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The Warden was behind closed doors, plotting with his aides about how to perform a stealthy rescue and free his men. With Lieutenants Isaac Faulk, Frank Johnson and Associate Warden Ed Miller, he debated the pros and cons of making entry into the cellhouse without firm knowledge of the whereabouts of the captive officers. It was later reported that Warden Johnston had also felt uneasy about sending in a team carrying weapons, which could potentially be seized by the already armed inmates. It was known that the inmates had only a small arsenal of weapons and ammunition, and the prison staff realized that the battle could intensify if the convicts secured more firearms and drew more inmates into their scheme. This had been one of the most critical elements of the security system at Alcatraz. Weapons were never to be allowed into the cellhouse under any circumstances. But clearly this type of situation had never been anticipated, and some invasive action would have to be implemented, beyond what was dictated by protocol.

The injured guards, Richberger, Cochrane, and Oldham, were driven down to the dock area. Johnston made a solemn trip over to meet with Bessie Stites and deliver the news of her husband’s tragic death. Her friends and children would assist her, as they gathered their belongings and met at the dock where her husband’s body lay tightly covered with a dark green army blanket. Harold P. Stites had become the first known fatality, and his body was lifted onto the bow of the launch for the brief trip over to the Van Ness Pier. As they arrived, they were met with a barrage of reporters snapping photos, desperate to get any information that was available. The news of Stites’ death was starting to spread, and the tension rose among the families, who feared the worst for their loved ones on the island. Ambulances lined the dock access path with their flashing red lights radiating against the buildings and water. When the launch arrived at the dock, four prison officers, Fred Richberger, Harry Cochrane, Herschel Oldham, and Elmus Besk, were rushed by ambulance to the Marine Hospital in the Presidio. The body of Harold Stites was solemnly loaded into the back of an ambulance and driven to the Medical Examiner’s Office, where it would immediately undergo an autopsy.

Warden Johnston had made a final decision that it was still too risky to send in an armed assault team. The plan would therefore be to attempt to communicate with the cornered inmates, to see if they could strike some limited bargain for the hostages’ return. Ed Miller was assigned the task of attempting to negotiate with the inmates. Breaking out a pane from a window over the D Block catwalk, Miller yelled blindly into the cellhouse, trying to reason with the escapees, and pleading for them to surrender. At first there was no response, but then after a brief moment, Cretzer yelled from an indiscernible location that they would not be taken alive, and challenged Miller to “come’n and get us.” From his position in the gun gallery Bergen listened carefully to the sound of the voice, and cautiously looking over the Gallery’s steel barrier, he attempted to locate where the voice was coming from. As Cretzer and Miller briefly exchanged words, Coy fired off several rounds toward the window where Miller was standing. This action incited a response, and soon there was an intense barrage of gunfire into D Block.

Scenes of Alcatraz at war. Armed with mortars and bazookas, United States Marines used heavy artillery to bomb the cellhouse in an effort to regain control.

Alvin Karpis, former “Public Enemy Number One” and the inmate to serve the longest term on the Rock, later recounted that the first bombardment of gunfire took the inmates completely by surprise. They had not expected the barrage of bullets to be so severe. The inmates in D Block were nearly deafened as the artillery attack reverberated throughout the cellhouse, and to the many spectators who lined the shores of San Francisco, it was reminiscent of a Fourth