Four Inmates Try To Escape From The Cruel Alcatraz Prison, On Today's History, April 13, 1943

Alcatraz Prison Sighting (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

JAKARTA - On April 13, 1943, at exactly 9:30 a.m., four inmates armed with daggers defeated Alcatraz Prison officers. The escape adds to a long line of escape attempts as well as a failure in escaping from the cruel and terrifying Alcatraz Prison.

After attacking with a dagger, the inmates tied up and clog the guard named Smith. Shortly afterward, Captain Henry Weinhold monitored Smith and standby in his guard position.

As he searched Smith and entered the room, he was also defeated by the four inmates. Citing sfgenealogy.org, the inmates were James A. Boarman, Harold Martin Brest, Floyd G. Hamilton, and Fred Hunter.

Alcatraz Prison (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

They escaped from prison through a window. They wore only underwear and were covered in oil. They then free fall from a height of 9 meters into the sea.

Smith then grabbed his whistle, which Wienhold blew. At the same time, an officer named Frank Johnson who was outside saw the inmates escape.

The alarm sounded. The tower guard pointed a gun at the inmates who were already at sea and began firing.

The Alcatraz Prison inmate chase

One of the inmates, Harold Martin Brest, held another inmate, James A. Boarman, unconscious. When Brest was grabbed by a guard, he released Boarman, who then drowned.

The guards believed Boarman was shot dead before drowning. Meanwhile, another inmate, Fred Hunter, suffered wounds to his back and hands.

He gave up efforts to continue swimming and sought refuge in a nearby cave. The guard took the ship and then to the entrance of the cave.

View from the watchtower on Alcatraz Island (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

One of the guards told him to get out. When he didn't respond, the guard fired a gun. Hunter then came out. The hunt for the inmates continued.

Hamilton, who was presumed dead, is actually hiding in the same cave as Hunter. Three days later he climbed back onto a cliff and hid under a pile of material in a building shed.

Captain Weinhold, while searching for equipment, found Hamilton the next morning without a gunshot wound. "We believe Hamilton is dead. He was shot, and we saw him drown", said the warden named James A. Boarman.

Those imprisoned in Alcatraz tried to escape and failed

Hallway inside Alcatraz Prison (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

Alcatraz Island is located 1.5 mi off the San Francisco Bay Coast. Before being used as a prison area, Alcatraz Island was a seabird paradise. The island was later explored by Lieutenant Juan Manuel de Ayala of Spain in 1775.

Ayala named the island Isla de los Alcatraces or literally meaning "Pelican Island". Fortified by Spain, Alcatraz island was sold to the United States (USA) in 1849.

In 1854, Alcatraz was made the first lighthouse on the California coast. Starting in 1859, a U.S. Army detachment was stationed at Alcatraz.

Then, starting in 1868, Alcatraz was used to house military criminals. In addition to U.S. soldiers considered insurgents, the prisoners in the prison were spies, U.S. soldiers who fought in the Philippines then defected to the Philippines, and Chinese civilians who fought the U.S. Army during the Boxer uprising.

In 1907, Alcatraz was designated as the Pacific Branch of the U.S. Military Prison, until finally in 1934, Alcatraz Prison also housed federal inmates. Although many inmates tried to escape, no one actually managed to escape the prison.

The atmosphere in the courtyard of Alcatraz Prison (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

Even many of the escaped prisoners drowned in the treacherous waters of San Francisco Bay and their bodies never been found. The story of the escape of three men in 1962, Frank Morris and his brothers John and Clarence Anglin, inspired the 1979 film Escape from Alcatraz.

Cited from History, an inmate named John Giles escaped by boat in 1945. He managed to trick the guards into wearing army uniforms that he stole little by little.

But he was questioned by officers who suspected him after successfully reaching land. Giles was then sent back to Alcatraz.

Only one person, John Paul Scott, was recorded as fleeing by swimming and managed to reach land. But when he reached land, he experienced fatigue and hypothermia at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. Police found him lying unconscious and in a state of shock.

The Closure of Alcatraz Prison

In 1963, U.S. Attorney General Robert F.Kennedy ordered the closure of Alcatraz Prison citing high maintenance costs. During his 29 years running, Alcatraz housed more than 1.500 inmates.

In March 1964, a group of Sioux Indians briefly occupied the island, citing an 1868 agreement with the Sioux tribe that allowed the Indians to claim "uninhabited government lands."

In November 1969, nearly a hundred Indian students and activists began a longer occupation of the island. They were expelled by federal police in June 1971.

In 1972, Alcatraz Island was opened to the public as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area managed by the National Park Service. More than a million tourists visit Alcatraz Island and its former prisons each year.

*Read more information about THE WORLD HISTORY or read other interesting writings from Putri Ainur Islam.

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