Letters From Alcatraz - Michael Esslinger [210]
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The Battle of Alcatraz endures as one the most significant events in the entire history of criminal imprisonment. Of all the inmates who participated in escapes over the years at Alcatraz, Bernie Coy was the only one who successfully devised a workable plan to secure weapons, and then managed to use them in his break for freedom. After the escape attempt, the correctional staff would look differently upon some of the more trusted convicts. Even the men who held the roles of “passmen” were restricted from work until stricter measures were implemented. The question of why the three inmates chose death over life in their final hours will forever remain as one of the true mysteries of Alcatraz.
Fifty years after the Battle of Alcatraz, former inmate Jim Quillen, who was barricaded inside D Block during the incident and officer Phil Bergen, who led the assault teams into the West Gun Gallery, met with the author in 1997 to recount the 1946 events from the inside perspective. They are seen here looking up at the West Gallery where Phil Bergen was positioned during the events. At the time, it would have been unthinkable that fifty years later they would become friends and reflect on the events together. Both men have since passed away.
ESCAPE ATTEMPT #11
Date:
July 23, 1956
Inmates:
Floyd P. Wilson
Location:
Prison Dock
Floyd P. Wilson
Born in Chilhowie, Virginia on March 22, 1915, Floyd P. Wilson’s life would begin with a hard luck story which would eventually lead to murder. In the cold winter of 1947, Wilson was a jobless carpenter when he set out to steal seventeen dollars for a ton of coal to heat his near-freezing home in Maryland. He was allegedly trying to support his wife and five young children, and as he would later testify, he was “trying to keep them from freezing to death.” Distraught and cold, he decided to prey upon a young food market messenger who was driving to a local bank with a cash deposit of $10,162 from the store where he worked. The messenger apparently resisted, and Wilson would later testify that everything seemed to move in slow motion as he opened fire on the innocent man. Floyd stated that watched in horror as his victim dropped to the ground in a pool of blood. He was quickly identified as the perpetrator of the crime and soon found himself in a Washington, D.C. jail cell awaiting trial for the slaying.
Wilson ultimately received a conviction for first-degree murder and as a result of the brutal nature of the crime; he was sentenced to death by electrocution on June 27, 1947. His attorneys appealed the verdict, stating that Wilson was only a desperate man trying to support his ailing family. He was presented to the court as an honorable family man who had been reduced to crime because of his inability to find work. On August 3, 1948 President Harry Truman proved sympathetic to Wilson’s case, and in consideration of the mitigating circumstances, he commuted the death sentence to life in prison. Wilson was transferred to the Federal Penitentiary at Atlanta in April of 1949. Shortly thereafter, he was found in possession of a rope and some pipe segments, which officials speculated were likely intended for use in an escape attempt. Based on the length of his sentence and his high risk of escape, he was recommended for transfer to Alcatraz.
President Harry Truman was sympathetic to Wilson’s case and commuted his sentence to life imprisonment in 1948.
Floyd P. Wilson arrived at Alcatraz