About 12 hours before he found himself cornered in a Concord, N.H., Holiday Inn, Andrew Hampton McCrae introduced himself to the world with a dense and lengthy Internet manifesto.

''Hello Everyone, my name's Andy,'' the online posting from the 23-year-old began. ''I killed a Police Officer in Red Bluff, California in a motion to bring attention to, and halt, the police-state tactics that have come to be used throughout our country. Now I'm coming forward, to explain that this killing was also an action against corporate irresponsibility.''

The screed went on to expound on Hitler, Peter Pan, the Roman Empire, and the Boston Tea Party, as they all relate to what McCrae called America's corporate greed and destructive world power. His only refuge was New Hampshire, whose constitution, McCrae soon learned, guaranteed ''a right to revolution.'' There, he reasoned, he would establish Proud and Insolent Youth Incorporated, a company to shield him as corporations the world over, he said, are shielded from responsibility.

But by yesterday morning, a cordon of federal SWAT-team agents and Concord police officers brought a decisive end to McCrae's crusade. As residents in Red Bluff woke to a day of mourning for their first officer ever killed in the line of duty, McCrae surrendered to authorities in New Hampshire's capital, preparing to face a murder charge and likely extradition.

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In his manifesto, McCrae railed against the Bush administration, US corporations, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, accusing them of a worldwide conspiracy designed to oppress the poor and consolidate global power.

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indymedia coverage

Neil Wright, 50, said he had received an e-mail from "Mitch Stephens" at americanresistance@yahoo.com at about 6 p.m. Friday on his home computer in Lake Havasu City and called police an hour later.

"We apologize to the family and friends of the Police Officer that we killed in Red Bluff, California," stated the e-mail, posted from the Capitol Hill Internet Cafe in Seattle.

The e-mail included a "Declaration of a Renewed American Independence" that is the same as an anti-government diatribe posted Monday under the name Andrew McCrae, who is charged with the ambush murder of Officer David Mobilio on Nov. 19.

More than 20 versions of the declaration -- some with an apology, some with a bragging confession -- were posted on a series left-wing "alternative news" sites from Hawaii to Maine and Georgia under the umbrella indymedia.org.

An investigator in the case, who asked not to be named, confirmed late Wednesday that Wright's tip on Friday night had started police and FBI agents on the trail of the man later identified as McCrae. The investigator also confirmed that FBI agents on Saturday had downloaded the hard drives from the Seattle cafe based on Wright's tip.

"Mr. Wright was very helpful to us in the case," the investigator said. "If you want to measure his assistance, just look at the result. We arrested that same guy."

Wright, a right-wing activist who writes for the conservative Web site freerepublic.com, said he had no idea what crime the sender was referring to when he received the message -- but felt compelled to check it out.

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