His present crime he says was committed because he was out of funds and was actually hungry most of the time. He says he met a man sleeping in a Park in Sacramento who persuaded him to go along while they robbed a store and post office near Orville California. He claims that he did not actually go with the man to Orville but that the man himself proceeded with his plan and robbed the store and finally was arrested and confessed and lay the blame on Bowers, he himself going free for his testimony.
Dr. Ritchey’s 1933 report at McNeil Island stated Bowers’ official mental diagnosis as “constitutional psychopathic state, inadequate personality, emotionally unstable and without psychosis.” However, fellow inmates of Bowers’ at Alcatraz considered him insane. In a subsequent report by Dr. Hess, there were references to Bowers that indicated some suggestion of mental illness. Bowers believed that other inmates were plotting against him, and he alleged that he could “hear” them talking about him at night after lights out. On March 7, 1935, he attempted suicide by trying to cut his own throat with a broken glass lens. The attempt was unsuccessful, as the wound was only superficial. He apparently reported hearing voices, and would continually ask to be admitted to the hospital for protection. But each time he was admitted, he would quickly demand to be released.
The silence rule and strict unrelenting routine at Alcatraz seemed to weigh heavily on Bowers’ mental state. In one incident which occurred on June 1 st, 1935 and was documented by Deputy Warden C.J. Shuttleworth, Bowers was waiting in line to go to work in the laundry when he started shouting: “Put me in the dungeon. I do not want to go to work.” While this may have seemed to some like a relatively minor misbehavior, Bowers was punished harshly by being placed in solitary confinement with the “solid door open,” and put on a restricted diet. At around the same time, a letter from an inmate was smuggled to a San Francisco newspaper, alleging “cruelty practices on prisoners” at Alcatraz, which were causing inmates to go insane. The letter was rumored to have been smuggled out by a correctional officer, and Bowers was one of four inmates named in the case.
Warden Johnston later wrote that he looked at Bowers as “a weak-minded man with a strong back who would get piece of mind by exercising his body.” This essentially translated to a trivial and tough labor work assignment for Bowers at the island’s incinerator, which was located on the lower level on the west side of the island, close to a wire fence that rimmed the shoreline. It appeared that Bowers was coping well with his job until the day of the escape. There have been several versions proposed as to the etiology of Bowers’ ascent of the fence.
Correctional Officer E.F. Chandler
The Road Tower and Incinerator from where Chandler pitched aim at Bowers with a high powered rifle. After being struck by two bullets, Bowers fell on the side of freedom onto the rocky cliff.
On the day of the escape attempt, Correctional Officer E.F. Chandler reported his recollection of the events to Warden Johnston in a formal memorandum:
While on duty in the Road Tower at about 11:00 A.M., I suddenly looked to see inmate Joseph Bowers 210-AZ on the top of wire fence attempting to go over, I then yelled at him several times to get down but he ignored my warning and continued. I fired two shots low and waited a few seconds to see the results. He started down the far side of the fence and I fired one more shot, aiming at his legs. Bowers was hanging on the fence with his hands but his feet were pointing down toward the cement ledge. After my third shot I called the Armory and reported the matter. When I returned from calling the Armory, the body dropped into the bay.
Several other correctional officers witnessed the shooting, and essentially confirmed Chandler’s report. Guard Joe B. Steere also described what he had witnessed in his report to Deputy Warden C.J. Shuttleworth:
At about 11:00 A.M., I was in the industries area between the Mat Factory and Blacksmith Shop, when I heard a shot fired apparently from the Road Tower. I ran to the corner of the building and looked at the tower and saw Mr. Chandler raise his rifle for another shot. I looked in the direction he was aiming, expecting to see a boat, but saw Number 210 with his back to me going over the fence in back of the incinerator. Mr. Chandler fired and I started to run towards the incinerator. When Mr. Chandler fired a third shot, I was between the Renovating Plant and the Rock Crusher. I looked at Number 210 then and could see only his head due to the fact I was running parallel to the fence at this point and Number 210 was around a bend in the offset where the incinerator is located. He then disappeared from my sight.
When I reached the incinerator and looked down through the bars over the concrete chute, I could see him lying on his back on the rocks just at the edge of the water. The Deputy Warden was in the Road Tower and instructed me to attempt to reach the body by going over the side of the cliff. I then went through the gate and down the lower road and dropped down from the retaining wall to the rocks of the cliff, and tried to go down the face of the cliff, but I was unable to proceed very far. I remained here until the trucks arrived with slings and ropes. Then I assisted Mr. Curry who went down on a rope and secured the body until the Launch "McDowell" arrived.
Sanford Bates, Federal Director of Prisons, was on Alcatraz at the time conducting an inspection of prison workshops, accompanied by Warden James A. Johnston. Following the inspection, the two were entering the office of the warden when the gunfire broke out. Johnston would then request that the escape siren be sounded for the first time ever on Alcatraz, and several guards were directed to report to the escape location. Dr. George Hess also responded after hearing of the injuries inflicted, and he pronounced Bowers dead before the body was secured with ropes and pulled into the launch.
During the initial examination, Hess reported that in his opinion, Bowers might have broken his neck in the fall. After the body was brought to the mainland and transferred to the coroner’s office, Dr. Hess was permitted to attend the autopsy performed by Dr. Sherman Leland. Although Bowers had fallen approximately seventy-five feet, his physical trauma was limited to two gunshot wounds. Hess recorded:
A bullet wound into the right posterior chest, just lateral to the scapula and penetrating the right lung. Upon opening the chest cavity it was found that the bullet had transversed the chest cavity and had emerged from the left chest just below the clavicle leaving a ragged wound about two inches in length. As the bullet emerged from the chest it fractured the second rib on the left side. There was also found a bullet wound of the right buttock and right thigh. These wounds were made by fragments of a bullet and no whole bullet was found. No other bones of the body were fractured.
Following Bowers’ death, tension increased between the correctional staff and the inmates of Alcatraz. During the investigation, Correctional Officer Chandler was reassigned to work in the Armory. There were several rumors going around that Bowers had been shot in cold blood. The San Francisco Examiner published former inmate Henry Larry’s account of the incident in a feature article entitled Inside Alcatraz, which described tales of abusive incarceration practices at Alcatraz. Larry alleged that Bowers had simply climbed the fence to feed a seagull, and suggested that Bowers’ disturbed mental condition was a result of the treatment he had received at Alcatraz. Other inmates later reported that Bowers had been ordered to clean the area, and he was only attempting to pick up papers that were lodged high up on the fence. These accounts were quickly dismissed, as the correctional staff confirmed that Bowers was “aggressively” attempting to “go over.” It was determined in the investigation that Chandler’s actions were fully justified. One report stated that any lesser response would have been deemed a breach of duty. Bowers was buried at the Mount Olive Cemetery in San Mateo, California