Текст книги "Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years "

Автор книги: Майкл Эсслингер

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The Associate Warden and myself were both present at the time of death.

Alcatraz on Trial

Federal Judge Michael Roche.

Word of the murder spread fast, and newspapers quickly latched onto the story of McCain’s vicious act. In February of 1941, under heavy guard, Young was transferred to the Federal Court Building in San Francisco for his arraignment. Federal Judge Michael Roche was to preside over the case, and the acclaimed Federal Prosecutor, Frank Hennessy, stated from the beginning that he would seek the death penalty for Young. When Judge Roche asked Young if he wished the court to appoint an attorney for him, a soft-spoken Henri approached the bench and requested two young attorneys with no previous record of contributing to unfavorable convictions. Young stated: “I should like to have the court appoint two youthful attorneys of no established reputation for verdicts or hung juries.”  Henri seemed to be contemplating his fate in an inappropriately lighthearted fashion. He joked that although the attorneys probably would not have a positive influence on his trial outcome, the case would at least provide them with some professional experience.

Attorney Sol Abrams

Attorney James MacInnis

Henri Young seen in court, strategizing with attorneys James MacInnis (left) and Sol Abrams (right).

Henri Young during his famous murder trial.

Senior Correctional Officer Frank Mach is seen holding the murder weapons used by Young to kill Rufus McCain. Young used the thin-bladed knife to inflict the fatal wound.

Roche conceded to Young’s request and appointed two youthful attorneys, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Sol A. Abrams, and James M. MacInnis, a recent graduate of Stanford University Law School. Young’s trial began in April of 1941, making front-page headlines. These two young attorneys would successfully weave a defense strategy which shifted the trial’s focus, presenting Henri not as a cold-blooded killer, but as a victim of the extreme conditions at Alcatraz. MacInnis would argue that Young could not be held responsible for his actions after having served three years and two months in the “most extreme isolation conditions. ”  He stated that Young had been driven to slay McCain by an “irresistible impulse,” and that he had become “psychologically unconscious” as a result of his long stretches of inhumane confinement.

The defense team called twenty-two inmates to testify on Young’s behalf. These witnesses would further strengthen Young’s case by listing allegations of horrible abuse and punishment. Among the many inmates to testify for Young were Harold Brest, who would himself attempt to escape from Alcatraz in 1943; Harmon Waley, a well-known inmate who was a principle architect of the famous Weyerhaeuser kidnapping; Burton Phillips, who in 1937 would had viciously attack Warden Johnston in the dining hall on Alcatraz, rendering him unconscious; William Dainard; James Grove; William Dunnock; Carl Hood; and Samuel C. Berlin, who would offer some of the most compelling testimony of all.

Inmate Harold Brest during his transfer to the San Francisco courthouse to testify on behalf of Henri Young. Warden Johnston is standing on the left, and Bureau of Prisons Director James Bennett is on the right.

Inmate Harmon Waley being led to court during the Young trial. Note Alcatraz Correctional Officer Phil Bergen on the right. The inmate on the far left with his head lowered is William Dunnock.

During Harmon Waley’s testimony, the witness claimed that on one occasion he had been severely beaten by guards and thrown into the prison dungeon, simply for asking to be examined by a doctor and given medicine for an illness. Associate Warden Miller testified that Waley had been considered a troublemaker and had spent frequent periods in isolation for his insolent behavior. Inmate James Grove testified that he was driven insane by conditions at Alcatraz, and that he had to be transferred to the Springfield Medical Facility in a straight jacket. Harold Brest said Young had confided to him that “he couldn’t stop himself from doing what he had done,” and he also stated that in his opinion, the confining conditions at Alcatraz had contributed to the murder of McCain. Samuel Berlin claimed that many of the deaths that had occurred on Alcatraz had been the direct result of inmate conditions and treatment, specifically referring to inmate Ed Wutke, who had committed suicide.

Young himself also took the stand, articulately emphasizing his time spent in isolation and the abuse he had suffered at the hands of guards. He alleged ghastly beatings by Associate Warden Miller, claiming to have lost several teeth in the assaults. These allegations proved frivolous, since prison records showed no teeth lost during the period in question, and only one tooth extraction performed at Young’s request in January of 1941. Young would further testify that he had been left to rot in the dark, damp, and moldy dungeon for weeks, without clothing, light, or running water.

William Wesley Dunnock also claimed to have received beatings from Miller, and stated that he was aware of other inmates being abused – once again mentioning Ed Wutke, whom Defense Attorney Abrams later claimed was “driven to suicide” because of his “unbearable treatment” on Alcatraz.

Associate Warden Miller testified that he had never assaulted Young, but that he had ordered him to isolation on several occasions due to his unruly conduct. Several witnesses came to testify on Miller’s behalf, stating that he always maintained Warden Johnston’s policy of proper and fair handling of the inmates. Further testimony was introduced to prove that Johnston had been one of the foremost advocates for inmate rights and rehabilitation. His record as Warden at Folsom and San Quentin supported his record of dedication to helping inmates reform. It was Johnston who had instituted work and educational programs for inmates at San Quentin and he had brought the same curriculum to Alcatraz. When Johnston was called to the stand, he vehemently defended the Alcatraz regimen. Johnston believed in strict but humane reform, later writing: “I believed that every human has some good spot, that I always tried to find that spot, and that I never closed the door of hope on any man.”

Despite favorable evidence supporting Young’s just treatment by Alcatraz personnel, the jury proved sympathetic to the defense and delivered a verdict of “involuntary manslaughter.”  The ruling enraged Judge Roche, who sternly voiced his displeasure with the jury’s decision. On May 3, 1941, Henri Young was given the maximum sentence of an additional three years. Henri attempted to show his gratitude to Judge Roche by thanking him for appointing the youthful attorneys. Young was sharply cut off by Roche, who hastily remarked to the prisoner and the court: “I have known Warden Johnston for 30-years. I’ve watched him work. He is a man most respected in this community. I’ve visited San Quentin and Folsom unannounced and found everything in order... Warden Johnston’s work is outstanding. He admits that he made a mistake letting you out of isolation, and letting you go to the prison work shop where you had a chance to murder.”  Young listened with a coy smile, and then responded by asking, “That’s a rather perverse attempt to rehabilitate – don’t you think Judge?”  Roche nearly rose out of his seat, looking sternly down at Young and stating: “Some men deserve sympathy, but you’re not one of those. You planned a cold and deliberate murder of an unfortunate human being.”  Henri Young simply continued to smile.

When the jury requested an investigation of the confinement practices at Alcatraz, Bureau of Prisons Director James V. Bennett released a powerful statement to the press. Many historians consider it as the most revealing commentary on the jury decision in the murder trial of Henri Young:

Statement of James V. Bennett

Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons

May 4, 1941

I am firmly convinced that the jury which tried Henri Young for murder of another inmate in the Alcatraz Penitentiary has been misled about conditions at the prison. It has been impressed by tactics which sought to free Young through disparaging and attacking a public institution performing humanely and intelligently a most difficult task of protecting the public from hardened and unregenerate criminals. Young has been described by former United States Attorney Simpson and Federal Judge Stanley Webster of Spokane, Washington, as "the worst and most dangerous criminal with whom they ever dealt" and as "one who would not hesitate to kill anybody who crossed his path." He has been permitted to go virtually unpunished on the basis of inferences and innuendoes made by inmates whose criminal records and life histories show them to be wholly unreliable and who were able to commit deliberate perjury with impunity since they could not be reached by any effective legal process. From such information as I have about the trial, it is apparent that the Jury had before it no first-hand information or reliable evidence as to the policies or methods followed in the management of the most difficult and desperate group of prisoners ever assembled.

Alcatraz is now and always has been open to inspection and investigation by any qualified or properly commissioned person or groups. It has been inspected by Judges, Congressmen, penologists and qualified private citizens and has been approved as a modern and intelligent method of protecting the public from those desperate criminals who have proved themselves to be wholly intractable.

The institution, for instance, was recently inspected by experts of The Osborne Association of New York, a private philanthropic organization devoted primarily to the investigation of prisons, and was pronounced by them as well managed and operated and as using no improper system of discipline. Members of the Appropriations Committee of Congress in the course of their examination of our estimates also recently inspected the institution and made no criticism of its methods or operations.

I have visited Alcatraz frequently as have various members of our staff and know personally most of the inmates, including Young. As a matter of fact, I have on several occasions personally interviewed Young and done everything possible to obtain his cooperation. I have never found or had called to my attention any authentic case of brutality or inhumanity at Alcatraz.

Corporal punishment is prohibited in all the Federal penal institutions including Alcatraz. We stand on our record as the most modern and humane penal system in the world. I have every confidence in Warden Johnston. He is a just, humane, and intelligent prison warden capably performing the most difficult job any warden was ever asked to assume. The entire institutional staff has consistently displayed their courage, patience, and devotion to the public service. They deserve the support of every fair-minded citizen whose homes and safety they have helped to protect.

The statements made by the prisoners so far called to my attention have already been carefully investigated by the Department [of Justice] and found to be wholly unfounded. When, however, a transcript of the testimony has been received, it will be carefully gone over as in every other case, and if any evidence or facts are found showing brutal or inhuman treatment, vigorous corrective measures will be taken.

Following the trial, Henri Young continued to be a difficult and violent inmate. He would serve several more years in solitary confinement, and he remained insolent toward fellow inmates and staff. One year after the trial, prison staff members started documenting the unusual behavior exhibited by Young. A report filed by Chief Medical Officer Romney M. Ritchey on May 14, 1942 states in part:

The above captioned inmate who has been in D-Block for some time began showing peculiar conduct last night. The officer on-duty reported that about 5:00 p.m. he started tearing up all of his papers, mostly those he had prepared for Correspondence Courses, etc... He refused to speak to the Officer when addressed. Then he rolled up his mattress and placed it near the back of his cell and sat down on it with his head in his arms and back to the front of his cell...

The staff on Alcatraz noted that Young had taken an interest in psychology, but they couldn’t be sure whether his new behavior resulted from a legitimate mental disorder, or was simply contrived. There were several documented episodes when Young was found sitting for several days in a near catatonic state, not moving, and refusing to eat meals delivered to his cell. Over the years this condition seemed to worsen, with an increase in the frequency of the sporadic episodes, which usually lasted for a few days. Nevertheless, he continued to be an incorrigibly difficult inmate.

On April 11, 1944, Young instigated a bitter fistfight with inmate Joe Cretzer, who would later murder a correctional officer and injure several others during the escape attempt of 1946. Then on February 27, 1945, inmates Rufus Franklin and Willis Coulter attacked Young in the recreation yard, inflicting a minor stab wound to his back. The inmates had used a kitchen knife that had been sharpened into a dagger. Young remained hospitalized until March 8, 1945, with a puncture wound that went deep into his scapula. Following his release from the hospital, he was returned to D Block. When interviewed regarding the attack, Young would offer no reason for his conflict with Franklin and Coulter.

A disciplinary report describing a fight between Henri Young and Joseph Cretzer. Cretzer, one of the primary conspirators of the 1946 “Battle of Alcatraz,” would die during the failed escape attempt.

Willis Coulter

A letter describing Young’s condition after he was found with self inflicted wounds, following an attempt to sever his Achilles tendons.

Young’s mental condition continued to deteriorate. In June of 1948 he was admitted to the hospital, where “he postured, stared, and didn’t talk to personnel, but talked with other inmates.”  Although his condition was considered suspect, Warden Swope finally received orders to transfer Young to the Springfield Medical Facility for the duration of his prison term, and he was sent there on September 13, 1948. The staff at Springfield conducted exhaustive examinations, but they were unable to render an accurate diagnosis or to determine whether he was feigning his illness. Throughout his stay at Springfield Young was considered a model inmate, and he seemed to adjust well to his new environment.

When Young’s Federal sentence expired in 1954, he was turned over to the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla to begin a life sentence for an earlier murder conviction. A special progress report dated September 2, 1954 indicates that Young was already planning for his release and intended to work for a trucking company in Kansas as a shipping clerk. Young was finally paroled in 1972. He subsequently violated his parole by failing to report his status and despite comprehensive searches, Henri Young disappeared and was never to be seen again. Young’s attorney James MacInnis, along with his wife would die tragically in a fatal car accident in 1979.

Henri Young in 1954.

One of the last known images of Young taken in November of 1970.

The Hollywood Version

Hollywood Actors Kevin Bacon (Young) and Christen Slater (Young’s attorney), in a fictionalized version of Young’s trial portrayed in the Warner Brothers motion picture Murder in the First.

Fifty years after Young’s trial, Warner Brothers Motion Pictures released a powerful drama that claimed to chart the true story of Henri Young, and was entitled Murder in the First. The film would succeed in making Young a legend, but it would not present an accurate portrayal of his life and crimes. The film itself was a great dramatic achievement for the filmmakers, but the script written by Dan Gordon was almost wholly fictional. Henri Young’s own autobiographical writings, in which he describes his adolescence and his descent into a life of delinquency, fully contradict the movie’s portrayal of him as a teenaged orphan sentenced to Alcatraz for stealing $5 from a grocery store in order to feed his starving sister.

The film featured some of the industry’s most prominent filmmakers and actors. The executive producer was David L. Wolper, who had previously produced such films as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factoryand the first documentary ever nominated for an Academy Award, The Race for Space.   Director Marc Rocco was a young visionary who successfully captured the depth and darkness of the prison. Seasoned actor Kevin Bacon starred as Henri Young in a chilling portrayal, and Christian Slater played his principled and idealistic young attorney. The film also featured actor Gary Oldman in the role of the Warden of Alcatraz.

Shooting for the film began in 1994. During the thirteen-week shooting schedule, the production team for Murder in the Firstspent more than two weeks on Alcatraz to complete the interior and exterior shots. The logistics of filming on location at Alcatraz also proved challenging for Rocco and his crew. The whole company had to be brought over on boats and barges and the actors’ dressing rooms were the actual hospital ward cells once occupied by inmates. Using photographs from the penitentiary era as a reference, crews repainted sections of the cellblock to resemble its original state. The cinematographer’s visual plan was to create a design in which images would emerge from a stark and desolate landscape. The Alcatraz dungeons were re-constructed for the film on soundstages in Los Angeles, as were the courtroom sets.

Filming around the public tours that were regularly scheduled on the island also proved challenging to the filmmakers. Sometimes they were forced to film scenes with hundreds of onlookers attempting to get a glimpse of the actors, and often interfering in the shots. The film presented the island prison of Alcatraz itself as one of the main characters in the drama. Despite its inaccurate portrayals and its lack of historical verisimilitude, the film still managed to capture some of the imagery and essence of Alcatraz. The film turned Henri Young into both a societal legend and a fictional martyr of the American Justice System.

Machine Gun Kelly

George “Machine Gun” Kelly

Like Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly has endured as one of the most famous gangsters of the prohibition era. “Machine Gun” was born George Kelly Barnes on July 18, 1895, to a wealthy family living in Memphis, Tennessee.   His early years as a child were uneventful and his family raised him in a traditional household. The first sign of trouble began when he enrolled at Mississippi State University in 1917 to study agriculture and engineering. From the beginning, Kelly was considered a poor student. He was constantly in trouble with the faculty and spent much of his academic career attempting to work off demerits earned for troublesome behavior.

It was during this time that Kelly met Geneva Ramsey, the daughter of a contractor for whom he worked part-time. Kelly quickly fell in love with Geneva and made an abrupt decision to quit school and marry. The couple had two children and in an effort to make ends meet, Kelly worked in various construction camps around the Memphis area. He worked long hours with little compensation for his time. Kelly and Geneva struggled financially as the construction work was failing to provide enough money to support their family. Distressed and broke, the strain proved to be overwhelming and Kelly left his job to seek other ways to make ends meet. At nineteen years of age, he found himself without steady work and separated from his wife. Kelly then hooked up with a smalltime gangster and started a new venture as a bootlegger. He seemed to enjoy the financial rewards of his new trade, as well as the notoriety. But along with this new success came the difficulties of working in the underworld. After being arrested on several occasions for illegal trafficking, Kelly decided to leave Memphis with a new girlfriend and head west. It was during this period when he adopted the alias of George R. Kelly, to preserve the reputation of his upstanding family back home. Kelly’s luck varied, with hugely profitable scores alternating with several unfortunate mishaps. By 1927, Kelly had already started to earn a reputation in the underground world as a seasoned gangster, having weathered several arrests and various jail sentences. In 1928 he was caught smuggling liquor into an Indian Reservation and was sentenced to three years at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary.

After serving another long sentence at the State Penitentiary in New Mexico in 1929, Kelly gravitated to Oklahoma City, where he hooked up with a smalltime bootlegger named Steve Anderson. Kelly soon fell for Anderson’s attractive mistress Kathryn Thorne, a seasoned criminal in her own right. Thorne came from a family of outlaws and had been arrested for various charges ranging from robbery to prostitution. She was twice divorced and her second husband had been a bootlegger, who was later found shot to death under suspicious circumstances. The official determination held that his death was a suicide, but many people (including one of the investigators) had long suspected that Kathryn was involved result from assorted threats she had been known to make against him. Kelly and Kathryn became inseparable, and in September of 1930, they married in Minneapolis.

Up until he began his relationship with Thorne, Kelly had been a relatively smalltime criminal. But Kathryn’s influence soon became obvious, as Kelly’s crime sprees would win him the prestigious status of “Public Enemy Number One.”  Kathryn purchased a machine gun for Kelly and criminal lore is that she pressured her husband to practice. It was said that her purpose was premeditated – she was a master at marketing her husband to underground circles and to the public. She was known to take the spent gun cartridges and pass them around to acquaintances at many of the underground drinking clubs, introducing them as souvenirs from her husband “Machine Gun Kelly.”

Many historians and fellow inmates of Kelly believe that Kathryn was the creator of the “Machine Gun Kelly” image, and she became known as the mastermind behind several of the successful small bank robberies that Kelly pulled off throughout Texas and Mississippi. In August of 1933, the FBI published “wanted” posters describing Kelly as an “expert machine gunner” and thus creating a public frenzy that would later place Kelly into the history books.

In July of 1933 Kathryn and George Kelly plotted a scheme to kidnap wealthy oil tycoon and businessman Charles Urschel. A formal report written on January 16, 1934 by FBI agent Paul Hansen described the events in detail:

On the night of July 22, 1933, Mr. And Mrs. Charles F. Urschel were engaged in a social bridge game with their friends, Mr. and Mrs. Walter R. Jarrett in the sun-parlor on the ground floor of the Urschel home in Okalahoma City. Oklahoma. At approximately 11:15 P.M., two widely known underworld characters entered this room; one was Albert L. Bates, who is known by that and many other names throughout the United States as a thief, burglar, bank robber, safe blower, extortionist, and kidnapper, and he carried an automatic pistol; and the other was George Kelly Barnes, more familiarly known as George Kelly and “Machine-gun Kelly,” who is known throughout North America as a liquor runner, thief, robber, kidnapper, and close associate of organized underworld gangs. And he carried a machine gun. The latter demanded, “Which is Urschel? We want Urschel.”  As no one present replied, Barnes there upon said, “Well, we will take them both.”  Then, by force of arms, they marched Urschel and Jarrett out through the backyard to a car, which was parked in the driveway of the Urschel home. Shortly after leaving the Urschel home, the abductors took from the possession of Urschel his wallet containing about $60.00 in cash, and from Mr. Jarrett his wallet with approximately $50.00 in cash. At a point about ten miles northeast of Oklahoma City, the kidnappers had satisfied themselves, from an examination of the identification cards in each wallet and a statement made by Mr. Urschel, which was Urschel, and Jarrett was released.

Approximately twenty miles from Oklahoma City, the victim of this kidnapping was blindfolded by the use of adhesive tape. He was driven at a fair rate of speed over what seemed to be country roads until a short time before daybreak Sunday Morning, July 23, when he changed to another car on the farm of R.M. Coleman near Stratford, Oklahoma. After about thirty minutes wait, the abductors proceeded with their victim to the farm home of Robert Green Shannon, father-in-law of Barnes, near Paradise, Texas, in whose home he was held that night. The next morning he was removed to another house located on the Shannon farm about three-quarters of a mile from the R.G. Shannon home, where his son, Armon Crawford Shannon, lives. He was held in this house in a miserable blindfolded condition, being always chained to the chair, and part of the time being forced to sleep on the floor, while a continuous guard watched over him with two .45 caliber automatic pistols. When one of the abductors was not guarding their victim, he was guarded by R.G. Shannon, who is known as Boss Shannon, or his twenty-two year old son, Armon Shannon.

The kidnappers demanded that Urschel designate a friend who would act as a intermediary with his family and John G. Catlett of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was selected to make this contact. Through a well planned arrangement of having the Urschel family place an ad in a daily Oklahoma City Newspaper, negotiations were opened, and E.E. Kirkpatrick, friend and business associate of Urschel, was instructed to take $200,000 in used Federal Reserve Twenty Dollar Notes in a light colored tan handbag and in a certain directed manner and appointed time, should go from Oklahoma City to Kansas City, Missouri where he was to receive further instructions. As directed in Kansas City, about 5:30 P.M., July 30, 1933, Kirkpatrick using the appointed name of E.E. Kincaid, took a yellow cab to the La Salle Hotel and walked west on Linwood Boulevard a short distance where he was met by a man identified as George Kelly Barnes, who took the bag and told him Urschel would be released shortly. A record of the number on each of these ten thousand bills had previously been made. 

About 3:30 P.M., July 31, 1933, Mr. Urschel was taken from his temporary imprisonment in the Armon Shannon home by one of the abductors and they were later joined by the other and he was driven to Norman, Oklahoma, and released about 10:00 P.M., being instructed by the kidnappers to hire a car and proceed immediately to his home and not communicate with any officers concerning his experience. This Urschel did. It was not until after a very detailed and extensive investigation, which covered the entire United States, was made that the identity of the kidnappers and those who conspired with and assisted them was established.

After splitting the ransom money with their accomplices, Kathryn and Machine Gun started hopping from state to state, trying to stay ahead of law officials. Aided by the clues that Urschel was able to provide, the FBI raided the ranch and arrested one of the other conspirators. The bills that had been used for payment in the ransom had traceable serial numbers and the Central Bureau of Investigation (now the FBI) started a nationwide search for the ringleader, who they now suspected as being Kelly.

George and Kathryn bounced around in several states, with Chicago as their main hub. In an effort to conceal their identities they both dyed their hair, all the while enjoying a lavish lifestyle with the marked currency. After several weeks in hiding, the couple finally made their way back to Memphis to stay with longtime associate John Tichenor. On the morning of September 26, 1933, Memphis police and FBI agents surrounded the Tichenor house, and then made a violent forced entry. It is said that this was the moment when Kelly coined the phrase: “G-Men, please don’t shoot!”  Kelly was found still in his pajamas and badly hung over from the prior evening’s drinking binge, while Kathryn was still in bed asleep. The couple was quickly flown to Oklahoma where they stood trial and both received life sentences. Another accomplice, Albert Bates, was taken into custody in Denver, Colorado, on August 12, 1933, on an unrelated charge. At the time of his arrest, he had in his possession $660.00, later identified by Bureau agents as part of the Urschel ransom money.

Albert Bates and Harvey Bailey’s Alcatraz mug shots.

Harvey Bailey following his capture after escaping from a Dallas jail in 1933.

The FBI then raided the Shannon residence and took into custody Harvey J. Bailey, a notorious criminal who had escaped from the Kansas State Penitentiary at Lansing, Kansas, on May 30, 1933, where he had been serving a sentence of ten to fifty years on a charge of bank robbery. Bailey was also wanted in connection with the murder of three police officers, a FBI Special Agent, and their prisoner. Eventually all of the accomplices were apprehended, and of all those involved in the kidnapping, six were given life sentences.

Kelly was transferred to Leavenworth in Kansas, and Kathryn was sent to a Federal prison in Cincinnati. Kelly was arrogant toward prison officials.  He bragged to the press that he would escape and then break his wife out of jail so that they could spend Christmas together. It was decided that these threats should be taken seriously and in August of 1934, Kelly and fellow inmates Albert L. Bates and Harvey J. Bailey were transferred by train from Leavenworth to Alcatraz. Arriving on September 4, 1934, they would be among the first prisoners received on the island. Kelly was now inmate #AZ-117, Bates was #AZ-137 and Bailey was #AZ-139.