Letters From Alcatraz - Michael Esslinger [125]
Immediately following the attempted escape of prisoners Limerick, Franklin and Lucas, their assault on Senior Officer Royal C. Cline, their assault on the guard tower manned by Junior Officer Harold P. Stites, I reported the matter to you by telephone and followed it by making additional telephonic reports on the following day, informing you of the death of Officer Cline and death of prisoner Limerick.
At noon on that day I went to San Francisco to act as honorary pallbearer at the funeral of Jesse S. Cook, former Chief of Police of San Francisco. While I was in the Masonic Temple where the services were being held, somebody tapped me on the shoulder and told me I was wanted on the telephone. I went at once to the telephone and called my secretary who told me there had been some shooting on the lower end of the Island in the work area and apparently some prisoners had tried to escape, that Officer Cline had been hurt, but beyond that he could not give detailed particulars. I ordered the launch sent off and I proceeded immediately to the wharf and reached the Island shortly after Mr. Cline and Prisoners Franklin and Limerick had been moved to the Hospital.
As soon as I got on the grounds and questioned the Associate Warden, Lieutenant of the Watch and officers who had participated, I found that this is what had happened:
Junior Officer Harold P. Stites was on duty in the tower on the roof of the Model Shop Building. Junior Officer Clifford B. Stewart was patrolling the roof of the building at the northwest side where he could keep an eye on the ground below the rear and side of the building nearest the Bay where contractors' workmen were boring boles in the concrete building in preparation for the installation of tool-proof steel window guards, the workmen being under supervision of Junior Officer George D. Hoag.
At about 2 P.M. or even before that hour, Officer Stites was inside the tower and heard noises behind him and turning in the direction of the sound saw Prisoners Lucas, Franklin and Limerick on the roof to which they had ascended from the top floor of the shop building. Subsequent examination showed that they had reached the roof by standing on a window shoved out-ward which they held steady with a timber frame and making an aperture in the barbed wire guard around the roof, cutting the wire with pliers.
Almost as soon as Officer Stites saw the prisoners, they rushed the tower from several angles each of them firing iron missiles (note: these consisted of heavy metal objects including hammers and heavy wrenches), their apparent purpose being to try to knock him out and seize his arms.
Officer Stites endeavored to halt them by warning and by firing the first shot into the frame of the window but they kept advancing and then he kept dodging and firing shots through the glass in his tower. Several of the missiles they fired went through the glass in the tower but many others failed to go through, showing that the shatterproof glass is a very valuable protection. Only one of the missiles that went through hit Officer Stites. He did not leave his tower but fired through the glass.
The Associate Warden happened to be in his work area on the west side near the incinerator. Lieutenant Culver was making his regular afternoon inspection of the work area and at the time was in the laundry. Associate Warden heard the shots and went toward the Model Shop Building where he saw Prisoner Franklin laying on the barbed wire which goes around the edge of the roof, Model Shop Building. Lieutenant Culver coming from the Laundry also saw Franklin, as did several other Officers.
Associate Warden (Miller) used the emergency telephone to call all the officers from the front of the building and instructed the Armorer to get those that were on the island but off duty to go into the work