Birdman of Alcatraz
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Robert Franklin Stroud (January 28 1890–November 21 1963), known as the Birdman of Alcatraz, was a prisoner in Alcatraz who supposedly found solace from segregation in raising and selling birds. Despite his nickname, he never kept birds in Alcatraz, running his business until transfer to Alcatraz from Leavenworth.
His life
Stroud was born in Seattle, Washington, on January 28 1890, to Elizabeth and Ben Stroud. He was the couple's first child, although Elizabeth had two daughters from a previous marriage. Stroud left home at a young age, and by 1908 was in Cordova, Alaska, where he met and began a relationship with 36-year old Kitty O'Brien, a dance-hall entertainer and prostitute. In November 1908 they moved to Juneau, Alaska.On January 18 1909, according to Stroud, while was away at work, an acquaintance of theirs, F. K. "Charlie" Von Dahmer, raped and viciously beat Kitty. On his return, Stroud confronted Charlie and a struggle ensued resulting in Charlie being shot dead. However, according to police reports from the time, O'Brien had continued serving as a prostitute in Alaska, with Stroud serving as her pimp. Reportedly, Von Dahmer had refused to pay for a session with O'Brien, and Stroud had come to collect. According to police reports, Robert had managed to knock Von Dahmer unconscious and then shot him at point blank range. Stroud was later arrested with Von Dahmer's wallet in his possession.
Although Stroud's mother Elizabeth retained a lawyer for her son, he was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to twelve years in the federal penitentiary on Puget Sound's McNeil Island on August 23 1909. While at McNeil Island, Stroud assaulted a hospital orderly who had reported him to the administration for attempting to obtain narcotics (morphine) through threats and intimidation, and reportedly stabbed a fellow inmate who was also involved in the attempt to smuggle narcotics.
On September 5 1912, Stroud was sentenced to an additional six-months for the attacks and transferred from McNeil Island to the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. While at Leavenworth, Stroud was reprimanded by a guard in the cafeteria for a minor rule violation. Although minor, this violation could have annulled his visitation privilege to meet his younger brother, whom he had not seen in eight years. Stroud stabbed and killed the guard and was sentenced to execution by hanging on May 27 1916, and was ordered to await his death sentence in solitary confinement. The trial was later invalidated. In a later trial he was given a life sentence. This trial was invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court and a new trial was ordered and set for May 1918. On June 28 1918 he was again sentenced to die by hanging. The Supreme Court intervened, but only to uphold the death sentence, which was scheduled to be carried out April 23 1920.
At this point Stroud's mother appealed to President Wilson, who ordered a halt to the execution, reportedly gaining this privilege with the help of the president’s wife. His sentence was altered to life imprisonment. Leavenworth’s warden, T.W. Morgan, did not approve the presidential decision, as up to that point Stroud had been a violent and unruly inmate and a threat to both the guards and other prisoners, and ordered that Stroud was to be held in segregation for the complete duration of his imprisonment.
While at Leavenworth, Stroud found three injured sparrows in the prison yard and kept them. He started to occupy his time raising and caring for his birds, soon switching from sparrows to canaries, which he could sell for supplies and to help support his mother. Soon thereafter, Leavenworth’s management changed and the prison was now directed by a new warden. Admiring the possibility to present Leavenworth as a progressive rehabilitation penitentiary, the new warden furnished Stroud with cages, chemicals, and stationeries to conduct his avian activities. Visitors were shown Stroud's aviary and many purchased his canaries. Over the years, he raised nearly 300 canaries in his cells and wrote two books, Diseases of Canaries and Stroud's Digest on the Diseases of Birds. He made several important contributions to avian pathology, most notably a cure for the hemorrhagic septicemia family of diseases. He gained respect and also some level of sympathy in the bird-loving field.
Initially, Stroud had a close relationship with his mother. She helped him with legal proceedings on many occasions, even managing to elicit sympathy from the president over her son's death sentence. Stroud kept busy with his bird enterprise, and had numerous bird-loving pen-pals. He started a regular correspondence with a woman named Della Mae Jones, and in 1931 she moved to Kansas and they started a business selling Stroud's medicines. Stroud's mother forcibly condemned that relationship, and moved away from the Leavenworth area. She also argued against her son's desires to be paroled, which became a major obstacle in his attempts to be released from the prison system.
Soon, Stroud’s activities created problems for the prison management. Under regulation each letter sent or received at the prison had to be read, copied and approved. He was so involved in his business that this alone required a full-time prison secretary. Also, most of the time, his birds were let free to fly in his cells. With the very high number of birds he kept, his cell was allegedly dirty and Stroud’s personal hygiene was reported to be gruesome. In 1931, an attempt to force Stroud to discontinue his business and get rid of his birds failed after Stroud and Jones publicised his efforts and undertook a massive letter- and petition-writing campaign that climaxed in a 50,000-signature petition being mailed to the president. The resultant outcry from the public allowed Stroud to keep his birds and he was even given a second cell to house them, but his letter-writing privileges were greatly curtailed.
In 1933, however, Stroud took out an advertisement to publicise the fact that he had not received any royalties from the sales of Diseases of Canaries. In retaliation, the publisher complained to the warden, and as a result, proceedings began to transfer Stroud to Alcatraz, where he would not be permitted to keep his birds. Stroud, however, discovered a legal loophole, which would allow him to remain in Kansas if he were married there. He therefore married Della Jones in 1933, though he infuriated both prison officials, who would not allow him to correspond with his wife, and his mother, who cut off all contact with him for the rest of her life (she died in 1937). However, Stroud was able to keep his birds and his canary-selling business until after several years it was discovered that some of the equipment Stroud had requested for his lab was in fact being used to create alcohol with a home-made still.
Stroud was transferred to Alcatraz on December 19 1942. While there, he wrote two manuscripts: Bobbye, an autobiography; and Looking Outward: A History of the U.S. Prison System from Colonial Times to the Formation of the Bureau of Prisons. The judge ruled that Stroud had the right to write and keep such manuscripts but upheld the warden’s decision of banning publication.
Stroud spent six-years in solitary confinement, and another eleven years confined to the hospital wing. Stroud was allowed access to the prison library and began studying law. With his newfound knowledge, Stroud began petitioning the government that his long prison term amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. In 1959, with his health failing, Stroud was transferred to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri. However, his attempts to be released on the grounds that his extremely long sentence was cruel and unusual punishment were unsuccessful. Robert Franklin Stroud died in Springfield on November 21 1963 after 54 years of incarceration, 42 of those years in solitary confinement. He had been studying French near the end of his life.
The book and film
Stroud became the subject of a 1955 book, Birdman of Alcatraz, by Thomas E. Gaddis.In 1962, a film of the same title was made. It starred Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter, Neville Brand, Betty Field, Telly Savalas, Edmond O'Brien, Hugh Marlowe, and Whit Bissell. The film was adapted by Guy Trosper from Gaddis' book, and directed by John Frankenheimer. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Burt Lancaster), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Telly Savalas), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Thelma Ritter) and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White. Stroud was never allowed to see the film.
Alcatraz Penitentiary had gained popularity and public exposure over the years. Therefore, when a movie was made about Stroud’s incarceration at Alcatraz it generated great public appeal. Burt Lancaster’s impersonation of Stroud stirred sympathy in the general public. The Birdman of Alcatraz was now part of the popular culture. Petitions were being signed in theatre lobbies in favour of Stroud’s release or parole.
Truth versus fiction
According to those who knew Stroud while he was in prison, the characterization of Stroud as mild-mannered as presented in Gaddis's book and the subsequent film were largely fiction. The real Stroud had been described as a vicious, unrepentant killer who, according to all accounts, was disliked by most of his fellow inmates. He was kept in segregation not out of vindictiveness but because he was considered extremely dangerous. [[Citing sources citation needed]] Many prison officials scoffed at the film's notion of Stroud being a "suppressed" inmate. They pointed out that, despite being in isolation, he had been given more privileges then any other inmate because of his constant complaining. Stroud never expressed any gratitude for the things given him, only demanding more. Another claim includes that Stroud's business and subsequent transfer to Alcatraz was due to the equipment requested being used to make alcoholic beverages. One inmate, upon hearing of the "Free Robert Stroud" campaign that accompained the film, reportedly quipped "They don't want to pardon Robert Stroud. They want to pardon Burt Lancaster."External links
- http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/stroud.htm
- http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/stroud/
- [A dissenting view]
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