Late in the evening of July 28 1935, two men committed a robbery south of the city of Dunsmuir. Within an hour Dunsmuir Police Chief Frank Ruben “Jack” Daw along with California Highway Patrol Officer “Doc” Malone located two men matching the description of the robbery suspects. As the officers attempted to contact them the suspects opened fire. Both Chief Daw and Officer Malone were wounded. Officer Malone would recover from his wounds. Chief Daw would succumb to his wounds in the early morning hours of July 29, 1935. One of the shooting suspects, Clyde L. Johnson was captured and taken to the County Jail in Yreka. On August 3rd 1935 Johnson was broken out of jail, taken 3 miles south of Yreka and lynched. The second suspect, Robert Miller Barr was taken into custody in August 1936 in southern California. He pled guilty to the murder and received a life sentence.