Stroud was also allowed fewer yard privileges than were allotted to the general population at Alcatraz and his walks to the recreation yard were usually carried out when no other inmates were in the area.
Officer reports typically portrayed Stroud as a difficult inmate to manage, even while in segregation. One example was a disciplinary report written on June 19, 1951. The report submitted by Officer Robert Griffiths to Warden Swope and a.s.sociate Warden Madigan reads as follows: Violation: INSOLENCE-DISBURBANCE, Under instructions from the Eve. Watch Lieutenant E.F. Stucker, I told the above inmate that I was putting out his light after his treatment was completed. I put out his bright light and he leaped out of bed and switched it on again. I told him not to do it again and switched off the light. He again turned it on, saying, "He didn"t give a f.u.c.k what Stucker said, the light stays on until midnight."
In 1955, when Robert Stroud had been in prison for over forty years, and had been all but forgotten by the outside world, Thomas E. Gaddis created one of the most intriguing human tales of the 20th Century the grim story of the Birdman of Alcatraz.
Working from an improvised office inside his small garage, Thomas E. Gaddis penned a book that would become an American Cla.s.sic Birdman of Alcatraz. Stroud was never permitted to read his own biography or to see the motion picture, for which lead actor Burt Lancaster was nominated for an Academy Award.
Gaddis had left his job as a teacher and probation officer in Los Angeles to chronicle Stroud"s amazing life. He had become intrigued by Stroud"s story and located Marcus in 1950. Marcus ultimately agreed to the idea of a book about his brother"s life story. Gaddis acquired hundreds of letters from Stroud"s correspondence, and conducted hours-upon-hours of interviews with Marcus, extracting every possible detail. While the book relied heavily on second and third-hand information to reconstruct Stroud"s side of the story, it appeared to be tangled with a plethora of fact based material, or at least from Stroud"s perspective.
In 1951, still early on in his research for the book, Gaddis wrote an article about Stroud for Cosmopolitan Magazine. The article helped to finance his project and once again, public interest started to drift toward Stroud. Working from a manual typewriter in an improvised office in his garage, Gaddis knitted together a cla.s.sic American tale that would capture the attention of a nation. Gaddis"s book, Birdman of Alcatraz, was published in 1955 and became an instant success. It also launched a national crusade for the prisoner"s release. The public wrote thousands of letters to the President of the United States and the Attorney General, denouncing what they termed "the government"s cruel punishment" of Stroud and demanded his release. But despite this exhaustive crusade, the Bureau of Prisons was unyielding and Stroud remained in isolation.
Even more interesting was the fact that Stroud himself was restricted from reading his own biography. The strict policy of Alcatraz prohibited inmates from reading materials that referenced any crime-related activities. Morton Sobell, known as the famous "Atom Spy" and co-defendant of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, resided on Alcatraz for five years. He later recounted that he was the only inmate on Alcatraz who received the magazine Scientific American and that an article featuring Stroud slipped through the censors in September of 1957. Sobell managed to have the article smuggled to Stroud up in the hospital ward, and this would be one of the first printed biographies he would read on the subject of his own life. Jim Quillen also stated that while he wasn"t certain, he had heard that individual pages of the Gaddis book had been slipped to Stroud over a period of several years.
The years of seclusion ultimately took their toll on Stroud and he attempted suicide twice. His physical health also started to deteriorate visibly. He suffered lengthy bouts of depression, and there were rumors of his failure to thrive. On July 13, 1959, while being escorted to the recreation yard, Stroud was stopped and notified that he was being transferred once again, and was directed back to his cell. After spending seventeen difficult years on Alcatraz, Stroud was to be moved to the Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri. He would arrive there on July 15th.
Stroud was euphoric with his new environment in Springfield. In a brief letter to his attorney Stanley Furman, he wrote in part: "I have already been told that I have the run of my ward, have met old friends, one going back to 1913, and have seen my first TV. I have twice as much s.p.a.ce to walk as I had in the yard at Alcatraz. I am out in the ward up to 10:00 p.m. and I have a night call b.u.t.ton in case of illness."
In addition to being moved to a low security area of the medical prison, he was also given a private room in which he could open and close his own door. He was able to walk the vast grounds of the prison and spend time basking in the sun, which he had not been allowed to do since the beginning of his imprisonment fifty years ago in 1909. In addition to seeing his first television set, he was also able to listen to radio broadcasts freely. Stroud took employment as a bookbinder in the prison library and then as a tanner in the leather shop. Phyllis Gaddis, the daughter of the famed writer, later wrote that Stroud had made her a hand-tooled purse with his initials stamped on the face when she was a young girl.
A fellow inmate named Joseph Duhamel also took a keen interest in Stroud"s tale. He spent two years with Stroud helping to doc.u.ment his story In His Own Words for a magazine article that would later appear in Saga Magazine. The article was so popular that the issue quickly sold out and became the magazine"s only second print run in its history. To avoid detection by prison officials, Duhamel claimed that he purchased a World Almanac, and each day he would write notes while Stroud dictated to him in the prison yard at Springfield. Duhamel stated that he used oxalic acid, a chemical employed to treat leather, as a type of invisible ink. The agent would become visible with the application of heat from a clothing iron. Duhamel published the article following his release from prison.
In 1958, 20th Century Fox entertained the idea of making a movie chronicling Stroud"s life, but later dropped the project under pressure from the Prison Bureau. Actor Burt Lancaster had reportedly become immersed in Gaddis" book and he lobbied United Artists to join forces with his own production company, Norma Productions (named after his second wife Norma Anderson), to make what he considered a very important film. United Artists finally agreed and provided a budget of $2,650,000, with shooting to begin in late 1960. Lancaster would soon become obsessed with the project and he eagerly a.s.sembled his film-making team. This team included Cameraman Burnett Guffer (From Here to Eternity), who helped to create a cinematographic tone that seemed to capture the essence of Stroud"s dark world. The film"s producers, Stuart Millar and Guy Trosper, who had also adapted the screenplay, spent nearly $200,000 of their budget building mock sets of Leavenworth and Alcatraz on Columbia Pictures" back lot in Hollywood.
The Bureau of Prisons denounced Lancaster for helping to glorify the actions of a murderer and pledged to extend no support to the filming. Lancaster had also made attempts to visit Stroud and Former Correctional Officer Clifford Fish recalled an episode when Lancaster demanded that he be allowed to dock his yacht next to Alcatraz and meet Stroud in person. It was communicated to Lancaster that he would not be permitted to dock at Alcatraz and that if he approached without permission, his boat would be fired upon by tower guards. Reluctantly, Lancaster conceded.
The original director of the film was Briton Charles Crichton, but after only one month he was fired by Lancaster and replaced with John Frankenheimer. Lancaster had immersed himself in Stroud"s very complex character and the atmosphere on the set had taken on almost a symbolic significance; it was clear that this was the filming of a true epic. Lancaster would be forced to shave half of his head to accurately recreate the appearance of thinning hair and complicated makeup procedures were used to capture the effect of the aging process over time.
Burt Lancaster having makeup applied during the production of Birdman of Alcatraz.
Emotionally the filming was also very exhausting and taxing to the actors and film crew. In January of 1961, during the filming of the 1946 Alcatraz Riot at the Columbia studio, Burt Lancaster"s brother died suddenly of heart attack at the early age of fifty-five. It would prove to be an eerie and horrific scene, as the body was taken from the set on an ambulance stretcher. Despite this horrible tragedy, the crew continued filming through what would later be described as a surreal event. Guffey would later comment that it had almost felt like he was sitting in the middle of a real riot, as the actors were in a deeply emotional state following the death of Lancaster"s brother, John.
After the film was completed in February and following initial screenings and an unsuccessful editing, it was decided that the opening segments would need to be rewritten and re-filmed. Lancaster had made another commitment to film the movie Judgment at Nuremberg and would need to fulfill this obligation before returning to work on Birdman in May of 1961.
Birdman of Alcatraz finally premiered in April of 1962. Lancaster, Gaddis and Stroud"s attorney Stanley Furman, held press conferences at the various screenings, attempting to rally support for Stroud"s release. Lancaster sent personal letters inviting guests to special screenings of the movie, stating: "... I would be delighted to discuss with you the inside details of an incredible epic story. The film, based on the life of the most defiant man I have ever read or heard about. Your understanding will begin when you read the enclosed material on Stroud the killer, convict, scholar, scientist. I am convinced that only by showing you the film personally and talking with you could you comprehend my deep involvement, emotionally and intellectually, with this man and his life."
A personal invitation from Actor Burt Lancaster, inviting Bureau of Prisons Director James Bennett to a screening of Birdman of Alcatraz in 1962.
Critics declared Birdman of Alcatraz a masterpiece and Lancaster reined an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Stroud. Meanwhile, Stroud himself continued his legal battle for his own release. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy had earlier issued a statement based on prior pet.i.tions and appeals, stating that he could not "in good conscience recommend to the President that it would be in the public interest that Mr. Stroud"s sentence be commuted." But Stroud refused to give up, and by coincidence, his return to court coincided with the film"s release in Kansas City. Thomas Gaddis and Burt Lancaster attended the Kansas City hearing and for the first time, Stroud and Gaddis were able to briefly shake hands without exchanging words. This would be the only time the two would ever meet.
Stroud being led to court in Topeka, Kansas in 1959, to appeal his sentence.
Fellow prisoner Morton Sobell became a close friend of Stroud"s at Springfield. Sobell would later write that several of the other inmates hated Stroud because of his eccentric behavior. Stroud himself would never see the cla.s.sic film that had shaped his character in the public eye. However, it was rumored that he was able to watch Lancaster receive his Academy Award nomination on TV, as well as a short clip of Lancaster"s performance as the Birdman.
On the morning of November 21, 1963, Morton Sobell went to check on Stroud, who had failed to show up for their regular breakfast meeting in the small dining hall. Upon entering his cell, Morton discovered that Stroud had died peacefully in his sleep.
Stroud"s burial site at the Masonic Cemetery in Metropolis, Illinois. He is buried between his mother and his sister.
Stroud"s death was overshadowed in the national consciousness by the a.s.sa.s.sination of John F. Kennedy, and the local Metropolis Illinois newspaper contained only a brief editorial, reading in part: Stroud, 73, was discovered dead at 5:45 a.m., at the center where Stroud had been confined for the past four years. Stroud was a former resident of Metropolis, and his sister, Mrs. Mamie Schaffer, still lives here. A brother, Lawrence Marcus of Honolulu, is the only other immediate survivor. Several cousins, nieces and nephews also survive him. Arrangements for the funeral are incomplete. The body will be brought to the Aikins Funeral home, and the services will be private. Prison officials said his death was due to natural causes.
At the time of his death Robert Stroud had spent over fifty-four years in prison, until then the longest federal prison sentence ever served. Throughout his prison term, he never once expressed any remorse for his killings and was said to have bragged to other inmates about the crimes he would commit if he were ever released back into society. Despite his external a.s.sociations with affluent celebrities who believed he was no longer a threat, it is clear today that even some of his own peers looked upon Stroud as dangerous and unfit to return to society. One insight into Stroud"s character was buried deep in his inmate case file, in a letter he wrote March 1942, impounded by the mail room at USP Leavenworth. Stroud wrote: "Regardless of what we think of Hitler, and I had his number, completely, back in the 20"s, before he gained power even in Germany, he is the best possible ill.u.s.tration of the effectiveness of a fix purpose. For, regardless of his personal qualities, he has a very effective single-mindedness. And if I have one good quality, it is the same kind of single-mindedness."
During an interview conducted for this book, I asked former Alcatraz inmate Jim Quillen if he had any final opinions on Stroud and pa.s.sed him an original copy of Stroud"s Digest on Bird Diseases. He asked me if I"d like him to sign it and rather than offer any spoken opinion, Quillen pulled out a pen and wrote a small inscription on the inside cover, which read: "Knew Bob Stroud and think he was a smart man but a psycho." Perhaps the famed Public Enemy Number One and fellow inmate, Alvin Karpis said it best in his 1980 memoir chronicling his twenty-five years on Alcatraz. He simply wrote: "... If I had the responsibility of deciding whether or not to release Robert Stroud I would have reached the same conclusion of the parole board."
Alcatraz on Trial.
The Life of Henri Young.
(Author"s Note: There is a long running debate as to whether Young is correctly referenced as "Henri" or "Henry." His inmate case file provides references to both, and most origin doc.u.ments refer to him as Henry. However, Young signed his name as Henri, and his attorney James M. MacInnis also referred to him both verbally and in written form as Henri. As a result, he is referenced as Henri throughout this chapter.) Henri Young.
In 1941, the name Henri Young would saturate newspaper headlines, with stories portraying the prisoner as a casualty of the strict and unrelenting regimen on Alcatraz. Young"s trial for the murder of fellow inmate Rufus McCain quickly turned into a debate over the appropriateness of confinement practices on Alcatraz. In the end, Warden Johnston found himself on the witness stand defending his correctional staff against allegations of physical and psychological abuse.
The premise that Henri Young was in fact a non-violent and pa.s.sive inmate driven to murder by his years of confinement, allegedly in moldy and damp underground dungeons, was completely erroneous. In Warden Johnston"s personal memoir of his life at Alcatraz, he described Henri Young as an "alert, shrewd, intelligent, cunning, conspiring criminal with the exhibitionist"s desire to dramatize his position and relate his misdeeds." Young"s inmate file contains an unpublished and unfinished autobiography that he penned after the trial. His memoir reveals a horrendously disturbed and deeply troubled life, with torrid tales of youthful crimes, s.e.xual obscenities, and many painful memories. He claimed to have witnessed the brutal suicide of a relative at only thirteen years of age. Henri Young would become one of the most incorrigible inmates ever to reside on Alcatraz.
Henri Theodore Young was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on June 20, 1911. He described his own early life in a memoir he began writing during his years in prison: I was born of Helen E. Young in Kansas City, Mo. Father David E. Young was present. Preceeding [sic] me by 2 years was one girl, Ruth E. Young. Additions were made to our family by one younger girl Naomi and one still younger boy David C. Young. This completes my family.
The true sequence of my earliest memories is hazy to me, but mother told me of fighting with a neighbor woman over some toys her boy and I had some trouble... Another time a cousin and I received a spanking for urinating in a garden. Then appears a ghastly white-faced boy who seemed delighted in eating caterpillars. This was repulsive.
We moved from Kansas City to northern Missouri. On a farm there father worked as a laborer. The owners and our family lived in one house. I one day drew a funny picture on the wall of the owners compartment in blue crayon. I would not admit to it. The woman owner was most gracious and I refused to become angry. Here was also a Negro woman cook from whom I would not accept food.
Father bought me a pony. This pony would head for his home each time I got on him. Mother came from a small stream dragging a turtle behind her on a rope, She cooked it. It was delicious. Our family moved from this place to a rickety old farm of our own. Once my uncle Bob whose farm was adjacent beat his horses terribly in full view of our farmhouse. I stood in the window and watched that, but G.o.d has been kind enough to obliterate all details of that horror... During hog killing time father became angry because his revolver would not shoot. He killed the hog with an axe. On the fence post nearby he placed the bladder of the hog commenting that "dried out it would make a good baby rattle".
I was definitely hurt when my parents one night removed pigeons from the cote, killed them and made me hold their warm bodies. I feel that pain now...
Young"s memoir also indicates that his family lived in extreme poverty. It reveals that there were many mealtimes without enough food to go around the family table, that Henri only had one pair of trousers, and that he even had to wear his sister"s dresses while his mother washed his clothes. In one instance, he recalled spending time at an aunt"s impoverished home. He wrote that it was "filthy," and that "hogs and chickens walked about inside the rooms." To make matters worse, a war was raging within the walls of his family"s home. From his earliest childhood, his mother and father engaged into intense bouts of fighting. Henri recalled one fight so fierce that out of desperate fear he slept all night under the house. His aunt Amelia would later claim that Henri had learned his future trade of burglary through the encouragement of his father. His parents divorced when Henri was only fourteen, and during this period his school grades steadily declined until he ultimately failed nearly all of his courses. He later admitted to harboring deep resentment over his family"s breakup and his adult writings show that he was still troubled over the disintegration: I loved mother, but then I hated her being so stately and elegant away from home to drop into a complacent att.i.tude in our home. She had cla.s.s, but would use it only on occasions, which threw her into painful blunders. Did she work to save that home? I know, know, know she did. But father, she did not know how to work. Neither did father. The marks of respect they should have observed were lacking. She hurt me often by denouncing my "false pride."
When Henri was seventeen, his mother remarried. Her new husband, Ammie Payne, had six children from a previous marriage, two of whom Henri refers to as "blunted mentally." This new marriage was extremely painful for Henri. He clearly adored his mother, and constantly referred to her kindness and immense beauty. But by his own admission, he carried a profound and unwarranted bitterness towards his new stepfather. There were ten children under one roof and Henri confessed that this caused him a feeling of shame and embarra.s.sment. However, Ammie was in fact quite good to Henri. He taught him how to drive his car and worked hard at being a good role model but Henri did not reciprocate. Instead, he began stealing Ammie"s tools and selling them cheaply for spending money. He also started spending more and more time away from home. He later would comment: "I seemed separated from my family." He left home permanently at age nineteen.
After short stints of odd jobs, Henri and his friend Elmer Webb rode freight trains out west to California. Young toured the Pacific Corridor as a drifter, eventually joining a traveling carnival where he worked in an animal sideshow for a middle-aged English couple. He indicated that he liked the work, which consisted of helping with show preparations, setting up the tents and selling tickets. But after working for half a season, Henri lost interest in the carnival and started taking on odd jobs while continuing to rove westward. He worked for a brief stint cleaning fruit dying equipment and even spent time as a respected firefighter in Quincy, California.
On October 4, 1932, during an abrupt train stop in Miles City, Montana, Henri and his friend Elmer robbed a fellow drifter, leaving him tied and gagged in a boxcar. Two employees of the Pacific Railroad found the victim in a state of extreme hypothermia due to the near freezing weather. A 1935 police report describes how during his arrest, Young was asked if he had realized that the man could have frozen to death if the two workers hadn"t found him in time. He is quoted as stating: "He was a degenerate and I didn"t think it would have been any loss to humanity if he had..." Young was sentenced to serve a term of fifteen months at the Dear Lodge Penitentiary in Montana.
Henri was released from prison in June of 1933, only to be arrested again on October 9th . This time he was convicted of burglary in the State of Washington, and was sentenced to the Walla Walla Penitentiary for one year. Young served his time and was paroled on October 12, 1934. Only days after leaving prison, he obtained a gun and held up a man in the parking lot of the Pacific Hotel in Spokane, Washington. Young demanded that the man drive him to Cheney, where police spotted the car careening recklessly and gave chase. Young would make his first escape from the police in a hail of gunfire.
Young would take part in another kidnapping on October 26, 1934, when he and his accomplice Sherman Baxter, who he had met while incarcerated at the Montana State Penitentiary, abducted a man in Spokane. They drove their victim to a remote location in or near the town of Medical Lake, Washington, and proceeded to rob him. A beating him, they wired him to a tree, where he remained undiscovered until the following day. The duo painted their stolen car and drove to Portland, Oregon, where they picked up Jack Baker, a friend of Henri"s from his carnival days in California.
On November 2, 1934, the twenty-three-year-old Henri Young and his two accomplices robbed the First National Bank of Lind, Washington. During the hold up, Young forced cashier J.F. Gibson onto the vault floor while they searched for cash. The three men made off with $405.00 and were captured only 40 minutes later. In the arrest report, Young was described as being arrogant and boastful of his crime. The three young men stood trial and Henri"s accomplices were sentenced to serve 15 years at McNeil Island, while Henri was sentenced to 20 years. Young"s days of freedom had now come to a halt...
Prison life at McNeil was tough, and Young"s own accounts describe violent fistfights and forced s.e.xual encounters. He quickly became known as a difficult inmate and on January 14, 1935, United States Attorney J.M. Simpson wrote to the Attorney General, pleading for Young"s transfer to Alcatraz. Simpson wrote: I think Henry Young is the worst and most dangerous criminal with whom I"ve ever dealt, although I have prosecuted and hung two individuals on the charge of murder. Young"s record is bad. He served a term of 15 months in the penitentiary at Dear Lodge, Montana, for the crime of robbery. The circ.u.mstances were very brutal.
Four months later E.B. Swope, Warden of McNeil Island and future Warden of Alcatraz, wrote to the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, also advocating Young"s transfer to The Rock. Swope wrote that Young was "fomenting as much trouble as he possibly can." He went on to describe Henri further: I am sure that we are going to have more or less trouble with him. He is vicious, unscrupulous, and is a fomenter of trouble, but still has enough ingenuity to keep undercover. I would very much appreciate that if a transfer is going to be made, that it be done at an early date.
Young Arrives at Alcatraz.
Henri Young was considered one of the most incorrigible inmates ever to serve time at Alcatraz. His extensive conduct reports depict a volatile and hostile nature.
Henri Young arrived on Alcatraz on June 1, 1935, as inmate AZ-244. Just one month later, Young would receive his first write-up for misconduct. Young and inmate Francis L. Keating were reprimanded for talking loudly during mealtime, which was strictly forbidden. His menacing att.i.tude would only intensify under the strict regulations at Alcatraz. Young"s first trip to solitary confinement began on July 17, 1935, when he refused to shake out clothes during a work a.s.signment in the laundry. He was also put on a restricted diet, which usually consisted of one full meal a day with two additional servings of bread and water.
Young"s arrogant and belligerent att.i.tude only grew worse during his imprisonment on Alcatraz. On January 21, 1936, Young was written up for the following violations: JOINING IN STRIKE, SUSPECTED OF SABATOGE, Having been reported by Jr. Officer Dixon as having dumped 400 lbs. of vegetables in the vegetable room of the kitchen bas.e.m.e.nt, before walking out on the strike, he was immediately placed in open "D" Block, in a day or two later confessed dumping the vegetables.
- C.J. Shuttleworth, Deputy Warden.
Young would be identified as one of the leaders of the general work strike and three days later he was written up as "a noisemaker, insolent, and constantly trying to keep other prisoners from going to work." Henri Young had solidified his reputation as a troublemaker and his antics were infuriating to the correctional staff. He would routinely yell threats, bang his tin cup against the cell bars, and throw items (including feces) from his cell.
After spending almost four years on Alcatraz, Young joined in a failed escape attempt with fellow inmates Doc Barker, Dale Stamphill, William Martin and Rufus McCain, on January 13, 1939. Young acted as a lookout while Martin and McCain quickly cut through the bars the same bars that had been termed tool-proof. The attempted escape resulted in significant injuries of Stamphill and the shooting death of Barker. Rumors began circulating through the prison that at the last moment, McCain had revealed that he couldn"t swim just when they made it to the water"s edge, and had begged to turn back as soon as they launched their makeshift raft in the rough bay waters.
Young and the other conspirators were placed in the upper solitary cells in A Block. An entry in Young"s conduct report states that he was moved from A Block to D Block isolation cell #587 on January 27, 1939, with continued loss of all his privileges. An official hearing on the escape resulted in Young forfeiting all 2,400 days of his statutory good time. His record does indicate a brief period in which no disciplinary action was taken. This lasted until July 9, 1939, when he again incited a disturbance, which was described as follows: "Loud yelling, pounding, cursing and attempting to throw water upon an officer. This prisoner was yelling and pounding the front of his cell with the frame of his bed."
Henri Young"s cell in the Solitary Confinement Unit, located on the upper tier of A Block. This photograph was used during Young"s murder trial, in an attempt to ill.u.s.trate the harsh confinement practices at Alcatraz.
Contemporary photos showing the interior of the upper A-Block solitary confinement cells.
Attorney James MacInnis is seen here on the upper tier of A Block, examining the closed-front solitary confinement cells.
Rufus McCain, the Alcatraz inmate murdered by Henri Young.
Rufus McCain.
Rufus Roy McCain was a thirty-seven-year-old offender who seemed to share many traits in common with Henri Young. McCain was the youngest of seven children. His mother died of an unknown illness when he was only five years old and his father remarried two years later, and moved the family to Broken Bow, Oklahoma. McCain"s Alcatraz records reflect that he didn"t get along with his stepmother, whom he later claimed had mistreated him, and that as a result he was constantly in conflict with his family. He left home at the age of eighteen and took a job in the oil fields as a driller. McCain claimed to have lived a normal life in a middle cla.s.s household, working for the same company until he was thirty-two years of age. His file indicates that he drank liquor frequently, and that his only recreational activity was watching motion picture shows.
McCain"s first brush with crime occurred in 1931, when he robbed some Indian gravesites, taking valuable relics including jewelry and ceremonial artifacts. For this crime he was sentenced to serve one year at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. McCain"s prison time was served uneventfully and upon his release, he was unable to find employment. In late 1932, he robbed a bank, hoping to secure enough money to live comfortably until he could find work. He then committed another bank robbery in Oklahoma, and was quickly captured and sentenced to serve twelve years in the Arkansas Penitentiary. Rufus McCain was considered by the prison staff to be very resourceful, and he succeeded in making his escape in April of 1935. On May 14th he stole an automobile with accomplice Samuel Marion Day, and using firearms, they held up the Idabel National Bank in Oklahoma for $2,600 in cash. The two convicts kidnapped two bank cashiers as hostages and Sam Day was killed in a fierce gun battle following the robbery.
McCain was committed to the Federal Penitentiary at Leavenworth on July 11, 1935. He was subsequently transferred to Alcatraz on October 26, 1935, as a result of his violent outbursts and cla.s.sification as a high escape risk. McCain had lived a normal life into his thirties, but he had since developed into a violent prisoner. In May of 1938 he attacked inmate Ralph Sullivan with a knife fashioned out of bra.s.s. The knife was seven inches long, with edges resembling "a razor"s edge filed to a sharp point," and the handles were wrapped with electrical tape. McCain was quickly spotted with the knife by correctional officer J.J. Lapsey, and he was stopped before he could inflict any injuries. He continued to build a record of violent acts and rebellion against his guards, and therefore he was no stranger to the solitary confinement cells in A and D Blocks. His conduct report would eventually begin to show similarities to Henri Young"s. The two reports show several identical date entries for offenses and misbehavior.
There is no official doc.u.mentation indicating a reason for the enmity that developed between Young and McCain. Rumors and subsequent trial testimony from other inmates would indicate that McCain had been making death threats toward Young following the failed escape. There were also the tales of McCain panicking during their escape attempt while in the water with Young, and begging to return to sh.o.r.e to reinforce their raft. Many would later state that Young directly blamed McCain for their capture and the death of Barker. Whatever the case may be, their animosity would result in a violent confrontation on August 29, 1939.
McCain had earned back work privileges, and had been given a job a.s.signment as an orderly in D Block. On that day, as McCain pa.s.sed Henri during his noontime lunch break, Young pulled out a dagger and lunged at McCain. Officer Joe Steere witnessed the altercation, and quickly slammed the cell door closed before Young was able to inflict any serious injury on McCain. Young was placed in isolation in D Block, and then transferred to an isolation cell in A Block on September 15, 1939. Less than two months later, Young was written up for violating the silence rule. a.s.sociate Warden E.J. Miller revoked his yard privileges for one week after Officer Richard Dennison reported that there had been "continued talking even when I was known in the vicinity." On December 15, 1939, prison officers conducted a search of Henri"s cell, and their findings would again place Henri into isolation. Officer M.A. Amende wrote in Young"s conduct report: CONTRABAND IN CELL. While searching this inmate"s cell at 2 P.M. this date, I found a bra.s.s dagger hidden in the mattress. This weapon was fashioned from a bra.s.s plunger used to flush toilet. Report #1898 by M.A. Amende, Jr. Officer. ACTION: Denied any knowledge of the weapon. To be placed in solitary confinement on restricted diet and to forfeit all privileges until further orders. E.J. Miller, a.s.sociate Warden.
On September 15, 1939, Young was transferred to A Block with a small group of other inmates, and here he was moved into improvised isolation quarters. Fourteen months later, Henri Young was released back into the general population and given an immediate work a.s.signment as a janitor in the furniture factory, which was then located on the top floor of the Model Shop building.
On December 3, 1940, the feud that had been smoldering between Henri and Rufus McCain finally turned deadly. Henri, now twenty-nine years of age, fatally stabbed McCain on the second floor of the Model Shop Building.
Young later provided his own account of the slaying in trial testimony. He stated in part: That morning I went into breakfast. McCain was sitting across the room from me. He sneered at me and ran his finger across his throat. He meant he was going to cut my throat. I had a chill. It was like a cold, clammy snake had been put under my skin. When I went out, my head was burning. I went to my cell and got my coat and hat. At the foot of the steps I saw McCain. He made a filthy remark. I stopped and looked at him. Everything seemed to go blank. I went away.
The events of McCain"s Murder are also described in several accounts given by correctional officers who filed reports on the incident: Memorandum.
December 3, 1940.
To: J. A. Johnston, Warden.
From: E. J. Miller, a.s.sociate Warden.
Re: ATTACK OF YOUNG #244-Az on Mc Cain #267-Az 12-3-1940.
Attached are copies of reports from the following officers relative to the attack by Young #244-Az on McCain #267-Az this date: Junior Officer R. F. Spencer Junior Officer Marshall G. Rose Senior Officer Frank W. Mach Paul M. Pone, Foreman Clothing Factory Junior Officer Wesley C. Hicks Lieutenant H. W. Weinhold.
At approximately 10 a.m. this date Officer Ordway in the Captain"s Office received a telephone call from Officer Pringle, Model Roof Patrol, that there was trouble in the Tailor Shop. Officer Ordway relayed the message to the a.s.sociate Warden and then the a.s.sociate Warden sent Officer Ordway to the work area. Lieutenant Weinhold called from the Tailor Shop and stated to the a.s.sociated Warden that #267-McCain had been stabbed in the abdomen by another inmate, Young #244, who came down from the Model Shop.
Lieutenant Weinhold stated that the wound was bad and immediately a truck was sent to the work area to take inmate McCain to the Hospital. In the meantime Dr. Ritchey and Dr. Green were notified that an inmate had been stabbed and McCain was checked into the Hospital about 10:05 A.M.
The a.s.sociate Warden tried to get a statement from McCain but could secure nothing of value.
E. J. Miller.
a.s.sociate Warden.
Copy.
Alcatraz, California.
December 3, 1940.
Mr. E. J. Miller, a.s.sociate Warden.
Subject: Inmate Young #244-Az Leaving Model Shop at 10:00 A. M.
From: R. F. Spencer, Junior Officer.
At ten A.M this date I made my count as usual, and every man was at his particular job and accounted for.
Immediately after making check I returned to stockroom where we were taking monthly inventory. Hardly, had I started working when upon hearing a whistle blast I stepped to a window to see what was wrong, I saw at first glance Officer Mach struggling with the above-named inmate on the landing in front of shoe factory.
I went down and took charge of inmate Young and Mr. Mach returned to his shop. Within a few moments Officer Rose relieved me of my charge, taking him to the cell house, I returning to my post.
Respectfully submitted, /S/ R.F. Spencer.
Junior Officer.