Alcatraz_ A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years - Michael Esslinger [208]
Thompson and Shockley were both sentenced to die in the gas chamber at San Quentin. They were executed seated side-by-side on December 3, 1948.
At 10:04 a.m., Warden Duffy nodded the signal to allow the small fluid wells under each man’s chair to begin filling with sulfuric acid. As the curtains were opened, the men peered at the witnesses sitting outside the chamber. One minute later, the cyanide pellets were dropped into the sulfuric acid pans. It was later stated that both men strained violently against the straps as they breathed in the deadly gas. At 10:12 a.m., the two men were pronounced dead. At 10:15 a.m. the eyewitnesses left the witness room, and the five-man execution team started to clear the gas from the chamber in order to remove the corpses. The sulfuric acid was neutralized by flushing the seat wells with distilled water. A powerful blower fan connected to a large duct on top of the chamber was used to dissipate the residual gases. The bodies of the prisoners were carefully pulled from the seats, and their clothing was removed and incinerated.
Thompson was shipped to Harry M. William’s Mortuary in San Rafael, and when his brother Horace was unable to claim his body, he was buried in grave plot #235 at the Marin County Farm Cemetery on December 9, 1948.
Miran Thompson was buried in this peaceful unmarked graveyard, located in the foothills of Marin County. His grave is just a few feet from the tree seen in the foreground.
Miran Thompson’s death certificate.
Shockley’s remains were taken to Kenton’s Mortuary for embalming, and then shipped back to his sister Myrtle in Oklahoma. As an interesting endnote, Warden Duffy, who had overseen the execution of the two inmates, had long opposed the death penalty. But while he opposed the practice of execution, he did believe that the inmates executed were unquestionably guilty of the crimes for which they were convicted. He later wrote: “I have never presided over the execution of an innocent person, although several of the ninety whose deaths I ordered... claimed innocence right up to the last minute. The evidence against these people was so convincing that I seriously doubt miscarriages of justice.”
Following the trial of the inmates, Clarence Carnes was returned to Alcatraz, and he remained in segregation until 1952. Carnes was celled next to Robert Stroud, and he would develop a lasting relationship with the “Birdman of Alcatraz.” Stroud took fondly to his new pupil, and taught him to play chess. By the time Carnes had integrated back into the normal prison population, he had been the titleholder of the institution’s chess championships for over ten years. After years of imprisonment, Carnes became a model inmate, and began to thrive in the prison environment. He would remain at Alcatraz up until a few months before its closure in 1963, when he was transferred to the Federal Prison Medical Adjustment Center in Springfield Illinois to undergo gallbladder surgery. Following his recovery he would be transferred to Leavenworth, and then paroled on Christmas Eve of 1973. Carnes moved in with his sister in Kansas City, but he found life outside of prison confusing and difficult. After having spent the majority of his life incarcerated, he found freedom overwhelming, and he took to heavy drinking and habitual drug use. He eventually violated parole, and was sent back to Leavenworth for a short period.
In late 1978 Carnes’ life story was dramatized