At this point I saw Marshall Chitty's body raise upward, and Deputy Marshall Vargo stepping in front of me and grapping Kyle's arm and twisting same into an arm-lock. I looked to the right and back of me and saw Cretzer lying down face forward, with Captain Delmore and Lieut. Bass standing over him. Inmates Kyle and Cretzer were raised and seated back on the bench. Captain Delmore was wiping the blood dripping from a cut below Inmates Kyle's left eye. Marshall Chitty stepped into the cell and ordered the inmates taken to the washbasin in the corner of the Marshall's office so they could be washed.
The inmates were led to the washbasin; upon reaching the washbasin inmates Kyle and Cretzer had just started to wash their faces when I heard something fall to the rear of us. I looked back and saw Marshall Chitty's body lying on the floor, and Captain Delmore standing just in back of me. I nodded to Captain Delmore, I staying with the inmates and Captain Delmore going toward the Marshall's body. Captain Delmore returned immediately and ordered the inmates locked in the detention cell, which was immediately done.
In the meantime Marshall Chitty's body had been removed to the Marshall's private room and laid on a cot. Captain Delmore came out of the private room and asked me to assist him in moving Chitty's body from the cot onto the floor, so artificial respiration could be easier administered. This being done, I was about to start administering artificial respiration. I noticed the gun in Marshall Chitty's pocket. I removed same from his pocket and handed it to Deputy Marshall DeLine and told him to take care of the Marshall's gun. Captain Delmore and myself relieved each other at administering artificial respiration until the doctor pronounced Marshall Chitty dead. Captain Delmore took charge of the inmates and they were again taken to the courtroom, surrounded by Deputy Marshall's and Custodial Officers.
The inmates upon receiving their sentence were immediately rushed to the Steilacoom Dock, placed on a waiting boat, and arrived back on the island at approximately 5:45 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
C. Zukowsky, Lieutenant
The struggle ultimately contributed to Chitty suffering a fatal heart attack and both Cretzer and Kyle subsequently changed their pleas to guilty. Each was given an additional five-year sentence, to be served concurrently with their previous twenty-five-year sentences.
Only a few days after Cretzer and Kyle were sentenced for their attempted escape, a Federal Grand Jury returned an indictment charging the convicts with murder in the first degree. Both entered pleas conceding to the charge of second-degree murder, and on October 21, 1940, they were sentenced to serve out the remaining course of their natural lives in prison. In some respects, they could consider themselves lucky. The prosecutors had fought vehemently to uphold a charge of capital murder, and had demanded death by the electric chair. But the defendants’ council successfully argued that Chitty’s death was accidental and not a case of premeditated murder, and therefore that the accused were not eligible for the death penalty. Both escaped the electric chair, but they received harsh life sentences that would ensure they would never walk free again.
In the midst of the trial both Cretzer and Kyle were transported to Alcatraz, arriving on August 27, 1940. The two men would now become residents of America’s most notorious prison. Cretzer, had grown up just across the Bay and would find serving time on the island even more difficult, as he was able to see familiar landmarks on the mainland. Now only twenty-nine years of age, he would have to adapt to the rigid structure of Alcatraz and its relentless routine, coupled with the realization that he was facing a dark and dismal future.
* * *
By any standard, Cretzer did not adjust well to life on the Rock, and he frequently found himself at odds with the administration. Less than one year after their arrival, Cretzer and Kyle participated in a failed escape attempt while working in the Mat Shop. Cretzer was sentenced to “permanent segregation,” and the few privileges he had been allotted were completely revoked. On September 19, 1943, now thirty-two years old and still residing in D Block, Cretzer incited a disturbance after an air vent fan failed. He was again stripped of all privileges and forced to serve additional time in segregation.
On April 11, 1944 Cretzer was allowed to spend some time in the recreation yard, when he was assaulted by the now famous inmate Henri Young, whose tale would later be portrayed in the Hollywood motion picture Murder in the First. The two convicts engaged in a bitter fistfight, which was broken up before anyone could be proclaimed the victor. Cretzer would again find himself isolated (in cell #D-19), in a complete lockdown status with all of his privileges rescinded. It was under these circumstances that Cretzer came to know Bernie Coy, who visited his cell in his role as the library orderly. Through this interaction they would build a close relationship and the two friends would later conspire in the 1946 escape attempt.
On May 26, 1944, at thirty-three years of age, Cretzer wrote a letter to Warden Johnston pleading that he be allowed to start work again. This indicated to the administration that after spending three years in segregation, Cretzer was ready to be integrated back into the general prison population. The letter stated in part, “You may rest assured that, considering the time spent in lock-up, I will not become involved in any future mischief. Wherever Mr. Miller wishes to work me will be okay. I will feel very much obligated to you, and will show my appreciation by conducting myself in a favorable manner.” The Warden took this letter to be sincere, and recommended Cretzer for release from segregation and assignment to a work detail. Cretzer would be transferred to cell #152 in B Block.
Letters from Cretzer pleading with the Warden to be moved out of isolation and back into the general prison population. His commitment to staying out of mischief would prove to be short-lived.
While Cretzer was imprisoned at Alcatraz, his wife Edna made frequent visits to the island and she often wrote kind letters to Warden Johnston, sometimes offering her help in persuading “Dutch” to behave through her “letters and visits.” Johnston was usually accommodating in this regard and in February of 1945 he allowed Edna to see both her brother Arnold and her husband Joseph in back-to-back visits. His trust, however, was obviously misplaced. Cretzer had no intention of living up to the promises made in his letter.
Marvin Franklin Hubbard
Marvin Franklin Hubbard
Another accomplice in the 1946 escape attempt was Marvin Franklin Hubbard. Marv (as he was called by fellow inmates) carried the reputation of a ruthless gunman and he had earned his transfer to Alcatraz through a series of brutal escape attempts at other prisons. He was given a work assignment in the kitchen, and he became a good friend of Arnold Kyle. Like Kyle, Hubbard had also fallen prey to the Great Depression. Born August 13, 1912 to a farming family in Boaz, Alabama, he was the third of five siblings. His father died when he was only three years old, and he would be forced to drop out of school in 1918 after completing only the first grade. Hubbard worked on the family farm throughout his childhood, and assumed the tough responsibility of helping to provide income to support his family. At ten years of age, Hubbard ran away to live with Willie Wiggins, a relative of his stepfather, who taught the young Marvin the skill of masonry.
A letter written by Hubbard’s wife to the Warden at the Atlanta Penitentiary on October 17, 1942 provides more insight into his personal history and upbringing. Herein are some excerpts from the letter: