James C. Lucas
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James Crittenton Lucas (June 11, 1912 – November 28, 1998) was an American
criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...
who served a life sentence in Alcatraz. He is best known for being part of an attempted escape from Alcatraz Penitentiary in 1938, and for attacking
Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...
in the prison's laundry room on June 23, 1936.


Biography

Lucas was originally sentenced to thirty years' imprisonment for robbing First National Bank in Albany, Texas, and violation of the Dyer Act (interstate trafficking of stolen vehicles). He arrived at Alcatraz in January 1935 from the Texas State Prison and was known there as James "Texas Bank Robber" Lucas.


Attack on Capone

On June 23, 1936, Lucas stabbed
Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...
in the back with a pair of scissors from the prison barber shop. Capone had been working in the laundry area away. Lucas was sent to solitary confinement for his attack on Capone. After being stabbed, Capone turned and grabbed Lucas and threw him into the wall. The inmates were angry with Capone for not taking part in an inmate strike.


Alcatraz escape attempt

In the spring of 1938, James Lucas,
Thomas R. Limerick Thomas Robert Limerick (January 7, 1902 – May 23, 1938) was an American criminal, who took part in the third documented escape attempt from Alcatraz Island on the night of May 23, 1938. Biography Thomas Limerick was born on January 7, 19 ...
and
Rufus Franklin Rufus William Franklin (1916-1975) was an American criminal who served a life sentence in Alcatraz. He is best known for taking part in the third documented attempted escape from Alcatraz Prison with Thomas R. Limerick and James C. Lucas on th ...
planned an escape from Alcatraz. Their escape plan began by incapacitating an unarmed guard supervising a work detail on the top floor. Once the supervisor was rendered unconscious, the convicts would escape through a window to the rooftop, where they would incapacitate an armed guard and leave the island via a seized police boat. They enacted their escape plan on May 23, 1938, in the prison's mat shop, where they assaulted Custodial Officer Royal Cline with hammer blows to his head. They proceeded to the roof, where armed guard Harold Stites (who was later killed in the 1946 Battle of Alcatraz) shot both Franklin and Limerick, although Lucas wasn't shot. Other guards arrived at the scene. Franklin, Limerick, and Lucas were cornered and surrendered to the guards. Cline died of his injuries the next day, and Thomas Limerick, the other wounded convict, also died. Lucas and the other surviving convict,
Rufus Franklin Rufus William Franklin (1916-1975) was an American criminal who served a life sentence in Alcatraz. He is best known for taking part in the third documented attempted escape from Alcatraz Prison with Thomas R. Limerick and James C. Lucas on th ...
, were tried for murder and sentenced to life
imprisonment Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is "false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessari ...
, after the jury spared them from execution. Lucas spent six years in isolation for the incident. He was transferred a few years later, and paroled in 1958. After having a brief stay in prison at McNeil Island for parole violation, he was given a presidential commutation of sentence by Richard Nixon in 1970 and released. He later worked in the oil business and died on November 28, 1998.


See also

* List of Alcatraz escape attempts


References


External links


Alcatraz Archive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, James C. 1912 births 1998 deaths Inmates of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary American bank robbers American people convicted of murder American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment People convicted of murder by the United States federal government Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States federal government People paroled from life sentence Recipients of American presidential clemency