The Battle of Alcatraz, which lasted from May 2 to 4, 1946, was the result of an escape attempt at
Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary
United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island, also known simply as Alcatraz (, ''"the gannet"'') or The Rock was a maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, off the coast of San Francisco, California, United States, the site of a for ...
by armed convicts. Two
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...
officers—William A. Miller and Harold Stites—were killed (Miller by one of the inmates who attempted escape, Joseph Cretzer, and Stites by friendly fire) along with three of the perpetrators. Fourteen other officers and one uninvolved convict were also injured. Two of the perpetrators were executed in 1948 for their roles.
Alcatraz
Alcatraz was a maximum high-security federal prison located on Alcatraz Island in the
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
bay. It operated from 1934 to 1963 and had a reputation for being impossible to escape from. As a result, it housed some of the most notorious and high-profile prisoners, in particular ones who had a history of escape attempts.
Convicts
The escape attempt was planned by
Bernard Coy. Three other convicts were involved in the main plan,
Marvin Hubbard
''For the career criminal of the same name, see Battle of Alcatraz''
Marvin Ronald Hubbard (May 7, 1946 – May 4, 2015) was a professional American football player. He played fullback for the American Football League's and later National Fo ...
,
Joseph Cretzer
Joseph Paul "Dutch" Cretzer (April 17, 1911 − May 4, 1946) was an American bank robber and prisoner at Alcatraz who participated in and was slain in the bloody "Battle of Alcatraz" which took place following a failed escape attempt between May ...
and
Clarence Carnes
Clarence Victor Carnes (January 14, 1927 – October 3, 1988), known as The Choctaw Kid, was a Choctaw man best known as the youngest inmate incarcerated at Alcatraz and for his participation in the bloody escape attempt known as the "Battle ...
.
Sam Shockley
Samuel Richard Shockley, Jr. (January 12, 1909 – December 3, 1948) was an inmate at Alcatraz prison, who was executed for his participation in the Alcatraz uprising or Battle of Alcatraz in 1946.
Background
Sam Shockley was born in Cerro ...
and
Miran Thompson
Miran Edgar Thompson (December 16, 1917 – December 3, 1948) was an inmate of Alcatraz whose participation in an attempted escape on May 2, 1946, led to his execution in the gas chamber of San Quentin. At the time of the Battle of Alcatraz, ...
joined the escapees after the attempt had begun. Coy was a
Depression-era
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The Financial contagion, ...
criminal who, in 1937, was sentenced to 25 years for bank robbery. He was moved to
Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary
United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island, also known simply as Alcatraz (, ''"the gannet"'') or The Rock was a maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, off the coast of San Francisco, California, United States, the site of a for ...
in 1938 from Atlanta and was soon given the job of cell-house orderly, which gave him a relative amount of freedom of movement around the main cellblock. Joe Cretzer was a
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to:
Geography Australia
* Western Australia
*Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia
* West Coast, Tasmania
**West Coast Range, mountain range in the region
Canada
* Britis ...
gangster and member of the
Cretzer-Kyle Gang. In 1940 he was sentenced to 25 years for murder. After two escape attempts in the first months of his incarceration, one of which resulted in another murder charge, he was transferred to Alcatraz. In May 1941, Cretzer, Shockley and two other convicts made an
escape attempt
''Escape Attempt'' (russian: Попытка к бегству, translit=''Popytka k begstvu'') is a 1962 science fiction novel by Soviet writers Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, set in the Noon Universe. The English translation was published in a sin ...
from a prison workshop. Carnes was the youngest prisoner to reside at Alcatraz, having been convicted of murder in 1943 at the age of 16. He made a number of escape attempts and by 1946, when he was transferred to Alcatraz, had accumulated both a life sentence and 99 years for kidnapping.
Planning
Through his role as a cell-house orderly, Coy noticed flaws in the prison's security, the gun-gallery at the west end of the cell-house was protected by bars, with no mesh or barriers. A
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...
officer in the gallery had set routines that allowed the convicts to predict when the main cellblock and the gallery would be unobserved.
Takeover
![Coy Hubbard Cretzer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Coy_Hubbard_Cretzer.jpg)
On May 2, 1946, while most convicts and corrections officers were in outside workshops, Coy was in the main cellhouse sweeping the floor around C Block when kitchen orderly Marvin Hubbard called on officer William Miller to let him in, as he had just finished cleaning the kitchen. As Miller was frisking Hubbard for any stolen articles, Coy attacked him from behind and they overpowered him. They released Joseph Cretzer and Clarence Carnes from their cells.
The cellhouse had an elevated gun gallery that was regularly patrolled by an armed officer. The officer, Burt Burch, had a routine and the convicts had attacked Miller while Burch was away. Coy, as a cellhouse orderly, had over the years spotted a flaw in the bars protecting the gun gallery. The space between could be widened by using a bar-spreading device, consisting of a nut and bolt with client metal sleeve that moved when the nut was turned by a small wrench. Coy spread the bars and squeezed through the widened gap (Coy starved himself in order to fit through the space between the widened bars, which was still relatively narrow) into the temporarily vacant gallery, where he overpowered and bound Burch on his return. Coy kept the
Springfield rifle
The term Springfield rifle may refer to any one of several types of small arms produced by the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts, for the United States armed forces.
In modern usage, the term "Springfield rifle" most commonly ref ...
in the gallery and lowered an
M1911 pistol
The M1911 (Colt 1911 or Colt Government) is a single-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. The pistol's formal U.S. military designation as of 1940 was ''Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911'' for th ...
, keys, a number of clubs and
gas grenade
A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...
s to his accomplices.
![Samshock](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Samshock.jpg)
Continuing along the gun gallery, Coy entered D Block, which was separated from the main cellhouse by a concrete wall and was used for prisoners kept in isolation. There, he used the rifle to force officer Cecil Corwin to open the door to the main cellhouse and let the others in. They released about a dozen convicts, including Sam Shockley and Miran Thompson. Shockley and Thompson joined Coy, Carnes, Hubbard, and Cretzer in the main cellhouse. The other prisoners returned to their cells. The gang put guards Miller and Corwin in a cell in C Block.
The escapees needed to secure the key to the yard door of the prison, from which they planned to make their way to the island's dock to seize the prison's
launch. The boat docked daily between 14:10 and 14:30. The plan was to use the hostage officers as cover as the prisoners made their way to the dock, then San Francisco and freedom.
Failed escape attempt
Miller had held on to the yard door key (against regulations), so that he could let out kitchen staff without having to disturb the gallery officer at lunch. Although the escapees eventually found the key by searching the captive officers and the cell in which the prisoners had placed them, the yard door would not open: its lock had jammed as the prisoners had tried several other keys while searching for the correct one. The escape attempt was thus inadvertently foiled from the outset, as the prisoners were trapped in the cellhouse.
Meanwhile, additional officers who entered the cellhouse as part of their routine were seized, along with others sent to investigate when the former officer failed to report in. The prisoners were soon holding nine officers in two separate cells, but with nowhere to go, they began to despair. Having failed on their initial plan, the prisoners decided to
[''Six Against the Rock'' by Clark Howard, published in 1978] shoot it out. At 14:35 Coy took the rifle and fired at the officers in some neighboring watchtowers, wounding one of them. Associate warden Ed Miller went to the cellhouse to investigate, armed with a gas billy club. He came across Coy, who shot at him. Miller retreated. By now, the alarm had been raised.
Their plan having failed, Shockley and Thompson urged Cretzer, who had one of the guns, to kill the hostages in case they testified against them. Cretzer opened fire on the officers, wounding five, three seriously, including Bill Miller, who later died of his wounds. Carnes, Shockley, and Thompson returned to their cells, but Coy, Hubbard, and Cretzer decided they were not going to surrender.
[''Alcatraz: The Gangster Years'' by David Ward, published in 2009] Meanwhile, one of the hostages wrote down the names of the convicts involved, circling the names of the ringleaders.
At about 18:00, a squad of armed officers entering the gun cage were shot at by the convicts. One officer, Harold Stites, was killed by friendly fire, and four other officers were wounded.
Prison officials cut the electricity and delayed further attempts to regain control of the cellhouse until darkness.
Warden
James A. Johnston asked for federal troops from nearby
Naval Station Treasure Island
Naval Station Treasure Island is a former United States Navy facility that operated on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay from 1942 to 1997.
History
During World War II, Treasure Island became part of the Treasure Island Naval Base, and serve ...
to help deal with the situation. Two platoons of
Marines
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
under the direction of Generals
"Vinegar" Joe Stilwell and
Frank Merrill
Frank Dow Merrill (December 4, 1903 – December 11, 1955) was a United States Army general and is best remembered for his command of Merrill's Marauders, officially the 5307th Composite Unit (provisional), in the Burma Campaign of World War II ...
were dispatched to the island to guard the general population of convicts and take the cellhouse from the outside.
After night fell, two squads of officers entered the prison to locate and rescue the captive officers. There was a long-standing rule at Alcatraz that no guns were allowed in the cellhouse, and the prison officials did not want more officers injured or killed. The convicts' position on the top of a cell block provided a nearly impregnable firing position, as they were out of range of the officers in the gun cages.
At 20:00, unarmed officers entered the cellhouse, covered by armed officers in the two gun galleries overhead. They found the hostages; however, one officer was wounded by a gunshot fired from the roof of one of the cell blocks. They locked the open door to D Block. When the last officer reached safety, the officers opened a massive barrage from
machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...
s,
mortars, and
grenade
A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...
s on the prisoners within D Block, where the prison authorities erroneously thought one of the armed convicts was holed up. They eventually figured out that the rebellious prisoners were confined to the main cellhouse and ceased their attack until further tactics were worked out.
![battle of alcatraz morgue](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Battle_of_alcatraz_morgue.jpg)
The Marines, led by
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
veteran, Warrant Officer Charles Lafayette Buckner IX, drove the armed convicts into a corner with tactics they had perfected against entrenched Japanese resistance during the
Pacific War
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...
. They drilled holes in the prison roof and dropped grenades into areas where they believed the convicts were located, to force them into a utility corridor where they could be cornered.
On May 3, at about 12:00, the convicts phoned Johnston to try to discuss a deal. Johnston would accept only their surrender. Cretzer replied that he'd never be taken alive. Later that day, a shot was fired at an officer as he checked out C Block's utility corridor.
That night, the Marines fired a constant
fusillade
A fusillade is the simultaneous and continuous firing of a group of firearms on command. It stems from the French word ''fusil'', meaning firearm, and ''fusiller'' meaning to shoot.
In the context of military tactics, the term is generally used t ...
at the cell block until about 21:00. The following morning, squads of armed officers periodically rushed into the cellhouse, firing repeatedly into the narrow corridor. At 09:40 on May 4, they finally entered the corridor and found the bodies of Cretzer, Coy, and Hubbard.
Aftermath
![Carnes shockley thompson](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Carnes_shockley_thompson.jpg)
Before the escape attempt, Hubbard had petitioned for a writ of
habeas corpus
''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...
on the grounds that his confession had been beaten out of him; he had produced hospital records to back up his claims. A federal hearing into the matter had been scheduled for the Monday after he died. The case was dismissed on a motion filed by prosecutor Joseph Karesh, who is quoted as saying that had it gone through, Hubbard would have had "a fair chance" of being released.
['' Escape from Alcatraz'' by J. Campbell Bruce, published in 1963]
Miran Thompson and Sam Shockley were executed simultaneously in the
gas chamber
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or other animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide.
Histor ...
at
San Quentin
San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County.
Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the o ...
on December 3, 1948, for their roles in the Battle of Alcatraz. Carnes was given an additional life sentence but was eventually released from
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...
in 1973. He breached his parole conditions, was sent back to prison and died there from complications due to
AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
in 1988. Increased security measures ensured that there were no more escape attempts until 1956.
Prison Guard Harold P. Stites was shot and killed (by friendly fire) during the rescue attempt while Prison Guard William A. Miller died of his injuries the following day in the cell. In addition to the deaths of those two, 14 other prison guards were wounded in the battle. Eight who were taken as a hostage and locked in the cell: Lieutenant Joseph H. Simpson, was shot twice in the stomach. Captain Henry H. Weinhold, was shot twice in the stomach and chest. Prison Guard Cecil D. Corwin, was shot through the face below his left eye. Prison Guard Robert R. Baker, was shot twice in the leg and arm. Prison Guard Carl "Sunny" Sundstrom, was shot twice in the stomach. Prison Guard Joseph Burdette, was wounded in the chest. Prison Guard Ernest B. Lageson, Sr. was shot in the face and leg. Prison Guard Robert E. Sutter, was shot in his nose. Six other guards were injured who were part of the rescue team: Prison Guard Fred J. Richberger, was wounded in the lower leg. Prison Guard Harry Cochrane, was wounded in his left arm. Prison Guard Herschel R. Oldham, was wounded in the left arm and leg. Prison Guard Elmus Besk, was wounded in the leg and face. Prison Guard Robert C. Bristow, was shot in the arm and leg. Prison Guard Fred S. Roberts, was wounded twice in the right shoulder and back.
Film depictions
Several versions of the events of the Battle of Alcatraz have been depicted on film:
* ''
Brute Force'' (1947), starring
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...
. Although inspired by the events, this is a highly fictionalized account of an attempted prison break. It was unusual at the time for the level of violence it portrayed.
* ''
Birdman of Alcatraz
Robert Franklin Stroud (January 28, 1890 – November 21, 1963), known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz", was a convicted murderer, American federal prisoner and author who has been cited as one of the most notorious criminals in the United S ...
'' (1962), again starring Burt Lancaster, this film briefly depicts a largely fictional version of the battle which, from the start, is portrayed as a full-scale riot rather than a discrete escape attempt. Lancaster's character,
Robert Stroud
Robert Franklin Stroud (January 28, 1890 – November 21, 1963), known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz", was a convicted murderer, American federal prisoner and author who has been cited as one of the most notorious criminals in the United S ...
, the "
Birdman of Alcatraz
Robert Franklin Stroud (January 28, 1890 – November 21, 1963), known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz", was a convicted murderer, American federal prisoner and author who has been cited as one of the most notorious criminals in the United S ...
", is given unwarranted credit for ending the conflict.
* ''
Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story'' (1980), a factually based TV drama of the events incorporated into a larger narrative of the history of Alcatraz as seen through the eyes of its youngest prisoner,
Clarence Carnes
Clarence Victor Carnes (January 14, 1927 – October 3, 1988), known as The Choctaw Kid, was a Choctaw man best known as the youngest inmate incarcerated at Alcatraz and for his participation in the bloody escape attempt known as the "Battle ...
.
* ''
Six Against the Rock
''Six Against the Rock'' is a 1987 American film on TV about the Battle of Alcatraz
The Battle of Alcatraz, which lasted from May 2 to 4, 1946, was the result of an escape attempt at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary by armed convicts. Two Federal ...
'' (1987), starring
David Carradine
David Carradine ( ; born John Arthur Carradine Jr.; December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009) was an American actor best known for playing martial arts roles. He is perhaps best known as the star of the 1970s television series ''Kung Fu'', playi ...
as Bernard Coy, based on the semi-fictional book by Clark Howard.
* A
newsreel
A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, informa ...
of actual footage of the Battle of Alcatraz was played on a 1989 episode of ''
Unsolved Mysteries
''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television show, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Karl ...
'' showing this along with several earlier escape attempts in a special about the 1962 escape of Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers.
* ''Alcatraz'' (2018), an independent film depicting the events.
Alcatraz (2018), imdb.com
/ref>
Sources
Further reading
*
External links
Account of the battle from ''This is an Alcatraz Documentary''
''Crime Magazine'' Battle for Alcatraz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alcatraz
1946 riots
Riots and civil disorder in California
Alcatraz
Alcatraz Island () is a small island in San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military pris ...
Alcatraz Island
United States Marine Corps in the 20th century
1946 in California
Crimes in San Francisco
Law enforcement operations in the United States
May 1946 events in the United States