My first time going to
Alcatraz was in 1998, as a chaperone for my son’s class field trip.
We boarded a bus headed for San Francisco and caught a ferry to
Alcatraz Island. I remember how excited the kids were, this was the
biggest field trip of the year.
Alcatraz Island off the
coast of San Francisco is commemorating 50 years of the fable escape
of three prisoners in 1962. The three men who escaped from Alcatraz
were, two brothers John and Clarence Anglin and Frank Morris. All
three men were serving time for bank robbery. It was supposed to be a
fourth man, but he had technical problems and had to pull out. That
is how authorities found out about how they escaped. The men hatched
a plan to dig their way out. Using spoons and forks to dig holes in
the crumbling brick walls, surrounding the air vents in their cells.
Creating a crawl space, they pierced the
six-and-a-half-inch thick walls until they reached a utility corner.
They created mannequin heads out of paper, paint and hair they stole
from the prison barber shop. They made rafts out of raincoats they
stole. The night of the getaway they left the heads in the beds. They
were able to shimmy out through a roof vent, to get an 8 hour head
start before the authorities knew of the escape.
Authorities still have
arrest warrants out for the three men, believing their still alive.
No bodies were found in the ice cold water. These three men showed
real ingenuity to come up with such an elaborate plan. If their still
alive they would be in their late 70s or early 80s. These three men
were the only ones to successfully escape from Alcatraz. I don’t
think they are still alive if they are they should be arrested.
LM
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