The case has revived old family and tribal rivalries in this tiny village on Prince of Wales Island.

The authority of Mr. James, who intervened in the case at the behest of the youths' parents, to convene the intertribal court has been disputed. Others have questioned his honor, noting that $60,000 in court judgments are outstanding against him.

But the Mr. Whittlesey's family has supported Mr. James and the referral of the case to Klawock. Don Whittlesey, the uncle of the deliveryman, said it was enough that the Washington judge was convinced of the tribal court's legitimacy. "It's not an off-the-wall scenario," he said.

The eldest elder, 92-year-old George Jim of Angoon, urged the Indians in Tlingit to preserve their culture and legal traditions.

"He says that for too long now, white people have trampled down on our words, our culture, our tradition," Richard Dalton Sr. translated earlier today. "We must reactivate the Tlingit tribal courts, the tradition and culture. We must move together forward as brothers and sisters."

The youths testified that they were drunk on rum the night of the attack. One said they had listened to another boy who bragged that he had robbed pizza deliverymen "to make quick cash."

They admitted ordering a pizza from a phone booth and giving a false address, then ambushing the deliveryman as he returned to his car. Simon Roberts said he struck Tim Whittlesey two or three times in the head with a baseball bat.