Page 25 - All About History - Issue 52-17

4 FAMOUS…
How not to… flee from The Rock
There are plenty of failed escape that was the crux of their escape plan. ALCATRAZ
attempts from the prison on The As the alarm was raised, the warden
Rock, with the most bloody being sent in teams to recover control of PRISON
the Battle of Alcatraz. On 2 May 1946, the cellblock. What followed was
bank robber Bernard Coy initiated 48 hours of bloody battle, with INMATES
a carefully planned escape attempt shots ringing out between guards
with four accomplices. After watching and prisoners. The marines were
the guards closely, he scaled a wall called in to use explosives to regain AL CAPONE
and slipped through bars to enter control. There were five casualties, chicago, illinois, 1899-1947
the Gun Gallery, arming him and three conspirators and two prison
The notorious
other inmates. The prisoners locked guards. The remaining conspirators,
mob boss
Alcatraz guards in cells, but failed to Thompson and Shockley, received the
and gangster,
find the key to the recreation yard death penalty in December 1948.
also known as
‘Scarface’, was
imprisoned
in Alcatraz in
1934 as #AZ85.
He served four years on The Rock,
the last of which was spent in the
prison hospital.
GEORGE ‘MACHINE

GUN KELLY’ BARNES
mEmphis, tEnnEssEE,
1895-1954
Bootlegging,
armed bank
robberies and
kidnapping
with his
favourite
weapon, a
WIDEN VENT HOLES MAKE A LIFELIKE DUMMY Tommy gun,
Kelly and his wife lived a life of
Carefully and methodically chip away at the cement Begin to make the decoys to ensure you’re not missed
crime. He was finally incarcerated
03 around the vent grills to widen the holes. Plan the times 04 when you make your escape. Use soap, toilet paper and in 1934.
you work and make sure someone keeps watch. When you whatever else you can find to sculpt some fake heads. Paint
eventually chip through the walls, slip through and plan your them pink using materials from the prison art kits, and steal JAMES ‘WHITEY’
route out of the cellblock. You’ll need to do the same to the vent human hair from the barber’s for the head. If you like, name
at the top of the cellblock in order to gain access to the roof. your dummies ‘Oink’ and ‘Oscar’. BULGER JR.
boston, massachusEtts,
1929-prEsEnt
The former
boss of the
Winter Hill
Gang in
Boston was
imprisoned
for 19 murders
as Alcatraz
inmate #AZ1428 in 1959, based
on grand jury testimony from
former associates.

ROBERT STROUD
sEattlE, washington,
1890-1963
Locked up
in solitary
confinement,
PREPARE A ‘RAFT’ ESCAPE AT NIGHT Stroud
Carefully steal some glue from the glove shop, and Straight after lights out, slip through the hole in your became
05 procure as many prison-issued raincoats as possible. 06 cell. Meet your accomplices, but don’t wait for anyone known as
Some inmates will donate them but some you’ll have to steal. if they haven’t escaped in time. Scale the plumbing to the top the ‘Birdman
of Alcatraz’
Build an inflatable raft – about two metres by four – as well as of the cellblock, head across the roof, and climb down to the
because he raised canaries in his © Ed Crooks, Alamy
some paddles. Use the same techniques to make life vests to ground near the entrance to the shower block. Launch the raft cell. He even wrote two books
boost your chance of survival in the cold San Francisco Bay. at the shore and you’re off the island. about them.

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