Letters From Alcatraz - Michael Esslinger [140]
The first men to be captured were Young and McCain, who were stripped of their clothing, and stood chattering and cold from exposure. The two inmates were brought up to the visitor’s area of the administration building and given blankets until they could be escorted to the prison hospital. The cove proved to be too dangerous for the McDowell, so two officers took a small rowing boat into the shallow water, and pulled the wounded inmates Stamphill and Barker into the craft. Stamphill was lethargic and had suffered serious gunshot wounds to his lower extremities. He was hit twice, with one bullet through his left leg just above the knee, the wound bleeding profusely from a severed artery; and the second to his right leg near the ankle. When he was carried to the Alcatraz Hospital, he was in critical condition. Barker was pulled into the boat and was also found to be critically injured. He had suffered gunshot wounds to the head and thigh, and he had an obvious fracture in his left leg that most likely resulted from a stray bullet. Ty Martin was found standing almost completely naked, wearing only a pair of water soaked socks, bleeding from several cuts and bruises and nearly frozen from exposure. Warden Johnston later wrote that when Miller shined the light onto him, Ty started yelling, “I give up, I give up.” Martin was also taken to the hospital for an examination.
McCain and Young were found to be uninjured and both were immediately sent to solitary confinement in A Block. Martin was also treated and released back into solitary confinement. Barker was semi-conscious when he arrived at the hospital, and complained that he was in severe pain. Warden Johnston stated that they tried to get a formal statement from Barker His last words were documented in a formal report by Junior Officer George Hoag, who assisted in the Operation Room. Hoag wrote in his report and recorded Barker’s final words:
While in the hospital, after Stamphill and Barker were laying on the operating tables, at approximately 5:25 A.M. Barker started to roll and twist, you directed me to hold him from falling off the table, I stepped to table and held him, while doing so, Mr. Pepper, being on the opposite side of the inmate, Barker spoke to me, saying, "I'm crazy as hell, I should have never tried it.
In a memorandum to the Warden dated January 14, 1939, Dr. Romney Ritchey described Barker’s condition:
Re: Barker, Arthur, 268-AZ
This will inform you that the above captioned Inmate, who came to the Hospital yesterday morning with injuries mentioned in a previous memorandum, showed a gradual lost of strength during the day and died at 5:40 P.M. last night.
When first brought in he was greatly confused but partly conscious and complained of pain in the left leg which was broken, and of being cold. Later on during the morning he was restless in bed and would rally to look around him but made no statement or gave any indication that he understood the situation more than to realize at time his own precarious physical condition. Everything possible was done to improve his condition and Dr. E. M. Townsend of the U.S. Marine Hospital was called in consultation. During the afternoon he became more restless and confused and was constantly rolling about in bed. His circulation became weaker more rapidly