Alcatraz_ A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years - Michael Esslinger [86]
Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas.
Stroud’s first mug shot at Leavenworth, taken in 1912.
Despite his growing reputation as an inmate with a violent disposition, it was at Leavenworth that Stroud started to attend school. His initial foundation studies were primarily in Math and English, but later he undertook more intensive subjects such as astronomy and engineering. Self-study became a newfound outlet for Stroud’s energy. But along with his legitimate studies, Stroud also pursued courses in the art of survival, and he crafted weapons under the cover of night from items he obtained covertly. Over the next few years, Stroud would land himself in solitary confinement several times when guards discovered his crudely fashioned weapons and escape tools.
The next turning point in Stroud’s prison career began on Saturday, March 25, 1916, where Stroud has recounted that he attended a motion picture show in the prison auditorium. Following the film, he was escorted to the mess hall for supper. Stroud would later contend that he didn’t feel well and had lost his appetite. To maintain order, correctional officers strolled up and down the aisles, carefully monitoring the activities in the mess hall. A prison guard named Andrew F. Turner made repeated passes by Stroud’s table, allegedly delivering hard stares each time. Stroud apparently voiced his observation of the guard’s behavior to a fellow inmate, thus violating the strict rule of silence. Turner quickly walked over to Stroud and sharply demanded his prisoner number. Stroud had been put on notice.
Stroud’s second murder victim, Leavenworth Correctional Officer Andrew F. Turner. This wedding portrait was used during the murder trial.
The following day on March 26th, Stroud returned to his cell after supper to find a basket of fruit and candy on his cot. The armory guard had left a note for Stroud indicating that his eighteen-year-old brother Marcus had come to visit him from Alaska. Stroud learned that his brother had been turned away simply because he had been in the auditorium at the time, watching a movie. He was enraged that Marcus had traveled all the way from Alaska, only to be told to come back the following Monday.
Stroud would later claim he became worried that Turner would report him for breaching the silence rule during the previous meal and that the warden would then take away his visitation privilege with Marcus. He asserted that his only option was to speak with Turner again during the next meal period, to ask whether he had reported him. He said that he planned to plead with Turner for leniency.
The dining hall at Leavenworth, where Turner was murdered by Stroud.
Stroud later recounted his story to fellow inmate Joseph Duhamel, stating that during the next dinner meal and in sight of nearly two thousand fellow inmates; he simply raised his hand to talk with Turner. The true sequence of events that unfolded from this point forward is somewhat sketchy. The two started to exchange words and Turner apparently drew his club from under his left arm. Witnesses state that Stroud aggressively attempted to wrestle away Turner’s club, and in a manic rage, pulled a homemade knife and stabbed him violently in the upper chest. Turner fell hard to the cement floor and gasped a final breath before succumbing to the fatal knife wound. All of the men in the mess hall rose to their feet in shocked silence.
Stroud had just murdered a guard and everyone immediately knew the ramifications.