war.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: Marlon, do you think these people should be given amnesty and why do you think they should be given?

MARLON BRANDO: I think that they should be treated as prisoners of war. And that all Indians-- this is not really a question of Menominees. It's not a question of Sioux or Papago or Onondaga. It's a question of all Indians and Indigenous rights of people to maintain a life that is determined by their views and their values.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: Brando and Groppi were gone in a few minutes. The actor had to be in Los Angeles, he said, in the morning to begin raising bail bonds. The priest left for his home in Milwaukee to change clothes, clean up, and then to return later in the day.

The press was not permitted into the jail, and no statements were issued about the number of those arrested or on what charges until just after 4 o'clock this morning. At that time, Shawano County District Attorney Richard Stadelman consented to a short interview.

How many people were-- how many people are you going to arraign tomorrow-- this morning?

RICHARD STADELMAN: OK. Of the 39 persons that were arrested, I believe there's 15 adult males and 15 adult females. I mean, that there will be nine juveniles who will not be. The remaining people will be in court sometime today.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: What will they be charged with?

RICHARD STADELMAN: It indicates in this release that we have arrested them for charges of criminal trespass to a dwelling as parties to a crime and disorderly conduct as opposed to a crime, which is contrary to Wisconsin statutes. Some of the individuals will also be charged with felony charges. Information in that regard will be available at the time of appearance in court.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: Are you talking about people in leadership positions?

RICHARD STADELMAN: I don't think I have anything to say about that at.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: Can you respond to the allegation that lawyers have not been able to visit their clients?

RICHARD STADELMAN: An attorney, which was requested by several individuals, was admitted to jail shortly after completion of the booking in procedures, which is early this morning-- in early morning hours. And they have been-- he has seen a number of individuals already and also persons which have been arrested have been allowed to make telephone calls. This was all done after the booking and procedures were completed.

KEVIN MCKIERNAN: It will probably be late in the day before all the arrested members of the Menominee warrior society will have been arraigned. And it may be one or two more days before newsmen get a chance to walk through the relinquished novitiate. National Guard roadblocks are still in position. Demolition experts, according to authorities, are now sweeping the religious estate for booby traps. Near Gresham, Wisconsin, this is Kevin McKiernan.