Dear Warden,
In answer to your letter received this week, I hardly know where to begin, I did not know where my husband was at, at this present time until I received your letter, it came as a quite a surprise, or rather a shock, as we had not been corresponding lately, I’m afraid I don’t know very much of anything that would be of help to you, but will give you my best.
We were married at my mother’s home in Dekalb County, on January 8, 1928. Neither of us were previously married, this being for the only marriage for either of us. We only have one child.... My husband’s attitude towards me and the child, were very fine at times, he didn’t ever mistreat us in no-way except staying away from us for so much of his time, that he could have been with us, the harm he done was more of his own self than any-one else, only heartbreaks and sorrows, I had a fair share of that at an early age, my life has been filled with disappointments and heart aches. My husband has taken the responsibility of his family serious at times, and other times, he would leave us for a long time, as much as five or six months at a time, during this time he would never give us any support.
He was born and raised in Alabama, in Boaz, Route #3, we have lived out there part of our time together as well as here in Georgia. As far as where we have lived for the past five years is rather hard to explain, he spent a large portion of it in Kilby Prison as you no doubt already know, and the other part just here and yonder. His occupation has mostly been a bricklayer since I have known him, he does beautiful brickwork. Although he had farmed some during times when that trade was dull. His greatest handicap during these years, have been having no education, he was raised by a dear old mother who was left a widow with five children to raise, she did the best she could but could not educate the children. My husband’s difficulties he has faced in recent years, I think depends on him getting started with the wrong kind of characters at a early age, which gives him the wrong opinion of life, before life was hardly started for him. Before he got started with the bad characters he was very kind and generous hearted, made good friends with all of whom he met, was well thought of in the community which he lived.
I just wish to say here, that anything you can do for him to make his stay in your institution, profitable to him, and as comfortable as possible, will highly be appreciated by me, although we have been separated a large portion of our time, it didn’t take away the love and care I have for him. He was once good and kind and made home a place worth living for. I shall like very much to visit him as soon as possible, as I have not seen him since one year ago, last July 18 th, 1941. Trusting this will be of some help to you in preparing my husband for his stay there.
Yours Very Truly,
Mrs. Lola Belle Hubbard
Hubbard’s involvement with crime had started in his teenage years, with a series of forceful, violent robberies that usually ended in his arrest, and for which he ultimately served several short-term sentences. In late 1942, Hubbard and his accomplices were arrested after robbing a liquor store at gunpoint. His prison record includes a summation of his criminal history:
On August 7, 1942, Marvin Franklin Hubbard, George Kelly Matthews, and Kenneth Jackson escaped from the Walker County Jail, Jasper, Alabama, by assaulting the jailer and stealing a submachine gun, a .38 caliber revolver, property of the Walker County SO. They then stole a taxi at the point of a gun from Robert Pow and Roy Seals and forced them to accompany subjects to Double Springs, Alabama, to Moulton, Alabama, and to Madison, Alabama, where they had a blowout. They then obtained a 1939 Dodge truck from R.U. Dublin to accompany them in the truck to Huntsville, Alabama, and to Grassy Mountain, Alabama, where they tied the three victims to trees and abandoned them about nine P.M. on the same date. Subjects then proceeded in a truck to a secluded spot in the mountains near Cedartown, Georgia, where they stayed in hiding, except for short visits to a country store to purchase food, until three p.m. August 13, 1942. Subjects then hijacked W.A. Cason near Cedartown, Georgia, and stole his 1940 Ford sedan, releasing Cason at a nearby lake. They proceeded in the Ford to Tallapoosa, Georgia, to Anniston to Alabama, to Gadsden, Alabama, and to Collinsville, Alabama, where they parked in a secluded spot and slept from eight a.m. August 14, 1942, to the afternoon of the same date. They then proceeded on a country road to Trenton, Georgia and to Chattanooga, Tennessee.
About 7:30 p.m. on August 14, 1942, subjects kidnapped Logan Stroud, traffic officer, Chattanooga P.D., when he attempted to arrest them for not having a safety sticker on their car and by threats of death at the point of a gun they forced him to accompany them from Hamilton County, Tennessee, to Catoosa County, Georgia. Subjects took refuge at the home of Henry Christian, tied Stroud, and locked him in a milk shed at the rear of the house. Stroud escaped about 4:30 a.m. August 15, 1942. Hubbard and Matthews were apprehended at 5:30 a.m. August 15, 1942, by FBI agents, and Georgia and Tennessee police officers after a gun battle in which Kenneth Jackson was killed. Hubbard and Matthews waived removal to Chattanooga. Authorized complaint was filed August 15, 1942, at Chattanooga, Tennessee, charging Hubbard and Matthews with violation of the kidnapping statute. Both subjects entered a plea of guilty before Commissioner Morgan on August 17, 1942, and in default of $25,000 bond each was remanded to the Knox County jail, Knoxville Tennessee.
On September 11, 1942, while being held at the Knox County Jail Marvin Franklin Hubbard, together with others, escaped from said jail by overpowering the turn key and the elevator operator who were locking up the prisoners in their cells for the night. Hubbard was apprehended by the Sheriff's Office, Knoxville, Tennessee, at Concord, Tennessee, on the night of September 14.1942. When arraigned before the Commissioner on September 15.1942, he entered a plea of guilty, and in default of $3000 bond was remanded to the custody of the US Marshal and incarcerated in the Knox County Jail, Knoxville, Tennessee.
On September 15, 1942, Marvin Franklin Hubbard addressed a letter to the United States Attorney at Chattanooga, Tennessee, requesting that he be indicted and arraigned at the next term of court at Greenville, Tennessee, on September 21, 1942, and expressed the desire to plead guilty to a charge of escaping from Federal custody.
In October of 1942, having been convicted of kidnapping and illegal transportation of firearms across state lines, Hubbard was sent to the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, where he reportedly participated in riot activities. Hubbard was deemed incorrigible and in 1944 he received his golden ticket to the Rock.
A request from Hubbard for a work assignment in the prison hospital. This request, dated April 10, 1946, suggests that Hubbard was probably recruited as an accomplice weeks or even days before the mass escape attempt.
Miran Edgar Thompson
Miran Edgar Thompson
Miran Edgar “Buddy” Thompson had been on Alcatraz only since October, a little over six months, but his criminal record seemed endless. At only twenty-nine years of age, Buddy was already a seasoned felon. Before even disembarking from the prison launch, he had accumulated no less than eight successful escapes on his inmate profile record.
Thompson left home at an early age and found himself in a reform school after being convicted of armed robbery before his eighteenth birthday. Reform school failed to curve his delinquency and when he set out to support himself, he immediately began a chain of violent burglaries, targeting almost any establishment that had a cash register. Thompson was arrested frequently, but he had an exceptional ability to escape from his captors. His early crimes included everything from forgery, to drunk and disorderly conduct, to assault, and he ultimately graduated to armed robbery. Thompson traveled through various states committing robberies, up until March 12, 1945. Although historians often dispute the details of the events of that day, it is certain that Miran and a twenty-seven-year-old accomplice named Elmer Day were arrested by a Police Detective Lem Savage. During the course of the arrest, Thompson for some reason was not handcuffed and he pulled a revolver and fatally shot the officer. Officer Savage’s body was then kicked out of the car and the pair fled west, later kidnapping a young New Mexico woman and commandeering her vehicle. They were captured a short time later at the New Mexico-Texas state line, but not before they had crossed the state border. This meant that Federal kidnapping charges would be filed against them.