Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years

by Michael Esslinger

  On May 2, 1946, six convicts embarked on one of the most violent escape attempts ever made on the Rock. Many historians rank this as the most significant event in the island’s twenty-nine-year history as a Federal penitentiary, and it was appropriately labeled by the contemporary press as the “Battle of Alcatraz.” Of the thirty-nine convicts who attempted to escape over the years, only one successfully plotted and executed a plan to secure weapons – and they were used with deadly consequences. In the wake of the conflict, two correctional officers and three inmates lay dead from bullet wounds and several others were left seriously injured. This legendary escape attempt would remain a topic of discussion by inmates and guards alike until the prison’s closure in 1963.

  THE CONSPIRATORS

  Bernard Paul Coy

  Bernard Paul Coy was the primary architect of one of the most ingenious escape plots ever implemented at Alcatraz. He would be the only inmate in the prison’s history to successfully secure prison firearms.

  Forty-six-year-old Bernard Paul Coy was a hillbilly bank robber serving out the remainder of a twenty-five-year sentence on The Rock. Bernie was born to a hauntingly poor Kentucky hill family of one brother and four sisters, all of whom suffered the consequences of extreme poverty. By the time Bernie reached his late teens, his teeth were horribly decayed and he was afflicted with excruciatingly painful gums. It was rumored that Coy had been neglected as a child and had received frequent beatings from his father. Even in his earliest years, Coy had allegedly exhibited violent tendencies.

  At sixteen years of age, Bernie decided to leave home and enlist in the U.S. Army. It was in this context that he would enter into his first battle: World War I. Coy served in the Army with great distinction until the war ended in 1918. After finishing his tour of duty, he fell in love with a woman from Wisconsin and the couple soon married. In order to maintain a steady income, Bernie reenlisted in the Army in 1920. As the war effort came to a close, Coy frequently found himself in trouble and it was during this period that he changed the direction of his life, and began moving toward his eventual destiny. In 1921, Bernie was arraigned in Chicago for abandoning his post assignment and going AWOL. He was found guilty of desertion and was sent back to Camp Taylor in Kentucky, where he served fifteen days in the military detention center. Soon afterward, he received a dishonorable discharge and therefore had to make the transition back to civilian life with few job opportunities and limited prospects.

  Coy feverishly attempted to find work, in hopes of making a decent life for himself and his wife. He was a gifted craftsman and artist, and made use of his talents as a decorator and painter. However, despite his earnest attempts, the Great Depression had left him unemployed and desperate to support himself. Bernie found himself backed into a corner with few options left by which to survive. In 1923 Coy was arrested in Draper, Wisconsin, for violating liquor laws along with an assault and battery charge. He was released with time served and fined $250, which he clearly could not afford to pay in his state of unemployment. He was convicted of larceny charges in 1928 and 1930, and eventually served nearly five years in the Wisconsin State Penitentiary.

  Reading Coy’s letters from the years prior to his Alcatraz escape attempt, it would be nearly impossible to predict his violent and premeditated break for freedom. His letters articulate what appear to be a true desire to reform, as is illustrated in these excerpts written to the superintendent of the prison where he was incarcerated on August 30, 1936:

  I regret that this request [for release consideration] must be made under the present unfavorable conditions, rather than under circumstances relevant to the continued progress of some noble social service. Please believe me sincere in my regret, and if there is a loyalty of promise incapable of future betrayal, you may be assured, Sir, that your confidence in me, however great or small, shall never be abused. Since my incarceration, I have made a record which is the envy of everyone. Not one time have I been disobedient, or sullen, nor have I set an example which would not be commendable in the best society. I am a firm believer in discipline, and regulate my actions according to my belief. I believe I have proved myself trustworthy. I am president of the Holy Names Society here inside the prison, a Catholic society, and I know that I have acquitted my office satisfactorily every moment. I do know right from wrong, and certainly try to be well thought of by everyone I meet. The Army and the World War, at age seventeen, gave me a background upon which to build a life equally as remarkable as your own; and I may yet put the right foot first. I am not too proud to ask for help, nor too weak to win if refused. I am not guilty of any crime and have nothing of which to be ashamed. Your will is my determination, Sir, in prison or, at home. More than this no man can promise.

  Only six months after composing this letter Coy was released from prison, but he was soon involved in another crime. On April 18, 1937, armed with a sawed-off shotgun, Coy robbed the National Bank of New Haven Kentucky with a friend named Delbert Lee Stiles, and a relative named Richard Coy. The three fugitives made off with just over two thousand dollars and retreated into a small cave by the Rolling Fork River. Three days after the heist, local farmers noticed smoke from their campfire and alerted officials. During the trial that followed, Coy was identified by cashier A.E. Kirkpatrick as the man who had walked up to the cage, drawn a sawed-off shotgun and held him at bay while an accomplice scooped up the money. On June 3, 1937, Bernard Paul Coy was sentenced to twenty-five years and five days in a federal penitentiary. The trio would all be sent to serve out their respective sentences at the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta.

  Bernie did not adjust well to prison life and frequently found himself in isolation as punishment for engaging in altercations with other inmates. It is recorded that Coy physically attacked another inmate with a brutal implement consisting of a razor blade mounted onto a toothbrush handle and this incident would earn him his one-way ticket to Alcatraz. Bernie arrived at Alcatraz on July 31, 1937, and he got off to a rough start during his first years on the Rock. On September 21, 1937 he participated in a work strike stating: “I’m not a big shot or looking for glory, I just want to be locked up in my cell and not be bothered by anyone.” He thus received his first introduction to D Block, and was placed into segregation for one week.

  On April 4, 1939 a heated dispute broke out between Bernie and fellow inmate Joe Varsalonawhile they were working in the prison kitchen. In a violent fury, Bernie hit Varsalona, knocking him to the floor. One of the guards came up from the basement, and after trying unsuccessfully to break up the fight, he summoned other correctional officers. But before the other guards could intervene, Varsalona grabbed a butcher knife and inflicted several minor stab wounds on Coy. Bernie was admitted to the prison hospital for seven days and then released back into the general prison population. His first aborted escape attempt came in December of the same year, when it was suspected that Bernie was trying to cut through a steel window-guard in the bakeshop. His actions were quickly halted and as a punitive measure he was thrown into the strip cell and placed on a restricted diet.

  Joe Varsalona

  It wasn’t long before Bernie found himself back in the general prison population, quietly serving out his time. He soon became what could be considered a model inmate. Despite his limited education, Bernie was a passionate reader, and was thought to be very intelligent. He also found the opportunity to reengage his passion for art. In October of 1944, Warden Johnston wrote Coy a lengthy congratulatory letter regarding a few paintings of landscapes and wartime subjects that Coy had contributed for an exhibit in Washington D.C. at the Congress for the American Prison Association. Johnston remarked that Coy’s paintings were very popular and mentioned how pleased he was to have them representing Alcatraz.

  Joseph Paul Cretzer

  Joseph Paul Cretzer

  Joseph Paul Cretzer had vowed that he would not concede victory to Alcatraz, and despite formidable odds, he declared that he would find a way to escape the island. Cretzer was born on
April 17, 1911 to deaf-mute parents in Anaconda, Montana. He was the youngest of three boys and two girls, and constantly lived under the scrutiny of his older brothers. One prison report stated that all of the siblings had been in conflict with the law and held poor reputations within the communities in which they resided. His brothers George and Donald, with whom he had the closest ties, had also served long sentences in the Colorado State Penitentiary. In prison interviews, Cretzer described that he had enjoyed a friendly relationship with his father, but other reports alleged that his father led him into crime by encouraging him to perform “sneak thefts” and burglaries at a very young age. News clippings in his inmate file showed that his father, who was sixty years old at the time of the reports, was institutionalized at the Colorado State Hospital in Pueblo.

  His parents separated when Joe was very young and the mother and children took up residence with his grandmother. His mother soon remarried, which caused family friction as Joseph had difficulty getting along with his new stepfather. His first bout with crime occurred when he was only fourteen years of age. His sister would later recount that Joe was first sent to a reformatory after stealing his grandfather’s pocket watch. His grandfather referred Joe to juvenile court and he was later also tried for stealing an automobile in Pueblo. It would be a tough time for Joe and his family as his mother would die the same year from acute asthma. Joe continued engaging in petty crimes until he was sixteen, finally resulting in the courts committing him to the Colorado State Reformatory at Golden, Colorado, from which he would make three escapes. When he was formally released, Cretzer made his way via freight train to San Francisco and took-up residence with his older sister.

  Reports reveal that Joe attempted to hold honest employment during this period, making license plates at the Norton Manufacturing Company in Oakland for about five months and later working at the American Can Company for about nine months. But he soon returned to the life of crime. On January 28, 1929 Cretzer, who was now seventeen, and his accomplice Floyd Willoughby, aged twenty-two, broke into a home on Park Boulevard in Oakland. The robbery attempt ended in a hail of revolver shots when Police Officer L.S. Trowbridge fired at the suspects as they attempted to flee the scene.

  Despite his youth and his contrition before the court, Cretzer was deemed incorrigible and sentenced to serve one year at the Preston Reformatory Industrial School in Ione, California. He was later released, having earned “good time” credits and then moved to Portland Oregon. There he soon committed another robbery and was caught and sent to serve ninety days in the Multnomah County Jail. It was here that he first met fellow inmates and future accomplices Arnold Thomas Kyle, Jack Croft, Dick Kane, and Mickey Lynch. After all of the inmates had been released, they met again in Seattle, Washington, and committed a series of robberies together; then all of the fugitives made their way to San Francisco. Cretzer returned to Oakland, where he was soon arrested on several counts of burglary and larceny and was again sentenced to serve out his time back at Preston, along with Kyle. Their time at Preston only seemed to bond the two even more closely.

  Arnold Kyle

  Kyle had also served time for committing several robberies in various communities throughout California before he met Joe Cretzer. Remarkably, Kyle and Cretzer had endured similar childhoods. Kyle too was born in Montana, his parents had separated when he was only three, and as a result he and his siblings had been raised by their grandparents. He moved in briefly with his father and stepmother, but because of family friction, he soon found himself boarded in a home for orphans at only eleven years of age. At fifteen he was convicted of petty larceny and placed in the Montana State Industrial School. Kyle would later marry Joe’s sister Thelma.

  Joe Cretzer’s sister Thelma would marry Arnold Kyle, as did Kyle’s sister Edna who later married Joe.

  Edna Kyle ... k.a. Kay Stone Wallace)

  Cretzer was unexpectedly paroled almost at the same time as Kyle, and immediately upon their release, the two young men quickly returned to their criminal habits. On the run once again, the fugitives found shelter with Arnold’s younger sister Edna Kyle who was now living in Pittsburg, California. Edna was no stranger to organized crime circles and under her alias of Kay Stone Wallace she had made her own mark in the flesh trade. Edna and Joseph soon fell in love and they became inseparable. The two were ultimately married in Flagstaff, Arizona on April 17, 1930.

  The trio then continued their illegal escapades, helping to operate Edna’s house of prostitution. For several years the business continued to thrive with little interference from the police. Then on June 23, 1936, the four outlaws violently robbed the American Trust Company in Oakland, making off with over five thousand dollars in cash. However, the robbery did not go off smoothly and during their exit they engaged in a fierce gun battle with a police officer. They then moved their base of operations to Los Angeles and ran a prostitution racket at the Garden View Hotel. During the years 1936-1937 they ran the Fern Hotel in San Pedro which proved to be another lucrative prostitution venture. When their accomplice Jack Croft accidentally shot himself during a robbery, they left him behind and headed back home to Northern California.

  In January of 1938, things began to sour when a nineteen-year-old Montana farm girl named Jeanne Walters was arrested in a Berkeley hotel, and relayed a compellingly torrid tale of being abused in a white slave ring. Walters told police that she had been unwillingly sold as a prostitute and she named Kay Wallace as one of the gang leaders and as the owner of the Bruno Hotel where the illicit activities usually took place. The police subsequently exposed a statewide prostitution ring and it was discovered that Kay was one of the key players. Another woman also accused Kay, stating that she was only seventeen years old when Wallace had forced her into prostitution. The investigation further revealed that Cretzer had beaten the woman severely after she withheld some of her earnings. In an FBI Report dated February 24, 1940, it is stated that Cretzer beat her so severely that he knocked out several of her teeth and left her with numerous cuts and bruises. Law enforcement officials quickly intervened, shutting down the brothel and seizing the hotel assets. Kay jumped her ten-thousand-dollar bail, and the trio then began a bank-robbing spree that would take them from Southern California up into Seattle.

  It was at about this time that Cretzer and Kyle teamed up with two other professional bank robbers, John Hetzer and Jim Courey, who were well known for their “quick style” robberies. Their method was to rush in, clear out a few cash drawers, and then rush out, usually spending no more than one or two minutes inside the bank. Although the individual returns from each bank were smaller, the volume of robberies and their successful evasion of law enforcement made for a very lucrative cash flow. It was estimated that the gang robbed nearly eighty banks, taking in almost $72,000 in only a few months. The FBI began a comprehensive investigation of the heists and suspicion soon fell on Joe Cretzer.

  The FBI intensified their search, and began a national campaign to bring Cretzer and Kyle to justice. Joe was said to enjoy his notorious high-ranking status as a Public Enemy. Joseph Cretzer was now ranked number four on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. He and Arnold decided to leave the Bay Area, since the FBI would likely be concentrating their search efforts throughout the Northwest. Jim Courey, unable to face the prospect of spending his life in prison, committed suicide in a Los Angeles hotel room when agents sought to arrest him.

  In an effort to maintain a low profile, Cretzer and Kyle made a quick journey to Chicago, hoping that they could thus escape the watchful eye of the Bureau. Kyle stayed only a short while, then continued his travels back through Denver, Colorado, and on to Wichita, Kansas. He was finally apprehended on May 19, 1939 in Minneapolis, following another robbery. Kyle would not reveal the whereabouts of his other accomplices. While in Chicago, Joe and Edna had bought and operated another hotel, this time attempting to run a legitimate business. However, they had underestimated the magnitude of the FBI’s search effort and were apprehended in late Augu
st of 1939 and extradited back to Southern California to be tried for one of their earlier bank robberies in Pasadena. The FBI reported that Edna would stand charges for harboring a fugitive, and also that she was a suspect in the shooting of a police officer in Michigan City, Indiana, which had occurred earlier that year. She would eventually be sent to Terminal Island in Southern California, where Al Capone had briefly been incarcerated after leaving Alcatraz.

  During the preparations for the trial the Federal government intervened, claiming that they held ultimate jurisdiction and would elect to try both Kyle and Cretzer in Washington State before addressing the charges in Southern California. The defendants’ cases also attracted a high level of media attention, with pertinent events regularly reported to the fascinated national public. Arnold Kyle and Joseph Cretzer were put on trial for the robbery of three Seattle banks and both were convicted on February 8, 1940. Both were given twenty-five-year sentences at McNeil Island, a Northwestern Federal Penitentiary located in Puget Sound, Washington. The official conviction report would declare them guilty in the case of “National Bank Robbery.” Cretzer had already started to build his résumé for Alcatraz, when officials caught him with a handcuff key in his mouth, which he had fashioned from a belt buckle. It was noted that the key was almost an “exact duplicate” and “greater measures” would be needed to contain Cretzer in prison.

  Both Kyle and Cretzer arrived at McNeil on February 15, 1940, and they maintained a close relationship, just as when they had served time together at Preston. On April 11, 1940 the two were assigned to a labor detail, from which they attempted an escape. Armed with the axes they used for cutting roadside trees, they stole a prison truck, slammed through the yard gate (nearly running down a prison guard) and drove to a remote area. They then fled far into the woods of the four-thousand-acre island (Alcatraz in comparison is only twelve-acres). The duo hid for three days without food or water, attempting to keep cover under heavy brush, until they were finally captured and immediately placed into isolation.