Public Enemy No. 1 – Part II

Bircham was charged with murder in the Louisville Police Court the next day. On August 18, a newspaper editorial noted that although Bircham was apparently somewhat injured in the debacle, his eye having been “split open” – and that police brutality was reprehensible – that there was little concern about how he’d gotten the injury under the circumstances.

The editorial also mentioned about the $15,000 in insurance Tennyson’s family would receive and dwelled on the fact that there seemed to be some question as to who would pay for Ross’s extensive medical care.  Apparently Chief Heustis had put up some money personally for it and Mayor Charles Farnsley had promised the rest would come from the city’s contingent fund.  Although apparently some legal question had been raised about it, the writer noted there was no moral question, as the city should pay for Ross’s care.  (At the time, there was no concept of worker’s compensation.)

Accompanied by Major Charles Doyle, night police chief (the tall bareheaded man) and three unidentified policemen, Earl Bircham, held in shooting of two policemen, goes to jail

June Bircham later took officers to a location near West Point, where another $7,516 was hidden in a hole.  Estimates were, however, that in the months prior to the arrest, the pair had netted some $65,000 in cash in the series of burglaries and there was great interest in where the rest of the cash could be.

Within days, Bircham’s defense attorney, Robert Zollinger, emphasized his claim that Louisville police had beaten Bircham mercilessly while his feet were tied, a charge the chief vehemently denied.  Zollinger also indicated that it wasn’t a clear cut case of murder, as had been charged, and that his client had a valid defense. In the meantime, an associate of the pair was arrested and held in Gallatin, Tennessee, for involvement in the robberies.  June Bircham was also providing information that implicated both men in the robberies.   She would later be released on probation for her assistance, and eventually divorced Bircham and moved to Detroit.

In an odd twist, a drunken driving case in which Tennyson was the arresting officer and witness was filed away on August 20, because Tennyson was not available.

On August 22, after being hustled through Police Court and then up and down several times in the County Courthouse, Bircham entered a not guilty plea.  It turned out that the case had to be transferred to Judge Franklin Fitch, in the County Court, because the shooting had occurred outside the Louisville city limits, but instead in the corporate limits of Parkway Village, a sixth-class city in Jefferson County.   At some point, since Bircham was still dressed in his bloody tee shirt he was wearing when he was arrested, a clean sport shirt had been found for him by the jail.    Bircham was bound over for the grand jury, still claiming self-defense, even displaying a nick in his ear he stated was caused by one of the officers shooting at him.

NOT Guilty to murder is the plea being entered here by attorney Robert Zollinger, resting arm on judge’s bench, for his client, Earl Bircham, in white T-shirt.  In background, from left, are Detectives Allen Brennan and George Tunstall, Safety Director David A. McCandless, Jr., and Lt. Ellis Joseph.

On September 1, an additional charge of assault and attempt to rob was placed against him, with Williams being the victim in that matter.   His attorney argued strenuously for a change of venue, arguing that the local newspapers had “persistently placed in prominent positions stories that have inflamed public sentiment against” Bircham.To avoid any legal loopholes, and due to a possible concern with the indictment handed down by August Grand Jury, the case was resubmitted to the September Grand Jury.  The initial indictment had been handed down by a specially-convened grand jury, which presented, at the least, a concern that it had been done improperly.  Bircham was duly re-indicted.  Zollinger continued to argue for a change of venue, noting that although he had a number of credible witnesses who’d indicated they doubted it would be possible to get a fair trial, they did not want to testify in fear of retaliation by the police. Bircham’s trial, originally scheduled for September 29, was moved to October 11 because of the re-indictment.

The Jefferson County Jailer had been warned of possible plots to free Bircham from the jail.  Sure enough, on October 8, Bircham managed to saw through two of the bars on his cell and tried to bluff jail guard John Clifford at the cell block gate using two guns he’d carved out of soap.    Clifford cautiously backed into a room where there was more light, followed by Bircham demanding the keys, and realized the guns were fake.  He called for help and struggled with Bircham to prevent him from seizing the keys. Two other guards ran to assist in subduing Bircham, but Clifford had already overpowered him by that time.   Bircham was scuffed up in the fight, in which the guards had used blackjacks to regain custody.

SQUEEZING THROUGH the hole Earl Bircham used in his would-be getaway is Logan Shaw, Courier-Journal reporter.  Bircham sawed three-quarter-inch bars in his first-floor cell to get into the corridor.  Jail Guard John Clifford, who balked the escape, holds the soap guns Bircham wielded.  The guns were broken when the two men scuffled.

Just as late Public Enemy No. 1 John Dillinger did, the present holder of the title, Earl Bircham, fashioned phony guns of soap for an attempted jail break here yesterday.  Besides blackened soap, the only materials were matchsticks to hold barrels in place, coins for ornaments, and metal strips for trigger guards.  Bircham used the hacksaw blades to cut his way from cell.

The soap guns were described as meticulously whittled to appear to be 45 caliber revolvers and had been blackeened with some substance, perhaps dirt or grease from his .  The soap was presumably accumulated from what he’d been provided for washing in his cell.  The jail was unable to explain how he’d gotten two 10 inch hacksaw blades.  Although Bircham had been under almost constant supervision at the jail, it was presumed he did the sawing when there was a great deal of noise in the jail.  In fact, the noise had been so bad of late that it was speculated that the prisoners knew Bircham was engineering an escape.   His cell was only a few feet from the turnkey’s desk and was on the first floor of the Sixth Street side of the jail.  To have been successful in an escape, he would have had to have gotten out of the cell block gate (which is where he encountered Clifford) and another, normally-locked, gate.   That second gate was open at the time to allow a sweeper to pass through.   Clifford, who had a heart condition, was given the rest of the day off to recuperate.

Bircham was held in handcuffs and in solitary confinement in the jail basement in a cell with an armor-plated door.  He was under constant guard.  Chief Deputy Jailer Underwood noted he would be placed on a bread and water diet, as well, but that his health would not be endangered.  Bircham was later heard to say that he “had to try.”

The Sixth Street side of the Jefferson County Jail, where Bircham was held awaiting trial.

Next – Public Enemy No. 1 – Part 3

All photos from The Courier Journal, with the exception of the last, from Wikipedia.