Letters from Alcatraz

by Esslinger, Michael

  Sincerely,

  Edna Cretzer

  P.O. Box 1305

  San Francisco, Cal.

  * * *

  San Francisco, Ca.

  June 18, 1941

  Warden Johnston,

  Alcatraz, California

  Dear Sir:

  I wish to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the privilege you have extended to me in permitting me a letter to my husband Joseph Cretzer No. 548 Az. I did so appreciate your kindly and humane attitude as expressed in your letter.

  I am afraid that I have allowed my imagination to run away with me in trying to vision his punishment. Perhaps I have been unduly influenced by the recent newspaper publicity which certainly did not picture the confinement in any pleasant aspect. However, I do feel more assured after reading your letter that my husband is not being mistreated or harmed in any way. It is as you state hard for some people to adapt themselves to a prison routine and my husband seems to be such an individual.

  If you will be in your office in San Francisco any time in this month I would appreciate it if you would let me know as I would like to talk over a few things with you. I feel that I know the reason underlying my husband’s reputed attempts to escape. Perhaps, if that could be removed he could reconcile himself to his fate. I do appreciate and thank you for your letter. It was very kind of you to grant me permission to write occasionally.

  Sincerely,

  Edna Cretzer

  P.O. Box 1305

  San Francisco, Cal.

  * * *

  Miran E. Thompson, 729-AZ

  Miran “Buddy” Thompson

  September 10, 1946

  Horace S. Thompson

  Mobile, Alabama

  My dear brother:

  I received your letter of September 6th tonight; I was more than glad to hear form you. I wrote you last week, I hope you have my letter by now. Horace, I am feeling pretty good now, I guess about as well as I could feel where I am. I hope you all are well and having lots of fun, someone needs to enjoy my part of life’s pleasure, so maybe you and the rest can.

  Don’t worry about me brother, I don’t worry so I don’t think you or any of the rest should, because I realize none of you did not get me here, and if I would have had a good strong mind I would not of been here, although no one can beat a frame-up and you and all the rest know, that is why I am here, not because I committed a crime, but because some people needed a little more money for their self. Well Horace, the trial starts the 17th if I can’t get it put off. I can’t seem to get my lawyer to do what I want him to do, although I know he has been paid some money, by some people, he told me so one time, but he didn’t say who gave it to him, the people must have told him not to let anyone know who paid him, but I haven’t gave him any money personally and he wouldn’t conduct my defense like I ask him to, and it is just like I told him, I am on trial for my life and I have a right to have it defended in any way I want to, you see there is several different kinds of plea I wanted him to, and I talked to another lawyer and he got mad and said he quit. I told him that was up to him, to do as he liked.

  Tell Daddy, and all the rest I said hello and I will appreciate what they can do for me. I will keep praying for I have experienced the good Lords help before, and I know he hears and see’s and will help me as long as I am honest with him. You and Mildred keep praying for me. I close sending all my love and best wishes. Answer soon.

  From your kid brother,

  Miran E. Thompson, 729-AZ

  * * *

  Senior Warden, Name M. E. Thompson,

  U.S. Penitentiary Box No. A-5140, San Quentin, Calif.

  Alcatraz Island, Calif.

  Dear Sir:

  I would appreciate getting my pictures that were taken away from me on May 4th 1946. I know some of them have been given to a certain Detective Magazine Co. and one of them has been published and my Sister has a couple of copies of the Mag. If I don’t get my pictures, I am going to court with it & so is my people.

  I have wrote you one letter since I have been here and three before I left the Island. I will appreciate your giving me the pictures, it is a violation of the U.S. Const. to take private property and I am sure you are aware of same.

  M. E. Thompson

  A-5740

  * * *

  FROM: Miran E. Thompson Sept. 18, 1946

  729-AZ

  TO: Mr. R. E. Thompson, 6 S. Dearborn St. Mobile, Ala.

  My dear Dad:

  I will drop you a few lines to say hello, and I sincerely hope you and Mom are well and happy.

  I am feeling fine at the present time, although I have not been well lately. I went over to town today to court and the Judge said he would set another trial date next Monday, and the trial would be postponed thirty days or more. The reason for this postponement is because I have different attorneys from the one that was on the case, Mr. Burns, was doing as I requested his to do, so I ask him to get off the case. Daddy, I did not know, until today that Mr. Burns wrote you a letter, asking that you help me with the fee of $3,500.00. I did not intent to pay him this much money and I told him not to write you asking for any money and if I ever see Burns again I am going to tell him what I think of him and it is not pleasant either. I would of never knew he wrote you, if I had not gotten another attorney, see when I changed attorneys, Burns gave my new attorney a copy of all the letters he wrote, and the attorney showed them to me. Now, Dad if you sent that hound one penny, I want to know it? And if you have not answered his letter, don’t even answer it: And whenever a lawyer writes to you, you tell me about it before you send him anything. I wrote J. C. a letter last night, I guess he will have it before you get this one. Dad, the Attorney, I have now looks like old Bob Gordon and he is about your age and his name is Earnest Spagnoli, 3305 – 20th Street San Francisco, California. If you want to know how the case is coming along he will tell you if you write him. I have another attorney on the case with him, he is a Jew and sure can argue. Dad, I don’t think I will ever be convicted of this charge, because they know I did not do it, so don’t you worry yourself about it. Tell Mom and the rest I said Hello and Tell Billie I am going to try to get her on my mail list. Well answer real soon as I like to hear from you. With all my love and best wishes, your son.

  Miran E. Thompson

  729-AZ

  * * *

  Mr. James A. Johnston, M. E. Thompson

  Warden, Box No. A-5140, San Quentin, Calif.

  Alcatraz Island, Calif.

  Feb. 12, 1947

  Dear Sir:

  I am writing you in regards to some pictures that were handed to you or Mr. E. J. Miller on Sat. May 4th, 1946, in an envelope, the type inmate’s mail reaches them in, it was wrote on the outside of the envelope in big red letter’s, photograph’s of family & friends, please do not destroy. There were ten (10) photo’s for sure, and maybe (12).

  I would appreciate having the pictures returned to me, as some of my loved ones have passed on, and there is no more pictures of them in the family. I have made other requests for the pictures. There was also a statement of my sentence, a small slip of paper given me in Leavenworth Fed Prison, I would like to have it.

  Truthfully yours

  Miran E. Thompson

  Box No. A-5140

  San Quentin, Calif.

  Inmates Miran Thompson, Sam Shockley and Clarence Carnes shown following their arraignment in a San Francisco Court.

  Officer William Miller

  Alcatraz Officer William A. Miller, circa 1945. Miller was credited for foiling the desperate 1946 escape by concealing the key that would have allowed inmates to breach the cellblock. Despite enduring fierce brutality while held hostage in a cramped cell with other officers, Miller heroically resisted the inmates. He was shot and killed by inmate Joseph Cretzer on May 3, 1946 in a fraught attempt to kill all of the officers being held hostage in fear they would later serve as adversarial witnesses to the events.

  William and Betsy Miller on their wedd
ing day (date unknown). Officer Miller was a graduate of the prestigious Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. During an era of scarce employment prospects, Miller took a job with the Bureau of Prisons to support his family.

  For the officers working at Alcatraz, keeping the public safe from the nation’s most notorious inmates sometimes came with the ultimate sacrifice. Officers—unarmed and often outnumbered—were forced to work side by side with some of the nation’s most violent and vicious inmates.

  The Battle of Alcatraz was a clear reminder of the dangers of their duties. Over the course of the prison’s history, three officers would lose their lives at the hands of violent inmates desperate to escape. Numerous other officers were shot or injured during altercations and escapes, and sometimes forced to place themselves in harm’s way to protect even other inmates from peer violence. Some of these men were left permanently disabled and never able to return to work. Officers Royal Cline, Harold Stites, and Bill Miller all heroically put themselves in harm’s way and gave their lives. These men left behind friends, wives, children, and other loved ones who were left to survive on small pensions and in many cases forced to find other means of support.

  Officers William Miller and Harold Stites were the two officers fatally wounded during the Battle of Alcatraz. Their families suffered immensely as a result of their untimely deaths. The writings of Miller’s wife remind us of their tragic sufferings and sacrifices. Her letter was written only weeks after the incident, and is a portrait of genuine courage.

  May 30, 1946

  Department of Justice

  Bureau of Prisons

  Washington, D.C.

  Dear Mr. Bennett:

  Just want to say thank you very much for your very nice letters to me, they help to give me courage and strength to carry on.

  My problems right now seem very heavy, and I am sorry that I made my plans to come back East, if only I could have had an opportunity to talk to Warden Johnston or yourself. My parents are dead, and my sisters are single, and they want me to stand on my own, of course I don’t blame them, as my children are young and only God knows what is in front of me. Of course I am not afraid, my children are good and very smart. I can only live one day at a time.

  Of course Mr. Bennett, I don’t want to rush into things, and then wonder what it’s all about. I prefer to stay at home, and take care of my children, you know, no mother can truthfully take on two jobs, and you also know what happens to youngsters when they are raised on the streets.

  I think my best bet would be to settle in the country somewhere. Do you know whether I could have a small home built, the old houses are bring such high prices.

  I am sorry that I had to write to you like this, but I haven’t been able to sleep very much, and it is getting me down, if you can advise me in any way I sure would appreciate it. Do you know whether I could live in the Apt. at Alcatraz?

  Thanking you for your kindness to me and my family, I remain

  Yours truly,

  Mrs. Wm. A. Miller

  Henri Young

  Henri Theodore Young

  Rufus Roy McCain

  In 1941, Alcatraz inmate Henri Young went on trial for the murder of Rufus McCain, a fellow prisoner and accomplice in a failed escape attempt. Young’s attorneys claimed that Young was the subject of continual beatings by guards and extensive periods of extreme isolation. Subsequently, the Rock fell under political siege for its confinement practices of inmates.

  The trial became a worldwide media spectacle as defense strategies focused on prison conditions, working to pry off the heavy veil that the government had thrown over Alcatraz. In an April 1941 article, San Francisco Examiner reporter Alvin Hyman highlighted the emerging trial themes set by the attorneys:

  Sleepwalking and dual personality, irresistible impulse and dissociation of ideas, strange psycho-physiological states in which the body acts while the mind sleeps—all these were briefly described in the court of Federal Judge Michael J. Roche yesterday as Henri Young went to trial for murder—for murder on Alcatraz.

  In a letter to Bureau of Prisons Director James Bennett, dated April 23, 1941, Warden James Johnston wrote:

  I have just returned from Court and want to advise you that at the opening of the morning session the defense put Associate Warden Miller on the stand and gave him a lengthy and detailed examination, questions relating to routine, discipline, treatment, punishments, deprivations and explanations of regular cells, isolation cells, solitary cells and what they referred to as the “Spanish Dungeons,” their express purpose being to show that the defendant Young having been subjected to imprisonment and while in prison isolation, solitary, so forth reached a mental state that they described as “psychologically unconscious.” While that was the intention, the form and manner of the questions were clearly intended to impress the jury with the rigorous discipline, severe punishments and bad treatment of prisoners at Alcatraz. In other words, put the prison on trial instead of Alcatraz.

  Attorney James MacInnis would instill in the minds of the jurors and public that it was Alcatraz—not Young—who was on trial for the murder of McCain. His defense would ultimately make courtroom history. McInnis had only been out of law school for four years, and it had been Henri Young himself, who sought young and inexperienced attorneys to handle his case. In a later documentary interview, McInnis commented about his selection and the trial:

  I was flattered, of-course, thirty-five years ago when the federal court appointed me to defend Henri Young, who at that time was one of the fabled names of Alcatraz. Alcatraz had the same macabre fascination for people in the 1930s and 1940s as it does in retrospect for people today. And, the Young case was a marvelous vehicle because it could be presented so simply. The whole theme was the utter brutality of the treatment of prisoners at Alcatraz. Young had a different kind of psychiatric drama in his own prison background, because on the day he killed McCain, he had been released only 11-days from the hole... He had been kept in solitary confinement for the incredible stretch of three-years and two months...

  The trial theme was a staccato of terms like “psychologically unconscious” and “legally irresponsible.” MacInnis was a dynamic public speaker who held fast the attention of the courtroom, and shouted allegations of barbaric practices by prison officials. “It was Alcatraz who killed McCain. It was the cold, sadistic logic that some men call penology that killed McCain,” McInnis roared to the jury comprised of an insurance man’s wife, a publisher’s representative, a railroad man’s wife, a couple of homemakers, a steelworker, and other professionals.

  Attorneys James MacInnis (left) and Sol Abrams (right) with client Henri Young (middle).

  Henri Young was a habitual criminal with a long record of violent crimes, which included strings of bank robberies, kidnapping, and murder. At Alcatraz he was considered a difficult inmate who challenged and provoked fights with several of his fellow prisoners and officers. Young and fellow inmate Rufus McCain had both spent nearly 22 months in solitary confinement for a failed escape that had resulted in the shooting death of the famous gangster Arthur “Doc” Barker.

  After Young and McCain returned to the normal prison population, McCain was assigned to the tailor shop. Young was sent to work at the furniture shop, which was located directly upstairs of the tailor shop. On December 3, 1940, Young waited until just after the ten o’clock count, and when a guard’s attention was diverted elsewhere, Young ran downstairs and plunged a knife into McCain with violent force. McCain rapidly fell into shock, and died just a few hours later from the stabbing. Young refused to disclose his motive for the murder.

  During Henri Young’s trial, his attorneys made the claim that because their client had been held in strict isolation for three years, he could not be held responsible for his violent action. This was due to the influence of what the attorneys considered “cruel and unusual punishment.” The attorneys alleged that because Young had been tormented for so many years, his response
to hostile situations had turned desperately violent.

  Warden Johnston was brought to the trial under subpoena to testify on prison conditions and policies. Several inmates were also subpoenaed to describe the environment at Alcatraz, and many recounted “rumors” that they had heard of inmates being locked in dungeons and severely beaten by guards. They also testified that they knew of many inmates who “went crazy” because of such treatment.

  During the trial, Young publicly testified about the extreme conditions that he endured during his confinement in isolation. While on the stand he offered the following testimony about the solitary confinement conditions at Alcatraz:

  The cell was all black... It was nine by five by seven feet high. I was placed there in the nude. After my clothes had been searched for particles of tobacco, they were thrown-in to me. But not my shoes. I had no tobacco, no soap, no toothbrush. Because of the foul smell, it was like stepping into a sewer and was terribly nauseating. Two blankets were thrown into me at five o’clock in the evening. There was no bed or mattress, and no fixtures. The cell I was in was called the ice box. There was an old type ventilator in the wall that was always open. I shivered all the time. I was in my stocking feet on the cold concrete. At times I would get into a corner and put my coveralls around my head to keep warm.

  When you walk into a black cell, you have to keep one hand on the wall so you won’t hurt yourself... I’d sit in one position until my legs went to sleep, then I’d move and lie on the hard cement floor. The concrete was cold and always damp. You never have a bath in solitary. All the time I was there I only saw one man get a bath. He had a bucket of water thrown on him.