Thursday, January 13, 2011

Jan. 13, 1939: Doc Barker's Escape from Alcatraz


Arthur R. "Doc" Barker picked the wrong day to escape from Alcatraz. Attempting an escape from the newly opened (1934) federal prison, situated in the frigid waters of San Francisco Bay, wasn't a good idea to begin with. But maybe Doc didn't have a calendar handy, because the day he and four others chose to escape was Friday, the 13th.

Thanks to budget shortfalls during the Depression, the cell bars in D block (the segregation unit for unruly prisoners) were of the old military prison style and, therefore, easier to cut through. That and a scheduling oversight that left D block unguarded for nearly 90 minutes, made it ideal for an escape attempt. Using a homemade tool called a "screw jack," Barker and his fellow inmates (Henry Young, Rufus McCain, Ty Martin, and Dale Stamphill) worked on the window bars for an hour each night.

After the 3:00 a.m. count, the five men crawled out of the window into the frigid night (they should have picked a better time of year, too) and made their way down the island's steep cliffs. They stripped naked except for their socks (really?) and used their clothes to tie some driftwood and a broken chair into a raft. Guards noticed that the men were missing before they could even get in the water and immediately began a search of the island. Young, Martin, and McCain were quickly surrounded and immediately gave up. Barker and Stamphill took to the water, hoping to swim for it, but the tide kept pushing them back to the island. They were intercepted by a search boat and Guards opened fire with a .45 and a Tommy gun. Stamphill was shot in the leg and Barker in the head. He died later that afternoon in the prison hospital, despite their best (albeit limited) efforts to save him.

READ MORE: Alcatraz Alumni Association

READ MORE: Wikipedia

IN PRINT: Alcatraz Most Wanted: Profiles of the Most Famous Prisoners on the Rock

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