Alcatraz_ A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years - Michael Esslinger [89]
In late August of 1931, Leavenworth Warden Thomas White was directed by the newly formed Bureau of Prisons to disband Stroud’s mail order business and to revoke all privileges that allowed him to keep birds in his cell. It was a serious blow to Stroud to have all of his avian studies brought to a halt by prison bureaucracy. He pleaded directly to the B.O.P. with little success. Della and Elizabeth flooded newspaper and magazine offices with plaintive appeals and sorrowful press releases that Bob had written from his cell. Bob’s plight drew national attention and public empathy forced the B.O.P. to change its position. The Bureau’s newly appointed Director, James V. Bennett, who was only thirty-seven years of age, was sent to Leavenworth to negotiate new terms with Stroud. After Bennett’s visit, the Bureau modified its ruling to state that Stroud would no longer be able to conduct private business ventures from his prison cell. His profitable business of bird remedies and breeding would now fall under the umbrella of prison industries. As a result, Stroud would go from making nearly ten dollars per bird to earning only ten dollars a month as a noncommissioned salary.
An article written by Della Mae Jones in 1931, petitioning for leniency and a reinstatement of privileges so that Stroud could keep his birds while in prison.
Hollywood Actress Betty Field’s original contract to play the role of Stella in the motion picture Birdman of Alcatraz. The character was based on Della Mae Jones.
Though this was widely considered to be a harsh ruling, the Bureau did make some concessions. They classified Stroud as a special prisoner of the Bureau and provided him with an additional cell adjacent to his own which included additional electrical outlets to help accommodate his research. The prison even went so far as to hire a construction crew to jackhammer a doorway between the two cells. Stroud once again became engrossed in his research and his self-taught explorations into avian behavior, illness and scientific theory.
Stroud’s cell with birdcages strewn about, as it was depicted in the biographical film, looked quite similar to his actual solitary cell at Leavenworth.
In 1933 Stroud’s first book, entitled Diseases of Canaries,was published by Canary Publishers. It was based on his magazine articles and his independent research techniques, and was intended to be marketed as a comprehensive and authoritative text on canary care for owners and breeders. His well-written reference was as meticulously researched and structured as an avian encyclopedia. The book was, however, not without its critics. Some of the remedies were later found to be harmful to birds. It also drew skeptical responses from some circles in the veterinarian community. Stroud and his publisher E.J. Powell soon clashed over the book’s lack of success. Stroud argued that it was Powell who had been responsible for the book’s failure and later attempted to file a lawsuit against him.
Meanwhile Stroud and Della grew closer and they sought to marry, even though Stroud was incarcerated for life. After reading an out-of-date law book from the prison library, Stroud interpreted the Treaty of Paris, struck in 1803, as granting inhabitants of the Louisiana Purchase (which also included the Kansas territory) the right to marry by signing an officiated contract. Stroud typed the contract on the old Remington typewriter he had in his cell, and the following day their unofficial marriage was published in the Kansas City Star, in October of 1933. Della Mae then started penning her name as Della Mae Stroud. Prison officials were furious that Stroud was publicly maneuvering around prison regulations and it was around this time that rumors started to surface regarding his eventual transfer to Alcatraz.
During the next few years,