1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:06,240 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. A prison break was part of our episode 2 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:09,720 Speaker 1: on William J. Sharky earlier this week, and we talked 3 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:12,400 Speaker 1: about some more prison breaks in our Friday Behind the Scenes. 4 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: So today's classic episode is a set of six prison breaks, 5 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:20,160 Speaker 1: including one that we just mentioned in that discussion. And 6 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,320 Speaker 1: this originally came out on May eleventh, twenty twenty two. 7 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a 8 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and Welcome to the podcast. I'm 9 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:43,240 Speaker 1: Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. A few years ago, 10 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:46,920 Speaker 1: I was in Philadelphia and went to the Eastern State Penitentiary, 11 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:49,240 Speaker 1: which was a prison for about one hundred and fifty 12 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 1: years and now it's a historic site. And one of 13 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:54,640 Speaker 1: the things I learned about while I was there was 14 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: a dramatic escape from the prison in nineteen forty five, 15 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 1: and I met put that into my little notes app 16 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: on my phone where I jot things down when I'm 17 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:08,400 Speaker 1: on vacation. It was one of those things, though, that 18 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:11,039 Speaker 1: I couldn't quite figure out how to make it work 19 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:14,400 Speaker 1: as an episode, and I kept circling back to it periodically. 20 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: It finally dawned on me that it might work as 21 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:20,840 Speaker 1: a set of six impossible episodes because there are some 22 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: common themes among a lot of the prison break stories, 23 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:32,839 Speaker 1: like there's often a lot of tunneling. Uh so uh 24 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: A couple times a year, I pulled together six episodes 25 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,679 Speaker 1: that are are grouped together in some way, and so 26 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: now we're going to have six prison breaks. And just 27 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:45,960 Speaker 1: to level set here, I would not at all call 28 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: this a representative sample of history's prison escape attempts because 29 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,760 Speaker 1: number one, the vast majority of information we have for 30 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 1: this episode is from places where English is the predominant language, 31 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 1: and that's just a matter of what's available to us. 32 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 1: Number Two, I was really focused on escapes that seemed 33 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: particularly ingenious and how they were planned and carried out, 34 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 1: not on ones that were violent. So there is a 35 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 1: little violence in this episode, but it it is not 36 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: one where the you know, a prison break happened in 37 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 1: the middle of a violent uprising where a lot of 38 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 1: people got killed. I was really looking at the ones 39 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 1: that are kind of offbeat a little bit in some ways. Right, 40 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: this is more Shawshank redemption than horrible riot situation. Yeah, 41 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 1: several of them seem like clear inspirations for some of 42 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: the Shawshank escape, So just know that going in, all right. 43 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:46,560 Speaker 1: So we're going to start with the prison break that 44 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: inspired this episode. The Eastern State Penitentiary opened in eighteen 45 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:53,440 Speaker 1: twenty nine, and it was built in an era when 46 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: reformers were trying to change the way prisons in the 47 00:02:56,160 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 1: criminal justice system worked. In Philadelphia, this effort was led 48 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: by the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons, 49 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:09,079 Speaker 1: whose members were predominantly Quakers. The prison was called a 50 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: penitentiary because its purpose was to inspire penitents among the 51 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:16,519 Speaker 1: people housed there by keeping them in a state of isolated, 52 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:21,600 Speaker 1: silent contemplation. Hundreds of prisons that followed this theory were 53 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:25,839 Speaker 1: built around the world in the nineteenth century. Although these 54 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:29,640 Speaker 1: reformers were trying to move away from things like public 55 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: floggings and executions for relatively minor crimes and also to 56 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 1: make incarceration more humane, this system that they devised was 57 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:43,640 Speaker 1: innately cruel. It came to be known as the Pennsylvania system, 58 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: and it was basically perpetual solitary confinement. People were totally 59 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 1: alone in these single occupancy cells that had attached small 60 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: walled in exercise yards. They were forced to wear hoods 61 00:03:57,720 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 1: when they were in common areas so they couldn't see 62 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 1: or talk to anybody else, and over time the prison 63 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: moved away from this practice, and the Pennsylvania system was 64 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: officially abandoned by nineteen thirteen. By that point, more people 65 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 1: had recognized that endless solitary confinement was in fact cruel, 66 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: but the system that replaced it was cruel, just in 67 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:22,479 Speaker 1: a different way. Overcrowding became a major issue, with new 68 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: cell blocks built between the existing ones, until a prison 69 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:29,560 Speaker 1: that had originally housed two hundred and fifty people instead 70 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:34,360 Speaker 1: housed seventeen hundred. A series of riots and uprisings took 71 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:37,320 Speaker 1: place in the nineteen thirties in response to poor conditions 72 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:39,720 Speaker 1: at the prison and to low pay at the on 73 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:42,760 Speaker 1: site workshops and factories where they were forced to work. 74 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:49,040 Speaker 1: In nineteen forty four, a plasterer and stonemason named Clarence Kleimdans, 75 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 1: who was known as Kleiny, was housed in cell sixty 76 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: eight of Cell Blocks seven, and this was at the 77 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:57,360 Speaker 1: far end of one of those cell blocks that had 78 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: been planned as part of the prison's initial de as 79 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 1: a penitentiary, and it's possible that he moved into the 80 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:06,360 Speaker 1: cell with the intention of tunneling out of it. From 81 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:09,479 Speaker 1: the beginning, it had been used for storage, and he 82 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:11,360 Speaker 1: had offered to repair it so that he could live 83 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:14,520 Speaker 1: in it. Once he was housed in Cell sixty eight, 84 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: he and his cell mate William Russell started digging a 85 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:20,880 Speaker 1: tunnel in secret, one that went through the cell wall, 86 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:24,159 Speaker 1: then down twelve feet, requiring a ladder to get to 87 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,720 Speaker 1: the bottom. From there, the tunnel leveled out and stretched 88 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:30,760 Speaker 1: about one hundred feet, running under the exercise yard and 89 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:33,359 Speaker 1: the wall that encircled the prison, and then up again 90 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:37,360 Speaker 1: to the street outside. They made a plaster mask so 91 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:39,600 Speaker 1: it would look like one of them was in bed 92 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: that one would dig while the other kept watch, and 93 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:45,680 Speaker 1: they'd put the dirt they dug up in their pockets 94 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:49,719 Speaker 1: and then scatter it in the exercise yard. Klindens hid 95 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 1: the entrance to this tunnel with a panel that he 96 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:55,839 Speaker 1: made to roughly match the intact walls of the cell, 97 00:05:56,279 --> 00:05:58,279 Speaker 1: and then put a metal trash can in front of 98 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,599 Speaker 1: it and in the tunnel. He shored it up with 99 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:06,160 Speaker 1: wood and installed lights and ventilation fans. When the tunnel 100 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:08,600 Speaker 1: intersected with a sewer, pipe under the prison. They built 101 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:11,440 Speaker 1: a connection to the pipe so they could dispose of 102 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 1: their waste through a sewer. This was a complex engineering 103 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:20,680 Speaker 1: feat handled with whatever they could cobble together. It's pretty ingenious. 104 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 1: On April third, nineteen forty five, twelve men escaped through 105 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:28,480 Speaker 1: this tunnel going to sell sixty eight while everyone else 106 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:31,240 Speaker 1: was on the way to breakfast. At the end of 107 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: the tunnel, they broke through the last few feet of 108 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:36,720 Speaker 1: earth and scattered in different directions as they came out 109 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:39,520 Speaker 1: of it. Most of them, though, were back in the 110 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 1: prison within a day, and all of them had been 111 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:46,919 Speaker 1: caught within a few months. Notorious bank robber Willie Sutton, 112 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,039 Speaker 1: who would later totally take credit for this escape in 113 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: his autobiography, he was caught almost immediately. He basically came 114 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:56,600 Speaker 1: out of the hall and they grabbed him right there. 115 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:02,080 Speaker 1: Clarence Kleindenst was in custody after about three hours. One 116 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:04,679 Speaker 1: group tried to make their getaway in a milk truck 117 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,760 Speaker 1: that they stole, and they were caught after police rammed 118 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 1: the truck with a police car. One man, who was 119 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:14,160 Speaker 1: twenty four year old, James Grace, turned himself in eight 120 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:18,080 Speaker 1: days after the escape. William Russell and one other man 121 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: were both shot during the escape attempt and they were 122 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 1: brought back to the prison infirmary. Otherwise, the men who 123 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 1: tried to escape were punished. Some of them were placed 124 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: into these tiny windowless underground cells known as klondike. These 125 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:35,080 Speaker 1: were too small to even stand up in. Of course, 126 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 1: this whole escape was enormously embarrassing for the prison. It 127 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 1: was not at all the first escape attempt, or even 128 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:46,120 Speaker 1: the first successful escape attempt from the Eastern State Penitentiary 129 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:49,080 Speaker 1: that had happened all the way back in eighteen thirty two, 130 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:54,239 Speaker 1: but it was a colossal security breach. Months of digging 131 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:57,520 Speaker 1: had gone unnoticed, and more than one inspection of Cell 132 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 1: sixty eight had failed to spot. That timeunnel entrance. Prison 133 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 1: authorities investigated and mapped the tunnel, and then they filled 134 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:08,800 Speaker 1: it in and covered up the entrance with cement. Then 135 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:12,200 Speaker 1: later in two thousand and five, Eastern State Penitentiary embarked 136 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:15,840 Speaker 1: on an archaeological study to find and map the tunnel. 137 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:20,600 Speaker 1: This effort included ground penetrating radar work cameras, and a 138 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:24,240 Speaker 1: small robotic rover that was kind of remote controlled and 139 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 1: went down the tunnel. They had to use a jackhammer 140 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 1: to get through the tunnels covered over entrance. As we 141 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:35,199 Speaker 1: said earlier, Eastern State Penitentiary is now a historic site 142 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: and as of twenty seventeen, its mission is to interpret 143 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:42,439 Speaker 1: the legacy of American criminal justice reform. Yeah, we'll talk 144 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:44,240 Speaker 1: about that a little bit more in the behind the 145 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 1: scenes on Friday. Moving on, for about eighty years, starting 146 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: in seventeen eighty eight, people convicted of crimes in the 147 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:58,280 Speaker 1: UK could be transported to Australia's punishment. Other colonies as well, 148 00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:01,880 Speaker 1: but Australia is the focus here. Often this was for 149 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 1: a period of seven years, but a lot of people 150 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:08,280 Speaker 1: sent to Australia never returned to Britain again. They either 151 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:10,880 Speaker 1: couldn't afford to make the trip or they didn't want 152 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 1: to after having made a life for themselves in Australia. 153 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:17,960 Speaker 1: And only a small number of people who were sentenced 154 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 1: to transportation had been convicted of a violent crime. A 155 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:24,720 Speaker 1: lot of them had been convicted of offenses that most 156 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:29,040 Speaker 1: people would think of as pretty petty today. Women in particular, 157 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:32,839 Speaker 1: tended to have been convicted of things like stealing handkerchiefs 158 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: or cloth, or pickpocketing. Our next prison break was a 159 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:39,800 Speaker 1: group of women who were being held at Limerick Jail 160 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:44,520 Speaker 1: in Ireland awaiting transportation to Australia. They were supposed to 161 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:47,480 Speaker 1: be transferred to a prison in Cork on May twenty third, 162 00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:50,439 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty, which is where they would embark on this 163 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 1: ship that was going to take them to Australia. But 164 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:57,360 Speaker 1: the night before that transfer to Cork, nine women and 165 00:09:57,400 --> 00:10:01,920 Speaker 1: a baby escaped from Limerick Jail. The women were Mary King, 166 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:07,720 Speaker 1: Mary Hurley, Mary Devon, Ellen Hurley, Margaret Shaughnessy, Margaret Clancy, 167 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:12,760 Speaker 1: Bridget Shelton, Mary Hickey and Catherine Welsh. And the baby 168 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:17,800 Speaker 1: was Mary Devon's eleven month old daughter. As escapes go, 169 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:20,240 Speaker 1: this one is maybe less dramatic than some of the 170 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:22,520 Speaker 1: others that we're talking about today, but it does still 171 00:10:22,559 --> 00:10:26,800 Speaker 1: involve some ingenuity. Leading up to their transfer date, these 172 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 1: women made a habit of singing and quote noisy vociferations 173 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:34,480 Speaker 1: after dark, so it had been established that they were 174 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: just loud. Someone had provided them with a file, some 175 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 1: nitric acid also called aquafortis, and other tools to help 176 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:46,880 Speaker 1: them get out of their cells. Then, on the twenty third, 177 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:50,200 Speaker 1: two men used a ladder that workers had left behind 178 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:53,920 Speaker 1: while making repairs to get into the women's ward. The 179 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:57,440 Speaker 1: men started helping the women get their cells open, while 180 00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:00,480 Speaker 1: the women got to their nightly singing to cover up 181 00:11:00,559 --> 00:11:05,120 Speaker 1: the noise. In the words of the Monmster Merlin quote, 182 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:08,840 Speaker 1: this amusement they enjoyed with more than ordinary spirit on 183 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:13,880 Speaker 1: this occasion, and without exciting any particular notice. Meantime, the 184 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:18,960 Speaker 1: iron fastenings were assailed by the burglars with extraordinary success. 185 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:22,560 Speaker 1: The continued knocking was heard in the adjacent ward, but 186 00:11:22,679 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 1: the sound of their operations was so drowned in the 187 00:11:25,559 --> 00:11:29,120 Speaker 1: melody of the accompanying voices as not to reach the 188 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:32,720 Speaker 1: ears of the jail governor or his assistance. The locks 189 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:36,160 Speaker 1: gave way before repeated efforts, and nine females with an 190 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:41,559 Speaker 1: infant were extricated from Durance's vile. Once they were out 191 00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:45,120 Speaker 1: of their cells, the women and their accomplices climbed back 192 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: down the ladder and used it to get over the 193 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:51,600 Speaker 1: outer walls unnoticed. But these women did not stay at 194 00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:54,880 Speaker 1: large for long. Mary Hickey was caught the night of 195 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:58,120 Speaker 1: the escape, and newspapers reported on the capture of other 196 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:02,640 Speaker 1: women in the following days, including Catherine Welsh, who asked 197 00:12:02,679 --> 00:12:05,160 Speaker 1: to be taken back to the Limerick jail after being 198 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:07,920 Speaker 1: caught shoplifting. Yeah, they were going to take her to 199 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:09,560 Speaker 1: a different jail, and she was like, can I just 200 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:12,240 Speaker 1: go back to Limerick because that's where I escaped from. 201 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:17,960 Speaker 1: It appears that, with one possible exception, all of the 202 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:20,920 Speaker 1: women involved in this prison break did wind up being 203 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:24,719 Speaker 1: transported to Australia. Two of them are mentioned in an 204 00:12:24,880 --> 00:12:28,280 Speaker 1: article about a ship that departed for Australia on January 205 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:31,400 Speaker 1: twenty ninth of eighteen thirty one, and then all but 206 00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:34,280 Speaker 1: one of the rest of them are listed on ship's 207 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:37,880 Speaker 1: actual registers of the people being transported. So there were 208 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:40,960 Speaker 1: five on a ship that departed on September twenty seventh, 209 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:44,000 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty one, and then one on a ship that 210 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:47,400 Speaker 1: left on March ninth of eighteen thirty three, So that 211 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:50,840 Speaker 1: leaves only one of the women unaccounted for. We are 212 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:53,880 Speaker 1: going to take a sponsor break, and after that we'll 213 00:12:53,920 --> 00:13:07,680 Speaker 1: come back to more escape stories. Next up, we have 214 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:12,079 Speaker 1: the escape from Alcatraz in nineteen sixty two, and way 215 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:14,520 Speaker 1: back in two thousand and eight, prior host to the show, 216 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:17,959 Speaker 1: Candace and Josh did an episode titled did someone Really 217 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:23,559 Speaker 1: Escape from Alcatraz number one, That is Forever Ago. It 218 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:26,360 Speaker 1: was an entirely different show with a different format at 219 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:29,760 Speaker 1: that point, and most of that ten minute episode is 220 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 1: focused more on the general history of Alcatraz as a 221 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:36,600 Speaker 1: prison and not on the escape itself. If you're interested 222 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:39,520 Speaker 1: in the more general history of Alcatraz, we talk about 223 00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 1: that a bit in our two parter on the Occupation 224 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: of Alcatraz. Those episodes came out in twenty nineteen. So 225 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,679 Speaker 1: Alcatraz is an island in San Francisco Bay. It has 226 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:54,160 Speaker 1: a steep, rocky shoreline, and it is surrounded by treacherous waters. 227 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:58,000 Speaker 1: Although this may have discouraged people from trying to escape, 228 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:02,439 Speaker 1: there were still fourteen different as escape attempts during Alcatraz's 229 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:05,520 Speaker 1: time as a federal prison that was from nineteen thirty 230 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:09,880 Speaker 1: four to nineteen sixty three. Nearly all of the thirty 231 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 1: six men involved in these attempts were captured or killed, 232 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 1: but five of them are classified as missing and presumed drowned. 233 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:21,720 Speaker 1: Two of them were Theodore Cole and Ralph Rowe, who 234 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:24,160 Speaker 1: filed through the bars of a window in the mat 235 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:27,200 Speaker 1: shop and tried to escape during a storm in nineteen 236 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: thirty seven. The other three were involved in the nineteen 237 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:35,720 Speaker 1: sixty two escape. There were actually four men involved in 238 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:40,480 Speaker 1: this attempt, Frank Morris, John Englin, John's brother, Clarence, and 239 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:45,400 Speaker 1: Alan West. They had all been convicted of various burglaries, robberies, 240 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:48,840 Speaker 1: and thefts, and they'd all been incarcerated together before, and 241 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:51,760 Speaker 1: they all knew each other. They had been transferred to 242 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:56,400 Speaker 1: Alcatraz after having tried to escape from other prisons. They 243 00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:59,640 Speaker 1: started planning to escape from Alcatraz in December of nineteen 244 00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:03,840 Speaker 1: sixty Morrison the Anglans had been assigned cells that were 245 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:06,720 Speaker 1: adjacent to one another, and one of them found some 246 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:10,520 Speaker 1: old saw blades they thought they could use. These men 247 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:15,560 Speaker 1: improvised so much for this escape attempt. They improvised tools 248 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:18,600 Speaker 1: to dig and break through walls, including making a drill 249 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:21,720 Speaker 1: from a vacuum cleaner motor, although that turned out to 250 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:25,320 Speaker 1: be too noisy for them to really use. Scrapwood became 251 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:28,680 Speaker 1: basic paddles, and a concertina that is a musical instrument 252 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:31,680 Speaker 1: that's sort of like an accordion became a pump to 253 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:37,560 Speaker 1: inflate their raft, and that raft, apparently using instructions they 254 00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:40,600 Speaker 1: found in popular mechanics, they made a six foot by 255 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:45,040 Speaker 1: fourteen foot raft out of about fifty raincoats. They may 256 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 1: have taken some of these raincoats from other men by force, 257 00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:51,440 Speaker 1: but there was also a rumor that if anybody successfully 258 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:55,040 Speaker 1: escaped from Alcatraz, the government would shut the prison down, 259 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: So it seems like some of the men were happy 260 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 1: to kind of wear their raincoats out to the exercise 261 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:03,640 Speaker 1: yard and then leave them there to be picked up, 262 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:06,760 Speaker 1: kind of donating them to this effort to get the 263 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:11,680 Speaker 1: prison shut down. The escaping men then used contact cement 264 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 1: they had stolen from various workshops around the prison and 265 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:19,080 Speaker 1: heat from the steam pipes to vulcanize the seams of 266 00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 1: the raft. They used this same method to also make 267 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:26,760 Speaker 1: life preservers. Each of their cells had an air vent, 268 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:29,360 Speaker 1: and they used various tools to make a series of 269 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 1: holes around these vents so that the whole thing in 270 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:35,840 Speaker 1: each cell could be pulled out from the wall. This 271 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:38,680 Speaker 1: got them into a utility corridor where they made and 272 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:42,720 Speaker 1: hid what they would need to escape. Yet another improvised 273 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:46,160 Speaker 1: tool with all this was a periscope, which they used 274 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:49,560 Speaker 1: to watch for guards while they were working. They also 275 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:51,840 Speaker 1: worked out a way to get from the corridor and 276 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 1: onto the prison roof. Similarly to how Clarence Kleindenst and 277 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,160 Speaker 1: William Russell had used a mask they made to make 278 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:01,000 Speaker 1: it look like one of them was in bed while 279 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 1: the other one was digging a tunnel, these four men 280 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:08,280 Speaker 1: made heads out of homemade plaster and painted them topped 281 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:10,560 Speaker 1: them with human hair so that it would make it 282 00:17:10,600 --> 00:17:15,760 Speaker 1: look like they were asleep in their beds. These heads, 283 00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:19,800 Speaker 1: I think they're actually pretty good. They're better than I 284 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:24,600 Speaker 1: could do, I think. On June eleventh, nineteen sixty two, 285 00:17:24,840 --> 00:17:27,560 Speaker 1: Frank Morris and the England brothers went out through their 286 00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 1: removed ventilation grates, covering the hole behind them with whatever 287 00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:35,400 Speaker 1: they could. Alan West had tried to reinforce the concrete 288 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:38,840 Speaker 1: around his grate and had accidentally cemented it in place, 289 00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:41,200 Speaker 1: and by the time he was able to get it free, 290 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:45,879 Speaker 1: his accomplices had already left. From up on the roof, 291 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:49,520 Speaker 1: Morris and the Anglands climbed down a smokestack and then 292 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,199 Speaker 1: over a fence, cutting through the barbed wire at the 293 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:54,560 Speaker 1: top of the fence, and then they seemed to have 294 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:57,720 Speaker 1: launched their raft from the northeast corner of the island, 295 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:00,840 Speaker 1: but then What happened to them after that is a mystery. 296 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:05,119 Speaker 1: During bedcheck on the morning of June twelfth, a guard 297 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:07,520 Speaker 1: at first thought that the three men were still asleep 298 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 1: in their beds, but then realized they weren't in their 299 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:13,960 Speaker 1: cells after touching one of the fake heads through the bars, 300 00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:18,280 Speaker 1: and a manhunt began. Authorities recovered a package of letters 301 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:22,159 Speaker 1: sealed in rubber paddles and life vests, either in the 302 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:25,000 Speaker 1: water or washed up at various points around the San 303 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:30,080 Speaker 1: Francisco Bay. Sailors from a Norwegian freighter reportedly saw a 304 00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:33,080 Speaker 1: body in the water on July seventeenth, but did not 305 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:37,960 Speaker 1: report that until October. Although there have been some simulations 306 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:40,840 Speaker 1: that suggest that the three men could have made it 307 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:44,960 Speaker 1: to shore was theoretically possible, at this point, they are 308 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:48,919 Speaker 1: presumed to have drowned in their escape attempt. The FBI 309 00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:53,520 Speaker 1: closed the case on December thirty first of nineteen seventy nine. 310 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:57,400 Speaker 1: Although Alcatraz did close less than a year after this escape, 311 00:18:57,440 --> 00:19:01,440 Speaker 1: it was because the prison needed a multimillion dollar restoration project, 312 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:04,800 Speaker 1: and on top of that, it was expensive to operate 313 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,720 Speaker 1: because of its island location. The federal government decided that 314 00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:10,640 Speaker 1: it would be cheaper to just build a whole new 315 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:13,840 Speaker 1: prison than to try to restore and keep running Alcatraz. 316 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:20,600 Speaker 1: Next up. Libby Prison was originally a food warehouse, and 317 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:23,440 Speaker 1: then later it became home to a grocery and ship 318 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:27,840 Speaker 1: provisioning business. Was in Richmond, Virginia, and during the US 319 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:31,240 Speaker 1: Civil War, the Confederate government took it over and turned 320 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:34,720 Speaker 1: it into a prison to house US prisoners of war, 321 00:19:35,359 --> 00:19:42,679 Speaker 1: particularly US military officers, and conditions there were really just appalling. Obviously, 322 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:44,919 Speaker 1: it was not built to be a prison, and beyond that, 323 00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:48,399 Speaker 1: it was situated on a canal that routinely flooded the 324 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:52,080 Speaker 1: building's cellar in wet weather, and the rising waters drove 325 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:54,520 Speaker 1: rats out of the cellar and into the rest of 326 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:59,120 Speaker 1: the structure. The windows were open spaces covered in bars, 327 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:02,480 Speaker 1: and they let in little fresh air, but not much late, 328 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:06,520 Speaker 1: and they didn't offer much protection from storms or extreme temperatures. 329 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:10,280 Speaker 1: The upper two floors where the prisoners were housed were 330 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 1: very sparsely furnished. There weren't even enough bunks for everyone. 331 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:18,440 Speaker 1: This was an immensely overcrowded facility, with as many as 332 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:22,680 Speaker 1: one thousand people packed into just six rooms, without enough 333 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:29,600 Speaker 1: food or supplies. Unsurprisingly, disease was rampant. Colonel Thomas E. 334 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:35,040 Speaker 1: Rose of the seventy seventh Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry started planning 335 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:38,399 Speaker 1: an escape almost as soon as he arrived at Libby Prison. 336 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:41,240 Speaker 1: He thought it might be possible to dig a tunnel 337 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:45,320 Speaker 1: from that rat filled cellar to a nearby tobacco shed 338 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,240 Speaker 1: where they could get out without being seen by guards. 339 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:53,480 Speaker 1: Because all of the rats and the ongoing flooding problems 340 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:56,920 Speaker 1: made the cellar smell terrible, so bad that it was 341 00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:01,320 Speaker 1: nicknamed rat Hell. That also meant the Confederate guards mostly 342 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:03,879 Speaker 1: stayed out of it, so this was one place they 343 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:08,439 Speaker 1: could work on a tunnel mostly undetected. Construction of an 344 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:11,760 Speaker 1: escape tunnel started with removing bricks from behind a stove 345 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:14,879 Speaker 1: in the kitchen, which was the only room the imprisoned 346 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:18,880 Speaker 1: men were allowed free access to. This made an entry 347 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:22,360 Speaker 1: into the cellar, and from there Rose and his accomplices 348 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:25,959 Speaker 1: started digging with makeshift tools, putting the dirt into an 349 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:29,439 Speaker 1: old spatoon to take it away. It was hard to 350 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:31,919 Speaker 1: tell how far they'd gotten, though, and at one point 351 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:34,840 Speaker 1: they broke through the surface and realized that they still 352 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:38,560 Speaker 1: had several feet left to go. They managed to fill 353 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:43,600 Speaker 1: that accidental opening in before they were noticed. Robert Knoxneden 354 00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:47,120 Speaker 1: was a cartographer who was being held at a neighboring prison, 355 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,320 Speaker 1: and he wrote this account of the escape, which happened 356 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:54,280 Speaker 1: on February ninth, eighteen sixty four. Quote. Everyone wanted to 357 00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:57,160 Speaker 1: be first in order to get down the chimney as 358 00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:00,479 Speaker 1: well as the long tunnel. It was necessary to strip naked, 359 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:02,960 Speaker 1: wrapped the clothes in a bundle, and pushed this on 360 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 1: before them. As soon as it was seen that only 361 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:09,280 Speaker 1: a few men could possibly get out for daylight, all 362 00:22:09,359 --> 00:22:12,240 Speaker 1: rushed for the mouth of the tunnel who could, each 363 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:15,800 Speaker 1: man being determined to get out first. The room was 364 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:19,399 Speaker 1: now crowded to suffocation, all struggling to get in the hole. 365 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,080 Speaker 1: The strongest men forced their way to the front, while 366 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:26,320 Speaker 1: the weak ones were more roughly brushed aside and jammed 367 00:22:26,359 --> 00:22:29,879 Speaker 1: up against the walls. Sneaden also made a map of 368 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:33,879 Speaker 1: the prison in watercolor, showing the prison, the tunnel route, 369 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:37,040 Speaker 1: nearby streets, and of their buildings, and the James River 370 00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:40,159 Speaker 1: and its adjacent canal. That map is now in the 371 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:44,240 Speaker 1: collection of the Virginia Historical Society. In one account of 372 00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:47,159 Speaker 1: this escape, during the roll call. The next day. A 373 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:51,920 Speaker 1: Confederate official said, where are they all? And somebody answered, 374 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:56,399 Speaker 1: they fell out the window, which cracks me up a 375 00:22:56,440 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 1: whole lot of window drops. One hundred and nine men 376 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:02,960 Speaker 1: managed to escape through that tunnel, with more than half 377 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:07,000 Speaker 1: of them successfully making it to Union territory. Some of 378 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 1: the ones who managed to evade capture had help from 379 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:13,199 Speaker 1: Union spy Elizabeth van Lew who was mentioned in our 380 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:16,560 Speaker 1: prior episode on Mary Elizabeth Bowser, which was a Saturday 381 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:20,040 Speaker 1: classic not too long ago. Forty eight of the men 382 00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:23,560 Speaker 1: were recaptured and too drowned while trying to cross a river. 383 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,240 Speaker 1: Colonel Rose, who had started the whole escape plan, was 384 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:29,679 Speaker 1: one of the ones recaptured, and he was held at 385 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:33,480 Speaker 1: Libby until April thirtieth, eighteen sixty four, when he was 386 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:37,400 Speaker 1: released as part of a prisoner exchange. A few weeks 387 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:41,760 Speaker 1: after this escape, h Judson Kilpatrick and Olrich Dahlgren tried 388 00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:46,240 Speaker 1: to liberate the prison, but they were discovered. Dahlgren was killed, 389 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:49,720 Speaker 1: and papers he was carrying with him suggested that there 390 00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:52,520 Speaker 1: was a plan in the works to burn down Richmond 391 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:57,960 Speaker 1: and kill Confederate President Jefferson Davis. After this, Richmond's proest 392 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:02,240 Speaker 1: Marshal John H. Winder Awe, authorized Major Thomas Pratt Turner, 393 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:05,400 Speaker 1: who was commandant of the prison, to dig a pit 394 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:08,720 Speaker 1: under the prison, fill it with gunpowder, and blow the 395 00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:12,040 Speaker 1: whole thing up if there were any further escape attempts. 396 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:16,000 Speaker 1: That threat was never carried out. Soon the Confederate Army 397 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:20,600 Speaker 1: started transferring men out of Libby to other prisons. After 398 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 1: the war was over, the entire thing was dismantled and 399 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:26,320 Speaker 1: moved to Chicago, where it operated as the Libby Prison 400 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:29,800 Speaker 1: War Museum from eighteen eighty nine to eighteen ninety nine. 401 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:33,560 Speaker 1: I have many questions about that the but I did 402 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:36,280 Speaker 1: not look into answering them because it was outside the 403 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:39,320 Speaker 1: scope of this podcast. We're going to take a quick 404 00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:52,440 Speaker 1: sponsor break and then get to two more escapes. Next up, 405 00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:57,080 Speaker 1: we have shiratrre Yoshier, who successfully escaped from four different 406 00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:01,440 Speaker 1: prisons in Japan in the nineteen thirties, and four English 407 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:05,439 Speaker 1: language accounts of these escapes have some contradictions. This was 408 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:08,360 Speaker 1: also true of Japanese accounts that I found and ran 409 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:11,719 Speaker 1: through Google Translate. But still the basics and the places 410 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: where they kind of intersector is fascinating. He was initially 411 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:19,360 Speaker 1: imprisoned for burglary and murder and a crime that had 412 00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:22,440 Speaker 1: been committed by a group of men, and he maintained 413 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:24,919 Speaker 1: that he had not been involved in the murder, and 414 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:27,080 Speaker 1: there are some accounts of this that described him as 415 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:31,880 Speaker 1: falsely accused. His first escape was from Almory Prison, after 416 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:35,720 Speaker 1: he'd been incarcerated there for about three years. He had 417 00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:38,159 Speaker 1: found a piece of wire in a washtub and he 418 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:41,440 Speaker 1: used that wire to pick the locks. He was caught 419 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:44,920 Speaker 1: just a few days later. Then, in nineteen forty two, 420 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:49,000 Speaker 1: he was transferred to Akita Prison. His cell had been 421 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:52,640 Speaker 1: designed to deter escape attempts, but he noticed that the 422 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:56,520 Speaker 1: wood around a skylight in the ceiling was starting to rot, 423 00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:00,960 Speaker 1: so he climbed up there night after night, loosening the 424 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:04,480 Speaker 1: rotten wood. Then he waited for a stormy night to 425 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:07,240 Speaker 1: disguise the sound of his moving along the prison roof, 426 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:10,200 Speaker 1: and then he climbed up through that skylight. He removed 427 00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 1: and then climbed out. Shiratori maintained that the accusations against 428 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:18,440 Speaker 1: him were false and that his incarceration was unjust. And 429 00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:20,760 Speaker 1: then he went to the home of a police officer 430 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:24,359 Speaker 1: who had previously been kind to him. He had hoped 431 00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:26,480 Speaker 1: that the officer would be willing to help him, but 432 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:30,240 Speaker 1: instead the officer turned him in and Shiratori wound up 433 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:35,080 Speaker 1: at a Bascheri prison. This was Japan's northernmost prison and 434 00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:36,960 Speaker 1: it was a place where some of the nation's most 435 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:40,879 Speaker 1: notorious people were housed. Even though the prison was supposed 436 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:45,040 Speaker 1: to be escape proof, Shiratory was kept handcuffed there except 437 00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:48,119 Speaker 1: when he was bathing. For this escape, and this is 438 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:50,160 Speaker 1: the detail that made me put this on the list. 439 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:56,119 Speaker 1: Shiratory spit the miso soup from his meals onto his handcuffs, 440 00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:59,760 Speaker 1: and the meal slot in his door had miso soup, 441 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:01,840 Speaker 1: you know, so it's really salty. So he was wanting 442 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:05,320 Speaker 1: the salt in the soup to weaken the metal in 443 00:27:05,359 --> 00:27:09,360 Speaker 1: his handcuffs and that meal slot. This was during World 444 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 1: War Two, and the prison had huge skylights in the roof, 445 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:16,320 Speaker 1: so it was kept in blackout conditions at night. On 446 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,960 Speaker 1: the night of August twenty sixth, nineteen forty four, Shiratory 447 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:25,359 Speaker 1: broke through his weakened handcuffs and meal slot, reportedly dislocating 448 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:29,240 Speaker 1: his shoulders to do so, and escape through the skylights 449 00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:32,879 Speaker 1: under cover of darkness. A Baucherie Prison is now a 450 00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:35,879 Speaker 1: museum and has a model of Shiratory climbing to the 451 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:40,120 Speaker 1: windowed roof to escape in his underwear, although details are 452 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:43,360 Speaker 1: fuzzy about how exactly he climbed up to the skylights. 453 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:47,359 Speaker 1: If he had just dislocated his shoulders, yeah, even if 454 00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:49,639 Speaker 1: he had popped his own shoulders back into place, that 455 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:53,200 Speaker 1: seems like it would have been incredibly painful and difficult 456 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:55,760 Speaker 1: to try to do because it was. It's not a 457 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:59,200 Speaker 1: low ceiling, It's like a very high ceiling with big 458 00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:02,760 Speaker 1: skylights up there, regardless of the detail with that though. 459 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:06,080 Speaker 1: Shiratory hid in an abandoned mine until after the end 460 00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:09,240 Speaker 1: of World War II, and then a farmer caught him 461 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:13,840 Speaker 1: stealing food from the fields and Shiratory stabbed him. The 462 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:17,280 Speaker 1: farmer later died of his injuries, and Shiratory maintained that 463 00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:21,440 Speaker 1: the stabbing had been done in self defense. At this point, 464 00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:25,120 Speaker 1: Shiratory had escaped from prison three times, and he had 465 00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:28,520 Speaker 1: been convicted of committing other crimes in addition to that 466 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:32,480 Speaker 1: first robbery and murder during his escape, so he was 467 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:35,760 Speaker 1: sentenced to death. He was housed at Supporo Prison to 468 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:40,160 Speaker 1: await his execution. Two of his previous escapes had involved 469 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:44,000 Speaker 1: climbing up through ceilings and roofs, so that was apparently 470 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:46,800 Speaker 1: where the guards focused when they secured his cell. So 471 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:50,040 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty seven he went out through the floor instead. 472 00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:53,840 Speaker 1: He pried up the floorboards and then used again the 473 00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:57,680 Speaker 1: bowls from his meals used them as shovels to shovel 474 00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:01,520 Speaker 1: through the dirt underneath the floor. He was once again caught. 475 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:04,440 Speaker 1: That was about a year later, but this time, rather 476 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:07,560 Speaker 1: than adding to his sentence again, a court ruled that 477 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:11,280 Speaker 1: Shiratory really had stabbed the farmer in self defense after 478 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:15,720 Speaker 1: he had escaped from Abushiri prison. His sentence was reduced 479 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:18,200 Speaker 1: to twenty years in prison, and he was released in 480 00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:22,520 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty one. He lived free for quite some time. 481 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:26,360 Speaker 1: He died in nineteen seventy nine. Yeah, he as I understand. 482 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:30,560 Speaker 1: It became kind of an anti hero in Japan because 483 00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:33,000 Speaker 1: of all of this. And now we have one last 484 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:36,880 Speaker 1: escapee who is another man, but his wife is the 485 00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:40,239 Speaker 1: one who should really be credited with planning it and 486 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:43,280 Speaker 1: carrying it out. This was William Maxwell, the fifth Earl 487 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,719 Speaker 1: of Ninsdale, who was probably born at Terrible's Castle in 488 00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:51,000 Speaker 1: Scotland in sixteen seventy six. His father had died when 489 00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:53,160 Speaker 1: he was a child, and he was raised mostly by 490 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:55,480 Speaker 1: his mother, who was a Catholic and then later a 491 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 1: Jacobite that is, a supporter of the Stuart claim to 492 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:02,640 Speaker 1: the British throne. After the Stuarts were forced into exile 493 00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:06,479 Speaker 1: during the Glorious Revolution of sixteen eighty eight, when William 494 00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:10,200 Speaker 1: became an adult, he married Lady Winifred Herbert. They met 495 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,800 Speaker 1: while William was in France to pledge his loyalty to 496 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:16,720 Speaker 1: the exiled James the Second and seventh and Winifred was 497 00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:18,960 Speaker 1: visiting her father, who was one of the people who 498 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:22,800 Speaker 1: helped get James's wife and son out of England during 499 00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:27,120 Speaker 1: the Glorious Revolution. Once they returned to Scotland, they tried 500 00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 1: to be discreet about their religion and their political views, 501 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:33,959 Speaker 1: since most of their neighbors were Protestants, but they were 502 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,440 Speaker 1: still the targets of suspicion, and on Christmas Eve seventeen 503 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:40,520 Speaker 1: oh three, a mom broke down the castle gates and 504 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:45,640 Speaker 1: ransacked the property, looking for any Catholics they might be harboring. Yeah, 505 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:48,240 Speaker 1: their political views also would have been treason, so it 506 00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:52,400 Speaker 1: was very important to keep that very quiet. William was 507 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:57,040 Speaker 1: cleared of any wrongdoing after this mob breaking down his door, 508 00:30:57,120 --> 00:31:00,080 Speaker 1: but he was stripped of one of his titles and 509 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:02,880 Speaker 1: ordered to pay a bond to ensure that he would 510 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:07,160 Speaker 1: not plot against the throne. Authorities kept him under close watch, 511 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:10,000 Speaker 1: and during all of this he bequeathed most of his 512 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,040 Speaker 1: property to his eldest son. This might have been an 513 00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:16,120 Speaker 1: attempt to protect that property from being confiscated if he 514 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:20,360 Speaker 1: were arrested again. In seventeen fifteen, William was part of 515 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:23,960 Speaker 1: the Jacobite Rising of seventeen fifteen. We have covered the 516 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:27,720 Speaker 1: Jacobite risings on the show before, and briefly. This was 517 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:30,240 Speaker 1: one of a series of failed attempts to restore the 518 00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:34,240 Speaker 1: Stewarts to the British throne. William commanded a group of 519 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:37,960 Speaker 1: gentlemen volunteers, and after the Battle of Preston he was 520 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:42,760 Speaker 1: one of almost fifteen hundred Jacobites taken prisoner. In January 521 00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:46,160 Speaker 1: of seven sixteen, he pled guilty to treason, and on 522 00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:49,960 Speaker 1: February ninth he was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. 523 00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:56,200 Speaker 1: His execution was scheduled for February twenty first Winifred was 524 00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:59,920 Speaker 1: determined to get him released, so she traveled to London. 525 00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:03,840 Speaker 1: This was wintertime, when the snow became too deep for 526 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:07,600 Speaker 1: her carriage to get through, she finished the journey on horseback. 527 00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:11,000 Speaker 1: She met with King George the first, clinging to his 528 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:14,160 Speaker 1: robes when he refused to accept a petition on her 529 00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:17,520 Speaker 1: husband's behalf. She refused to let go of those robes 530 00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:19,400 Speaker 1: as he tried to walk away from her, and so 531 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:23,280 Speaker 1: he dragged her across the room. And as words spread 532 00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:27,080 Speaker 1: about that that wound up earning her some popular support, 533 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:31,080 Speaker 1: people did not like the idea that the king had 534 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:35,200 Speaker 1: dragged this distraught wife across the room. She bribed the 535 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:38,000 Speaker 1: guards at the Tower of London where William was being held, 536 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:41,440 Speaker 1: to allow him to receive visitors in gifts, and she 537 00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:45,160 Speaker 1: visited him repeatedly, often with the company of other women. 538 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:48,520 Speaker 1: On the night before he was to be executed, she 539 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:52,440 Speaker 1: arrived with her maid, Cecilia Evans, and her friends, Missus 540 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:56,120 Speaker 1: Morgan and Missus Mills, and she had brought women's clothes 541 00:32:56,280 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 1: and makeup with her. As Winnifred got William dressed and 542 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:04,240 Speaker 1: made up, she had a loud conversation with her friends 543 00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:08,120 Speaker 1: about where in the world Cecilia had disappeared to she 544 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:10,880 Speaker 1: knew exactly where Cecilia was. This was all part of 545 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:14,719 Speaker 1: a ruse meant to be overheard by the guards. Winnifred's 546 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:18,320 Speaker 1: companions then left the prison one by one, and then 547 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:21,720 Speaker 1: they were followed by Winnifred and William together as though 548 00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:25,560 Speaker 1: William were her maid. He was hiding the lower part 549 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:27,720 Speaker 1: of his space behind a handkerchief because they did not 550 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:34,080 Speaker 1: have time to shave him for leading him out. Oh 551 00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:36,280 Speaker 1: this is I can think of so many comedy troops 552 00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:39,920 Speaker 1: I would love to see recreate this. Once William was outside, 553 00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:43,400 Speaker 1: Winnifred doubled back, went to his empty cell and had 554 00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:47,320 Speaker 1: a pretend conversation with him, closing the door behind her 555 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:50,080 Speaker 1: when she left. On the way out, she told the 556 00:33:50,120 --> 00:33:52,840 Speaker 1: guards he was at prayer and should not be disturbed. 557 00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:56,920 Speaker 1: The guards didn't even realize William was gone until everyone 558 00:33:57,040 --> 00:34:01,080 Speaker 1: involved in this ruse was safely away from the tower. Yeah, 559 00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:04,040 Speaker 1: this whole thing really banked on causing the guards to 560 00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:07,120 Speaker 1: be confused about exactly how many women had arrived with 561 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:10,680 Speaker 1: her and where precisely they were at any given moment. 562 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:14,480 Speaker 1: After getting out of the tower, William took refuge at 563 00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:17,640 Speaker 1: the Venetian embassy and then he escaped to Dover while 564 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:21,319 Speaker 1: dressed as a Venetian ambassador. He went to Bruges by 565 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:24,600 Speaker 1: boat and then to Paris, where he reconnected with his wife. 566 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:28,160 Speaker 1: The two of them became part of the Stuart Court 567 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:32,040 Speaker 1: in exile. In seventeen seventeen, they moved to Rome and 568 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:35,440 Speaker 1: that is where William died in seventeen forty four. William 569 00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:38,520 Speaker 1: had a reputation for always living beyond his memes, and 570 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:42,560 Speaker 1: he died in debt. But Whenifred became a popular heroine 571 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:47,799 Speaker 1: in Jacobite writing, she died in seventeen forty nine. All Right, 572 00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:50,920 Speaker 1: if you're thinking, hey, why wasn't the John Dillinger escape 573 00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:53,840 Speaker 1: in here? That was pretty ingenious, Yes, that's true, but 574 00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:56,799 Speaker 1: there is an episode on Dillinger already that is going 575 00:34:56,880 --> 00:35:02,319 Speaker 1: to be an upcoming Saturday Classic. Yeah, it seemed like 576 00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:05,800 Speaker 1: a good thing to add in there since they do 577 00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:14,440 Speaker 1: talk about that escape in that prior episode. Thanks so 578 00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:17,640 Speaker 1: much for joining us on this Saturday. Since this episode 579 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:19,440 Speaker 1: is out of the archive, if you heard an email 580 00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:22,200 Speaker 1: address or a Facebook RL or something similar over the 581 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:25,359 Speaker 1: course of the show, that could be obsolete. 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