In 2000 Jim Dennis sent me a story titled, "The Bikers" detailing the events of the August 22, 1976 gun battle between the motorcycle club The Brothers and Alaska Railroad employees in the bar at the Healy Hotel. Soon thereafter I received an email from Alaska Railroad locomotive engineer Frank Dewey stating he would provided me with a more accurate and even more bizarre story soon. Although Frank never did come through with his promise it did touched off in me a burning desire to discover the actual events.

I spoke with employees as well as other sources over the years and gleaned more bits and pieces as well as additional "urban legend facts." The Alaska Railroad shooter was Don Hatmaker and he had wounded two of The Brothers motorcyclists. It was claimed over 150 bullet holes were made in the bar room! I also discovered the Healy Hotel had been moved to Mile 249 on the Parks Highway and was now called The Stampede. It was claimed some of the bullet holes were still visible.

Then in July 2009 I was contacted via email by an anonymous source who agreed to share details of the shooting as well as the events which lead up to it. The source acknowledged he still had a "concern over the remnants of the motorcycle gang" after all these years and would write everything from a third person viewpoint. He agreed to send me the story in four installments via separate emails. We'll he sent the first two installments, but chose to go no further.

I continued to question veteran Alaska Railroad employees and finally hit pay dirt in 2012. Friend and ARR employee Curt Rudd said, "Why don't you talk to biker Gerald Protzman (Peewee) yourself? He lives here in Anchorage." Oh my gosh! Curt didn't have his phone number, but once I got back home I was able to eventually track it down. I called Gerald and he agreed to an interview at his home during my 2014 Alaska Railroad trip.

My wife Terry and I interviewed Gerald on June 19, 2014. Gerald hit me as just a regular guy. If I bumped into him on the street I wouldn't have had a clue he was a member of "The Brothers" motorcycle gang. The interview went well and I told Gerald I would send him a written transcript for his approval. It wasn't until the later half of 2015 that I finally mailed the transcript to Gerald. He called me about a month later giving me his approval.

Gerald's interview got me pretty excited and when I returned home began exploring other options. I found an excellent Fairbanks Daily News-Miner article online and began working toward obtaining permission to reprint it on my website. On June 9, 2015 I contacted both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Alaska State Troopers asking for assistance in my search. The FBI didn't return my request, but the Alaska State Troopers did! "There was a court case involving Don Carlos Hatmaker who was charged with assault with a deadly weapon. The case is 4FA-76-180. You might be able to contact the Court System to see if there are court records, probably also on microfiche, regarding the case. Otherwise, you’ll need to file a request for public information for the case file."

On December 27, 2015 I finally got around to sending the Request for Public Information to the Department of Public Safety in Juneau. About an hour later I got a call from retired Alaska State Trooper Brad Brown, the officer who responded to the shooting. He relayed the events as if it had happened only yesterday. "It was classic O.K. corral. There were 186 bullet holes." Brad agreed to write up his story for me and I realized my 16 year pursuit had finally come to an exciting climax.

June 19, 2014 Interview with Gerald "Peewee" Protzman

Gerald met us at the door and lead us into his basement. Gerald hit me as just a regular guy. If I bumped into him on the street I wouldn't have had a clue he was a member of "The Brothers" motorcycle gang.

Gerald mentioned his father worked as a dock superintendant in Whittier and remembers growing up taking the train in and out of town.

In the late summer of 1976 the bikers were headed north to Fairbanks. They also had with them a blue and white bus with "Church of the Nazarene" painted on the side. They had planned to stay in Cantwell, but no rooms were available. When they got to Healy and checked at the hotel they discovered no rooms were available as well. Gerald decided to sleep in the bus. Sometime later someone came banging on the door of the bus. He was told fellow biker "Robot" had gotten shot in the stomach by an Alaska Railroad employee. Gerald immediately got out of the bus with his gun and entered the Healy Hotel bar. He said his body was slammed backward and he fell to the floor. He didn't know it at first, but he had just gotten shot in the arm with a .44 caliber gun. Gerald said he could see a guy was shooting from under the pool table. Gerald, Robot and two girls took off in a pick-up truck and sought treatment at the medic building. They were turned away. So they headed south and got a cabin. Eventually an ambulance came and took them both to a hospital in Fairbanks. Gerald went into surgery. Both he and "Robot" were released two or three days later.

Gerald said the shooting went on for about an hour after he left and eventually the Alaska State Troopers responded. I asked Gerald if he knew the name of the man who had shot "Robot" and initially it wouldn't come to him. When I said the name, "Hatmaker" Gerald lit up and said that was the name. I asked Gerald what had caused the gunfire in the first place, but he said he didn't know.

Gerald said he and Hatmaker (who shot "Robot") were both arrested for assault. An indictment came out of Fairbanks, but Gerald had already returned to California. He was pulled over by the police for something else and discovered the indictment. Gerald got an attorney, all charges were dropped and Alaska waived extradition. Gerald mentioned that Alaska Railroad workers were federal employees, the Healy Hotel was a federal building and that liquor was being served without a license.

Bikers Mike, Charlie and Tom were at the shooting. They are all still living and in the group.

As a final note Gerald said in 1982 the club became Hell's Angels. Before we left he pointed out a painting that an inmate at McNeil Island Penitentiary had done for him.