Using the unlikeliest of supplies, Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin made the most creative escape attempt in the history of Alcatraz.
Placing dummy heads made of soap, cement and paint under their blankets in the middle of the night, the escapees crawled out of their cells through the small vents, scaled the utility corridor to the roof, slid down a stove pipe and crept to the shoreline.
The three men had reached the bay. As they slipped into the water - using a raft fashioned out of a raincoat - they met an icy current rapidly ebbing out to sea.
They were never seen again.
Once inside the narrow utility corridor, the men silently climbed three dark stories of slippery pipes and wooden planks to the roof. Moving along the roof, they dropped to the ground. They then climbed a fence, passed under a guard tower, tumbled down a rocky cliff and scrambled to the shore.
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 |
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| Clarence Anglin | John William Anglin | Frank Lee Morris |
|
Clarence was smarter and louder than
his older brother and a thief by 14. |
Convicted of bank robbery like his
brother, "J-Dub" was slow-witted. |
Short, wiry, tough and quiet, "Ace" was
in jail by 13 and gained a reputation as an accomplished escape artist. |