The San Francisco Examiner published former inmate Henry Larry’s account of the Bowers escape attempt in a feature article entitled Inside Alcatraz. Larry’s article was one of the first “inside stories” to surface in the press.
ESCAPE ATTEMPT #2
Date:
December 16, 1937
Inmates:
Theodore Cole
Ralph Roe
Location:
Mat Shop (Model Industries Building)
The second fateful escape attempt would end in the suspected death of two inmates in the icy waters of the turbulent bay. The headlines would read “ISLAND LEGEND SHATTERED,” as the name “Alcatraz” had until then been synonymous with the word “escape-proof.” Fellow inmates Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe had been long-term associates at McAlester and Leavenworth prisons, both had established escape records, and each was known in their own right as a Houdini of escape. Their crafty escape plan would give them the opportunity to sneak beyond the view of a correctional officer, and then slip past the barbwire fences and into the chilly waters of the fog-laden bay, never to be seen again.
Theodore Cole
Theodore Cole
Theodore Cole was a violent killer who had escaped a death sentence through “sentimental pressure.” Born April 6, 1912 in Pittsburg, Kansas, Cole began his life of violent crime in his early teens. He was the youngest in a family of one brother and two sisters and grew up primarily in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His father died when he was only two years of age and his mother eventually remarried in July of 1925. It is documented that his mother and his new stepfather were both strict disciplinarians. His family moved about frequently as his stepfather, a paving contractor, strived to maintain steady employment.
In February of 1927, at only fourteen years of age, Cole robbed a gas station using a handgun. Cole’s criminal record would grow over the coming years to include a variety of burglaries, one of which would involve the non-fatal shooting of a police officer in Hot Springs, Arkansas. At seventeen, Cole robbed the Dr. PepperBottling Works in Tulsa, and this crime resulted in another conviction for armed robbery. His parents spent everything they had to defend their son, but their efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful. Cole was prone to intensely violent and unpredictable outbursts and District Judge Saul Yager sentenced him to die in the electric chair stating, “The boy is a potential killer and deserves such a sentence.” Cole had been sentenced to death without having committed murder and this initiated nationwide sentimental protests led by various women groups and civil rights organizations. The groups were successful in getting his sentence reduced from life to fifteen years, but it was a barren victory.
In November of 1933, while imprisoned at McAlester Penitentiary in Oklahoma, Cole attempted to escape and was critically wounded but survived and it only emboldened his violent tendencies. Only a few months after his failed attempt, Cole murdered his cellmate William Pritchard, using a homemade knife to stab him twenty-seven times. Amazingly, Cole was able to convince the jury that Pritchard had attempted to kill him, and therefore that he had acted in self-defense. On November 30, 1934 Cole managed to escape the Oklahoma prison by concealing himself in a laundry bag which was loaded onto a truck and driven into town. On the afternoon of December 5th, Cole secured a pistol and approached a forty-eight year old gentleman named James A. Rutherford, pleading that he was stranded and needed a ride into the next town. Rutherford obliged, and as they drove away, Cole drew his pistol and took him hostage. He forced Rutherford to drive him to Illinois, where he released him. Cole then stole another vehicle and traveled south, committing a few small robberies along the way for quick cash. Finally, on January 6, 1935 in Dallas, Texas, Cole was captured and extradited back to Oklahoma. This time the court showed less leniency, stating “He is moronic, vicious, and a killer” – and Cole was sentenced to fifty-years in prison.
Throughout his trial, Cole continued his efforts to escape from the Oklahoma County Jail, where he was incarcerated during the proceedings. He succeeded in sawing through several bars of his cell using a razor, and he continually boasted that he would eventually break out. He was considered such a high escape risk that a sensitive ribbon microphone was installed to monitor any unusual sounds emerging from his cell. On May 20 1935, Cole was transferred to Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas, where he renewed a longstanding friendship with Ralph Roe, a fellow inmate he had known at McAlester.
Ralph Roe
Ralph Roe
Ralph Roe was born on February 5, 1906 in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, and like Theodore Cole, he had endured a troubled childhood. Roe’s mother died of tuberculosis when he was only nine, and he later lost his two sisters to the same disease. At fourteen, Roe quit school and ran away to California. It was in Los Angeles that Roe was convicted of his first robbery in April of 1923, and this would be only the beginning of his lengthy criminal record. In July he was sent to the Preston Reformatory in Ione, California, but he escaped and trekked onward to Little Arkansas. Roe would then go on to commit a string of robberies throughout the west. His robberies became ever more violent, and one resulted in a gun battle which left accomplice Wilbur Underhill wounded and bleeding to death, hiding in the back of a furniture store.
Then on September 10, 1934 Roe and his accomplice Jack Lloyd robbed and took hostages at the Farmers National Bank in Sulphur, Oklahoma. This Federal crime would earn him a ninety-nine-year sentence and a recommendation for transfer to Alcatraz. Like Cole, Roe had also previously attempted to escape from McAlester. He had gotten another inmate to nail him into a utility crate, but he quickly started to suffocate inside of it, and thus was forced to abandon his plan. Both Cole and Roe were transferred via the same train from Leavenworth to the Rock.
Ralph Roe’s conduct report at Alcatraz.
Alcatraz
The two inmates maintained a close friendship at Alcatraz, both taking paying jobs and working side-by-side in the Mat Shop. The Mat Shop was a facility where prison workers transformed used car tires into rubber mats for the Navy, and it was located on the bottom floor of the Model Shop Building at the northernmost tip of the island. The area was recognizable by the piles of discarded tires that were pitched down from the industry building, littering the waterline.
Roe and Cole had spent several weeks in preparation for their escape, studying the habits of the correctional staff, and working to identify potential loopholes in the security system. Using a stolen hacksaw blade, they were able to saw their way through the steel sash window grill, packing the saw gaps with grease and shoe polish to avoid detection. On the morning of Thursday, December 16, 1937, dense fog forced the docking of almost all the small vessels in the area. The forceful currents leading out past the Golden Gate Bridge and toward the Pacific Ocean were fluctuating between seven to nine knots, creating what were considered death-trap conditions for anyone willing to try their fate in the perilous waters. The two inmates were likely not aware of how dangerous the currents and foggy conditions could prove to be. It was speculated that they might have seen the spell of bad weather as an opportunity to escape under cover of dense fog.