Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • 41

PART FIVE Pages 1 to 8 Parade of Youth, Pages 1 to 8 Parade of Youth Features and Articles Book Reviews HARTFORD, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1937. 13 I Wk 4jdi to Wop wi'-h him because they think it is iiM I if if i Bloody Revolt Brewing Among Prisoners at Alcatraz Island, Declares Robert Moxon, Released After Serving Three Years There Swft Mwjj rycv i win hli "rJk a Sfc 4. Editor's Note: Because of the spectacular escape of two desperate criminals from Alcatraz Island a week, ago, this account of life at the grim Federal penitentiary in San Francisco Bay, related by former inmate No. 14, lakes on particular timeliness. Moxon was the first prisoner to he sent to Alcatraz after its conversion to an American "Devil's Island" in 19)4.

He has just been released after serving a five-year sentence for forgery. By ROBERT B. MOXOV. (As Told to Norman Hacking.) (Copyright, 1337, By NANA, Inc.) Vancouver, B. Dec.

25 Thank God, I am out of Alcatraz. For many months I have been tense, anxious, waiting for the signal that will start one of the bloodiest riots in the history of penal Institutions in the United States. It Is bound to come. For months, hate has been festering in the hearts of the men imprisoned there. Many of them have life sentences.

They would sooner die in a bloody riot than live the endless days of despair that are ruining their minds and their souls. Will Revolt for Publicity. This riot will not be the result of warped minds or because themen enjoy bloodshed and violence. They will riot because they have a faint hope that the resulting investigation will bring some of the actual conditions in the institution before an indifferent public. The policy at Alcatraz is to deflate the men's egos, to turn them into soulless, spineless creatures; inhuman jellyfish.

The real basic cause of all the misery and unrest at Alcatraz Is that men with life and long-term sentences, who will never see outside again, are justly resentful against continual punishment. Regardless of their future intentions or conduct, they have ho hope. The popular conception of Alca- the only chance they have. With the exception of these two men, none of the other prisoners will even talk with Capone. Capone's case is not isolated.

Other men are "getting it." because word has gone round they are "wrong," and Alcatraz is no place for a man in that category. Capone and about 20 others are in "Protection Row," constantly under the supervision of a guard. Others include "Ike" Costner, the man who put the finger on Roger Tuohy in the Jake "The Barber" Factor kidnaping case in Chicago. Also in this group is a man from Washington, D. named Dicker-son, who was convicted of a charge of burning down his house for the insurance, causing the death of his Just ahead lies the dock at Alcatraz arrived at Alcatraz, but Robert Moxon or later one of them will give him 'the wife and children.

He is hated by guards and inmates alike for his despicable act. Whenever he approaches, the men call out "Scat!" Gulng for him is rough. Some of the "public enemies" at Alcatraz are Machine Gun Kelly, No. 117; George Bates, No. 137; and Harvey llmem-bers of the Urschell kidnap gang at Denver.

Harmon Whaley. of the Weyerhauser kidnaping case is No. 248 and Alvin Karpis, of the Hamm kidnaping, is No. 323. Others are Doc' Barker, of the Bremer kidnaping, No.

246; Blackie McGee, of the Tuony gang, No. 188, and "Red" Kerr, No. 45, sentenced for the Sacramento post-office stick-up. Well-Planned Strike. The second strike at Alcatraz broke out September 20.

Unlike the strike after the death of Jack Allen in January, 1936, this one was planned ahead and had quite an organization behind it. Twenty-one of the "toughest" men in the prison, men who knew they could "take it," stayed in their cells and refused to go to work. The first strike had been broken by the men coming out one at a time, in hopes of winning favor. The guards tried to influence each man individually to desert his fellows. This so-called "rat psychology" didn't work during the second disturbance.

The men "stayed put," despite warnings that their good time of 10 days a month would be taken from them and threats of long stays in the isolation cells. Chief demand of the strikers was to have the same treatment accorded to inmates of other Federal penitentiaries. The majority of the strikers were "lifers." They were in an impregnable fortress and all they asked was some amelioration of their conditions. They knew that privileges granted in any penal institution were first won through vio i FCuCYdl DlYCCtOY Oi j) re I I 1 'if 'fes i Drawn by Ra.eburn Van Buren The Saturday Evening Post. "For months," declares Robert Moxon, "hate has been festering in the hearts of the men imprisoned there.

They would sooner die in a bloody riot than live the endless days of despair that are ruining their minds and their souls." I WlUimcU HUH, ULllr lltr 1UUUU IfUu, when the Leavenworth shipment arrived on Sept. 10, that his number was up, and attempts would be i I made to take his life. 1 1 -J Capone, no doubt, pushed a lot of i these men around while overlord of vice in Chicago, but up till now there had been no opportunity for i retaliation. He Is detested and hated by nearly all, owing to his very selfish nature and to suspicions he is trying to curry favors with the warden and officials in an endeavor to be transferred out of Alcatraz. He is known throughout the prison as "Phoney Capone," and he has been assigned the job of pick- the country'i most desperate-criminal was full of smiling bravado when he by practically every inmate, and sooner ing up cigarette butts, match sticks and general refuse from the jail yard.

Numerous attempts have been made by Jimmy Lucas, No. 224, Texas bank robber, who made a successful escape from "impregnable" Huntsville penitentiary in He had -jnothing- personal against Capone, but, as he was the prison barber, he had the opportunity to "get" him. Stabbed In the Back. On one occasion, after Capone had received a haircut, Lucas grabbed his sissors and stabbed the gangster in the back, puncturing a kidney. Capone escaped death by a hair's breadth on that occasion, and he goes in daily fear of a similar occurrence.

At the time the attack was made in the barber shop in the basement, no guards were present. That situation has since been remedied, and no two men are ever left together without supervision. Capone testified against Lucas in the hearing that followed, and Lucas lost seven years' good behavior time. Capone's "squeal" didn't raise him any higher in the estimation of the men. Another time, when Capone was polishing the floor of the basement, one of the prisoners hit him on the back of the head with a heavy polisher, knocking him out and gashing his head badly.

Now Has Two Guards. The former Chicago gangster is now allowed the protection of a bodyguard of two fellow-Italian prisoners, who accompany him everywhere outside his cell. The authorities encourage this, because they don't want the publicity his death would Involve. Capone has his bodyguards under the impressiorrthat he'll help when he gets out. They're sticking oxon By REX COLLIER.

(Copyright, 1937, By NANA, Inc.) Washington Dpc 25 I Bennett, Federal director of prisons, refused to get excited today over charges by Robert E. Moxon, former immate of Alcatraz Penitentiary, that a "bloody riot" is imminent at the Government's Island prison for "incorrigibles." Although he declined to comment formally on Noxon's articles, the first of which he said he had "skimmed over," Bennett declared that he had noted several allegations that were "obviously absurd." "I remember Moxon," the director said in an interview. "He wanted me to restore his 'good time' privileges, which he had lost by violating his parole. I refused to grant his request and I guess he is nourishing a grudge." As for riot and other disturbances, he said, they are likely to happen at any penal institution at any time. That Alcatraz has not more disturbances is remarkable, he contends, in view of the fact that many of the prisoners are habitual "trouble-makers" sent to Alcatraz for that reason.

He has no cause for alarm over the present situation there, he emphasized. Bennett denied that prisoners at Alcatraz have difficulty in obtaln- t- MM j. the prisoners' indictment papers and judgments, pick out the technical faults and make application for habeas corpus. To put a stop to this, the men who had the best chance of winning release were shipped to Alcatraz. If one can get a writ filed in a San Francisco court, it is a miracle.

Most of the remaining prisoners are morons and mentally underdeveloped. Also there are some who are really sick and in need of medical attention, who made nuisances of themselves in other Federal prisons. The officials at Alcatraz will do everything in their power to prevent a public investigation, for It would surely bring up the case of Joe Bowers, No. 210, shot by a tower guard while attempting to dislodge a gallon tin can from a barbed wire fence. Bowers was employed on incinerator duty to dispose of garbage and burn trash on the island.

It was his practice to throw the empty tin cans over a barbed wire fence into the bay, 60 feet below. On the day in question, one can lodged in the strands of barbed wire at the top of the fence. Bowers stepped on a large garbage pail and was attempting to dislodge the can from the barbed wire when he was shot by tower guards directly over him. "Attempting to escape" was the official reason given for Bower's death. This was the first casualty at Alcatraz since its establishment on June 19, 1934.

Subsequently the tower guard was promoted. There have been two open strikes at Alcatraz. The first resulted from the treatment of Jack Allen, No. 209, on 20, 1936. He was a consumptive' "Vho was transferred from Leavenworth because he had made a nuisance of himself there trying to get medical attention.

He weighed only 125 pounds, and his general look of weakness and malnutrition was manifest. He was constantly complaining of stomach trouble. One night, about eight o'clock, Allen, whose cell was directly over AP. mine, began to moan and groan in his cell, intermittently calling for a doctor. He kept up his cries until almost midnight.

By that time, the entire cell block was alive to the situation, and the men began to shake their bars, keeping up the monotonous chant, "Doctor, Doctor, Doctor." About midnight, the guard approached the night lieutenant and asked what was to be done. "Throw him into the hole," was the reply. "We'll look into this matter in the morning." Allen was so weak, he had to be carried from his cell. The men thought he was being taken to" the hospital, and the cries subsided. Instead, he was thrown into the "hole" a dark cell, with a solid steel door, where unruly prisoners are placed for discipline.

There is no bed. but an inmate is given two blankets. At eight a. Allen was carried, doubled up and unconscious, from itoJr 1 Kin. Associated Press Photos.

Island. Above it are some of the prison now declares the ex-sans chief will never works'." lence. They refused to come out of' their cells, in hopes of getting some concession to relieve the deadly monotony. There was no hollering, as in the previous strike. They tried only to shame the rest of the inmates into joining with them, and during meal times they would keep clapping in order to persuade the others to support them.

Finally 140 men were on strike, all confined In the isolation block. Slugging of Warden Johnston. The most dramatic moment in the September strike was the slugging of Warden Johnston, which occurred on the fourth day. On this occasion the warden was standing as usual in the mess hall during lunch hour. It is his custom to stand in the center of the hall and watch the men as they file out.

Half of the men had filed out when "Whitey" Phillips, doing life for bank robbery, stepped out of line and struck Johnston a vicious blow on the back the head with his fist. The warden was knocked down, and while he lay on the floor Phillips kicked him three or four times in the face, rendering him unconscious. Guard J. F. Rowan hit Phillips with his fists, knocking him down.

Soon guards appeared from all over the room with blackjacks in their hands. "Whitey" was struck at least six times over the head and dragged away unconscious. Meanwhile the tower guard on the "catwalk" outside the dining room had realized something was wrong inside the mess hall. He pushed his gun through the windows between the bars, breaking the glass. This diverted the inmates' attention from the attack made by Phillips, and gave the guards an opportunity to drag the warden away and take his assailant to the hospital.

The day lieutenant immediately fired three shots, fatally woundmg nim- Officials denied that Bowers was t0 retrieve a can caught on top of the fence. Bowers was a notorious bandit, serving 25 years Allen, according to the records, was transferred to Alcatraz because of his bad record, which included burglary, robbery, rape, hi-jacking with arms, guard larceny, counterfeiting and forger'. The warden's report shows that Al'en was given medical attention when he complained of stomach pains and that, when his condition grew worse, he was removed to the hospital and operated on for gastric ulcer. The report says the operation was successful and Allen was about recovered from it when he developed lobar pneumonia, from which he died. Persful, according to the records, cut off two fingers of his left hand, not his whole handand he has not been removed to Springfield, where mental cases are sent.

Officials said Persful refused to explain why he mutilated himself. He has a long record as a "killer." Bennett takes Usue with the notion that a'l who enter Alcatraz mut "abandon hope." He says that men who show unmistakable evidences of a changed attitude are transferred to other prisons. Above: Journey'i end for some of buildings. Upper right: Al Capone (left) leave alive. "He is hated and despised the hole, and taken to the hospital, where he was immediately operated on for a ruptured colon.

Blood transfusioGs failed to save his life, and he died soon after. As a result, "Who killed Jack Allen?" was the rallying cry during the strike which immediately en- The case of "Arky" Persful, No. 284, is an example of the way life on Alcatraz affects the prisoners. Self-Torture With a Motive. Persful was a former prison guard at Arkansas Prison Farm, sentenced to 20 years for bank robbery.

He was a trusty and was allowed a certain amount of latitude. One day, while working outside the prison walls, he suddenly grabbed a fire hatchet, and chopped off most of his left hand. Turning to a horrified inmate standing beside him, he asked him to cut off the other hand for him. There was method in his madness, for he wanted transfer to the hospital for the insane at Springfield, to join about 20 others who had previously "blown their top" at Alcatraz. Persful got his wish, and was eventually sent to Springfield.

During the time I spent on Alcatraz. 25 out of the 325 prisoners went out of their minds. There are three cages in the prison hospital where the insane men are thrown for observation. Here they lie practically forgotten until someone else "blows his top." One of the men is then shipped away, and his place taken by the latest "loony." Dread Suicide Epidemic. Officials at Alcatraz go in dread of an epidemic of attempted suicides.

To my knowledge, at least 15 men at various times have attempted self-destruction. All of them tried to cut their throats with razor blades. Strangely enough, only one managed to succeed. This was "Sailor" Wutke, No. 47, sentenced to life imprisonment for murder on the high seas.

The official report was that he sliced his throat from ear to ear with a pencil sharpener, "but this seems impossible. I think he actually used a razor blade, which the men are given for a few minutes each night. Wutke tried to kill himself on two other occasions, and had to be taken to the hospital. He was placed in a straightjacket, for he was obviously insane, but no effort was made to transfer him, and so he ultimately succeeded in his intentions of suicide. Sure Capone Will 'Get The most notorious Inmate of Alcatraz Island, Al Capone, will never leave the prison alive.

Of that I am sure. Despite the fact that he has only another year to serve of his sentence, he will "get his" before his time is up. He is hated and despised by practically every inmate of the prison, and sooner or later one of them will give him "the works." I was already fairly well settled at Alcatraz when the shipment arrived from Atlanta about Aug. 27. 1934.

The inmates shipped included such luminaries as Al Capone, Dutch Schmidt of the Tuohy gang. "Monk" Fontaine, a man who had previously sent pistols In a barrel of tar to his friends at Leavenworth to help In their escape; Joe Urybates, partner with Roy Gardner in an unsuccessful attempt to escape from Atlanta in 1930, and many other lesser lights. Former Associates Shun Him. I thought it strange that the acompanled Capone all most dangerous criminals in the United States, I have come to the conclusion that practically all these men are products of the county jails. As boys or young men they were sent to county or provincial jails for more or less trivial offenses.

Immediately they came into the worst criminal and degenerate atmosphere. They mingled with hardened and foul old criminals who systematically initiated them into the secrets of the criminal profession. Within a few days after entering the county jails, the young prisoners learn how to- "beat" their cases, they get a first-hand insight into the workings of criminal rackets, and they learn who are the "fences" and who are the crooked lawyers. A judge often wishes to be lenient with young first offenders and gives them sentences of six months or a year in the county Jail, telling them he is doing them a favor by keeping them out of the penitentiary. But he is actually delivering them into a school for crime.

At the penitentiaries the men work hard, are closely supervised, and have little time to discuss crime. County jails, however, are extremely lax, and during his six-months' sentence the young first offender is taught every trick and turn of the criminal game. From my knowledge of criminal life in the United States, my advice is: "Eiminate the county jails, supervise and segregate first of fenders, and your crime bill will be cut in half. Eliminate those abuses which are creating young criminals, by the thousand, and there will be no need for such an institution as Alcatraz Island." Park in Need of Lions Wildlife Expert Says Estes Park, Colo. (AP.) Russell K.

Grater, assistant wildlife technician of the national park service, suggests a few fierce mountain lions might Improve the Rocky Mountain national park elk herd. Mountain lions, he says, would eliminate the diseased and 'unfit bulls of a herd, tending to limit propagation to the healthiest and fleetest members of the elk herd. "It's the old law of the survival of the fittest," he declares. There now are only a few lions In the park because the state government has offered a bounty on the animals for years. Grater said the elk herd has Innrea-sed to a point whore the available range insufficient to support It.

Ltulchna In a sing'e year I duces furs to all the production Alaska. of Canada and placed himself in front of the gun, holding up his hand and shouting "Hold it! If they start anything, let 'em have it." Then the men filed out without any further mishap. The majority of the inmates were not in favor of Whiteys cowardly attack on the warden, as it changed the complexion of the demonstration from a strike to a riot. Whitey had his skull crack yd and will be in permanent isolation for many years to come. Phillips hoped that a number of the men would be shot or gassed, and thus bring an investigation of prison conditions.

He was not actually in league with the strikers but went berserk on his own. The only other violence during the 12-day strike occurred on the second day, when five guards, who were transferring some of the strikers to the isolation cells, were slugged. An assorted collection of bumps and bruises was suffered by all participants. Let Outside World Know. By this time the whole world knew of the disturbance, for the men would all holler as the ferries went by outside, and it did not take the newspaper men long to find out there was trouble on the island.

The strike was finally broken by a threat from Washington that all those who didn't return to work within a certain time would automatically lose all their "good time." The men felt they had accomplished their purpose of drawing attention to conditions in the so the whole disturbance ended. The original 21 ringleaders, however, are now confined in a dungeon 40 feet below the main cell block floor. Chief demand of the men is for conditions similar to those at McNeil Island, Leavenworth and other Federal prisons. The vast majority do not consider themselves in the "public enemy" class at all, and they resent the discrimination. At other penitentiaries the inmates have access to newspapers, radio, and canteen.

They may receive visits, may have access to the courts, and receive pay for their labor. They always have hope of returning to society, but at Alcatraz this hope is extinguished. In none of the other institutions are the inmates under such mental strain. Nowhere else is such a strict military discipline enforced, nor methods of walk, dress and talk so regulated. The greatest hardship, Ls the constant nagging by the guards to break the men's spirits, and the realization that comes to many that this is the "last roundup." and they will be there the rest of their Uvea.

Calls County Jails to Blame After more than three years In Alcatraz, mingling with some of the mmrnm immMmmmmm 1 1 wmiammm wmmL ipum.i mil i i ii.i i mi i i I HUIli kJCU Jjy Ul I tffor robbing the mails and for as- Warden James A. Johnston of Alcatraz Island penitentiary was slugged, knocked down, and kicked in the face until he was unconscious in the strike of prisoners there last September. tner Criminal's Picture of Alcatraz ing writs of Habeas Corpus. On the contrary, he said, the number of writs filed by occupants of the Island is higher proportionately than at any other Federal prisons. The policy is to permit prisoners to file petitions for such writs at any time, providing they are not obscene.

Prison bureau records do not agree with Moxon's version of the shooting of Joe Bowers, the death in the hospital of Jack Allen or the case of "Arky" Persful, who mul-tllated his hand. Bennett pointed out. The official reports show that Bowers was making a specular and desperate effort to escape over a tall fence when discovered by a guard, who shouted for him to come down or be shot. Bowers, according to these reports, ignored the warnings and continued to pul! himselt over the fence and was dropping down the other side when the guard traz is that It is the prison for only the most desperate and incorrigible criminals and gangsters in the United States. This may have been the intention when the prison was established, but actually there are only about 25 so-called "public enemies" at Alcatraz today.

About 70 per cent of the prisoners are men who have been shipped from other Federal prisons because technical errors were made In their indictments. If they had access to a lawyer, they could win their release on a technicality. The majority of them are guilty, despite their illegal sentencing, and the government isdetermined to keep them out of public circulation. Stopping Legal Loopholes. The authorities found far too many men were leaving Leavenworth and Atlanta penitentiaries on writs of habeas corpus.

In such Institutions there are always inmate lawyers who will send for copies of.