Battle of Alcatraz: May 2 - 4, 1946
The Prisoners
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Bernard Coy coordinated the
escape while working in the
library. He starved himself to
slip through the bars.
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Bragging and bitter Joseph
Cretzer shot five hostages in
cold blood. He would die in
the seige.
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Once the plan was doomed,
Miran Thompson wanted to
kill the hostages to eliminate
witnesses. He would later
be executed.
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Considered dangerous by
convicts and guards alike, Sam
Shockley was intent on killing
all hostages. He too would be
executed.
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Marvin Hubbard retreated to
the utility corridor with Coy and
Cretzer. He was the last to die.
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18-year old Clarence Carnes
spared the hostages, and he
was not executed as a result.
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Bernie Coy had it all planned out. He would slip through the
bars of the gun gallery and overwhelm the guard, then use prison
guns and keys to free five accomplices and race to shore.
But it all went wrong. Too many officers had been taken hostage.
One had hidden the exit key. Then the escape siren blared.
They had been discovered.
Officer Bill Miller broke prison regulations when he pocketed
the key to the door leading to the recreation yard. It cost him
his life, but ultimately foiled the escape.
Officer Ernest Lageson was being held hostage and had been shot.
Thinking quickly, he quietly scrawled the names of the conspirators
on the cell wall. He then circled the names of the ringleaders.
The Correctional Officers
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Burt Burch was surprised and
overwhelmed by Coy in the
west gun gallery. He survived.
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Bill Miller, whose hiding of key
107 helped doom the escape,
was fatally shot in cell 403.
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Taken hostage and later shot
by Cretzer, Ernest Lageson
secretly listed the conspirators
on the cell wall.
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Ed Stucker, supervising convicts
working in the basement, was
first to report the trouble above.
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Harold Stites, who foiled a
1938 escape, was killed by
friendly fire as he tried to
retake the gun gallery.
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Lieutenant Phil Bergen led the
team of officers that regained
the west gun gallery.
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Panicked and frustrated, Coy's conspirators shot five hostages
in cells 402 and 403. In response, Marines shelled the prison
and dropped grenades through the roof. In the wake of the conflict,
two correctional officers and three inmates, including Coy, lay dead.
Two conspirators would later be executed.