The entire camp is shocked by the shooting death of a deputy U. S. Marshal and the wounding of two other members of a posse during a gun battle last week on Admiralty Island. “Slim” Birch is now in the jail here awaiting arraignment on a murder charge. The three Birch brothers-William, known as Slim; Robert, and Joseph, known as “The Kid”-came north early last year and worked during the summer in mines in Silver Bow Basin. In the fall they went to Douglas and opened a saloon and were in trouble with the law on several occasions. Last October 20 there was a fight in which all three brothers participated and during which Hank Osborne lost part of his nose. The three were tried on a charge of mayhem. Slim was convicted of assault and sentenced to six months in jail at Sitka, and The Kid was acquitted. Slim was to have been taken south on a steamer that left here on Sunday, January 10, but the previous evening a gang of masked men held up the guard at the federal jail and released Slim. The entire group escaped by boat and it was only a few days ago that Slim and one or two other men were located in a cabin on Bear Creek, Admiralty Island. When a posse approached the cabin, it was met by gunfire, Deputy Marshal William C. Watts fell with a badly shattered leg and subsequently bled to death before he could be gotten to a doctor. Deputy Marshal Hale and A. J. Bays, a jail guard, were both wounded but will recover. Another posse captured Birch and Hiram Shell near Funter Bay on the west side of the island. They were taken without further shooting. News of the Gold Camp, Digital Bob Archive
1915 Perseverance Mine Camp, Juneau, AK (JDCM.98.040)