Public Enemy No. 1 – Part I

On August 15, 1949, readers of The Courier-Journal awoke to the dramatic headline “Speeder Kills Policeman, Wounds Another.”   The story related how, at about 9:15 the evening before, Louisville Police Officers John Tennyson and John Ross radioed that they were on East Chestnut Street, trying to stop a late model Packard with Kenton County license plates.  The two officers had spotted the vehicle driving northbound on First Street, which was for southbound traffic only.  Later, Officer Ross stated that when he got a good look at the driver, as they’d pull alongside to talk to someone they thought was simply a confused driver, he recognized the individual from wanted posters at the station, but wasn’t sure of the subject’s name.  He told the driver that he was under arrest and the chase was on.  At about First and Gray Streets,  Ross fired once at the vehicle.  At some point, clearly, they reversed direction, presumably by turning east on one of the cross streets, as next, the officers reported to dispatch that they’d turned south on Preston Street.   Ross fired again while they were travelling on Preston Street, south of Oak Street.  Moments later,  they reported they were at Preston and Woodbine Streets.   The dispatcher sent several other officers that way to assist.   The chase ended when the speeding vehicle failed to make a turn onto Thruston Avenue, in Parkway Village south of Eastern Parkway and hit a tree or pole in the side yard of 2578 East Burnett Avenue.

Officer John Tennyson

Officer John Ross

Ross later reported that he and Tennyson had gotten out of their vehicle and that he’d fired a shot into the air.   The driver fled between houses, and the two officers, now on foot, had separated, with Tennyson coming in through the front and Ross going around to the other side, heading toward the back, at 2580 East Burnett Avenue.  Tennyson encountered Burcham first, and from a range of less than six inches, Burcham shot him twice in the chest.   According to witnesses, Tennyson screamed “God help me!  I’m shot” – and died immediately.  Ross encountered him moments later but did not know Tennyson had been shot.   At that time, Ross thought that he had only one bullet left in his revolver.  Bircham started toward Ross with his hands up, stating he was giving up, but when he was less than ten feet away, he pointed a weapon that had been concealed in one of his raised hands.   He shot Ross twice, with both bullets passing through Ross’s left arm and entering his abdomen.   Ross tried to fire back but the gun only clicked.  Bircham “fled westward into the night.”   Ross threw his weapon after the man, but then retrieved it and tried to reload.  “He called to Tennyson for help that would never come.”   Fearing Bircham would return, he struggled to climb a fence and get back to his cruiser, where he collapsed.

Moments later, the police department received a telephone call that an officer had been shot, followed by a call from a civilian who had used to radio in the empty police car to report that both officers were shot.   The owner of the corner house, where the chase had ended with a crash, W.J. Burnside, later stated that the officers were calling to the man to stop.  Ross had fired six times, emptying his weapon, and Tennyson three.   The two officers had just encountered the FBI’s current Public Enemy #1, David Earl Bircham.

A woman in the car, who turned out to be the driver’s wife, June Bircham, had stayed in the vehicle the entire time, screaming.  The homeowner, Burnside, took charge of her temporarily.   Within minutes a huge crowd, estimated of over 500 had gathered at the scene, complicating the investigation and the search for the driver.

In the meantime, Bircham had fled several blocks west.  Luther Williams and his wife, Kathleen, were preparing to go to bed at their home at 2623 Delor Avenue when they heard what they thought to be firecrackers several blocks away.  When a neighbor’s dog began to bark, Williams, barefooted, thought he should investigate and walked outside.  He had just walked down the steps into his yard when a man jumped over the fence.  Holding a .38 pistol in each hand, the man demanded the keys to Williams’ car.  He then fired at Williams, but both pistols failed to discharge.  Kathleen slammed the back door shut.

Bircham screamed at Williams to tell her to open the door and again tried to fire the pistols, with no success.  He held the guns to Williams’ back and forced him up the steps to the door, which was now ajar.  (Williams had convinced Kathleen to open the door.)  When they reached the top, however, Williams “whirled around, grabbed the guns, and fell down the steps.”  The two men wrestled over the guns and Williams finally got them away from his assailant.  Williams choked Bircham until he stopped struggling and gave up.  Kathleen Williams had already called the police and Williams called for help from his neighbors.  When officers arrived, some 20 minutes later, she told them that her husband had captured the man who’d shot the officer – by that time, they’d learned of the shooting a few blocks away.  Williams, a former U.S. Marine, later said it was the first time he’d had a gun pointed at him.   Their 19-month-old son, also named Luther, slept through it all. Upon examination, it was discovered one of the revolvers was empty but that the other one had a live round that would have fired on the next pull.

HERO who captured Earl Bircham is Luther Williams, shown here with his wife, Kathleen, and their 19-month-old son, Luther, at their home, 2623 Delor.

HERO who captured Earl Bircham is Luther WIlliams, shown here with his wife, Kathleen, and their 19-month-old son, Luther, at their home, 2623 Delor.

When searched, some $6,850 was found in the car and $7,521 was found on Mrs. Bircham.  Two more revolvers and an automatic weapon were also in the car.  After a short period of questioning, Maj. Charles Doyle, at the behest of Colonel Carl Heustis, the Louisville Chief of Police, took Bircham to the General Hospital to be viewed by Ross.   Ross immediately identified him, but did believe at the time he’d actually shot him.   Neither of the Birchams gave any additional information that night, other than Bircham stating he’d been chased for a minor offense and wrecked the car.

Agent Fred Hallford, the FBI Special Agent in Charge, later noted that the driver, Earl Bircham, was an FBI most wanted and the “top public  enemy.”  He had escaped from custody several times, most recently from the state prison in Kansas.     His wife, June, was noted to also carry a small pistol, and had left Alabama to meet her husband after his escape.    Bircham was wanted for the escape and for several bank robberies, as well as other “smaller jobs” in the Nashville, Tennessee area.   He was wanted in Louisville, as well, for the robbery and shooting of a city alderman, when he stole the payroll of a local business.    At the time of his death, Officer John Tennyson had been on the force for several years, having had a break in service due to his enlistment in the U.S. Army.  Ross had only been on the force since October, 1948, however.  The two officers were only riding together, that day, because bad weather had taken them off their motorcycles, which they normally rode doing traffic duty.

Next – Public Enemy No. 1 – Part 2

All photos from The Courier Journal, with the exception of the FBI wanted poster.