1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,279 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. A few 4 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 1: years ago, I was in Philadelphia and went to the 5 00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:23,160 Speaker 1: Eastern State Penitentiary, which was a prison for about a 6 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:25,800 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty years and now it's a historic site. 7 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: And one of the things I learned about while I 8 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:32,159 Speaker 1: was there was a dramatic escape from the prison in 9 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:37,839 Speaker 1: and I immediately put that into my little notes hap 10 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:40,599 Speaker 1: on my phone where I shot things down when I'm 11 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 1: on vacation. It was one of those things, though that 12 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 1: I couldn't quite figure out how to make it work 13 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: as an episode, and I kept circling back to it periodically. 14 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: It finally dawned on me that it might work as 15 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: a set of six impossible episodes because there are some 16 00:00:55,680 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: common themes among a lot of the prison break stories, 17 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:07,679 Speaker 1: like there's often a lot of tunneling. Uh So, a 18 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: couple of times a year I pulled together six episodes 19 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: that are are grouped together in some way, and and 20 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: so now we're gonna have six prison breaks and just 21 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: two level set here. I would not at all call 22 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:25,959 Speaker 1: this a representative sample of history's prison escape attempts because 23 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: number One, the vast majority of information we have for 24 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:34,160 Speaker 1: this episode is from places where English is the predominant language, 25 00:01:34,319 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: and that's just a matter of what's available to us. 26 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: Number Two, I was really focused on escapes that seemed 27 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: particularly ingenious and how they were planned and carried out, 28 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: not on ones that were violent. So there is a 29 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: little violence in this episode, but it is not one 30 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:57,640 Speaker 1: where the you know, a prison break happened in the 31 00:01:57,640 --> 00:01:59,880 Speaker 1: middle of a violent uprising where a lot of people 32 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 1: got killed. I was really looking at the ones that 33 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: are kind of offbeat a little bit in some ways. Right, 34 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: this is more Shawshank redemption than horrible riot situation. Yeah, 35 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: several of them seem like clear inspirations for some of 36 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:19,400 Speaker 1: the Shawshank escape. So know that going in, all right, 37 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:21,240 Speaker 1: So we're going to start with the prison break that 38 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: inspired this episode. The Eastern State Penitentiary opened in eighteen 39 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:28,079 Speaker 1: twenty nine, and it was built in an era when 40 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:30,800 Speaker 1: reformers were trying to change the way prisons and the 41 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: criminal justice system worked in Philadelphia. This effort was led 42 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: by the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the miseries of public 43 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: prisons whose members were predominantly Quakers. The prison was called 44 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:47,640 Speaker 1: a penitentiary because its purpose was to inspire penitents among 45 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: the people housed there by keeping them in a state 46 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:55,640 Speaker 1: of isolated, silent contemplation. Hundreds of prisons that followed this 47 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: theory were built around the world in the nineteenth century. 48 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:03,680 Speaker 1: Although these reformers were trying to move away from things 49 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:09,080 Speaker 1: like public floggings and executions for relatively minor crimes, and 50 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 1: also to make incarceration more humane, this system that they 51 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:16,960 Speaker 1: devised was innately cruel. It came to be known as 52 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: the Pennsylvania system, and it was basically perpetual solitary confinement. 53 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: People were totally alone in these single occupancy cells that 54 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 1: had attached small walled in exercise yards. They were forced 55 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:33,840 Speaker 1: to wear hoods when they were in common areas so 56 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:36,720 Speaker 1: they couldn't see or talk to anybody else, and over 57 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: time the prison moved away from this practice, and the 58 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:45,000 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania system was officially abandoned by nineteen By that point, 59 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: more people had recognized that endless solitary confinement was in 60 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:52,440 Speaker 1: fact cruel, but the system that replaced it was cruel 61 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: just in a different way. Overcrowding became a major issue, 62 00:03:56,680 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: with new cell blocks built between the existing ones, until 63 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:03,320 Speaker 1: a prison that had originally housed two hundred fifty people 64 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:08,840 Speaker 1: instead housed seventeen hundred. A series of riots and uprisings 65 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 1: took place in the nineteen thirties in response to poor 66 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:14,240 Speaker 1: conditions at the prison and to low pay at the 67 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:17,400 Speaker 1: on site workshops and factories where they were forced to work. 68 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:23,720 Speaker 1: In nineteen forty four, a plasterer and stonemason named Clarence Kleinbens, 69 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:26,920 Speaker 1: who was known as Cliny, was housed in cell sixty 70 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: eight of Cell Blocks seven, and this was at the 71 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:32,040 Speaker 1: far end of one of those cell blocks that had 72 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:35,160 Speaker 1: been planned as part of the prisons initial design as 73 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: a penitentiary, and it's possible that he moved into the 74 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:41,040 Speaker 1: cell with the intention of tunneling out of it. From 75 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:44,159 Speaker 1: the beginning, it had been used for storage, and he 76 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: had offered to repair it so that he could live 77 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:49,239 Speaker 1: in it. Once he was housed in cell sixty eight, 78 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 1: he and his cellmate William Russell started digging a tunnel 79 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: in secret, one that went through the cell wall then 80 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:59,400 Speaker 1: down twelve feet, requiring a ladder to get to the bottom. 81 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 1: From there, the tunnel leveled out and stretched about one 82 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: hundred feet, running under the exercise yard and the wall 83 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: that encircled the prison, and then up again to the 84 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 1: street outside. They made a plaster mask so it would 85 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:15,480 Speaker 1: look like one of them was in bed that one 86 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:18,520 Speaker 1: would dig while the other kept watch, and they put 87 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:20,720 Speaker 1: the dirt they dug up in their pockets and then 88 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:25,360 Speaker 1: scatter it in the exercise yard. Kleindent hid the entrance 89 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:27,880 Speaker 1: to this tunnel with a panel that he made to 90 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: roughly match the intact walls of the cell, and then 91 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:33,919 Speaker 1: put a metal trash can in front of it, and 92 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,000 Speaker 1: in the tunnel. He shored it up with wood and 93 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:41,440 Speaker 1: installed lights and ventilation fans. When the tunnel intersected with 94 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:43,919 Speaker 1: a sewer pipe under the prison, they built a connection 95 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:46,760 Speaker 1: to the pipe so they could dispose of their waste 96 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 1: through a sewer. This was a complex engineering feat handled 97 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:55,919 Speaker 1: with whatever they could cobble together. It's pretty ingenious. On 98 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 1: April third, nine, twelve men escaped through this tune going 99 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: to sell sixty eight while everyone else was on the 100 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 1: way to breakfast. At the end of the tunnel, they 101 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 1: broke through the last few feet of earth and scattered 102 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:12,599 Speaker 1: in different directions as they came out of it. Most 103 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:15,919 Speaker 1: of them, though, we're back in the prison within a day, 104 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 1: and all of them had been caught within a few months. 105 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: Notorious bank robber Willie Sutton, who would later totally take 106 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:26,919 Speaker 1: credit for this escape and his autobiography, he was caught 107 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:29,919 Speaker 1: almost immediately. He basically came out of the hall and 108 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:34,000 Speaker 1: they grabbed him right there. Clarence kleindenced was in custody 109 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:37,720 Speaker 1: after about three hours. One group tried to make their 110 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:40,840 Speaker 1: getaway in a milk truck that they stole, and they 111 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:43,680 Speaker 1: were caught after police rammed the truck with a police car. 112 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:47,080 Speaker 1: One man, who was twenty four year old, James Grace, 113 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:51,840 Speaker 1: turned himself in eight days after the escape. William Russell 114 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:54,479 Speaker 1: and one other man were both shot during the escape 115 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 1: attempt and they were brought back to the prison infirmary. Otherwise, 116 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:01,039 Speaker 1: the men who tried to escape were punished. Some of 117 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: them were placed into these tiny windowless underground cells known 118 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:08,400 Speaker 1: as klondikes. These were too small to even stand up in. 119 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: Of course, this whole escape was enormously embarrassing for the prison. 120 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:16,200 Speaker 1: It was not at all the first escape attempt or 121 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: even the first successful escape attempt from the Eastern State 122 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:23,960 Speaker 1: Penitentiary that had happened all the way back in eighty two, 123 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:28,880 Speaker 1: but it was a colossal security breach. Months of digging 124 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 1: had gone unnoticed and more than one inspection of Cell 125 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:36,600 Speaker 1: sixty eight had failed to spot that tunnel entrance. Prison 126 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:40,360 Speaker 1: authorities investigated and mapped the tunnel, and then they filled 127 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 1: it in and covered up the entrance with cement. Then 128 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: later in two thousand five, Eastern State Penitentiary embarked on 129 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 1: an archaeological study to find and map the tunnel. This 130 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:55,760 Speaker 1: effort included ground penetrating radar work cameras, and a small 131 00:07:56,120 --> 00:07:59,120 Speaker 1: robotic rover that was kind of remote controlled and went 132 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:02,240 Speaker 1: down the tunnel. They had to use a jackhammer to 133 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:06,720 Speaker 1: get through the tunnels covered over entrance. As we said earlier, 134 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:10,280 Speaker 1: Eastern State Penitentiary is now a historic site and as 135 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 1: of seventeen, its mission is to interpret the legacy of 136 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:17,520 Speaker 1: American criminal justice reform. Okay, we'll talk about that a 137 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:20,560 Speaker 1: little bit more in the behind the scenes on Friday. 138 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 1: Moving on, for about eighty years, starting in people convicted 139 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 1: of crimes in the UK could be transported to Australia 140 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:34,000 Speaker 1: as punishment other colonies as well, but Australia is the 141 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:38,360 Speaker 1: focus here. Often this was for a period of seven years, 142 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:41,360 Speaker 1: but a lot of people sent to Australia never returned 143 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:44,080 Speaker 1: to Britain again. They either couldn't afford to make the 144 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:46,920 Speaker 1: trip or they didn't want to after having made a 145 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:51,040 Speaker 1: life for themselves in Australia. And only a small number 146 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: of people who were sentenced to transportation had been convicted 147 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:57,559 Speaker 1: of a violent crime. A lot of them had been 148 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:00,559 Speaker 1: convicted of offenses that most people would think of as 149 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:04,720 Speaker 1: pretty petty today. Women in particular, tended to have been 150 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:09,320 Speaker 1: convicted of things like stealing handkerchiefs or cloth, or pickpocketing. 151 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:12,800 Speaker 1: Our next prison break was a group of women who 152 00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: were being held at Limerick Jail in Ireland awaiting transportation 153 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,080 Speaker 1: to Australia. They were supposed to be transferred to a 154 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:24,120 Speaker 1: prison in Cork on May thirty, which is where they 155 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:26,520 Speaker 1: would embark on this ship that was going to take 156 00:09:26,559 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 1: them to Australia. But the night before that transfer to 157 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:34,440 Speaker 1: a Cork nine women and a baby escape from Limerick Jail. 158 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:39,960 Speaker 1: The women were Mary King, Mary Hurley, Mary Devon, Ellen Hurley, 159 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:45,960 Speaker 1: Margaret Shaughnessy, Margaret Clancy, Bridget Shelton, Mary Hickey, and Katherine Welsh, 160 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 1: and the baby was Mary Devon's eleven month old daughter. 161 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:54,560 Speaker 1: As escapes go, this one is maybe less dramatic than 162 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: some of the others that we're talking about today, but 163 00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:00,360 Speaker 1: it does still involve some ingenuity leading a to their 164 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:03,319 Speaker 1: transfer date. These women made a habit of singing and 165 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:08,439 Speaker 1: quote noisy vociferations after dark, so it had been established 166 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:12,360 Speaker 1: that they were just loud. Someone had provided them with 167 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:16,880 Speaker 1: a file, some nitric acid also called aquafortis, and other 168 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:20,480 Speaker 1: tools to help them get out of their cells. Then, 169 00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:23,439 Speaker 1: on the twenty three, two men used a ladder that 170 00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:26,600 Speaker 1: workers had left behind while making repairs to get into 171 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:30,680 Speaker 1: the women's ward. The men started helping the women get 172 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: their cells open, while the women got to their nightly 173 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:37,760 Speaker 1: singing to cover up the noise, and the words of 174 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:41,840 Speaker 1: the monmouthster Merlin quote this amusement they enjoyed with more 175 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:46,000 Speaker 1: than ordinary spirit on this occasion, and without exciting any 176 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:50,920 Speaker 1: particular notice. Meantime, the iron fastenings were assailed by the 177 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:55,720 Speaker 1: burglars with extraordinary success. That continued knocking was heard in 178 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:58,920 Speaker 1: the adjacent ward, but the sound of their operations was 179 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:02,840 Speaker 1: so drowned and the melody of the accompanying voices as 180 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 1: not to reach the ears of the jail governor or 181 00:11:05,559 --> 00:11:09,560 Speaker 1: his assistance. The locks gave way before repeated efforts, and 182 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: nine females with an infant were extricated from Durance Vile. 183 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:17,800 Speaker 1: Once they were out of their cells, the women and 184 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:21,240 Speaker 1: their accomplices climbed back down the ladder and used it 185 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 1: to get over the outer walls unnoticed. But these women 186 00:11:25,559 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 1: did not stay at large for long. Mary Hickey was 187 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:31,880 Speaker 1: caught the night of the escape, and newspapers reported on 188 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:35,280 Speaker 1: the capture of other women in the following days, including 189 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:38,400 Speaker 1: Catherine Welsh, who asked to be taken back to the 190 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: Limerick jail after being caught shoplifting. Yeah, they were going 191 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:43,800 Speaker 1: to take her to a different jail and she was like, 192 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:45,720 Speaker 1: can I just go back to Limerick because that's where 193 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:51,839 Speaker 1: I escaped from. It appears that, with one possible exception, 194 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:54,720 Speaker 1: all of the women involved in this prison break did 195 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:58,640 Speaker 1: wind up being transported to Australia. Two of them are 196 00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:01,560 Speaker 1: mentioned in an article about a ship that departed for 197 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:05,320 Speaker 1: Australia on January twenty nine of eighteen thirty one, and 198 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:07,400 Speaker 1: then all but one of the rest of them are 199 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:12,079 Speaker 1: listed on ships actual registers of the people being transported. 200 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:14,360 Speaker 1: So there were five on a ship that departed on 201 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:18,520 Speaker 1: September eighteen thirty one, and then one on a ship 202 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:22,000 Speaker 1: that left on March nine of eighteen thirty three, so 203 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:25,360 Speaker 1: that leaves only one of the women unaccounted for. We 204 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:28,160 Speaker 1: are going to take a sponsor break, uh and after 205 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:41,760 Speaker 1: that will come back to more escape stories. Next up, 206 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:45,840 Speaker 1: we have the escape from Alcatraz in nineteen sixty two, 207 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:48,760 Speaker 1: and way back in two thousand eight, prior hosts of 208 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:51,880 Speaker 1: the show, Candice and Josh did an episode title Did 209 00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 1: Someone Really Escape from Alcatraz? Number one? That is fourever Ago. 210 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:00,840 Speaker 1: It was an entirely different show with the different format 211 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:04,280 Speaker 1: at that point, and most of that ten minute episode 212 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:07,319 Speaker 1: is focused more on the general history of Alcatraz as 213 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 1: a prison and not on the escape itself. If you're 214 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:13,839 Speaker 1: interested in the more general history of Alcatraz, we talk 215 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:16,160 Speaker 1: about that a bit in our two parter on the 216 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:19,880 Speaker 1: Occupation of Alcatraz. Those episodes came out in twenty nineteen. 217 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 1: So Alcatraz is an island in San Francisco Bay. It 218 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:27,679 Speaker 1: has a steep rocky shoreline, and it is surrounded by 219 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:32,120 Speaker 1: treacherous waters. Although this may have discouraged people from trying 220 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:36,280 Speaker 1: to escape, there were still fourteen different escape attempts during 221 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:40,440 Speaker 1: Alcatraz's time as a federal prison that was from four 222 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:44,840 Speaker 1: to nineteen sixty three. Nearly all of the thirty six 223 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:48,320 Speaker 1: men involved in these attempts were captured or killed, but 224 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 1: five of them are classified as missing and presumed drowned. 225 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:56,480 Speaker 1: Two of them were Theodore Cole and Ralph Row, who 226 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:58,760 Speaker 1: filed through the bars of a window in the mat 227 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:02,640 Speaker 1: shop and tried to escape during a storm in ninety seven. 228 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:07,120 Speaker 1: The other three were involved in the nineteen sixty two escape. 229 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:12,160 Speaker 1: There were actually four men involved in this attempt, Frank Morris, 230 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:16,960 Speaker 1: John Anglin, John's brother Clarence, and Allan West. They had 231 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:21,040 Speaker 1: all been convicted of various burglaries, robberies, and thefts, and 232 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 1: they'd all been incarcerated together before, and they all knew 233 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 1: each other. They had been transferred to Alcatraz after having 234 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:31,920 Speaker 1: tried to escape from other prisons. They started planning to 235 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:36,080 Speaker 1: escape from Alcatraz in December of nineteen sixty one. Morrison 236 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:39,240 Speaker 1: the Englands had been assigned cells that were adjacent to 237 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 1: one another, and one of them found some old saw 238 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:46,640 Speaker 1: blades they thought they could use. These men improvised so 239 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:50,680 Speaker 1: much for this escape attempt. They improvised tools to dig 240 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:53,680 Speaker 1: and break through walls, including making a drill from a 241 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:56,760 Speaker 1: vacuum cleaner motor, although that turned out to be too 242 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:00,960 Speaker 1: noisy for them to really use. Scrap wood became basic paddles, 243 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:03,880 Speaker 1: and a concertina that is a musical instrument that's sort 244 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:07,520 Speaker 1: of like an accordion became a pump to inflate their raft, 245 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:13,960 Speaker 1: and that raft, apparently using instructions they found in popular mechanics, 246 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,840 Speaker 1: they made a six ft by fourteen foot raft out 247 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:20,480 Speaker 1: of about fifty raincoats. They may have taken some of 248 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 1: these raincoats from other men by force, but there was 249 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:27,440 Speaker 1: also a rumor that if anybody successfully escaped from Alcatraz, 250 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 1: the government would shut the prison down, So it seems 251 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,080 Speaker 1: like some of the men were happy to kind of 252 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:36,120 Speaker 1: wear their raincoats out to the exercise yard and then 253 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:39,440 Speaker 1: leave them there to be picked up, kind of donating 254 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:42,320 Speaker 1: them to this effort to get the prison shut down. 255 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:47,160 Speaker 1: The escaping men then used contact cement they had stolen 256 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:50,840 Speaker 1: from various workshops around the prison and heat from the 257 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 1: steam pipes to vulcanize the seams of the raft. They 258 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:59,640 Speaker 1: used this same method to also make life preservers. Each 259 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:02,160 Speaker 1: of their cells had an air vent, and they used 260 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:05,040 Speaker 1: various tools to make a series of holes around these 261 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:08,280 Speaker 1: vents so that the whole thing in each cell could 262 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:11,200 Speaker 1: be pulled out from the wall. This got them into 263 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:14,160 Speaker 1: a utility corridor, where they made and hid what they 264 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:18,240 Speaker 1: would need to escape. Yet another improvised tool with all 265 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:21,720 Speaker 1: this was a periscope, which they used to watch for 266 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:24,720 Speaker 1: guards while they were working. They also worked out a 267 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:27,760 Speaker 1: way to get from the corridor and onto the prison roof. 268 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:32,160 Speaker 1: Similarly to how Clarence Kleinen and William Russell had used 269 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:34,560 Speaker 1: a mask they made to make it look like one 270 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:36,240 Speaker 1: of them was in bed while the other one was 271 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:40,000 Speaker 1: digging a tunnel, these four men made heads out of 272 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:44,000 Speaker 1: homemade plaster and painted them topped them with human hair 273 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:46,120 Speaker 1: so that it would make it look like they were 274 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:51,640 Speaker 1: asleep in their beds. Um these heads, I think they're 275 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:55,360 Speaker 1: actually pretty good, better than I could do, I think. 276 00:16:57,520 --> 00:17:01,760 Speaker 1: On June, Frank Risks and the England Brothers went out 277 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:05,400 Speaker 1: through their removed ventilation grates, covering the hole behind them 278 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:09,359 Speaker 1: with whatever they could. Alan West had tried to reinforce 279 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:12,879 Speaker 1: the concrete around his grate and had accidentally cemented it 280 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,240 Speaker 1: in place, and by the time he was able to 281 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:20,000 Speaker 1: get it free, his accomplices had already left. From up 282 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:23,000 Speaker 1: on the roof Morris and the Englands climbed down a 283 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:26,320 Speaker 1: smokestack and then over a fence, cutting through the barbed 284 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:28,679 Speaker 1: wire at the top of the fence, and then they 285 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:31,639 Speaker 1: seemed to have launched their raft from the northeast corner 286 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:34,399 Speaker 1: of the island. But then what happened to them after 287 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:37,920 Speaker 1: that is a mystery. During bed check on the morning 288 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:41,040 Speaker 1: of June twelve, a guard at first thought that the 289 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:43,920 Speaker 1: three men were still asleep in their beds, but then 290 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:46,879 Speaker 1: realized they weren't in their cells after touching one of 291 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:50,000 Speaker 1: the fake heads through the bars, and a man hunt began. 292 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:54,960 Speaker 1: Authorities recovered a package of letters sealed in rubber paddles 293 00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:58,199 Speaker 1: and life vests, either in the water or washed up 294 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:02,240 Speaker 1: at various points around the San France Ascope Bay. Sailors 295 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:05,280 Speaker 1: from a Norwegian freighter reportedly saw a body in the 296 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:09,680 Speaker 1: water on July seventeenth, but did not report that until October. 297 00:18:10,359 --> 00:18:13,640 Speaker 1: Although there have been some simulations that suggests that the 298 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:18,280 Speaker 1: three men could have made it to shore was theoretically possible. 299 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:21,439 Speaker 1: At this point, they are presumed to have drowned in 300 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:25,240 Speaker 1: their escape attempt. The FBI closed the case on December 301 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:30,080 Speaker 1: thirty one of nineteen seventy nine. Although Alcatraz did close 302 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:32,720 Speaker 1: less than a year after this escape, it was because 303 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:36,919 Speaker 1: the prison needed a multimillion dollar restoration project, and on 304 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:39,879 Speaker 1: top of that, it was expensive to operate because of 305 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:43,720 Speaker 1: its island location. The federal government decided that it would 306 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:45,959 Speaker 1: be cheaper to just build a whole new prison than 307 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:50,880 Speaker 1: to try to restore and keep running Alcatraz. Next up, 308 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:55,800 Speaker 1: Libby Prison was originally a food warehouse and then later 309 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:59,440 Speaker 1: it became home to a grocery and ship provisioning business. 310 00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:03,200 Speaker 1: Was in Richmond, Virginia, and during the US Civil War, 311 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:06,520 Speaker 1: the Confederate government ticket over and turned it into a 312 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:12,920 Speaker 1: prison to house US prisoners of war, particularly US military officers, 313 00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:17,639 Speaker 1: and conditions there were really just appalling. Obviously, it was 314 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:20,119 Speaker 1: not built to be a prison, and beyond that, it 315 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,479 Speaker 1: was situated on a canal that routinely flooded the building. 316 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:27,320 Speaker 1: Cellar in wet weather and the rising waters drove rats 317 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:29,840 Speaker 1: out of the cellar and into the rest of the structure. 318 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:34,200 Speaker 1: The windows were open spaces covered in bars, and they 319 00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 1: let in little fresh air, but not much light, and 320 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:41,320 Speaker 1: they didn't offer much protection from storms or extreme temperatures. 321 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:44,920 Speaker 1: The upper two floors where the prisoners were housed, were 322 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:48,720 Speaker 1: very sparsely furnished. There weren't even enough bunks for everyone. 323 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:53,120 Speaker 1: This was an immensely overcrowded facility, with as many as 324 00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:57,360 Speaker 1: one thousand people packed into just six rooms, without enough 325 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:04,240 Speaker 1: food or supplies. Un Surprisingly, disease was rampant. Colonel Thomas E. 326 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:10,480 Speaker 1: Rose of the Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry started planning an escape 327 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: almost as soon as he arrived at Libby Prison. He 328 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:16,200 Speaker 1: thought it might be possible to dig a tunnel from 329 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:20,280 Speaker 1: that rat filled cellar to a nearby tobacco shed where 330 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:24,200 Speaker 1: they could get out without being seen by guards. Because 331 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:28,440 Speaker 1: all of the rats and the ongoing flooding problems made 332 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:32,240 Speaker 1: the seller smell terrible, so bad that it was nicknamed 333 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:36,399 Speaker 1: rat Hell. That also meant the Confederate guards mostly stayed 334 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:38,840 Speaker 1: out of it, so this was one place they could 335 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 1: work on. A tunnel mostly undetected. Construction of an escape 336 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 1: tunnel started with removing bricks from behind a stove in 337 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 1: the kitchen, which was the only room the imprisoned men 338 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:53,800 Speaker 1: were allowed free access to. This made an entry into 339 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:57,439 Speaker 1: the cellar, and from there Rose and his accomplices started 340 00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:01,400 Speaker 1: digging with makeshift tools, putting the into an old spatoon 341 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:04,640 Speaker 1: to take it away. It was hard to tell how 342 00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:06,760 Speaker 1: far they had gotten, though, and at one point they 343 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:09,760 Speaker 1: broke through the surface and realized that they still had 344 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:13,399 Speaker 1: several feet left to go. They managed to fill that 345 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:18,240 Speaker 1: accidental opening in before they were noticed. Robert Knox Needen 346 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:21,800 Speaker 1: was a cartographer who was being held at a neighboring prison, 347 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:25,000 Speaker 1: and he wrote this account of the escape, which happened 348 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:28,919 Speaker 1: on February nine, eight sixty four. Quote. Everyone wanted to 349 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:31,840 Speaker 1: be first. In order to get down the chimney as 350 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,119 Speaker 1: well as the long tunnel. It was necessary to strip naked, 351 00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:37,719 Speaker 1: wrap the clothes in a bundle and push this on 352 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:40,520 Speaker 1: before them. As soon as it was seen that only 353 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:43,919 Speaker 1: a few men could possibly get out for daylight, all 354 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:46,920 Speaker 1: rushed for the mouth of the tunnel who could, each 355 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,440 Speaker 1: man being determined to get out first. The room was 356 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:54,040 Speaker 1: now crowded to suffocation, all struggling to get in the hole. 357 00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:57,720 Speaker 1: The strongest men forced their way to the front, while 358 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:01,000 Speaker 1: the weak ones were more roughly brushed side and jammed 359 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:04,560 Speaker 1: up against the walls. Sneeton also made a map of 360 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:08,320 Speaker 1: the prison in watercolor, showing the prison, the tunnel route, 361 00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:11,879 Speaker 1: nearby streets and other buildings, and the James River and 362 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:15,240 Speaker 1: its adjacent canal. That map is now in the collection 363 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:19,040 Speaker 1: of the Virginia Historical Society, and one account of this 364 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:22,480 Speaker 1: escape During the roll call the next day, a Confederate 365 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:26,840 Speaker 1: official said, where are they all? And somebody answered, they 366 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:31,359 Speaker 1: fell out the window, which cracks me up a whole 367 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:35,159 Speaker 1: lot of window drops. One hundred nine men managed to 368 00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:38,040 Speaker 1: escape through that tunnel, with more than half of them 369 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:42,119 Speaker 1: successfully making it to Union territory. Some of the ones 370 00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:45,280 Speaker 1: who managed to evade capture had helped from Unions by 371 00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:48,840 Speaker 1: Elizabeth van Lew who was mentioned in our prior episode 372 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:51,840 Speaker 1: on Mary Elizabeth Bowser, which was a Saturday classic not 373 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:55,840 Speaker 1: too long ago. Forty eight of the men were recaptured 374 00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:59,840 Speaker 1: and too drowned while trying to cross a river. Colonel Rose, 375 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:02,199 Speaker 1: who had started the whole escape plan, was one of 376 00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 1: the Ones recaptured, and he was held at Libby until 377 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:09,120 Speaker 1: April eighteen sixty four, when he was released as part 378 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:13,040 Speaker 1: of a prisoner exchange. A few weeks after this escape, 379 00:23:13,359 --> 00:23:17,719 Speaker 1: h Judson Kilpatrick and Ulric Dollgren tried to liberate the prison, 380 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:22,199 Speaker 1: but they were discovered. Dolgren was killed, and papers he 381 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:25,000 Speaker 1: was carrying with him suggested that there was a plan 382 00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:28,280 Speaker 1: in the works to burn down Richmond and kill Confederate 383 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:34,320 Speaker 1: President Jefferson Davis. After this, Richmond's proest Marshal John H. Winder, 384 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:38,560 Speaker 1: authorized Major Thomas Pratt Turner, who was commandant of the prison, 385 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:42,720 Speaker 1: to dig a pit under the prison, fill it with gunpowder, 386 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:45,240 Speaker 1: and blow the whole thing up if there were any 387 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:49,680 Speaker 1: further escape attempts. That threat was never carried out. Soon 388 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:53,199 Speaker 1: the Confederate Army started transferring men out of Libby to 389 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:57,000 Speaker 1: other prisons. After the war was over, the entire thing 390 00:23:57,080 --> 00:24:00,119 Speaker 1: was dismantled and moved to Chicago, where it operated is 391 00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:05,679 Speaker 1: the Libby Prison War Museum from eighty nine to I 392 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:08,680 Speaker 1: have many questions about that, but I did not look 393 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:11,439 Speaker 1: into answering them because it was outside the scope of 394 00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:14,760 Speaker 1: this podcast. We're going to take a quick sponsor break 395 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:27,320 Speaker 1: and then get to two more escapes. Next up we 396 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:31,760 Speaker 1: have Shira Torre Oshier, who successfully escaped from four different 397 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:36,560 Speaker 1: prisons in Japan in the thirties and forties. English language 398 00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:40,520 Speaker 1: accounts of these escapes have some contradictions. This was also 399 00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:43,280 Speaker 1: true of Japanese accounts that I found and ran through 400 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:46,600 Speaker 1: Google Translate, but still the basics and the places where 401 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:51,159 Speaker 1: they kind of intersector just fascinating. He was initially imprisoned 402 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:54,360 Speaker 1: for burglary and murder in a crime that had been 403 00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:57,280 Speaker 1: committed by a group of men, and he maintained that 404 00:24:57,320 --> 00:24:59,760 Speaker 1: he had not been involved in the murder, and there 405 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:02,960 Speaker 1: are some accounts of this that described him as falsely accused. 406 00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:06,919 Speaker 1: His first escape was from Almori Prison after he'd been 407 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:10,720 Speaker 1: incarcerated there for about three years. He had found a 408 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 1: piece of wire in a wash tub and he used 409 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:16,280 Speaker 1: that wire to pick the locks. He was caught just 410 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 1: a few days later. Then in two he was transferred 411 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:24,760 Speaker 1: to Akita Prison. His cell had been designed to deter 412 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:28,280 Speaker 1: escape attempts, but he noticed that the wood around a 413 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:31,639 Speaker 1: skylight in the ceiling was starting to rot, so he 414 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:36,719 Speaker 1: climbed up there night after night, loosening the rotten wood. 415 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:39,800 Speaker 1: Then he waited for a stormy night to disguise the 416 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,680 Speaker 1: sound of his moving along the prison roof, and then 417 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:45,280 Speaker 1: he climbed up through that skylight he removed and then 418 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:49,520 Speaker 1: climbed out. Shura Tory maintained that the accusations against him 419 00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:53,360 Speaker 1: were false and that his incarceration was unjust. And then 420 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:55,600 Speaker 1: he went to the home of a police officer who 421 00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:59,119 Speaker 1: had previously been kind to him. He had hoped that 422 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:01,640 Speaker 1: the officer would be willing to help him, but instead 423 00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:05,120 Speaker 1: the officer turned him in and Shiratry wound up at 424 00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:09,879 Speaker 1: a boschery prison. This was Japan's northernmost prison, and it 425 00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:12,320 Speaker 1: was a place where some of the nation's most notorious 426 00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:15,639 Speaker 1: people were housed. Even though the prison was supposed to 427 00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:19,920 Speaker 1: be escape proof, Shiratry was kept handcuffed there except when 428 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:22,919 Speaker 1: he was bathing. For this escape, and this is the 429 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:25,639 Speaker 1: detail that made me put this on the list. Shira 430 00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:30,800 Speaker 1: Torri spit the miso soup from his meals onto his handcuffs, 431 00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:34,520 Speaker 1: and the meal slot in his door had miso soup. 432 00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:36,639 Speaker 1: You know, it's really salty, so he was wanting the 433 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:40,199 Speaker 1: salt in the soup to weaken the metal in his 434 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:44,320 Speaker 1: handcuffs and that meal slot. This was during World War 435 00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,400 Speaker 1: two and the prison had huge skylights in the roof, 436 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:51,000 Speaker 1: so it was kept in blackout conditions at night. On 437 00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:56,720 Speaker 1: the night of August, Shiratory broke through his weekend handcuffs 438 00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:01,480 Speaker 1: and meal slot, reportedly dislocated his shoulders to do so 439 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:06,040 Speaker 1: and escape through the skylights under cover of darkness. A 440 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:09,000 Speaker 1: Boscherie prison is now a museum and has a model 441 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:12,520 Speaker 1: of Shiratory climbing to the windowed roof to escape in 442 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:16,560 Speaker 1: his underwear, although details are fuzzy about how exactly he 443 00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:19,840 Speaker 1: climbed up to the skylights. If he had just dislocated 444 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:23,000 Speaker 1: his shoulders, yeah, even if he had popped his own 445 00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:25,159 Speaker 1: shoulders back into place, that seems like it would have 446 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:28,919 Speaker 1: been incredibly painful and difficult to try to do because 447 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:31,679 Speaker 1: it was. It's not a low ceiling. It's like a 448 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:36,520 Speaker 1: very high ceiling with big skylights up there. Regardless of 449 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:39,360 Speaker 1: the detail with that though, Sharratory hid in an abandoned 450 00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:42,439 Speaker 1: mine until after the end of World War two, and 451 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:46,000 Speaker 1: then a farmer caught him stealing food from the fields 452 00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:50,560 Speaker 1: and Shiratory stabbed him. The farmer later died of his injuries, 453 00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:53,399 Speaker 1: and Shiratory maintained that the stabbing had been done in 454 00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:58,240 Speaker 1: self defense. At this point, Shiratory had escaped from prison 455 00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:01,720 Speaker 1: three times and he had been convicted of committing other 456 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:05,080 Speaker 1: crimes in addition to that first robbery and murder during 457 00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:08,840 Speaker 1: his escape, so he was sentenced to death. He was 458 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:13,040 Speaker 1: housed at Supporto Prison to await his execution. Two of 459 00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:17,320 Speaker 1: his previous escapes had involved climbing up through ceilings and roofs, 460 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:20,320 Speaker 1: so that was apparently where the guards focused when they 461 00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:23,280 Speaker 1: secured his cell, So in ninety seven he went out 462 00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:27,159 Speaker 1: through the floor instead. He pried up the floorboards and 463 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:31,040 Speaker 1: then used again the bulls from his meals, used them 464 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:35,040 Speaker 1: ashovels to shovel through the dirt underneath the floor. He 465 00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:37,520 Speaker 1: was once again caught. That was about a year later, 466 00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:40,840 Speaker 1: but this time, rather than adding to his sentence again, 467 00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:44,680 Speaker 1: a court ruled that Serratory really had stabbed the farmer 468 00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:47,880 Speaker 1: in self defense after he had escaped from Abbashery prison. 469 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:51,960 Speaker 1: His sentence was reduced to twenty years in prison, and 470 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,800 Speaker 1: he was released in nineteen sixty one. He lived free 471 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:58,920 Speaker 1: for quite some time. He died in nineteen seventy nine. 472 00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 1: Yeah he as I understand, it became kind of an 473 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:05,720 Speaker 1: anti hero in in in Japan because of all of this. 474 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:09,040 Speaker 1: And now we have one last escape ee who is 475 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:12,240 Speaker 1: another man, but his wife is the one who should 476 00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:15,640 Speaker 1: really be credited with planning it and carrying it out. 477 00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:18,760 Speaker 1: This was William Maxwell, the fifth Earl of knits Dale, 478 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:22,560 Speaker 1: who was probably born at Terrible's Castle in Scotland in 479 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:25,920 Speaker 1: sixteen seventy six. His father had died when he was 480 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:28,320 Speaker 1: a child, and he was raised mostly by his mother, 481 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:31,200 Speaker 1: who was a Catholic and then later a Jacobite that is, 482 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:34,479 Speaker 1: a supporter of the Stewart claim to the British throne. 483 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:38,480 Speaker 1: After the Stewarts were forced into exile during the Glorious 484 00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:42,600 Speaker 1: Revolution of six when William became an adult, he married 485 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:46,200 Speaker 1: Lady Winnifred Herbert. They met while William was in France 486 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:49,000 Speaker 1: to pledge his loyalty to the exiled James the second 487 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:52,800 Speaker 1: and seventh and Winnifred was visiting her father, who was 488 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:55,360 Speaker 1: one of the people who helped get James's wife and 489 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:59,920 Speaker 1: son out of England during the Glorious Revolution. Once the 490 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,560 Speaker 1: returned to Scotland, they tried to be discreet about their religion, 491 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:07,640 Speaker 1: and their political views since most of their neighbors were Protestants, 492 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:10,680 Speaker 1: but they were still the targets of suspicion, and on 493 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:13,920 Speaker 1: Christmas Eve seventeen o three, a mom broke down the 494 00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:18,200 Speaker 1: castle gates and ransacked the property, looking for any Catholics 495 00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:21,720 Speaker 1: they might be harboring. Yeah, their political views also would 496 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:24,480 Speaker 1: have been treason, so it was very important to keep 497 00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:29,520 Speaker 1: that very quiet. William was cleared of any wrongdoing after 498 00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:33,320 Speaker 1: this mob breaking down his door, but he was stripped 499 00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:35,600 Speaker 1: of one of his titles and ordered to pay a 500 00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:38,840 Speaker 1: bond to ensure that he would not plot against the throne. 501 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:43,160 Speaker 1: Authorities kept him under close watch, and during all of 502 00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:46,560 Speaker 1: this he bequeathed most of his property to his eldest son. 503 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:49,440 Speaker 1: This might have been an attempt to protect that property 504 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:53,920 Speaker 1: from being confiscated if he were arrested again. In seventeen fifteen, 505 00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:57,440 Speaker 1: William was part of the Jacobite Rising of seventeen fifteen. 506 00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:00,600 Speaker 1: We have covered the Jacobite risings on the show before, 507 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:03,800 Speaker 1: and briefly. This was one of a series of failed 508 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:07,880 Speaker 1: attempts to restore the Stewards to the British throne. William 509 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:11,240 Speaker 1: commanded a group of gentlemen volunteers, and after the Battle 510 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:14,920 Speaker 1: of Preston he was one of almost fifteen hundred Jacobites 511 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:19,800 Speaker 1: taken prisoner. In January of seven sixteen, he pled guilty 512 00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:22,760 Speaker 1: to treason, and on February nine he was sentenced to 513 00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:27,040 Speaker 1: be hanged, drawn and quartered. His execution was scheduled for 514 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:33,000 Speaker 1: February twenty one. Winnifred was determined to get him released, 515 00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:36,680 Speaker 1: so she traveled to London. This was wintertime, when the 516 00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:39,960 Speaker 1: snow became too deep for her carriage to get through, 517 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,640 Speaker 1: she finished the journey on horseback. She met with King 518 00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:47,080 Speaker 1: George the First, clinging to his robes when he refused 519 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:51,040 Speaker 1: to accept a petition on her husband's behalf. She refused 520 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: to let go of those robes as he tried to 521 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:55,520 Speaker 1: walk away from her, and so he dragged her across 522 00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:59,640 Speaker 1: the room. And as words spread about that that wound 523 00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:02,720 Speaker 1: up earning her some popular support. People did not like 524 00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:06,480 Speaker 1: the idea that the uh the king had dragged this 525 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:10,400 Speaker 1: distraught wife across the room. She bribed the guards at 526 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:13,160 Speaker 1: the Tower of London where William was being held, to 527 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:16,640 Speaker 1: allow him to receive visitors in gifts, and she visited 528 00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:20,800 Speaker 1: him repeatedly, often with the company of other women. On 529 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:23,680 Speaker 1: the night before he was to be executed, she arrived 530 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:27,440 Speaker 1: with her maid, Cecilia Evans, and her friends Mrs Morgan 531 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:31,080 Speaker 1: and Mrs Mills, and she had brought women's clothes and 532 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:36,480 Speaker 1: makeup with her. As Winnifred got William dressed and made up, 533 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:39,560 Speaker 1: she had a loud conversation with her friends about where 534 00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:43,600 Speaker 1: in the world Cecilia had disappeared to she knew exactly 535 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:46,080 Speaker 1: where Cecilia was. This was all part of a ruse 536 00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:50,440 Speaker 1: meant to be overheard by the guards. Winnifred's companions then 537 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:53,320 Speaker 1: left the prison one by one, and then they were 538 00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:57,200 Speaker 1: followed by Winifred and William together as though William were 539 00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:00,440 Speaker 1: her maid. He was hiding the lower part of his 540 00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:02,920 Speaker 1: space behind a handkerchief because they did not have time 541 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:09,200 Speaker 1: to shave him for leading him out. Ah, this is 542 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:11,240 Speaker 1: I can think of so many comedy troops I would 543 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:15,160 Speaker 1: love to see recreate this. Once William was outside, Winnifred 544 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:18,160 Speaker 1: doubled back, went to his empty cell and had a 545 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:22,280 Speaker 1: pretend conversation with him, closing the door behind her when 546 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:25,160 Speaker 1: she left. On the way out, she told the guards 547 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:28,080 Speaker 1: he was at prayer and should not be disturbed. The 548 00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:32,160 Speaker 1: guards didn't even realize William was gone until everyone involved 549 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:35,800 Speaker 1: in this ruse was safely away from the tower. Yeah, 550 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:38,680 Speaker 1: this whole thing really banked on causing the guards to 551 00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:41,880 Speaker 1: be confused about exactly how many women had arrived with 552 00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:45,360 Speaker 1: her and where precisely they were at any given moment. 553 00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:49,160 Speaker 1: After getting out of the tower, William took refuge at 554 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:52,320 Speaker 1: the Venetian embassy and then he escaped to Dover while 555 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:55,960 Speaker 1: dressed as a Venetian ambassador. He went to Bruges by 556 00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:59,240 Speaker 1: boats and then to Paris, where he reconnected with his wife. 557 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:02,840 Speaker 1: The two of them became part of the Stewart Court 558 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:06,719 Speaker 1: in exile. In seventeen seventeen, they moved to Rome and 559 00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:10,120 Speaker 1: that is where William died in seventeen forty four. William 560 00:34:10,160 --> 00:34:13,200 Speaker 1: had a reputation for always living beyond his memes, and 561 00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:15,960 Speaker 1: he died in debt. But when a Fred became a 562 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:22,520 Speaker 1: popular heroine in Jacobite writing, she died in seventeen forty nine. Alright, 563 00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:25,640 Speaker 1: if you're thinking, hey, why wasn't the John Dillinger escape 564 00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:28,480 Speaker 1: in here, that was pretty ingenious. Yes, that's true, but 565 00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:31,480 Speaker 1: there is an episode on Dillinger already that is going 566 00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:37,000 Speaker 1: to be an upcoming Saturday Classic. Yeah, it seemed like 567 00:34:37,040 --> 00:34:40,399 Speaker 1: a good thing to add in there, since um, they 568 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:43,880 Speaker 1: do talk about that escape in that prior episode. Do 569 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:45,920 Speaker 1: you have a little bit of listener mail that may 570 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:49,200 Speaker 1: or may not involve things escaping? I do. I mean, 571 00:34:49,239 --> 00:34:51,640 Speaker 1: it could involve things escaping, but I hope not because 572 00:34:51,680 --> 00:34:56,680 Speaker 1: it's mostly about cats. This is from Elizabeth, who wrote, hello, 573 00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:59,560 Speaker 1: two of my favorite podcasters. I'm a graduate of the 574 00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:02,880 Speaker 1: mist In History University, but have never had anything really 575 00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:07,040 Speaker 1: superior to offer, but I figured Tracy's comment about black 576 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:11,360 Speaker 1: cats being automatic friends with her cats gave me a 577 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:14,200 Speaker 1: good excuse to write. Also, I'm a masshole who now 578 00:35:14,239 --> 00:35:16,880 Speaker 1: lives in North Carolina, so Tracy and I pretty much 579 00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:20,640 Speaker 1: swapped locations. I grew up near Cape cod but went 580 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:23,920 Speaker 1: to graduate school at Emerson in Boston, so her references 581 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:26,680 Speaker 1: to things in Boston make me happy. I've lived outside 582 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:30,759 Speaker 1: of Riley for the last fifteen years. So in January one, 583 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:34,280 Speaker 1: as a single health care worker, suffering tremendously in every 584 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:36,959 Speaker 1: way at work, lack of socializing, etcetera, in the midst 585 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:41,320 Speaker 1: of a pandemic, I started fostering for my local animal shelter. 586 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:44,920 Speaker 1: Since then, I've had thirty five foster cats and kittens, 587 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:48,399 Speaker 1: and I'm extremely proud of myself for only adopting one 588 00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:51,719 Speaker 1: of them. This girl became friends with my younger cat. 589 00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:54,959 Speaker 1: I have two almost fifteen year old that were mad 590 00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:57,279 Speaker 1: when I brought home a ten week old kitten in 591 00:35:57,320 --> 00:36:00,640 Speaker 1: December twenty nineteen that my coworker had found hit by 592 00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:04,840 Speaker 1: a car. This foster was approximately two years old and 593 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:08,080 Speaker 1: was trapped in downtown Raleigh with a horrible looking nose. 594 00:36:08,280 --> 00:36:09,640 Speaker 1: Has seen one of the in one of the picks, 595 00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:13,360 Speaker 1: now completely healed and from an upper respiratory infection. She 596 00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:16,000 Speaker 1: was the sweetest thing ever from the very first day, 597 00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:20,000 Speaker 1: despite her being so sick. And Malcolm, my other younger cat, 598 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:23,600 Speaker 1: finally had a best friend. I named her Salem, thinking 599 00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:25,759 Speaker 1: it was a great name due to my Massachusetts roots 600 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:28,160 Speaker 1: and not realizing what a common name it was for 601 00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:31,839 Speaker 1: black cats. But Malcolm and Salem sound similar, and I 602 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:34,759 Speaker 1: can't imagine her having any other name or my life 603 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:37,640 Speaker 1: without her. I'm a speech therapist and I had bought 604 00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:40,799 Speaker 1: talk buttons for Malcolm, but he never quite figured them out. 605 00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:43,640 Speaker 1: Salem did within days, and I keep adding more buttons 606 00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:47,000 Speaker 1: for her to push to communicate. She's the sweetest, smartest 607 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:49,719 Speaker 1: girl ever and has become Mama Salem to all the 608 00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:53,080 Speaker 1: foster kittens I've had. She also came to work with 609 00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:55,279 Speaker 1: me frequently at the nursing home I worked at until 610 00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:57,479 Speaker 1: last summer as a therapy cat. Just thought I would 611 00:36:57,520 --> 00:36:59,759 Speaker 1: let Tracy know that her cats have another friend in 612 00:36:59,800 --> 00:37:03,440 Speaker 1: North Carolina. Attached are some picks with former foster kittens 613 00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:05,600 Speaker 1: and her best friend, Malcolm the Big Boy. I love 614 00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:11,239 Speaker 1: her so much, uh so, then there's just just a 615 00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:18,359 Speaker 1: glorious gallery of cat pictures. Kiddies. Number one, thank you 616 00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:21,960 Speaker 1: for for fostering kittens. I know a lot of people 617 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:24,640 Speaker 1: who do that and who have started doing that specifically 618 00:37:24,719 --> 00:37:28,040 Speaker 1: during the pandemic or have started fostering other animals during 619 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:30,920 Speaker 1: the pandemic, And it's so important and can also be 620 00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:32,879 Speaker 1: a really good way for people who want to have 621 00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:36,520 Speaker 1: animals around, but like can't be the permanent caregiver for 622 00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:40,880 Speaker 1: an animal for forever for whatever reason. I also love 623 00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:44,640 Speaker 1: the talk buttons for cats and have been considering getting 624 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:47,600 Speaker 1: uh some for my own cats, but I have not 625 00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:52,000 Speaker 1: actually started that whole process yet. Um I kind of 626 00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:55,440 Speaker 1: think if I did our cat Onyx would just push 627 00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:58,600 Speaker 1: the open button over and over because all she wants 628 00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:01,160 Speaker 1: to do is to have my office store be open. 629 00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:04,600 Speaker 1: She especially wants it to be open while we're recording podcasts, 630 00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:06,760 Speaker 1: and she sits out there and bangs on the doorknob. 631 00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:12,600 Speaker 1: It's not great. Uh So these pictures were all so 632 00:38:12,600 --> 00:38:16,000 Speaker 1: so adorable. I am guessing one of the reasons that 633 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:19,359 Speaker 1: Salem is a popular name for black cats is that 634 00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:23,520 Speaker 1: Salem is the name of Sabrina the teenage which her 635 00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:28,120 Speaker 1: black cat familiar is named Salem. So I think that's 636 00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:30,720 Speaker 1: one of the reasons that Salem and black cats go together. 637 00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:34,480 Speaker 1: Uh So, anyway, thank you so much, Elizabeth. I love 638 00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:36,840 Speaker 1: all of these pictures and all of these stories, and 639 00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:40,440 Speaker 1: I want to put all these kiddy cats. Uh if 640 00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:42,680 Speaker 1: you would like to write to us about this or 641 00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:45,839 Speaker 1: any other podcast, or just your cats, or just any 642 00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:48,879 Speaker 1: pets you have, or a dog you saw, or maybe 643 00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:51,440 Speaker 1: you were outside and there was a cute bird, whatever, 644 00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:55,080 Speaker 1: it's great. We're at History Podcast at I heart radio 645 00:38:55,160 --> 00:38:57,839 Speaker 1: dot com, and we're all over social media at missed 646 00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:00,800 Speaker 1: in History, which is where you'll find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, 647 00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:04,400 Speaker 1: in Instagram. Uh and you can subscribe to our show 648 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:06,600 Speaker 1: on the I heart Radio app, or wherever you'll like 649 00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:14,400 Speaker 1: to get your podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class 650 00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:17,480 Speaker 1: is a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts 651 00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:19,919 Speaker 1: from I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, 652 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:23,200 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.