After three days and four nights on the train from Washington, handcuffed and leg-shackled to another prisoner-not much sleep, dirty, not shaved or washed-we got to Oakland, eight prisoners, on Sept. 1, 1934. Our train backed up to the pier, and we were placed on board a small motorboat, the Gen. McDowell II, which was awaiting our arrival. How anxious we were to get a first glimpse of the famous prison we had heard so much about, our future home.
When we finally got on the island, our leg irons were removed so we could walk around to the steps leading into the back yard and the cell block. We all were looking for some sign of other prisoners, but we couldn`t see any.
There were actually 99 prisoners on the island. Thirty-two were inmates of the Army ”detention barracks” who had the misfortune to stay on when the Rock passed from military to civilian control. The first group of new prisoners-mostly counterfeiters, murderers and post-office robbers-arrived on Aug. 11 from McNeil Island Penitentiary, near Tacoma, Wash. A second consignment of 53 prisoners from Atlanta arrived 11 days later.
When we were all lined up in the cell block, we were given our cell cards, 3 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches, with name, number, cell number and work detail. These are placed on the door of our cells. Then each prisoner was assigned a guard and taken to the basement for a bath, which we needed real bad.
The inmate who issued our clothes, soap, etc., was a soldier left by the Army. They issued each man a blue woolen coat, blue woolen trousers and two blue woolen shirts. This was the Sunday and holiday uniform. Then two pairs of new shoes (brown, Army style, one for work, one for dress), two suits of medium-heavy underwear, six pairs of socks, a blue cap, a belt, a blue handkerchief and two suits of coveralls or union-alls for work. (This is the daily uniform for everyone. It is a blue-gray checkered material, one piece.) All clothing is marked with the inmate`s number. The blue shirts have a white tag over the pocket, about 2 1/2 inches wide and 5 inches long, and the same tag is sewed inside the blue dress coat. (My number is 107.) The daily uniform-coveralls-has a tag over the pocket in front and another in the center of the back. Some magazine articles about the Rock have stated this is to give the officers a good target. Baloney! The reason for this is when the shop officer takes count-which is every half hour-they don`t use names, only numbers. Inmates` names are rarely used by any officer or official.
While in the bathroom, undressed, we waited for the doctor, who not only gave us a pretty good going over but even examined inside us for drugs, etc., we might have hidden. We tried to talk to one another but were stopped at once by one of the guards. No talking in this institution-”Dummy up.” Well, well, what kind of a place did we come to? (During his first months at Alcatraz, Warden James A. Johnston tried to impose total silence during meals. Word of this harsh rule slipped out of the prison, and Johnston explained he had only meant that prisoners could not speak loudly or call from table to table. They would, of course, be allowed to ask for food or condiments.)
Back then to our cells, and our doors were locked. I looked around. A small cell, about 4 by 8 feet. Iron bed-no springs-hanging from the wall by chains. A cotton mattress and a pillow. Two sheets, a pillowcase and three new blankets. On the rear wall, a toilet and a wash basin and a shelf, which had on it a small box of tooth powder, a toothbrush, a steel mirror such as we used in the AEF (American Expeditionary Force), a shaving brush, a razor handle (no blades), a face towel and a bath towel.
Prisoners were permitted to shave three times a week. One cell block shaved on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., the other at the same hours on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Guards distributed blades to 50 prisoners at a time, allowing them 15 minutes to shave, then collected and disinfected the razors, changed blades, and issued them to the next 50 prisoners. Like all procedures at Alcatraz, this routine was prescribed in Warden Johnston`s minutely detailed ”Rules and Regulations.”
There is no commissary here, as the institution furnishes everything such as tobacco, a pipe (corn cob), and cigarette makings (papers and stud tobacco).
We were anxious to lay down, not having slept much on our train ride to the coast, but soon the noon whistle blew-the signal to line up for a count-and we marched into the dining room.
It really looked pretty good. Everything seemed new-the ironwork, the kitchen and everything-and you wondered what all this could have cost the government. I kept looking around at the inmates that were already sitting at tables, five on each side, and I saw at once the famous King of Rackets, Al Capone, No. 85, sitting with his head down, eating.
Alphonse ”Scarface” Capone, who was doing 10 years for income-tax evasion, was among the first prisoners to be transferred to Alcatraz. His presence there resulted in exactly the sort of notoriety the government wanted to attract to the Rock. Capone was by no means the most brutal of American gangsters and probably not a security risk in his former cell in the penitentiary at Atlanta, but Capone was by far the most publicized crook of his era, outshining even such renowned mobsters as the sadistic ”Legs”
Diamond, the murderous ”Dutch” Schultz and the aptly named Roger ”The Terrible” Touhy. Warden Johnston found Capone`s fame a burden. Everywhere he went, the warden said, people asked: ”How`s your star boarder?”
The food was really good-well-cooked, as much as you could eat. Butter on the table. Pie. Much better than any other prison I ever was in.
I noticed on the ceiling was tear-gas guns. The windows facing the Golden Gate had a catwalk on the outside where a guard walked up and down, carrying an automatic rifle and a .45 automatic in a holster. I figured the box that controlled the gas was outside, and in case of a riot this officer would pull the switch that would explode the gas.
Sunday morning, after breakfast, each new man was called up to the deputy warden`s desk for an interview. The deputy at this time was named (C.J.)
Shuttleworth. I have been interviewed by many deputies, but this dingbat, later called ”Gracie Allen” by all inmates, was a new species for me. He was not conwise, as the saying goes, and later caused a great deal of trouble by his promises and actions.
Shuttleworth looked up at me and smiled. He said: ”Young man, what you have done and your conduct at other prisons don`t interest us at all. Here, you start at scratch, and it`s up to you to make the best of it. There will be no talking in the cell block, dining room, or while marching to and from work. You will be allowed an eight-minute smoke in the morning and the same in the afternoon. You are not permitted to leave any food on your plate. No bread or anything. If you do, you will lose the next meal, and if this occurs the second time, you will lose your recreation period.”
He then asked what you worked at-if you ever did work-and then told you they had only the laundry at present.
We were kept in our cells the entire day (Sunday) and the next day, Monday being Labor Day. Tuesday, after breakfast, we were lined up in the yard and marched down to the laundry, where we all gathered for a few minutes to talk. One of the first fellows who came up to shake hands and say hello was Al Capone. This was the first time I ever met Capone, and I felt this was a pretty regular fellow to come over and shake hands. I remember Al saying,
”Anything I can do for you fellows, don`t hesitate to call on me.”
I was assigned to work with Capone on the mangle (an ironing machine that presses laundry between heated rollers) along with a youngster about 20 years of age, Louis Zuckerman, No. 76, doing 20 years for a murder in the Army;
”Limpy” Cleaver, No. 78, the Evergreen train robber of Chicago; and Arthur McDonald, No. 109, a stickup man from Washington, doing 12 years. We all seemed to get along real well. Capone was in fine humor and kept telling us stories regarding his Big Deals in Chicago. Talk about ego! He must have put the go into ego.
While we were working, another shipment arrived, the largest as yet, of over a hundred men from Leavenworth Penitentiary. We all looked out the window and watched the men march past. I noticed Capone knew quite a number of them, as he turned white and became very nervous.
The Sept. 4 shipment of 103 prisoners from Leavenworth included such celebrities as George ”Machine Gun” Kelly, Albert Bates, and Harvey Bailey, each serving life for the kidnaping of Charles F. Urschel, a wealthy oil man, from his home in Oklahoma City in July, 1933.
Things went along real smooth while the men were feeling their way around. The deputy warden (Gracie Allen) would walk around the catwalk on the walls and look down in the yard on Sundays and holidays, and if he noticed two or more standing and talking, their cell was changed, separating those fellows so they wouldn`t have the same recreation period again. (We were allowed one hour each week of yard recreation-that`s all. B cell house, for example, received one hour Saturday afternoon; C cell house, Sunday morning. So if a man was transferred to the other cell block, he couldn`t meet his friend at that recreation period.)
Gracie Allen spoke to all the men in the yard and told them to play ball with him and he would see that they received more privileges. He said a list of magazines was posted on the bulletin board and the men could subscribe for as many as 12 different magazines if they wanted to. Every man that had any money subscribed, but Capone received 87 different magazines. This started a little fuss. ”If Capone can order that many, why can`t we?”
