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90canoes and clashesWolf accused the state of giving Washington a bad name and hungnews clippings of the skirmish on his office walls. Wolf said he wasassured that fishermen would be observed only and arrested later toavoid the very outcome that occurred.Jim Siburg witnessed the incident with his wife and children: “Thething that upset me so about it was the way the state people came inthere and the guys were around with billy clubs and they would gangup on these poor little Indians. The guy they hustled off first couldn’thave weighed more than 125 pounds. They must have had four orfive guys. The guy hustling him to the car had a sap hanging out ofhis pocket. The state people should have maintained a cooleratmosphere.“I saw one of the state people pick up a little girl, who couldn’t havebeen more than ten years old, by the hair. She had probably beenthrowing rocks at him.”The observations, though conflicting, were starting to sway publicopinion toward the Indians. “We have received letters of support anddonations from all over the world,” Janet McCloud told Hannula.“Regarding the state’s treatment of Indians . . . I think it was intentionallyvicious and racist, probably from the time Washington becamea state,” says Susan Hvalsoe Komori, a former attorney for theNisqually Tribe. “The Game Department really wanted to eradicateIndians in the years I lived out there. They regarded the fishery resourceas their own—especially steelhead.”J. Johnson, publisher and editor of the Auburn Citizen, boarded aplane for Washington, D.C., and warned the Interior Department:“If something isn’t done somebody is going to get killed.” Johnsonwas taken seriously but turned away and told, “Only the state hadauthority.”The state’s new chief executive, Dan Evans, had taken the helmthat January. “Your first impression of this is we’ve got to stop theviolence. We’ve got to stop this kind of unlawful behavior. It was the