The Battle for Alcatraz
A desperate convict escape attempt, brutal murders and Officer Harold Stites
Alcatraz is one of the most famous prisons in the world and its history is understandably dark with harsh conditions, escape attempts and murders.
The 2nd May 1946 was the beginning of a dark and bloody episode in the history of Alcatraz prison, an episode that saw two guards and three prisoners killed and a further two inmates executed for their role in the murder of Correctional Officer William A. Miller.
The escape plan itself was fairly straight forward and planned well by Bernard Coy, a 46 year old convicted bank robber, who had been watching the security procedures of the guards in C-block and noticed several problems. The main one being that the gun gallery that overwatched the block only had metal bars around it with no netting and the guards followed time tables which could be predicted.
Around lunch time Officer William Miller was overseeing Coy, who was sweeping the floor when he was called over to the C block door by Marvin Hubbard who had just returned from cleaning the kitchen areas with a carving knife hidden on his person unseen by Officer Burdette, the guard overseeing the kitchen work. Whilst Miller was carrying out a check on Hubbard to make sure he hadn't taken any contraband he was attacked from behind by Coy and between the two men they knocked Miller out, grabbed his keys and released Joe Cretzer and Clarence Carnes. With Miller bound, gagged and placed in Cell 403, Hubbard put on the guard’s jacket and cap and directed to keep watch on Broadway whilst Coy opened up the C-block service corridor where he could get his tool for the next part of the escape. Coy then scaled up to the gun gallery with a home made tool to spread the bars at a weak spot. Having greased himself up and starved himself for a few weeks Coy was able to slip in and lay in wait for the gallery guard, Officer Burt Burch. After surprising Burch and fighting him, finally choking him into submission he restrained him and lowered his Colt M1911, clubs and keys down to the others below.
Quickly moving on D-block they surprised Officer Cecil Corwin and restrained him. The plotters had promised to release Rufus “Whitey” Franklin from solitary but they only had the key for the outer door. There was talk of getting Corwin to assist at gun point but Franklin pointed out if Corwin entered the wrong code on purpose at the leverbox it would lead to an alarm going off so instead they wanted Coy to open it from the gun gallery lever box but, again, there was the issue that Solitary cells could not be opened without the guard in the gallery going to the armoury, getting permission from a higher authority and also get the assistance of extra guards if needed for support. Cretzner told Franklin that he would have to stay as the danger of detection was too great. Other prisoners clammered for release and Sam Shockley made so much noise and shouting that they feared the commotion would alert the guards so Shockely and Miran Thompson joined the attempt whilst others stayed in their cells unwilling to take part. Whilst this happened Officer Bristow, who was returning to duties across Broadway, was overpowered and captured as was Officer Lageson.
The plan was to break out of the main doors using the guards keys and then using the guards as cover move to the launch (which docked between 14:00 and 14:30 daily) and head for the freedom of the mainland.
Luckily Miller had broken protocol by holding on to Key 107 and putting it in his trouser pockets, this was the yard key and was meant to stay with the gun gallery guard but he had held onto it so as not to disturb Burch whilst he was on lunch when the guards realised what was happening Miller quickly dropped the yard key down the toilet in the cell they were being held in. In the confusion of what keys to use the prisoners managed to jam the lock - the escape attempt had all but failed but they did not know it.
Officer Burdette became suspicious seeing Coy through a half opened door walking around semi naked and went to investigate only to be captured by Cretzner. There was now quite a collection of guards held captive in cells and Coy was certain one of them had to have the key. Miller was dragged from the cell and beaten for the whereabouts of the key but he maintained that he had given it back to Burch. The other guards were searched and then cell 403 but no key was found. Officer Stucker saw what was going on from the basement door and locked it behind him and called the Armory telling them of the breakout but the Armory were slow to respond believing he was overreacting. To be on the safe side though, Officer Fish in the Armory did telephone the other positions in the block but recieved no reply, Captain Weinhold decided to inspect the cell block personally. The Captain marched into the block at the same time that Coy had managed to retrieve the key from the toilet in cell 403. A fight did break out between Shockley and the Captain as he was being restrained which the official won. With three more officers quickly falling into captivity it was becoming obvious that the escape plan was falling apart as the time was now 14:30 and a new count was due. Many of the prisoners returned back to their cells as it was obvious a mass escape was impossible and as yet, with no one killed, they were safe from further prosecution.
In frustration Coy opened fire on guards in nearby watch towers wounding one, officer Besk, and he also got the attention of Associate Warden Ed Miller who was carrying out a reconnaissance and encountered Officer Cornerford as Coy fired on him from the cell block.
The alarm was raised and the area locked down.
Back in the block, Coy was certain he had killed all four perimeter guards and that they could get away but they found the key no longer opened the lock as the earlier attempts had jammed the lock. Thompson and Shockely urged Cretzer to open fire with a Colt pistol on the captured guards so that they wouldn't be able to testify who was in the escape attempt. He openned fire in the enclosed space with Captain Weinhold shot in the chest, Miller in the arm, Corwin the head, Lageson in the cheek, Baker the legs, Simpson in the chest and Burdette, Sundstorm and Bristow wounded. Cretzner told Carnes to slit the throats of any of the surviving guards but Carnes, hesitant to murder in cold blood, walked around the wounded and came back to the gunamn and said they were all dead. Carnes, Thompson and Shockley then returned to their cells. William Miller would later die from his wounds.
At 18:00 another armed reconnaissance was organised under Lieutenant Bergen. The aim was to break into the gun gallery and gain the upper ground over the Prisoners and force them to surrender or be killed in a shoot out.
One of the guards was Senior Corrections Officer Harold Porter Stites.
Stites had been born in Kansas on 3rd June 1897 and is recorded as living in Topeka Ward 2, Shawnee, Kansas on the 1900 Federal census with his father F. Herbert Stites, his mother Jennie and brother Fred. By the 1910 census his father had died but he had a brother Edwin and Herbert.
He signed up to the Army for World War One (on 5th June 1918) where according to his Draft card he had been working as a Head waiter and was described as having blue eyes and brown hair. His grave stone showed that he served as a Private First Class in 27th Infantry division which took part in the bloody fighting in France breaking the Hindenberg line.
Post war he moved to Levenworth and began working as a prison guard. He married Bessie Etue on 21st November 1925 and they settled down to having a family. By the 1940 census the family were living in Los Angeles and he had a Daughter, Thelma (b. 1927), James (b. 1929), Robert (b. 1931) and Herbert (b. 1937). It is strange that the family lived in LA rather than on Alcatraz island itself as the guards worked six days straight with one day off and their families lived in close proximity. Even the Guard's family's laundry was washed and repaired by the Prisoners. According to Anna Thuman's book (see references) if a guard was well liked, like her step father Walter Donnington, then you could expect your belongings to be taken care of but if you were disliked then you could find items missing, ripped or buttons torn off.
One can only assume that Stites didn't want his family trapped on the island should something happen. After all at Levenworth the prisoners would escape and disappear, on Alcatraz they could attack the guard's families, take hostages or even commit murder with relative impunity which was a constant worry of the families when an escape attempt was under way.
On 23rd of May 1938, senior Corrections Officer Royal C. Cline was beaten to death by three convicts who then escaped onto the roof of the industries building. They attempted to take the guard tower on the roof and threw scrap metal at the guard on duty. Officer Stites returned fire with a rifle and the .45 revolver. Inmates Franklin and Lucas were injured but Limerick was mortally wounded in the head and died soon afterwards. Stites was called into an enquiry into the death of Limerick but was eventually exonerated. It makes sense that in the wake of this that they would have been moved off the island and Stites reassigned for the duration. This would tie into the 1940 census result showing the family in LA.
Now he was part of the team that charged the C-block gun gallery. They laid down heavy suppressing fire whilst other guards tried to free Burch. The prisoners returned fire causing the guards, who were trapped in the confined space of the gallery, to take wounds. Stites was hit in the back and shouted out "I'm hit." He was quickly pulled to safety with the other wounded and the assault abandoned but he died before he could reach medical assistance. There is a large question mark over who shot Stites as the bullet hit him in the back as he moved past a window with none of the guards with him in the gallery seeing a gunshot from below so it looks like it might have been friendly fire from the guards outside. He was, however, pronounced killed by an unknown assailant.
The US Marines were called in to settle the siege. At 19:00 another rescue attempt was mounted and unarmed guards rushed D-block under heavy cover from Gun galleries. One was wounded but they managed to recover the wounded guards and got them out to safety. When all was clear the barrage began. Holes were drilled in the roof of the block and grenades dropped down to corner the prisoners in a Utility corridor. By the next day they telephoned Warden Johnston to broker a deal but were told unconditional surrender was the only option. Later that day a guard on patrol was shot at and the barrage began again until 21:00. The following day armed groups of guards would sporadically run through the corridor and fire off rounds. At 9.40 the bodies of Cretzer, Coy and Hubbard were discovered and the siege was lifted.
Senior Corrections officer Harold Porter Stites was buried at Golden Gate national cemetery, San Bruno, California on 5th July. His daughter Thelma gave birth to his first grandchild the following year. His wife Bessie is buried in the same plot.
For their part in the murder of Officer Miller, Shockley and Thompson were sentenced to death together in the San Quentin Gas chamber and Clarence Carnes was sentenced to life as he was only 19 and too young to stop them from killing Miller.
References:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10819 For details of his grave and death.
http://www.bop.gov/about/history/docs/fallen_hero_cline.pdf on the 1938 breakout attempt
http://www.bop.gov/about/history/docs/fallen_hero_stites.pdf on the death of Stites
Census' information from Ancestery.co.uk and the 1940 census here.
A Brief History of Alcatraz by the US Department of Justice, Kindle edition
Alcatraz School girl; A memoir my life on the Rock, Anna Thumann, Kindle edition
Thank you Chris, I was fortunate to visit Alcatraz, as a tourist I should add 😉, so could place this event in context of the sites, smells and sounds of the place. 👍