David Robinson had discovered the potential of the massive murre bird colonies on the Farralon Islands, twenty miles out from San Francisco Harbor, as a food supply for the California Gold Rush and his Pacific Egg Company claimed control of the stocks. A group of rival egg gatherers, led by a man named David Batchelder, attempted to encroach and shots were exchanged with Robinson's workers and a man on each side were killed. For his part in the "Egg War," Batchelder was later tried but acquited. (By John Osborne)