Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years Part 17

Mat Shop (Model Industries Building)

Joseph P. Cretzer Sam Richard Shockley Arnold Thomas Kyle Lloyd H. Barkdoll The 1941 escape attempt by inmates Joseph Cretzer, Sam Shockley, Arnold Kyle and Lloyd Barkdollwould unexpectedly serve as a prelude to the bloodiest chapter in the prison's history, known as the Battle of Alcatraz in 1946. The biographies of Joe Cretzer, Sam Shockley and Arnold Kyle are covered extensively in a later section chronicling the events of '46. Prior to their capture in 1939, Cretzer and Kyle had been considered the number-one bank robbing team in the nation. They had previously made spectacular breaks from other penitentiaries and would seize upon the slightest opportunity to break from the Rock. All four men were serving life sentences and were a.s.signed to work details in the Rubber Mat Shop.

Lloyd Barkdoll was later said to have been the principle instigator of this escape attempt. He had previously been serving a life sentence for a series of bank robberies in Oregon, and he was transferred to Alcatraz on October 13, 1937 from the Federal Penitentiary at McNeil Island, where prison officials believed that he was planning a ma.s.s escape. Barkdoll had also been a key witness during the famous Henri Young trial, and Warden Johnston had subsequently stated in a newspaper interview that Barkdoll's sole purpose for testifying had been to seek an opportunity for an escape.

The Alcatraz escape attempt took place on May 21, 1941. Just after the inmates had returned from lunch, Clyne Stoops, a correctional officer a.s.signed to the Industries was lured into the mat shop under the pretense that a piece of equipment had stopped working. As the officer started to examine the piece of machinery, the four inmates overpowered him, bound his hands and feet with heavy gauge twine, and then gagged him. The prisoners then took control of the workshop and moved eight other inmates who chose not to partic.i.p.ate into an adjacent room.

Taking turns and using a heavy piece of pipe, they struggled to pry open the inside cas.e.m.e.nt, which was made of heavy wire. After nearly thirty minutes of intense prying, they were caught off guard when another officer entered the workshop. In a newspaper interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Warden Johnston later recounted the following events: They had worked at it about half an hour when Manning, who wasn't expected, entered the shop on a routine inspection tour. They had a lookout posted. When Manning entered one grabbed him on each side and one from behind, and they hustled him into the room with Stoops, binding him but not gagging him.

Then they went back to the window. By this time they had pried off part of the cas.e.m.e.nt. They dragged over a small motor driven emery stone and began grinding away at one of the toolproof bars.

One of the convicts remained posted at the door as a guard, and when Officer Johnston entered he was hustled in with the other officers. So far as I can gather they at no time used any weapons on the officers, just overpowering them by surprise and strength of numbers. Barkdoll is a big, husky man and took the lead.

Finally Captain Madigan entered the shop. They overpowered him too. But Captain Manning pointed out to them that it was time for the officers to ring in to the administration building, and that an alarm would be sounded if the officers failed to ring in. They were about ready to give up anyway. They had to cut through at least and probably three of the bars before they could drop down to the outside and they hadn't even cut through one.

So they freed Madigan. He phoned the administration building, and by the time we got there he was leading them away.

In a later report, Barkdoll was commended for protecting the officers from being a.s.saulted. It rea..."It was reported that during the escape attempt, when Cretzer, Kyle, and subject tied up the officers and threatened them with hammers and other weapons, Barkdoll kept the others from injuring the officers and protecting them from a.s.sault." All four men were immediately sent to solitary confinement. Shockley would serve the remainder of his time at Alcatraz in the segregation unit, until the 1946 escape attempt.

After he had been integrated back into the general prison population, Barkdoll would earn the designation of a model inmate. His progress reports reflect unanimous praise for his leaders.h.i.+p abilities promoting positive conduct. The correctional staff characterized him as cheerful, friendly, and cooperative, with a pleasing personality and all the qualities of a natural leader. On March 12, 1945 he was a.s.signed to the kitchen detail, and was later promoted to work in the Officer's Dining Room. He would also be credited with starting an inmate orchestra. When other inmates partic.i.p.ated in a culinary strike in October of 1948, Barkdoll stayed on the job, helping wherever he could. He was clearly liked and respected by prison officials, who provided him with monetary rewards even though he worked in a non-compensated industry a.s.signment. On March 7, 1950, Barkdoll developed severe chest pains while walking in the recreation yard. He was taken to the hospital and shortly thereafter suffered a fatal heart attack. Under the direction of his wife, Barkdoll's body was sent to Schroeder Mortuary in Coquille Oregon for burial.

Although the escape attempt of 1941 had proved unsuccessful, it was destined to become a prelude to a later prison tragedy...

A photograph of Arnold Kyle, taken in 1963. The effects of decades spent in prison are plainly evident.

ESCAPE ATTEMPT #6.

Date:

September 15, 1941

Inmates:

John Richard Bayless

Location:

Powerhouse

A series of mug shots of John Richard Bayless, spanning fifty years. The progression of images ill.u.s.trates the effects of nearly a lifetime spent in prison. Bayless was one of the few inmates to be released from Alcatraz only to return following another crime conviction.

John Bayless was one of a small select group of inmates who were sent to Alcatraz twice, under two completely separate convictions. He was born on May 16, 1915 into a middle-cla.s.s family in Wichita, Kansas. His father was steadily employed as a railroad worker and his mother was described and an affectionate and devoted homemaker. Like many boys of the age, he became a Boy Scout, developed an avid interest in science and attended church every Sunday. It wasn't until he turned sixteen that his life started to change course. While he was still in high school, his parents decided to divorce and this was apparently a very traumatic experience for Bayless. He was sent to live with his grandmother in Willow Springs, Missouri, and after graduating high school in 1933, he decided to enlist in the U.S. Navy.

In the Navy Bayless was trained as an aircraft mechanic on the Aircraft Carrier USS Saratoga, based out of Long Beach, California. But despite his naval training and a promising future in aviation, he detested military life. On July 28, 1935, Bayless wrote a bad check for a payment on a 1931 Ford Roadster, deserted the Navy and drove back home to Missouri. The car was immediately reported stolen and Bayless was soon arrested after being caught trying to forge his grandmother's signature on another check. He was convicted of forgery and on December 16, 1935, and was sentenced to serve two years at the U.S. Southwestern Reformatory, in El Reno, Oklahoma.

Within only a few months of his release, Bayless met and married an attractive young girl named Gwendolyn, and the two quickly moved into a furnished apartment. However, his wife soon grew suspicious that her new husband didn't work, yet somehow always seemed to have money. He would leave with friends for long periods during the day and return without volunteering any information about his activities. He finally told his young bride excitedly that he had inherited money and that they would receive the entire sum the following month. She too was excited, and was now starting to adjust into her new life.

On October 29, 1937 the couple decided to drive to Wichita, Kansas with John's seventeen-year-old friend Orville Sims and his wife Orletta, so that Gwendolyn could visit her mother. When John tired during the drive, Orville took over the wheel, and began driving erratically. Orville lost control and the car rolled over numerous times before plunging violently into a ditch. John and Gwendolyn, who were riding in the backseat, found themselves pinned underneath the wreckage. They were finally able to free themselves and hurried to the nearest hospital. Gwendolyn had suffered serious injuries including a fractured vertebra in her neck and a broken femur in her right leg. John walked away with only a minor back injury and a few st.i.tches in his left hand. Gwendolyn would need to remain in the hospital for several weeks, so Bayless decided to rent a car and head back home to get some money.

A local newspaper, The Wichita Eagle, ran a story on the accident and this helped to alert law enforcement officials to the location of Bayless and his partner in crime. After meeting with Gwendolyn, police decided to raid the Bayless apartment, where they found bank diagrams and other items that linked John to a series of crimes. At the same time that agents were raiding the apartment, Sims and Bayless were in Mansfield, Missouri, casing a bank. Dressed in dark blue overalls, each with a watch chain dangling from his pocket, the men drew guns on two female employees at the downtown Merchants Bank. They locked the two women in the bank vault, and made off with all of the cash from their tills.

When news of the bank robbery was broadcast over police radios, the agents headed to Sim's residence, where they found both men asleep. On awaking, Bayless made a comment that would be entered into his arrest report: "Lucky you caught me asleep copper, or I'd have blasted you." In early 1938, several FBI agents and United States Marshals, all armed, escorted the young men to the courtroom. Bayless and Sims stood before Judge Albert L. Reeves in the Federal Court of Kansas City, pleading guilty to two Federal Grand Jury indictments for robbery of an FDIC bank using force, violence and deadly weapons. They were sentenced to serve twenty years for the first count, and twenty-five years for the second. Bayless would arrive at Leavenworth on February 1, 1938, and he was transferred to Alcatraz on November 29, 1938, as inmate #AZ-466.

The official transfer order for John Bayless to be sent to Alcatraz in 1936.

At Alcatraz, Bayless was considered a low-maintenance inmate who rarely sought trouble. He was a loner, and spent most of his time during recreation periods by himself. On September 15, 1941, Bayless was a.s.signed to the garbage detail, which was generally considered a choice a.s.signment by the inmates. This work detail permitted Bayless to collect garbage and debris from all over the island, under limited supervision. On this day at the end of his s.h.i.+ft, Bayless made a spontaneous decision to escape under a dense layer of fog. Just before the inmates were rounded up for the final count and rallied back to the main cellhouse, Bayless slipped away and dropped to the rocky sh.o.r.e near the powerhouse. But by the time he had made it to the water's edge, the guard staff noticed him missing from his work detail and immediately notified the Control Center. The piercing sound of the klaxon siren rang out over the island.

Bayless removed his s.h.i.+rt, shoes, and socks, then immersed himself in the water until he was chest-deep. He would later state that once he was in the ice-cold water, he had trouble staying afloat, and quickly realized that he would be unable to make the swim across the Bay. Wilkinson, one of the officers a.s.signed to the same detail, quickly spotted Bayless in the water. The prisoner didn't resist capture, and after being shackled, he was marched directly into D Block. When Bayless was brought to trial in San Francisco on January 28, 1943, he again demonstrated his desperation by breaking free and making a dash from the U.S. Marshals while they were inside the courthouse. He was immediately tackled, and was sent back to isolation on Alcatraz. In April of 1943 he was convicted of attempted escape, and was sentenced to serve an additional thirty years.

A memo from the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, describing the escape attempt by Bayless.

A Telegram describing Bayless' attempt to escape from a full courtroom in San Francisco. Ironically, he made a second break for freedom during his trial for the first escape attempt.

Bayless would serve his time quietly in segregation, and would eventually earn a transfer back to Leavenworth in November of 1950. He was awarded a conditional parole release on August 19, 1951, and landed himself back in jail on February 26, 1952, after committing another bank robbery. This time he was convicted and sentenced to serve thirty-five years. One year to the day after his release, he arrived for his second term at Alcatraz on August 19, 1952, as inmate #AZ-966.

Bayless would be among the last inmates to depart Alcatraz when it finally closed on March 21, 1963. He was sent back to McNeil Island and would not serve his time idly; once more he would find himself involved in a violent and desperate prison break. On November 8, 1965, Bayless and fellow inmate Dennis Hubbard concealed themselves behind another prisoner as he pa.s.sed through an electric sentry gate into a minimum-security dormitory. Using a hand-fas.h.i.+oned knife, they overpowered a guard and bound and tied him using duct tape. They escaped through a non-barred window and under the cover of heavy rain, scaled the perimeter fences and disappeared into the landscape.

The duo found a vacant house that belonged to the prison's physician, who was away on a hunting expedition. They remained inside the house undetected for five days, until the physician returned home. When prison officials came for them, they offered no resistance, and Bayless again stood trial for escape. He was sentenced to another forty-five years, and would again be paroled for good time served on August 20, 1973. But just one month later he was back in prison at Leavenworth for attempted bank robbery. Bayless was re-paroled to a community treatment center in Long Beach California, and died on July 30, 1981. He had finally returned to the city in which he had committed his first crime.

ESCAPE ATTEMPT #7.

Date:

April 13, 1943

Inmates:

James A. Boarman

Fred Hunter

Harold Brest

Floyd G. Hamilton

Location:

Old Mat Shop

On the cold morning of April 13, 1943, a densely strewn layer of fog lay over the prison fortress. The escape attempt that was about to unfold would involve four inmates who were a.s.signed to the old Mat Shop, employed in manufacturing cement blocks that were used to weigh down heavy submarine nets during the war. The inmates had each acquired smuggled military uniforms from the prison laundry and had stuffed them in specially made float canisters, which were smaller but nearly identical to those used during the escape of Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe in December of 1937. The four hollow one-gallon fuel containers offered perfect concealment and water protection for their clothing and a seemingly perfect float device with which to swim quietly across the bay. Their plan would also incorporate some of the more successful aspects of the 1941 escape attempt employed by Cretzer, Barkdoll, Shockley and Kyle, which ultimately ended in failure.

James A. Boarman James A. Boarman James Arnold Boarman, a small time bank robber from Indianapolis was only twenty-four years old at the time of this ill-fated escape attempt. Born on November 3, 1919 in Whalen, Kentucky, he was the sixth in a family of eight children. His father, who had supported the family as a carpenter, died of an accidental drowning when James was only seven-years-old. His mother, relocated the family to Indiana where they would all share residence in a small apartment. Boarman attended St. Patrick's Catholic School in Indianapolis and dropped-out to work as a gardener at age fourteen. His mother would later state that James always had brought his earnings home and never complained about the family's financial troubles. Despite their hards.h.i.+ps and their dependence on welfare support, his family was close and all worked together to help and support each other.

Boarman's bouts with crime first began when he was still very young. In May of 1936 he stole his first automobile and after being arrested and placed on probation, he stole two other cars and headed for California with two accomplices. His mother pleaded his case in court, stating that she had been hospitalized due to illness and that he had lacked proper supervision when he needed it most. The court proved unsympathetic to her pleas and on January 30, 1937, Boarman was sentenced to three years in the Federal Reformatory at El Reno, Oklahoma.

Boarman and four other inmates plotted an escape from El Reno, and carried out their plan on September 9, 1937. A special progress report chronicled the events: After arrest, he was taken to jail in Golden, Colorado, and while there involved in several fights. Also, in a scheme to effect his escape hid under a table in the jail and tried to jump a turn-key. While an inmate at El Reno, connived with four other inmates to escape from the inst.i.tution. This was frustrated, but subject admitted his partic.i.p.ation in the scheme, which was to climb a fence, seize the physician upon his arrival at the parking area, drive away in his car and hold him as hostage.

Boarman was recommended for transfer to a more secure prison facility, and was sent to Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary on September 28, 1937. At Lewisburg he continued to a.s.semble a record of conduct violations. The most significant of these was being found with an eight-inch dagger hidden in a magazine inside his cell. He apparently disclaimed owners.h.i.+p, stating that he was "just putting a handle on it." His reports were all unfavorable, with one stating: "This inmate is a reckless, very unstable psychopath who is not material for rehabilitation. He has been making a very poor inst.i.tutional adjustment and has had several disciplinary infractions of a serious nature."

He was finally released from Lewisburg on December 15, 1939, and was immediately provided with employment by the... C.A. Radio Company. After a series of layoffs and re-hires by... C.A., he again emerged into the crime scene. He was later quoted in a progress report as saying: "When I come out of Lewisburg, I intended to go straight. I got me a job and did go straight. I lost that job, and couldn't find another one for h.e.l.l. I tried to join the Army, the Navy, and the Marine Corps and didn't get in, so I went and got me a gun and started robbin'." His probationofficer also doc.u.mented his own attempts to help Boarman enlist in the Army, but apparently the recruiters felt that his criminal conduct made him unacceptable for the armed forces.

The following report describes Boarman's character in the eyes of the correctional system, and the reasons for his transfer to Alcatraz: On August 12, 1940, at about 9:30 p.m., this defendant stole an automobile in Indianapolis after flouris.h.i.+ng a gun on a salesman, which he drove to Lexington, Ky. He traded said gun for another and on the morning of August 15, returned to Indianapolis, and entered a branch of the Fletcher Trust Co., again flouris.h.i.+ng a gun in the presence of bank employees and patrons, escaping with $12,812.00. He drove said stolen car to a point near Loogootee, Indiana, abandoned that car and stole another and hence drove it to Owensboro, Ky. After abandoning this car, he appeared at a motor sales agency and purchased a Buick car for which he paid $600 in cash, using a part of the funds stolen from the forgoing bank. In addition he purchased a rifle and an a.s.sortment of clothing and was subsequently arrested in a hotel room at Frankfort, Ky. $11,710 of the stolen funds were recovered. Defendant admitted numerous hold-ups, including filling stations, grocery stores and two ladies in a parking lot. He has previously been convicted as shown by attached... B.I. report.

Subject is apparently a confirmed offender and a vicious menace to society as indicated by the instant offense and the series of armed robberies which he committed prior to the instant bank robbery. He is a highly unstable and impulsive youth who is apparently quite proud of the fact that he committed the instant offense without the aid or advice of other persons. He is convinced, outwardly at least, that he is entirely capable of whipping the whole world and providing himself with funds even if it is necessary to resort to physical force and the aid of firearms.

Another report in his central file offered details of his violent tendencies: Deputy Taff states that while crossing a bridge or large culvert on Highway #71, two miles north of Plat City, this prisoner suddenly tried to wreck the car by raising both feet and kicking against the back of the driver's seat throwing the guard, who was driving at the time, against the steering wheel. The guard happened to be a man of large stature, and while thrown against the steering wheel he did not lose absolute control of the car although the incident did cause the car to leave the highway. Boarman likewise made an attempt to get the deputy's revolver but was unsuccessful.

In view of this subjects traits in the instant offense if vicious nature, his previous inst.i.tutional adjustments during confinement in the Federal Reformatory at El Reno, and the Federal Prison at Lewisburg, his present indifferent att.i.tude and the indication that his future adjustment in confinement here or elsewhere is very definitely problematical. It is believed advisable that he be CONSIDERED FOR TRANSFER TO THE FEDERAL PRISON AT ALCATRAZ ISLAND, CALIFORNIA.

Harold M. Brest