Alcatraz_ A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years - Michael Esslinger [172]
Clarence Victor Carnes
Clarence Victor Carnes – A life in pictures. He would spend nearly his entire adult life in maximum security prisons.
Clarence Victor Carnes, born on January 14, 1927 in rural Oklahoma, was a full-blooded Choctaw Indian and like many of the other inmates he was exposed to a troubled and poverty-stricken childhood. His father struggled to support his family through the Great Depression years and tried to create a stable life for his children, but was largely unsuccessful. Carnes would become what was later described as...“natural fighter,” and he developed into a gang leader during his early teens. He was constantly in and out of trouble and at only fifteen years of age he would participate in an armed robbery that would change his life in a matter of seconds.
Carnes’ fate was sealed when he and a school friend attempted to hold up a small gas station in Atoka, Oklahoma. Carnes threatened station attendant Walter Weyland with a stolen revolver, but Weyland refused to take the youths seriously. He apparently attempted to disarm Carnes and the struggle ended with a fatal gunshot wound to the attendant’s chest. Carnes and his accomplice were quickly apprehended and placed in the county jail, where they were to await trial on charges of first-degree murder. But only hours after their capture they somehow managed to overpower the jailer and escape, taking with them his stolen pistol. Within hours they were recaptured and in October of 1943, Carnes was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Then on February 3, 1945, while incarcerated at the Oklahoma State Reformatory in the city of Granite, Carnes and two accomplices escaped from a hard labor chain gang at work in a rock quarry. Carnes and his accomplices made it to town without being detected, stole a vehicle and kidnapped the owner. The trio then crossed the state line into Shamrock, Texas, wrecked the stolen vehicle and made their way back into Oklahoma in another stolen car, leaving their kidnap victim behind. They were quickly apprehended and on March 19, 1945 Carnes would receive an additional ninety-nine years for kidnapping under the Federal Lindberg Act. Carnes was sent to the State Reformatory in McAlester, Oklahoma, and later to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas. He soon became a serious disciplinary problem at Leavenworth and was recommended for transfer to Alcatraz by the Warden. Carnes arrived at Alcatraz on July 6, 1945 at only eighteen years of age. Many who knew him described him as being out-of-place on the Rock. He was quiet, easy going and rarely got involved in altercations. Carnes was also very fit and did not back down when trouble came his way. It is likely that these traits appealed to Coy when he recruited him for the prison break.
Preparations for the Escape
The famous escape of 1946 did not happen spontaneously; on the contrary, it was the fruit of careful planning by the group of inmate conspirators and particularly by Bernie Coy. He was the architect of the scheme, who studiously watched the habits of the guards, meticulously selected his accomplices from among the pool of prisoners, and arranged for all of the necessary tools and supplies to be constructed and secreted around the prison.
Early Planning Stages
In late 1945, Bernie Coy had earned his way to a job as the library orderly, which gave him special privileges to move about the cellhouse freely. This job assignment also allowed him to provide his own special “reading privileges” to other inmates in return for “special favors,”