Letters From Alcatraz - Michael Esslinger [211]
Even in later years, Wilson minimized his interactions with prisoners as much as possible and insisted that he be fed separately, claiming that other inmates had threatened to kill him. It was also documented that over the course of his imprisonment at Alcatraz, Floyd rarely visited the recreation yard. When he did, he kept to himself. He preferred to spend his leisure time reading in his cell.
On July 23, 1956, Wilson was assigned to the dock crew and after a routine count in the late afternoon, he disappeared without a trace. His only hope for an escape to the mainland was a length of rope that he planned to use to tie logs together. Once he reached the water’s edge, he would try to collect wood and construct a makeshift raft. Warden Madigan best described the details of Wilson’s escape in a memo written to the Bureau of Prisons Director on July 27, 1956:
July 27, 1956
DIRECTOR, Bureau of Prisons
Warden Madigan – Alcatraz
Attempted Escape – Floyd P. Wilson, Reg. No 956-AZ
The following is an account of the events occurring on the afternoon of July 23rd when inmate Floyd P. Wilson, Reg. No. 956-AZ ran from the dock crew and was able to hide out on the island for a period of several hours.
Four inmates were assigned to the dock crew that day, plus one inmate assigned to the garbage pick up detail. At 3:25 P.M. when the launch was due to leave on a scheduled trip, the water barge was also about to leave, and the inmates were called on the line for counting purposes which is customary procedure. The four dock inmates were on the line and the garbage truck, with Officer Jones and one inmate, had arrived at a position under #1 Dock Tower at that exact time. Mr. Jones stopped his truck until the boat and barge had cleared the docks. He then drove to the dock proper, let the inmate out of his truck and went about his duties, but told us later that he saw inmate Wilson take a rubber automobile tire and throw it on bonfire that was burning at the end of the dock. This created some black smoke that belched up, but not too much thought was given to this fact because Wilson had spent most of the day in burning excess refuse that had been around the dock.
At 3:40 a routine count was made by Mr. Black Dock, Officer in Charge, and all inmates were present. At 3:50 P.M. just as the launch “McDowell” was returning from the mainland, the inmates were called to the line where they could be easily counted, and Wilson was missing. A hasty search was made but he was not found so a call was put into the control center advising that Wilson was not present. The alarm was sounded on the island and in the matter of a few minutes the Evening Watch Officers and several officers on their day off arrived on the launch. These men were all pressed into service and started searching around the East end of the Island since it was felt that Wilson had gotten through the fence surrounding the end of the dock. Searchers immediately found an area near the bonfire Wilson had been attending where the fence was pried up which would permit him to crawl through and follow the sea-wall around until he was out of eyesight of #1 Tower Officer.
The FBI, plus the San Francisco Police Department, Coast Guard, Fort Mason and Presidio Military Police were immediately notified and our escape plan put into operation. All posts were covered and ten searching parties from two to three men each were sent out to several predetermined areas. The Coast Guard immediately sent two patrol boats which