Through sending some letters to Washington and putting in some writs for Medical Treatment and yard recreation unusual punishment is being inflicted upon me. I am in the right Sis, and recently I wrote President Truman a letter asking for his help. If I don’t get the letter through to his personal attention then it must be that my letters are not convincing and God is not answering my prayers.
I could write you all about my recent hardships and undue punishments how long it took me to get proper eye glasses, how I have been trying to get the dentist to fix a bad tooth. How I’ve tried to get an English Course to better myself mentally. All about why I am not getting due recreation etc. I wrote it all to the Attorney General! I can’t yet see why he hasn’t sooner investigated. Try, Try Again is my Dutch motto. And keep your chin up!
Well I know Honorable Thomas C. Clark is a good man and we have the best President in the world. And also I have a Sister that can and will word to either if that time comes – which appears to be peeking around the corner. And Linnie I’ll assure you I have a legitimate complaint!
Sister I don’t say prisons are not needed and that criminals should not receive punishment. Far from it! But that punishment in prison should be just punishment. Filing writs in a United States District Court trying to get what you think is rightfully yours is surely no grounds to punish one. Discrimination!
Well Linnie Pray for me, that all will turn out right, and that officialdom performs their sworn duty as taxpayers and laws insist. I’ll say a prayer tonight.
With love to all.
Your Brother Richard Numer
* * *
From Richard A. Numer February 24, 1947
Inmate No. 286
To Warden James A. Johnston Alcatraz, California
Dear Sir:
I have been told that I stand a good chance of being placed back in population if I would write and ask you to do so.
Sir, I am now asking you to consider placing me back in population. I feel I can, and will, meet all rules and follow them.
I have been in Isolation now for nearly twenty-two months, lost all my statutory good time, and I have did my health no good. I think you will find out that I can, and will, do all right in population, and, after I am out, I think I can get your permission to have an interview with you. I wish to convince you, Sir, that I have something wrong with me.
My case rest with you – I hope you can, and will, accommodate.
Respectfully yours,
Richard A. Numer
Inmate No. 286
* * *
“D” Block
3-19-47
To: Associate Warden
I understand that #286 Numer is going to court next week. His plans of campaign is being masterminded by Stroud, and goes something like this: Number is to ask for a certain lawyer when he gets to court. The lawyer is then to ask the Judge to issue an order for the immediate production of certain papers which Number will say he left behind here. Stroud’s idea is that there will be so many pages and the time so short that the officials will not have time to examine them thoroughly. For the past few nights Franklin, Fleish, Stroud, Sharpe, Davis, and possibly others have been busy working on stuff which they apparently hope to get to the lawyer in this manner to be passed on to others.
The above plan may be changed to have Numer bring the papers over with him. In any event any papers going out in this case will bear careful examination. It appears that some of them succeeded in getting some papers out in similar manner during the recent trial. For example, Fleish got some stuff out which his sister picked up at Spagnoli’s office. All papers will probably be in Stroud’s handwriting.
Respectfully,
J. Mullan
* * *
3-20-47
To the Warden
/s/ J. Muller
/s/ JAJ
Theodore J. Audett, 208-AZ, 551-AZ and 1217-AZ
Theodore Audett
Theodore Audett held the distinction of being the only inmate ever sent to Alcatraz three times under three separate convictions. Audett, a convicted bank robber with a record of escape from USP McNeil Island, was the only inmate to have been issued three separate Alcatraz register numbers.
In 1954, Audett published his memoir Rap Sheet: My Life Story. It contained a foreword by Gene Lowall, a prominent crime writer and editor for the Denver Post. Audett’s book enjoyed strong sales in both the United States and Europe. It sensationalized some of the escape stories, and included his views on life served inside the walls of Alcatraz.
* * *
Prisoner’s Mail Box
May 15, 1932
Hon. W. D. Mitchell, Attorney Gen.
Washington, D.C.
Dear Sir,
I am J. T. Audett, No. 32137 and am writing you concerning the restoration of my good time which I am now serving and have been ever since the first of April this year, I claim I am entitled to my good time under the condition I was not responsible at the time I escaped having been pronounced insane by Government Drs. At McNeal island and it was during the transfer to St. Elizabeth. I escaped therefore under these conditions I am asking you to consider this and if I am entitled to my good time would appreciate very much to get it restored, would like for you if in doubt to communicate with Dr. Bennett of this place in regard to this hoping to hear from you soon with a favorable reply I remain Resp.
T. J. Audett
* * *
Alcatraz Is., Calif.
August 9, 1939
Hon. Frank Murphy,
Attorney General
Washington, D.C.
Dear Sir:
I was sentenced to a term of five years, on the 14th day of February, 1934, for the offense of the Dyer Act. And was immediately confined in the penitentiary on McNeals Island.
On the 14th day of June, 1934 I escaped. And was apprehended during the month of August, 1934, and transferred to Leavenworth, Kansas.
During the time that I was at the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, Four-hundred eighty days good time was taken, the punishment for escaping.
I was transferred to Alcatraz during the month of September, 1934.
During the June term of court, 935 at Tacoma, Washington, I was tried and convicted for the offense of escaping from the U.S. Penitentiary on McNeals Island, and received an eighteen mo. Sentence, which runs consecutive with the five years that I was serving.
It is my understanding that I only have a very short time left to serve. Because of this fact and of my physical condition, I am writing this plea for your sincere consideration.
I was wounded during the World War, 1917. Since that time I have undergone a number of operations. And have been forced to use certain medicines, constantly, to feel well, and to have bowel actions.
Immediately after arriving here at Alcatraz, I made my condition known to Dr. Hess, a physician in charge of the hospital. But he failed to administer me any medical attention in any manner. His comment to my requests for medicine and help, was, that there was nothing wrong with me and that I was only gold-bricking.
During the latter part of 1934, Dr. Hess was forced to operate on me for lock-bowels. This operation done by him was a very crude piece of work, as he replaced my intestines, etc., in the wrong way.
Just recently the physician who is in charge of the hospital took pictures of my stomach, which plainly show the awful disarrangement and the cause of my present illness. Since the operation done by Dr. Hess I have suffered continually.
I have been advised that a major operation is necessary.
I sincerely feel that the present physicians are doing everything possible to help. But since the nature of the operation is very dangerous, I would like to have it done in a hospital outside and by certain physicians that operated before.
Every one in charge seem very interested in my welfare and show me every consideration.
I hope you are able to help me in this matter, by recommending enough time to cause my discharge. So that I can
get the very needful operation before it is to late.
I sincerely hope that you will give this matter your earnest consideration, I am
Very respectfully
T. J. Audett
* * *
From T. J. Audett 2-24-41 2-24-41
#57948
To Hon. R. H. Jackson U.S. Attorney General, Wash. D.C.
Hon. R. H. Jackson, T. J. Audett, 57948
U.S. Atty General, U.S. Penitentiary,
Washington, D.C. Leavenworth, Kansas
Dear Sir:
I am writing you in regards of my case, and asking for your help and advice if it is possible. I sincerely do hope it is possible for I am now acting on your advice that you gave me when you visited Alcatraz. Your advice was to contact the U.S. Atty General, if things should go wrong.
Sir after being released from Alcatraz the 5-30-40 my intentions were to go straight and was succeeding in doing so; also making my monthly reports, I seen the Parole Officer several times about getting a job for me but he was unable to get work for me, and I was unable to get a job in Calif. So I lift Calif. To try and find work. And was arrested, 8-25-40 and held in custody until the date of my trial 12-3-40 without being allowed to contact anyone to prove my innocence.
I was charged with entering the First State Bank of Whitman, Nebraska with intent to commit larceny, (and was tried under Section 264 of Title 12) and also tried and found Guilty of the above charge and sentence to ten years in imprisonment.
Sir that brings me to the object of this letter and asking you for your help for I am not guilty and during the time I was held in custody, waiting for trial I could have proven my innocence. For on the night the said Bank was entered, I was no where near that vicinity and never have been to the said city where the Bank was said to be entered and I could have proven it but I was not allowed to see or contact no one. Also during the investigation before the trial I was told by the F.B.I. agents that there were finger prints found in the said Bank and that they had sent them to Washington to prove they were mine but they were not my finger prints, and the F.B.I. agent testified that they were not mine. There was no evidence at all against me only my previous record, and the jury that tried my case was told at the opening of the trial that I just got out of Alcatraz, (it was persecution and not justice) and since I have been here at Leavenworth Penitentiary I haven’t been allowed to write no letters which will enable me to prove my innocence so that is why I am asking your help. I am thanking you in advance if you will investigate.
Very truly yours,
T. J. Audett
Theodore Audett and Warden Madigan greeting a VIP guest during the grand opening of the officers’ dining room, which was located in the upstairs administration area of Alcatraz, 1961.
John & Clarence Anglin
The Great Escape from Alcatraz
Escape accomplice and alleged mastermind, Frank Lee Morris. His Alcatraz inmate record documented his mental condition as having “superior intelligence” with an IQ of 133.
John William Anglin
Clarence Anglin
Brothers John and Clarence Anglin were destined to become central figures in one of the most spectacular prison escapes in American history. With fellow accomplices Frank Lee Morris and Allen West, the brothers devised a cunning escape plan from America’s most secure and ultimate escape proof prison. The concept was to escape through the ventilation shaft on to the roof of the prison and then to swim to shore using flotation devices. The escape took over a year to design, and it necessitated the fabrication of clever decoys and water survival gear.
Accomplice Frank Morris had spent a lifetime navigating the prison system before his arrival on Alcatraz. Morris’s criminal record included a multitude of crimes, which ranged from narcotics possession to armed robbery. He had become a professional inhabitant of the correctional system by his late teens. Morris was credited by prison officials with possessing superior intelligence, and he earned his ticket to Alcatraz by building an impressive résumé of escapes. He arrived on Alcatraz in January 1960 as inmate AZ-1441.
Brothers John and Clarence Anglin were also serving sentences at Alcatraz for bank robbery; they’d been convicted along with their brother Alfred. All three brothers had been incarcerated at USP Atlanta when they first became acquainted with Morris. John and Clarence were eventually sent to Alcatraz following a sequence of attempted escapes.
Allen Clayton West
Alcatraz inmate Allen West, who occupied an adjacent cell, was also brought in on the scheme. He was serving his second term on the Rock and carried a reputation as an arrogant criminal. He knew John Anglin from the State Penitentiary in Florida. The escape plan started to take shape in December 1961, and began with a collection of several old saw blades that West allegedly found in one of the utility corridors while he was cleaning. In later interviews, West took the credit for masterminding the clever escape.
The plan was extremely complex and involved the design and fabrication of ingenious lifelike dummy heads, water rafts, and life preservers. These preservers would be fashioned from rain coats that had been acquired from other inmates – which were both donated and stolen. The men would also require a variety of tools, both to dig with and to use to construct the accessories necessary for the escape. By May 1962, Morris and the Anglins had dug through their cell’s six by nine-inch vent holes, and had started work on the vent on top of the cellblock.
An officer examining the false grill sections behind Allen West’s cell (B-152).
Frank Morris succeeded in covering the ventilation grill inside his cell (B-138) with the case of his concertina, thus diverting any suspicion from the planned escape. The inmates emerged from the tunneled openings in the back of their cells, and ascended through the maze of plumbing to the top of the cellblock. Their final exit was through a rooftop ventilator. As quietly as possible, they trekked across the rooftop of the cellhouse before making their descent down a pipe along the west wall of the prison.
The rooftop ventilator through which the inmates made their final exit from the cellhouse.
The inmates used clever decoys to fool the guards during the late night counts. The amazingly detailed and lifelike dummy heads were fashioned primarily from scrap bits and pieces. The materials included soap chips, concrete, wire, plaster, glue, paint, and hair that had been smuggled from the prison barbershop.
An FBI agent wearing a fully inflated life vest constructed by the inmates.
The Anglins inhabited adjacent cells, as did West and Morris, who also resided nearby. The inmates alternated shifts, with one working and one on lookout. They would start work at 5:30 PM and continue till about 9:00 PM, just prior to the lights-out count. Meanwhile John and Clarence started fabricating the dummy heads, and even gave them the pet names of “Oink” and “Oscar.” The heads were crude but lifelike, and were constructed from a homemade cement-powder mixture that included such innocuous materials such as soap, cloth, and toilet paper. They were decorated with flesh toned paint from prison art kits and human hair from the barbershop.
Using glue stolen from the glove shop, the inmates also started cutting and bonding the raincoats into a makeshift raft and life preservers. Each evening following the completion of their self-imposed work detail, they would hide the materials on top of the cellblock to minimize any chance of being caught with the contraband materials.
The inmates also acquired an elaborate array of handmade tools. West was able to steal an electric hair clipper while working on a paint detail in the barbershop, and he used the clippers—along with drill bits stolen from the industries by another inmate—to fashion a makeshift motorized drill. However, the motor proved to be too small, and the project required more effective equipment.
By a stroke of good luck, West had recently learned that the prison’s vacuum had broken. He was permitted to attempt a repair, and while inspecting the machine, he found that it had two motors. He carefully removed one, and was able to get the other work
ing, thus deflecting suspicion. Morris and the Anglins were then able to use the vacuum motor for their drill. They attempted to drill out the roof ventilator, but they had limited success. The motor proved too noisy and it was not very effective.
After months of long preparation the inmates completed fashioning all of the gear they needed for their escape, and they continued working to loosen the ventilator grill on top of the cellhouse. John Anglin carefully completed the valve assembly on a large six by fourteen-foot raft, while Morris modified an accordion-like musical instrument called a concertina, which would be used to rapidly inflate the raft. But while the others had progressed well in their various preparations, West had fallen behind in digging out the ventilator grill at the rear of his cell. His primary role had been to construct the life preservers and special wooden paddles for the raft, tasks that did not require him to leave his cell. On the night of June 11, 1962, Morris indicated that the top ventilator was loose enough, and that he felt that they were ready to attempt the escape.
At 9:30, immediately after lights-out, Morris brought down the dummies from the top of the cellblock and announced that the escape would be staged that night. Clarence Anglin attempted to assist West in removing his ventilator grill by kicking at it from outside of the cell in the utility corridor. His efforts were unsuccessful. Morris and the Anglins had no choice but to leave West behind. The inmates made their final 30 foot climb up the plumbing to the cellhouse roof, traversed 100 feet across the rooftop, and then carefully maneuvered down 50 feet of piping to the ground near the entrance to the shower area. This would be the last anyone ever saw of Morris and the Anglin Brothers.
Letters from Alcatraz Page 33
