On the Rock: Twenty-Five Years in Alcatraz by Alvin Karpis & Robert Livesey

Author:Alvin Karpis & Robert Livesey [Karpis, Alvin & Livesey, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Prisoners California Alcatraz Island Biography, Prisoners, Criminals, Criminals & Outlaws
ISBN: 9780825300196
Publisher: Beaufort Books
Published: 1980-01-02T04:00:00+00:00

10:00 A.M.

Activity begins. Reinforcements from other federal prisons crowd into Alcatraz: Captain May from McNeil Island, Shuttleworth back from Leavenworth. Meathead leads three armed guards down Broadway; his face is livid with burns from the gas gun.

Then the rumors float through the cell house in ghostly whispers.

"They found those three guys and the guns. All three are dead."

Saturday Noon

Warden Johnston escorts a g;oup of newsmen to his island office bragging about the courage of his guards. He releases a list of weapons used during the siege by his men:

1) Shotguns-12-gauge, Remington automatics.

2) Tear Gas Launchers-snubnosed barrel 1 '/2 inches in

diameter, mounted on a short stock. Operates on princi-

ple of Very pistol. Shoots two types of tear gas shells.

One is long range (up to 200 yards), which explodes on

contact; the other is a close range shooting gas for 50

feet directly out of the barrel.

3) Springfield .30-.06 rifles.

4) Garand M-1 rifles-.30-.06 caliber weapon of Marines

and U.S. Army.

5) Pistols-.45 caliber semi-automatic.

6) Thompson submachine guns, fires 600-800 rounds per

minute.

7) Carbines-IS-shot semi-automatic weapons, .30 caliber.

8) Fragmentation Grenades-dropped through holes in the

roof into the utility corridor in C block.

9) White Phosphorous Grenades-hinder breathing, hurt

eyes, and conceal movement. 10) Rifle Grenades-penetrate armor or masonry. Shot into D block via windows and dropped through holes in the roof into the C cutoff area.

The bodies of the three convicts are dragged from the tunnel beneath the C block cutoff area. In Warden Johnston's words, "A pretty good foxhole, but we outfoxed them. Our attack drove them farther and farther back into the bowels of the block. At the end they were deeper in the Rock than any other prisoner ever had been before."

Coy, Cretzer, and Hubbard are found with one rifle and one pistol. Death, according to the autopsy surgeon, was in- stantaneous in all three cases. Goodsized rifle bullet holes; high velocity bullets.

In addition to the three convicts there are two dead guards, William A. Miller and Harold P. Stites. Miller died in the cell where he had slid the key sought by the desperate mutineers down the toilet bowl. Because he was only slightly wounded compared to the other hostages, he was one of the last to be rescued. He died of shock and loss of blood. Stites was shot by one of his fellow guards as he rushed into the gun cage during the recapturing of the cell house.

Among the injured bodies piled high in the hostage cells were Captain Weinholt and Lieutenant Simpson, two of the most hated members of the Alcatraz "goon squad". Although they both survive they never return to active duty at Alcatraz. After a slow recovery, they become eligible for disability retirement.

Other officers wounded in the escape attempt are: Roberts, Besk (shot in the leg in the Hill Tower), Richberger, Lageson, Cochrane (bullet-shattered arm), Baker, and Oldham. Thompson, Shockley, and Carnes are dragged from their cells and stripped. They are charged with the first- degree murder of Officer Miller and conspiracy to commit murder. On the walls of the hostage cell, their names, along with those of the three deceased convicts, are scribbled in blood.

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