Letters From Alcatraz - Michael Esslinger [90]
In spite of these setbacks, the intrepid prisoner continued to conduct and expand his avian research. Stroud had been given professional tools to perform his autopsies, including scalpels and other sharp instruments. He had educated himself in the use of an old microscope that had been donated to the prison by Wesleyan University and claimed that he had logged more than 3,000 hours at the eyepiece. It was also reported that Stroud had made a microtone from scraps of metal and a discarded razor blade which could slice tissue to 1/12,000 of an inch – and that he had studied literally thousands of homemade slides. He had spent countless hours sketching his observations in detailed pen-and-ink illustrations.
Stroud spent hundreds of hours studying and sketching his avian observations in detailed pen-and-ink illustrations. These sketches were assembled for his book Digest on the Diseases of Bird,” published in 1943.
Stroud’s Alcatraz D-Block cell, located on the top tier. This was the cell Stroud occupied during the aborted 1946 escape attempt by inmates Bernard Coy, Joseph Cretzer, Marvin Hubbard and Miran Thompson. Following these events, he was moved to cell D-4 on the flats.
Then in the early morning of December 16, 1942, Stroud was awakened without any warning by two guards and was advised him to get dressed and prepare for reassignment to Alcatraz. Now fifty-two years old and having spent over twenty-years in his solitary confinement cell at Leavenworth, he would be traveling by train to California. Stroud had been restricted from taking any of his birds and would only be allowed to carry his books and note journals. His journey to Alcatraz would be one of wonderment as he peered at the landscape through the barred windows of the train. He was viewing a world that he hadn’t seen in nearly twenty years.
Stroud arrived on Alcatraz on December 19, 1942, and would now be known as AZ-594. He bypassed quarantine and was immediately taken to the Treatment Unit with all of his accustomed privileges revoked. There would be no birds on Alcatraz and no special visitors. The press would be left with only rumors about the famous prisoner. Stroud was assigned to Cell #41 in D Block, located at the far end of the uppermost tier. His cell on Alcatraz was considerably smaller than the one at Leavenworth and his privileges were the same as those permitted to his fellow inmates, with the one exception that he was allowed to finish his manuscript on bird diseases. This change was a tough adjustment for Stroud and he spent the majority of his time proofing the manuscript for his next book. Following his Alcatraz arrival, staff members at Leavenworth reported that they had found numerous contraband articles, including a still to make alcohol and various crudely fashioned knives – all carefully hidden within hollowed sections of his worktables.
LIST OF PERSONAL BOOKS OF ROBERT STROUD #594-AZ STORED IN “A” BLOCK. April of 1959
Atlas of Avian Anatomy – Chamberlain-
Stroud’s Digest of the Diseases of Birds – Stroud.
Annual Review of Biochemistry – Vol. VIII 1939, Vol. I 1940, Vol. I 1941, Vol. III 1943, Vol. IIII 1944, Vol. XIV 1945, Vol. IV 1946.
Handbook of Hematology, Vols. I, II, III, IV.
Textbook of Biochemistry, 3rd Edition by Harrow.
Yearbook of Agriculture for 1936 and Vol. For 1943.
Annual Review of Physiology: Vol. I, 1939; Vol. II, 1940; Vol. III; 1 941;Vol. IV, 1942; Vol. V, 1943, Vol. IV, 1944; Vol. VII, 1947; Vol. VIII, 1946; Vol. II, 1945.
Fundamental Principles of Bacteriology – Snell
Gould’s Medical Dictionary, 4th Edition.
Diseases of Poultry – Giester, 1944
Perspectives of Biochemistry – Cambridge, 1937.
United States Dispensatory, 24th