Letters From Alcatraz - Michael Esslinger [159]
ESCAPE ATTEMPT #10
Date:
May 2-6, 1946
Inmates:
Bernard Coy
Joseph Cretzer
Marvin Hubbard
Miran Thompson
Clarence Carnes
Sam Shockley
Location:
Main Cellhouse
THE BATTLE OF ALCATRAZ
A message scratched onto one of the flat bars of cell #23 in A Block, where several inmates were temporarily housed during the “Battle of Alcatraz.”
On May 2, 1946, six convicts embarked on one of the most violent escape attempts ever made on the Rock. Many historians rank this as the most significant event in the island’s twenty-nine-year history as a Federal penitentiary, and it was appropriately labeled by the contemporary press as the “Battle of Alcatraz.” Of the thirty-nine convicts who attempted to escape over the years, only one successfully plotted and executed a plan to secure weapons – and they were used with deadly consequences. In the wake of the conflict, two correctional officers and three inmates lay dead from bullet wounds and several others were left seriously injured. This legendary escape attempt would remain a topic of discussion by inmates and guards alike until the prison’s closure in 1963.
THE CONSPIRATORS
Bernard Paul Coy
Bernard Paul Coy was the primary architect of one of the most ingenious escape plots ever implemented at Alcatraz. He would be the only inmate in the prison’s history to successfully secure prison firearms.
Forty-six-year-old Bernard Paul Coy was a hillbilly bank robber serving out the remainder of a twenty-five-year sentence on The Rock. Bernie was born to a hauntingly poor Kentucky hill family of one brother and four sisters, all of whom suffered the consequences of extreme poverty. By the time Bernie reached his late teens, his teeth were horribly decayed and he was afflicted with excruciatingly painful gums. It was rumored that Coy had been neglected as a child and had received frequent beatings from his father. Even in his earliest years, Coy had allegedly exhibited violent tendencies.
At sixteen years of age, Bernie decided to leave home and enlist in the U.S. Army. It was in this context that he would enter into his first battle: World War I. Coy served in the Army with great distinction until the war ended in 1918. After finishing his tour of duty, he fell in love with a woman from Wisconsin and the couple soon married. In order to maintain a steady income, Bernie reenlisted in the Army in 1920. As the war effort came to a close, Coy frequently found himself in trouble and it was during this period that he changed the direction of his life, and began moving toward his eventual destiny. In 1921, Bernie was arraigned in Chicago for abandoning his post assignment and going AWOL. He was found guilty of desertion and was sent back to Camp Taylor in Kentucky, where he served fifteen days in the military detention center. Soon afterward, he received a dishonorable discharge and therefore had to make the transition back to civilian life with few job opportunities and limited prospects.
Coy feverishly attempted to find work, in hopes of making a decent life for himself and his wife. He was a gifted craftsman and artist, and made use of his talents as a decorator and painter. However, despite his earnest attempts, the Great Depression had left him unemployed and desperate to support himself. Bernie found himself backed into a corner with few options left by which to survive. In 1923 Coy was arrested in Draper, Wisconsin, for violating liquor laws along with an assault and battery charge. He was released with time served and fined $250, which he clearly could not afford to pay in his state of unemployment. He was convicted of larceny charges in 1928 and 1930, and eventually served nearly five years in the Wisconsin State Penitentiary.
Reading Coy’s letters from the years prior to his Alcatraz escape attempt, it would be nearly impossible to predict his violent and premeditated break for freedom.