Exploring The Island Of Alcatraz
One of the most popular places the visit in San Francisco is Alcatraz Island
. Alcatraz Island is the famous home of a prison which boasts of having a history during which no prisoners ever successfully escaped.
The jail was operated for 29 years before it was shut down. During this time 36 prisoners attempted to escape in 14 different escape attempts.
Two of the 36 even tried twice and were unsuccessful at escaping. Of these 36 men, 23 were caught and put back in prison.
Six were shot due to refusal to surrender when they were caught. In addition, three more were lost at sea when attempting to escape and they were never found.
One escape attempt turned into a small battle when six prisoners trying to escape became cornered and decided to fight instead of surrender. They performed their escape attempt on May 2, 1946 and this event is referred to as the Battle of Alcatraz.
Another attempt, on June 11, 1962 was cleverly pulled off. Three prisoners named Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin worked together to formulate the most successful plan put into action at Alcatraz.
The prisoners became aware of a utility hall way that was three feet wide right behind their cells. This hallway was unguarded as it was assumed the prisoners could not get into it.
However, there was also an air vent in the wall between the cell and corridor that was held on using cement. They discovered that the cement had been damaged through years of moisture.
To chip away at the cement they used a metal spoon and a silver solder from a dime. They also came up with a makeshift electric drill made from various parts of a vacuum cleaner motor.
The task of chipping away at the cement was quite loud, so to hide their efforts at escaping, they would only chip during the music hour. The music hour was a specific hour of the day during which the accordions would play as entertainment to the prisoners.
They also came up with false walls to cover their work. When the guards came by, the dimness of the cell helped obscure the fact that the walls were false and they did not catch the fact that the prisoners were trying to escape.
When they had chipped the air vent off the wall, they were able to climb into the vent, through a modified fan vent in which they took out the fan and the motor. They then replace the rivets in the steel grille covering with fake soap ones and a carborundum cord they filched from the prison workshop.
Their plan was so well laid out that they even built a raft out of stolen raincoats. To add flair, they created papier-mache dummies and placed them in their cells to fool the guards for longer.
These dummies even had real human hair from the barbershop to further the illusion. They decided to carry out their plan at night, so they could run across the island and get to the sea without being seen.
They entered the San Francisco Bay around 10 p.m. at night. This group of mastermind escape artists had been devised with a fourth inmate named Allen West who was left behind.
West's false wall was not believable enough because it kept slipping. To rectify this and to protect their secret, he replaced the cement, which dried.
When the others decided to go before the set time, he tried to quickly remove the cement, but it was too late. The others had already left him behind.
When the FBI investigated the escape attempt, Allen West was their main informant. Slightly later, plywood paddles and parts of the raincoat raft washed up on Angel Island.
It is believed that although the trio escaped to the San Francisco Bay, they perished at sea. The cold waters probably did not aid their swimming efforts after their raft failed.
It is interesting to note that the show MythBusters, investigated this escape plan to see if it was possible or simply a myth associated with Alcatraz. Their final conclusion was that this escape plan could have been successfully carried out.
In addition to these excited stories, there were several inmates who came to know Alcatraz very well. For instance, Robert Stroud was the inmate held at the prison for the longest.
He became known to the world as the "Birdman of Alcatraz" due to the amount of time that he spent there. Robert called his home Alcatraz for seventeen years.
by: Terry Daniels
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