Following the attempted escape, it would almost seem as if Cretzer didn’t feel that he would be convicted of any serious crime. In a letter written to his wife, who had just been released from Terminal Island in Los Angeles on May 27th, Cretzer wrote: “The charge is not serious & nothing to become alarmed over. We are being treated exceptionally well & feeling in fine spirit. I am certain everything here isn’t as serious as it appears.” On July 20, 1940, the two friends were tried for unlawful escape at the U.S. District Court of Tacoma, Washington, and both entered pleas of not guilty. As a result, they were given a full trial. But on August 22, 1940, during the noon recess from the proceedings, they viciously attacked U.S. Marshal Artis J. Chitty, causing his death. The following is a report sent to the McNeil Island Warden by Lieutenant C. Zukowsky, who had supervised the inmates while they were in the custody of the court. His report describes in detail the events surrounding the Marshal’s death:
August 23, 1940
To: PJ. Squire, Acting Warden
Via: L. Delmore, Acting Associate Warden
W.F. Swift, Acting Captain
From: C. Zukowsky. Lieutenant
Subject: DESPERATE ATTEMPT BY INMATES KYLE AND CRETZER, AND DEATH OF MARSHAL CHITTY.
Sirs:
Thursday, August 22, 1940, Lieut. Bass and myself were detailed to go dress out inmates Kyle and Cretzer for court. Upon the arrival of the Marshals at the institution, Inmates Kyle and Cretzer were turned over to the custody of Marshal Chitty, Lieut. Bass and myself accompanying the Marshal to the Federal Building, Tacoma. We left the Island at approximately 08:40 a.m. arriving in the Marshall's Office at approximately 09:40 a.m. The Marshall immediately locked inmates Kyle and Cretzer in the Detention Cell at the Marshall's Office.
At 10:00 am inmates Kyle and Cretzer were taken into court. The trial of inmates Kyle and Cretzer inmates immediately began, and at 12:00 noon was recessed for lunch, court to begin again at 2:00 p.m. Inmates Kyle and Cretzer were handcuffed together (Cretzer's right arm to the left arm of Kyle). Then they were led back to the Detention Cell and locked up. Lieut. Bass and myself relieved each other for lunch, I returned from lunch at approximately 1:40 p.m. and seated myself on the corner of a table in the Marshall's office, directly in line of Detention Cell front, approximately twenty feet away. At approximately 2:30 p.m. word came in that court was ready for inmates Kyle and Cretzer. Marshall Chitty unlocked the cell door and called the inmate's attorney to come out of the cell, as soon as the attorney had passed out of the cell Marshall Chitty called for inmates Cretzer and Kyle to come out. At the time the Marshall called he was standing in front of the open cell. Inmates Kyle and Cretzer were seated against the wall.
As inmates Kyle and Cretzer were arising from the bench, inmate Cretzer called to Chitty, and beckoned with an upward motion of his head; at this point Marshall Chitty stepped forward into the cell, and at the same time Inmates Kyle and Cretzer moved toward Marshall Chitty. As I saw Chitty step inside the cell, I automatically moved toward Marshall Chitty. Marshall Chitty made two steps forward into the cell, Inmates Kyle and Cretzer made the same move toward Marshall Chitty. I was about at the open cell door when inmate Cretzer applied the "Inside Waist Hold" from the front, on Marshall Chitty. Inmate Kyle's left hand was handcuffed to Cretzer's right hand, Kyle attempted to swing around to Marshall Chitty's back and was reaching with his free right hand for Marshall Chitty's right hand rear pocket.
At this point I knocked Kyle's right arm downward, the memento of the same swung Kyle around backward. I then stepped between Marshall Chitty and Inmate Cretzer, Cretzer releasing the hold, just as I was forcing Chitty away from the pair. Inmate Kyle with his free right hand started a long right swing, striking Marshall Chitty a blow on the face. Marshall Chitty fell face forward, I immediately forced inmate Kyle to the floor. As inmate Kyle struck the floor he thrust his free right hand toward Chitty’s right hand hip pocket. At this point, Marshall Chitty was laying face downward on the floor; I noticed the gun in his right hand rear pocket. As Inmate Kyle's hand reached the Marshall's holster, enclosing the gun, I dropped to my knees, pinning his right wrist with my left hand, and pinning his arm down with my left knee. Inmate Kyle attempted to rise up more on his right side but I forced him down, to lie on his back. Freeing Kyle's right hand from the holster and gun, which was still in Marshall Chitty's right hand hip pocket, I bent his arm upward and toward his head.
At this point I saw Marshall Chitty's body raise upward, and Deputy Marshall Vargo stepping in front of me and grapping Kyle's arm and twisting same into an arm-lock. I looked to the right and back of me and saw Cretzer lying down face forward, with Captain Delmore and Lieut. Bass standing over him. Inmates Kyle and Cretzer were raised and seated back on the bench. Captain Delmore was wiping the blood dripping from a cut below Inmates Kyle's left eye. Marshall Chitty stepped into the cell and ordered the inmates taken to the washbasin in the corner of the Marshall's office so they could be washed.
The inmates were led to the washbasin; upon reaching the washbasin inmates Kyle and Cretzer had just started to wash their faces when I heard something fall to the rear of us. I looked back and saw Marshall Chitty's body lying on the floor, and Captain Delmore standing just in back of me. I nodded to Captain Delmore, I staying with the inmates and Captain Delmore going toward the Marshall's body. Captain Delmore returned immediately and ordered the inmates locked in the detention cell, which was immediately done.
In the meantime Marshall Chitty's body had been removed to the Marshall's private room and laid on a cot. Captain Delmore came out of the private room and asked me to assist him in moving Chitty's body from the cot onto the floor, so artificial respiration could be easier administered. This being done, I was about to start administering artificial respiration. I noticed the gun in Marshall Chitty's pocket. I removed same from his pocket and handed it to Deputy Marshall DeLine and told him to take care of the Marshall's gun. Captain Delmore and myself relieved each other at administering artificial respiration until the doctor pronounced Marshall Chitty dead. Captain Delmore took charge of the inmates and they were again taken to the courtroom, surrounded by Deputy Marshall's and Custodial Officers.
The inmates upon receiving their sentence were immediately rushed to the Steilacoom Dock, placed on a waiting boat, and arrived back on the island at approximately 5:45 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
C. Zukowsky, Lieutenant
The struggle ultimately contributed to Chitty suffering a fatal heart attack and both Cretzer and Kyle subsequently changed their pleas to guilty. Each was given an additional five-year sentence, to be served concurrently with their previous twenty-five-year sentences.
Only a few days after Cretzer and Kyle were sentenced for their attempted escape, a Federal Grand Jury returned an indictment charging the convicts with murder in the first degree. Both entered pleas conceding to the charge of second-degree murder, and on October 21, 1940, they were sentenced to serve out the remaining course of their natural lives in prison. In some respects, they could consider themselves lucky. The prosecutors had fought vehemently to uphold a charge of capital murder, and had demanded death by the electric chair. But the defendants’ council successfully argued that Chitty’s death was accidental and not a case of premeditated murder, and therefore that the accused were not eligible for the death penalty. Both escaped the electric chair, but they received harsh life sentences that would ensure they would never walk free again.
In the midst of the trial both Cretzer and Kyle were transported to Alcatraz, arriving on August 27, 1940. The two men would now become residents of America’s most notorious prison. Cretzer, had grown up just across the Bay and would find serving time on the island even more difficult, as he was able to see familiar landmarks on the mainland. Now only twenty-nine years of age, he would have to adapt to the rigid structure of Alcatraz and its relentless routine, coupled with the realization that he was facing a dark and dismal future.
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By any standard, Cretzer did not adjust well to life on the Rock, and he frequently found himself at odds with the administration. Less than one year after their arrival, Cretzer and Kyle participated in a failed escape attempt while working in the Mat Shop. Cretzer was sentenced to “permanent segregation,” and the few privileges he had been allotted were completely revoked. On September 19, 1943, now thirty-two years old and still residing in D Block, Cretzer incited a disturbance after an air vent fan failed. He was again stripped of all privileges and forced to serve additional time in segregation.
On April 11, 1944 Cretzer was allowed to spend some time in the recreation yard, when he was assaulted by the now famous inmate Henri Young, whose tale would later be portrayed in the Hollywood motion picture Murder in the First. The two convicts engaged in a bitter fistfight, which was broken up before anyone could be proclaimed the victor. Cretzer would again find himself isolated (in cell #D-19), in a complete lockdown status with all of his privileges rescinded. It was under these circumstances that Cretzer came to know Bernie Coy, who visited his cell in his role as the library orderly. Through this interaction they would build a close relationship and the two friends would later conspire in the 1946 escape attempt.
On May 26, 1944, at thirty-three years of age, Cretzer wrote a letter to Warden Johnston pleading that he be allowed to start work again. This indicated to the administration that after spending three years in segregation, Cretzer was ready to be integrated back into the general prison population. The letter stated in part, “You may rest assured that, considering the time spent in lock-up, I will not become involved in any future mischief. Wherever Mr. Miller wishes to work me will be okay. I will feel very much obligated to you, and will show my appreciation by conducting myself in a favorable manner.” The Warden took this letter to be sincere, and recommended Cretzer for release from segregation and assignment to a work detail. Cretzer would be transferred to cell #152 in B Block.
Letters from Cretzer pleading with the Warden to be moved out of isolation and back into the general prison population. His commitment to staying out of mischief would prove to be short-lived.
While Cretzer was imprisoned at Alcatraz, his wife Edna made frequent visits to the island and she often wrote kind letters to Warden Johnston, sometimes offering her help in persuading “Dutch” to behave through her “letters and visits.” Johnston was usually accommodating in this regard and in February of 1945 he allowed Edna to see both her brother Arnold and her husband Joseph in back-to-back visits. His trust, however, was obviously misplaced. Cretzer had no intention of living up to the promises made in his letter.
Marvin Franklin Hubbard
Marvin Franklin Hubbard
Another accomplice in the 1946 escape attempt was Marvin Franklin Hubbard. Marv (as he was called by fellow inmates) carried the reputation of a ruthless gunman and he had earned his transfer to Alcatraz through a series of brutal escape attempts at other prisons. He was given a work assignment in the kitchen, and he became a good friend of Arnold Kyle. Like Kyle, Hubbard had also fallen prey to the Great Depression. Born August 13, 1912 to a farming family in Boaz, Alabama, he was the third of five siblings. His father died when he was only three years old, and he would be forced to drop out of school in 1918 after completing only the first grade. Hubbard worked on the family farm throughout his childhood, and assumed the tough responsibility of helping to provide income to support his family. At ten years of age, Hubbard ran away to live with Willie Wiggins, a relative of his stepfather, who taught the young Marvin the skill of masonry.
A letter written by Hubbard’s wife to the Warden at the Atlanta Penitentiary on October 17, 1942 provides more insight into his personal history and upbringing. Herein are some excerpts from the letter:
Dear Warden,
In answer to your letter received this week, I hardly know where to begin, I did not know where my husband was at, at this present time until I received your letter, it came as a quite a surprise, or rather a shock, as we had not been corresponding lately, I’m afraid I don’t know very much of anything that would be of help to you, but will give you my best.
We were married at my mother’s home in Dekalb County, on January 8, 1928. Neither of us were previously married, this being for the only marriage for either of us. We only have one child.... My husband’s attitude towards me and the child, were very fine at times, he didn’t ever mistreat us in no-way except staying away from us for so much of his time, that he could have been with us, the harm he done was more of his own self than any-one else, only heartbreaks and sorrows, I had a fair share of that at an early age, my life has been filled with disappointments and heart aches. My husband has taken the responsibility of his family serious at times, and other times, he would leave us for a long time, as much as five or six months at a time, during this time he would never give us any support.
He was born and raised in Alabama, in Boaz, Route #3, we have lived out there part of our time together as well as here in Georgia. As far as where we have lived for the past five years is rather hard to explain, he spent a large portion of it in Kilby Prison as you no doubt already know, and the other part just here and yonder. His occupation has mostly been a bricklayer since I have known him, he does beautiful brickwork. Although he had farmed some during times when that trade was dull. His greatest handicap during these years, have been having no education, he was raised by a dear old mother who was left a widow with five children to raise, she did the best she could but could not educate the children. My husband’s difficulties he has faced in recent years, I think depends on him getting started with the wrong kind of characters at a early age, which gives him the wrong opinion of life, before life was hardly started for him. Before he got started with the bad characters he was very kind and generous hearted, made good friends with all of whom he met, was well thought of in the community which he lived.
I just wish to say here, that anything you can do for him to make his stay in your institution, profitable to him, and as comfortable as possible, will highly be appreciated by me, although we have been separated a large portion of our time, it didn’t take away the love and care I have for him. He was once good and kind and made home a place worth living for. I shall like very much to visit him as soon as possible, as I have not seen him since one year ago, last July 18th, 1941. Trusting this will be of some help to you in preparing my husband for his stay there.
Yours Very Truly,
Mrs. Lola Belle Hubbard
Hubbard’s involvement with crime had started in his teenage years, with a series of forceful, violent robberies that usually ended in his arrest, and for which he ultimately served several short-term sentences. In late 1942, Hubbard and his accomplices were arrested after robbing a liquor store at gunpoint. His prison record includes a summation of his criminal history:
On August 7, 1942, Marvin Franklin Hubbard, George Kelly Matthews, and Kenneth Jackson escaped from the Walker County Jail, Jasper, Alabama, by assaulting the jailer and stealing a submachine gun, a .38 caliber revolver, property of the Walker County SO. They then stole a taxi at the point of a gun from Robert Pow and Roy Seals and forced them to accompany subjects to Double Springs, Alabama, to Moulton, Alabama, and to Madison, Alabama, where they had a blowout. They then obtained a 1939 Dodge truck from R.U. Dublin to accompany them in the truck to Huntsville, Alabama, and to Grassy Mountain, Alabama, where they tied the three victims to trees and abandoned them about nine P.M. on the same date. Subjects then proceeded in a truck to a secluded spot in the mountains near Cedartown, Georgia, where they stayed in hiding, except for short visits to a country store to purchase food, until three p.m. August 13, 1942. Subjects then hijacked W.A. Cason near Cedartown, Georgia, and stole his 1940 Ford sedan, releasing Cason at a nearby lake. They proceeded in the Ford to Tallapoosa, Georgia, to Anniston to Alabama, to Gadsden, Alabama, and to Collinsville, Alabama, where they parked in a secluded spot and slept from eight a.m. August 14, 1942, to the afternoon of the same
date. They then proceeded on a country road to Trenton, Georgia and to Chattanooga, Tennessee.
About 7:30 p.m. on August 14, 1942, subjects kidnapped Logan Stroud, traffic officer, Chattanooga P.D., when he attempted to arrest them for not having a safety sticker on their car and by threats of death at the point of a gun they forced him to accompany them from Hamilton County, Tennessee, to Catoosa County, Georgia. Subjects took refuge at the home of Henry Christian, tied Stroud, and locked him in a milk shed at the rear of the house. Stroud escaped about 4:30 a.m. August 15, 1942. Hubbard and Matthews were apprehended at 5:30 a.m. August 15, 1942, by FBI agents, and Georgia and Tennessee police officers after a gun battle in which Kenneth Jackson was killed. Hubbard and Matthews waived removal to Chattanooga. Authorized complaint was filed August 15, 1942, at Chattanooga, Tennessee, charging Hubbard and Matthews with violation of the kidnapping statute. Both subjects entered a plea of guilty before Commissioner Morgan on August 17, 1942, and in default of $25,000 bond each was remanded to the Knox County jail, Knoxville Tennessee.
On September 11, 1942, while being held at the Knox County Jail Marvin Franklin Hubbard, together with others, escaped from said jail by overpowering the turn key and the elevator operator who were locking up the prisoners in their cells for the night. Hubbard was apprehended by the Sheriff's Office, Knoxville, Tennessee, at Concord, Tennessee, on the night of September 14.1942. When arraigned before the Commissioner on September 15.1942, he entered a plea of guilty, and in default of $3000 bond was remanded to the custody of the US Marshal and incarcerated in the Knox County Jail, Knoxville, Tennessee.
Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years Page 37