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to figure out. While his attempted escape is not remembered as the most famous, it certainly was known in the circles of Alcatraz as one of the most ingenious escapes ever attempted at the Rock. John Knight Giles was born in Elgin, Tennessee on February 16, 1895 to a local engineer, as the youngest of three boys. His father had migrated south from New York and his mother was from Georgia, and the couple apparently separated frequently throughout their marriage. It is documented that John’s mother suffered from mental illness and was admitted to mental institutions several times during his childhood. John attended high school in Everett, Washington, and for unknown reasons he decided to quit school at age fifteen. He took a job as a Surveyor’s Assistant in the U.S. Reclamation Service near British Columbia, where he worked for almost four years.

Giles first brush with the world of crime came in 1915, when he was given a five to ten year sentence for robbery and was incarcerated at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. It would appear that officials were lenient with Giles and he was issued a pardon in 1918, probably to allow him to enter the U.S. Army for the First World War. He failed to enlist and only months after his release he committed another robbery. In November of 1918 Giles planned what he thought would be an easy burglary, targeting an interstate bridge tender in the state of Oregon. He robbed the tender at gunpoint and then attempted a getaway. He was swiftly apprehended by Deputy Sheriff Frank W. Twombley, and during the arrest, the officer was killed. An all-points bulletin was issued on Giles, and he was quickly taken into custody.

Giles was convicted of murder, and sentenced to life in prison at the State Penitentiary in Salem, Oregon. He was considered a quiet inmate, and he took to writing short fictional stories. Records show that he was somewhat successful in selling his work, and wrote for a variety of pulp magazines. After serving several years, Giles would boast to officials that he had helped to prevent riots and other uprisings by acting as a leader among the inmates. In November of 1934, after sixteen uneventful years, Giles managed to escape from the State Penitentiary. He was later identified in connection with a theft in Redding California, but managed to elude officials for over a year, always keeping one step ahead of them. However Giles would soon participate in a crime that would finally seal his fate.

In May of 1935, Giles and six accomplices made the ill-fated decision to rob the Denver and Rio Grande Mail Train in Salt Lake City. Reports show that the gang jumped onto the train, forcing the engineer to halt the locomotive and a few of the men then climbed into the cabin and held the engineer at gunpoint. They made their way back to the locked mail car and attempted to break a window to gain access without success. The gang fired randomly into the car through its windows, then threw in a large bottle of ammonia, attempting to force out the mail clerks with the pungent fumes. Their plan failed, as one of the mail clerks who was armed with a gun returned fire and forced the gang to retreat to an awaiting truck. Law officers quickly apprehended four of the men, along with Giles. Giles was sentenced to an additional twenty-eight years for the Federal crime of attempted mail robbery.

Giles arrived at McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary on June 17, 1935. Because of his escape record and the length of his sentence, he was transferred to Alcatraz on August 28, 1935. Giles seemed to adapt well to the routines at Alcatraz, though he was described in a 1943 progress report as follows: “he mixes little with other inmates and pretty well keeps to himself, being considered by some as odd.” Nevertheless, he was highly regarded by the correctional staff, and was generally considered to be friendly. Giles mother, who was now in her late 70’s, had moved to Los Angeles where one of his brothers was now residing so that she could be closer to her two sons. But Giles refused all visits from his