Stroud’s Alcatraz D-Block cell, located on the top tier. This was the cell Stroud occupied during the aborted 1946 escape attempt by inmates Bernard Coy, Joseph Cretzer, Marvin Hubbard and Miran Thompson. Following these events, he was moved to cell D-4 on the flats.
Then in the early morning of December 16, 1942, Stroud was awakened without any warning by two guards and was advised him to get dressed and prepare for reassignment to Alcatraz. Now fifty-two years old and having spent over twenty-years in his solitary confinement cell at Leavenworth, he would be traveling by train to California. Stroud had been restricted from taking any of his birds and would only be allowed to carry his books and note journals. His journey to Alcatraz would be one of wonderment as he peered at the landscape through the barred windows of the train. He was viewing a world that he hadn’t seen in nearly twenty years.
Stroud arrived on Alcatraz on December 19, 1942, and would now be known as AZ-594. He bypassed quarantine and was immediately taken to the Treatment Unit with all of his accustomed privileges revoked. There would be no birds on Alcatraz and no special visitors. The press would be left with only rumors about the famous prisoner. Stroud was assigned to Cell #41 in D Block, located at the far end of the uppermost tier. His cell on Alcatraz was considerably smaller than the one at Leavenworth and his privileges were the same as those permitted to his fellow inmates, with the one exception that he was allowed to finish his manuscript on bird diseases. This change was a tough adjustment for Stroud and he spent the majority of his time proofing the manuscript for his next book. Following his Alcatraz arrival, staff members at Leavenworth reported that they had found numerous contraband articles, including a still to make alcohol and various crudely fashioned knives – all carefully hidden within hollowed sections of his worktables.
LIST OF PERSONAL BOOKS OF ROBERT STROUD #594-AZ STORED IN “A” BLOCK. April of 1959
Atlas of Avian Anatomy – Chamberlain-
Stroud’s Digest of the Diseases of Birds – Stroud.
Annual Review of Biochemistry – Vol. VIII 1939, Vol. I 1940, Vol. I 1941, Vol. III 1943, Vol. IIII 1944, Vol. XIV 1945, Vol. IV 1946.
Handbook of Hematology, Vols. I, II, III, IV.
Textbook of Biochemistry, 3 rdEdition by Harrow.
Yearbook of Agriculture for 1936 and Vol. For 1943.
Annual Review of Physiology: Vol. I, 1939; Vol. II, 1940; Vol. III; 1 941;Vol. IV, 1942; Vol. V, 1943, Vol. IV, 1944; Vol. VII, 1947; Vol. VIII, 1946; Vol. II, 1945.
Fundamental Principles of Bacteriology – Snell
Gould’s Medical Dictionary, 4 thEdition.
Diseases of Poultry – Giester, 1944
Perspectives of Biochemistry – Cambridge, 1937.
United States Dispensatory, 24 thEdition.
Veterinary Medicine (Paperbacks) 19 copies.
Symposia in Quantitive Biology – Gold Springs Bio. Laboratories, 1942
Practical Methods in Biochemistry – Cambridge, 1937.
Biology of Bacteria – Henrici, 1939.
United States Code, Title #8 and Title 9 in one Vol.
United States Code, Title #18 (Paper).
15 Pamphlets University Articles on Birds & Bird Diseases.
Approximately 50 lbs of personal and legal writings in Bores 8½ inches X 14".
1 Box Legal Papers.
1 Bundle Personal Correspondence.
1 Box Business Correspondence.
University Courses in Bacteriology, Part 1 & 2.
1 Box Containing Manuscript to “The Seeds of Destruction” – 30 Individually Bound Chapters.
1 Box Containing Manuscript of “The Mulberry Bush”, 28 Individually Bound Chapters.
1 Box Containing Manuscript of “The Band Wagon”, 22 Bound Chapters.
1 Box of Personal Childhood Biography.
1 Box Containing Manuscript of “The Voice from The Grave” – 18 Bound Chapters.
2 Boxes of Original Manuscripts of “The Voice from The Grave” and “The Band Wagon.”
In late 1943 with the approval of the Bureau and with his brother Marcus acting as his agent, Stroud self-published the 500-page reference entitled Stroud’s Digest on the Diseases of Birds. Marcus had run advertisements in various bird hobby magazines, lobbying for advance orders. His efforts had proved successful and he had thus acquired enough funds to publish the treatise to mostly favorable reviews. Though this book was written using scientific terms and carefully indexed as an informational reference, it also served indirectly as a platform to communicate Stroud’s personal opinions, which were sometimes overtly arrogant. In the introduction he attacked E.J. Powell, the publisher of his first book, by stating in part, “... my former work, DISEASES OF CANARIES, was hastily executed and badly garbled in the hands of the publisher....” In this book he also contributed to his own image as a gentle bird doctor. In an interesting chapter discussing post-mortem examinations, Stroud wrote:
Years of work, of study, of careful observation; the lives of literally thousands of birds, the disappointments and heartbreaks of hundreds of blasted hopes have gone through these pages; almost every line, every word, is spattered with sweat and blood. For every truth I have outlined to you, I have blundered my way through a hundred errors. I have killed birds when it was almost as hard as killing one’s own children. I have had birds die in my hand when their death brought me greater sadness than that I have ever felt over the passing of a member of my own species. And I have dedicated all this to the proposition that fewer birds shall suffer and die because their diseases are not understood.
The book itself created significant controversy within avian circles. Although it is widely debated whether his remedies were actually effective, he was still able to make scientific observations that would later advance research for the avian species. It is likely that his exhaustive observations were of more benefit to other practitioners with formal training in avian medicine than his remedy theories would ever be. Nevertheless, many considered him to be a pioneer in his own right.
Not long after the release of this book, the public lost interest in Stroud and his homespun campaigns. He would now spend the majority of his time on Alcatraz studying and learning several languages, including Italian and French. He was also honing his interest in criminal law. He began work on another manuscript, which would be a 200,000 word analytic history of the federal prison system. This manuscript became a new obsession for Stroud. He would spend years carefully printing his opus onto legal writing pads. The work was a lengthy manifesto that was highly critical of the prison system of the time and it presented biased theories on penology.
Stroud also spent time playing chess with neighboring inmates and boasting extensively about his endeavors while imprisoned at Leavenworth. Prison reports at Alcatraz continued to describe him as a troublemaker. In one report that required multiple-choice responses, the following items were noted regarding Stroud:
Interest and application:...