Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

Battle of Alcatraz

The Battle of Alcatraz, whichlasted from May 2 to 4, 1946, was the result of an unsuccessfulescape attempt at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary by armed convicts.Two Federal Bureau of Prisons officers—William A. Miller and HaroldStites—were killed (Miller by one of the inmates who attemptedescape, Joseph Cretzer, and Stites by friendly fire) along with threeof the perpetrators. Fourteen other officers and one uninvolvedconvict were also injured. Two of the surviving perpetrators werelater executed in 1948 for their roles.

Alcatraz

Alcatraz was a maximum high-securityfederal prison located on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco bay.It operated from 1934 to 1963, and had a reputation for beingimpossible to escape from. As a result, it housed some of the mostnotorious and high-profile prisoners, in particular ones who had ahistory of escape attempts.

Convicts

The escape attempt was planned byBernard Coy. Three other convicts were involved in the main plan:Marvin Hubbard, Joseph Cretzer and Clarence Carnes. Sam Shockley andMiran Thompson joined the escapees after the attempt had begun. Coywas a Depression-era criminal who, in 1937, was sentenced to 25 yearsfor bank robbery. He was moved to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in1938 from Atlanta, and was soon given the job of cell-house orderly,which gave him a relative amount of freedom of movement around themain cellblock.

Joe Cretzer was a West Coast gangsterand member of the Cretzer-Kyle Gang. In 1940 he was sentenced to 25years for murder. After two escape attempts in the first months ofhis incarceration, one of which resulted in another murder charge, hewas transferred to Alcatraz. In May 1941, Cretzer, Shockley and twoother convicts made an escape attempt from one of the prison'sworkshops.

Carnes was the youngest prisoner toreside at Alcatraz, having been convicted of murder in 1943 at theage of 16. He made a number of escape attempts and by 1946, when hewas transferred to Alcatraz, had accumulated both a life sentence and99 years for kidnapping.

Planning

Through his role as a cell-houseorderly, Coy noticed flaws in the prison's security: firstly, thatthe gun-gallery at the west end of the cell-house was protected bybars, with no additional mesh or barriers; secondly, that a FederalBureau of Prisons officer in the gallery had set routines thatallowed the convicts to predict when the main cellblock, and when thegallery, would be unobserved.

Takeover

On May 2, 1946, while most convicts andcorrections officers were in outside workshops, Coy was in the maincellhouse sweeping the floor around C Block when kitchen orderlyMarvin Hubbard called on officer William Miller to let him in, as hehad just finished cleaning the kitchen. As Miller was friskingHubbard for any stolen articles, Coy attacked him from behind, andthe two men overpowered the officer. They released Joseph Cretzer andClarence Carnes from their cells.

Bernard Coy, Marvin Hubbard and JoeCretzer

Sam Shockley

Miran Thompson

The cellhouse had an elevated gungallery that was regularly patrolled by an armed officer. Theofficer, Burt Burch, had a set routine, and the convicts had attackedMiller while Burch was away. Coy, as a cellhouse orderly, had overthe years spotted a flaw in the bars protecting the gun gallery. Thespace between could be widened by using a bar-spreading device,consisting of a nut and bolt with client metal sleeve that moved whenthe nut was turned by a small wrench. Coy spread the bars andsqueezed through the widened gap (Coy starved himself in order to fitthrough the space between the widened bars, which was stillrelatively narrow) into the temporarily vacant gallery, where heoverpowered and bound Burch on his return. Coy kept the Springfieldrifle in the gallery and lowered an M1911 pistol, keys, a number ofclubs, and gas grenades to his accomplices below.