Robert Stroud (Birdman of Alcatraz) died Nov.21, 1963
deb...@comcast.net
54 years!
(Wikipedia)- Stroud was born in Seattle, Washington, on January 28,
1890, to Elizabeth and Ben Stroud. He was the couple's first child,
although Elizabeth had two daughters from a previous marriage. Stroud
left home at a young age, and by 1908 was in Cordova, Alaska, where he
met and began a relationship with 36-year old Kitty O'Brien, a
dance-hall entertainer and prostitute. In November 1908 they moved to
Juneau, Alaska.
On January 18, 1909, while Robert was away at work, an acquaintance of
theirs, F. K. "Charlie" Von Dahmer, raped and viciously beat Kitty. On
his return, Robert confronted Charlie and a struggle ensued resulting
in Charlie being shot dead. Although Stroud's mother Elizabeth retained
a lawyer for her son, he was sentenced to 12 years in the federal
penitentiary on Puget Sound's McNeil Island on August 23, 1909.
On September 5, 1912, Stroud was transferred from McNeil Island to the
federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. While at Leavenworth,
Stroud was reprimanded by a guard in the cafeteria for a minor rule
violation. Although minor, this violation could have annulled his
visitation privilege to meet his younger brother, whom he had not seen
in 8 years. Stroud stabbed and killed the guard and was sentenced to
execution by hanging on May 27, 1916, but the trial was later
invalidated. In a later trial he was given a life sentence. This trial
was invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court and a new trial was ordered
and set for May 1918. On June 28, 1918 he was again sentenced to die by
hanging. The Supreme Court intervened, but only to uphold the death
sentence, which was scheduled to be carried out April 23, 1920.
At this point Stroud's mother appealed to President Wilson, who ordered
a halt to the execution, reportedly gaining this privilege with the
help of the president's wife. His sentence was altered to life
imprisonment. Leavenworth's warden did not approve the presidential
decision and ruled in retaliation that Stroud was to be held in
segregation for the complete duration of his imprisonment.
While at Leavenworth, Stroud found three injured sparrows in the prison
yard and kept them. He started to occupy his time raising and caring
for his birds, soon switching from sparrows to canaries, which he could
sell for supplies and to help support his mother. Soon thereafter,
Leavenworth's management changed and the prison was now directed by a
new warden. Admiring the possibility to present Leavenworth as a
progressive rehabilitation penitentiary, the new warden furnished
Stroud with cages, chemicals and stationeries to conduct his avian
activities. Visitors were shown Stroud's aviary and many purchased his
canaries. Over the years, he raised nearly 300 canaries in his cells
and wrote two books, Diseases of Canaries and Stroud's Digest on the
Diseases of Birds. He made several important contributions to avian
pathology, most notably a cure for the hemorrhagic septicemia family of
diseases. He gained respect and also some level of sympathy in the
bird-loving field.
Stroud had initially a close relationship with his mother. She helped
him with legal proceedings many times, going so far as to have some
presidential help or sympathy for her son's execution punishment.
While Stroud kept busy with his bird enterprise, he had numerous
bird-loving correspondents whom he exchanged with. He started a regular
correspondence with a woman named Della Mae Jones, and in 1931, she
moved to Kansas and they started a business to sell Stroud's medicines.
Stroud's mother forcedly condemned that relationship and moved away
from the Leavenworth area. She also voiced negative arguments toward
her son's desires to be paroled which became a major obstacle in his
attempts to be released from the prison system.
Soon, Stroud's activities created problems for the prison management.
Under regulation each letter sent or received at the prison had to be
read, copied and approved. He was so involved in his business that this
alone required a full-time prison secretary. Also, most of the time,
his birds were let free to fly in his cells. With the very high number
of birds he kept, his cell was allegedly dirty and Stroud's personal
hygiene was reported to be gruesome. In 1931, an attempt to force
Stroud to discontinue his business and get rid of his birds failed
after Stroud and Jones publicised his efforts and undertook a massive
letter- and petition-writing campaign that climaxed in a
50,000-signature petition being mailed to the president. The resultant
outcry from the public allowed Stroud to keep his birds and he was even
given a second cell to house them, but his letter-writing privileges
were greatly curtailed.
In 1933, however, Stroud took out an advertisement to publicise the
fact that he had not received any royalties from the sales of Diseases
of Canaries. In retaliation, the publisher complained to the warden,
and as a result, proceedings began to transfer Stroud to Alcatraz,
where he would not be permitted to keep his birds. Stroud, however,
discovered a legal loophole, which would allow him to remain in Kansas
if he were married there. He secretly married Della Jones in 1933,
though he infuriated both prison officials, who would not allow him to
correspond with his wife, and his mother, who cut off all contact with
him for the rest of her life (she died in 1937). However, Stroud was
able to keep his birds and his canary-selling business.
Stroud was finally transferred to Alcatraz on December 19, 1942. While
there, he wrote two manuscripts: Bobbye, an autobiography; and Looking
Outward: A History of the U.S. Prison System from Colonial Times to the
Formation of the Bureau of Prisons. The judge ruled that Stroud had the
right to write and keep such manuscripts but upheld the warden's
decision of banning publication.
In 1959, with his health failing, Stroud was transferred to the Medical
Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri. Over the years,
he fought in court the harsh Leavenworth warden's decision to impose
segregation for the complete duration of his prison sentence. The judge
ruled in his favor that the warden's decision was unfair and illegal.
However, his attempts to be released on the grounds that his extremely
long sentence was cruel and unusual punishment were unsuccessful.
Robert Franklin Stroud died in Springfield on November 21, 1963 after
54 years of incarceration. He had been studying French near the end of
his life.
Brad Ferguson
<deb...@comcast.net> wrote:
> The last celebrity to die before JFK was someone who'd been in prison
> 54 years!
>
>
> (Wikipedia)- Stroud was born in Seattle, Washington, on January 28,
> 1890, to Elizabeth and Ben Stroud. He was the couple's first child,
> although Elizabeth had two daughters from a previous marriage. Stroud
> left home at a young age, and by 1908 was in Cordova, Alaska, where he
> met and began a relationship with 36-year old Kitty O'Brien, a
> dance-hall entertainer and prostitute. In November 1908 they moved to
> Juneau, Alaska.
>
> On January 18, 1909, while Robert was away at work, an acquaintance of
> theirs, F. K. "Charlie" Von Dahmer, raped and viciously beat Kitty. On
> his return, Robert confronted Charlie and a struggle ensued resulting
> in Charlie being shot dead. Although Stroud's mother Elizabeth retained
> a lawyer for her son, he was sentenced to 12 years in the federal
> penitentiary on Puget Sound's McNeil Island on August 23, 1909.
This isn't quite right. Kitty was a prostitute, and Stroud was her
pimp. Von Dahmer was a john who refused to pay the lady the $10 he
owed her. Stroud went to collect and wound up killing Von Dahmer.
Stroud was convicted of manslaughter.
> While at Leavenworth, Stroud found three injured sparrows in the prison
> yard and kept them. He started to occupy his time raising and caring
> for his birds, soon switching from sparrows to canaries, which he could
> sell for supplies and to help support his mother. Soon thereafter,
> Leavenworth's management changed and the prison was now directed by a
> new warden. Admiring the possibility to present Leavenworth as a
> progressive rehabilitation penitentiary, the new warden furnished
> Stroud with cages, chemicals and stationeries to conduct his avian
> activities. Visitors were shown Stroud's aviary and many purchased his
> canaries. Over the years, he raised nearly 300 canaries in his cells
> and wrote two books, Diseases of Canaries and Stroud's Digest on the
> Diseases of Birds. He made several important contributions to avian
> pathology, most notably a cure for the hemorrhagic septicemia family of
> diseases. He gained respect and also some level of sympathy in the
> bird-loving field.
It's more often said that Stroud made no important contributions at
all, and that his cures were worthless.
> In 1959, with his health failing, Stroud was transferred to the Medical
> Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri. Over the years,
> he fought in court the harsh Leavenworth warden's decision to impose
> segregation for the complete duration of his prison sentence. The judge
> ruled in his favor that the warden's decision was unfair and illegal.
> However, his attempts to be released on the grounds that his extremely
> long sentence was cruel and unusual punishment were unsuccessful.
> Robert Franklin Stroud died in Springfield on November 21, 1963 after
> 54 years of incarceration. He had been studying French near the end of
> his life.
One of the reasons Stroud was never paroled is that he'd show up at the
hearings and say things like (paraphasing): "Let's hurry up and get
this over with. I've got a list of people to kill."
As Richard Pryor one said, "Thank God we got penitentiaries."
deb...@comcast.net
Lancaster?
Bill Schenley
> > an acquaintance of theirs, F. K. "Charlie" Von Dahmer,
> > raped and viciously beat Kitty. On his return, Robert
> > confronted Charlie and a struggle ensued resulting
> > in Charlie being shot dead. Although Stroud's mother
> > Elizabeth retained a lawyer for her son, he was
> > sentenced to 12 years in the federal penitentiary on
> > Puget Sound's McNeil Island on August 23, 1909.
> This isn't quite right. Kitty was a prostitute, and Stroud
> was her pimp. Von Dahmer was a john who refused to pay
> the lady the $10 he owed her. Stroud went to collect and
> wound up killing Von Dahmer. Stroud was convicted of
> manslaughter.
Not sure if Stroud was actually Kitty O'Brien's pimp ... or if he just
benefited (indirectly) from her prostitution. I know Stroud *said* he
was her pimp ... but O'Brien, who admitted to being a prostitute,
denied that Stroud pimped her. And Von Dahmer wasn't usually a trick.
Stroud, O'Brien and Von Dahmer had lived together for six months in
Katalla, Alaska. That living arrangement did not include sexual favors
for Von Dahmer.
Von Dahmer was the one who convinced Stroud and O'Brien to move to
Juneau.
He may have offered to pay her for sex ... and then reneged (according
to Stroud, Von Dahmer insulted O'Brien by paying her only two dollars)
... but I know some of those who studied Stroud's life ... believe Von
Dahmer raped her when Stroud wasn't there ... because she was a hooker
and wouldn't report the rape to the police.
> > Over the years, he raised nearly 300 canaries in his
> > cells and wrote two books, Diseases of Canaries and
> > Stroud's Digest on the Diseases of Birds. He made
> > several important contributions to avian pathology,
> > most notably a cure for the hemorrhagic septicemia
> > family of diseases. He gained respect and also some
> > level of sympathy in the bird-loving field.
> It's more often said that Stroud made no important
> contributions at all, and that his cures were worthless.
Stroud had a negligible impact as an ornithologist ... but his studies
of canary habits continues to be useful.
> One of the reasons Stroud was never paroled is that he'd
> show up at the hearings and say things like (paraphasing):
> "Let's hurry up and get this over with. I've got a list of
> people to kill."
Yeah ... He wanted to be paroled ... in his words ... so he could
"kill the bastard" who prosecuted him for the murder of the guard at
USP Leavenworth.
Bill Schenley
> (1962) starring Burt Lancaster?
No. He was never allowed to see. Although ... he would have enjoyed
that particular turn from reality.
Incidentally, Burt Lancaster tried to get Stroud paroled by offering
his own home as a place for the Birdman get back into the swing of
things.
I liked Burt ... and would have hated to see anything bad happen to
him ... Still, it would be kind'a cool to go to rotten.com and see
photos of him with an icepick in his noggin.
What the fuck are these people thinking?
J.D. Baldwin
Jolene Babyak, who lived on Alcatraz as a child and has spent her
adult life researching the prison's history and writing books on same,
told me that among Alcatraz guards, the unanimous choice for "most
unpleasant prisoner in the history of the institution" was Stroud. He
was universally regarded as far more dangerous than even the average
Alcatraz inmate.
There isn't much question that he was highly intelligent, but the
movie's portrayal of him as a genius is pretty exaggerated. His
scholarly articles about bird diseases were regarded as kind of
interesting at the time, but are not considered to have been a lasting
contribution.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone disagrees with any statement I make, I
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |am quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / bal...@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it. -T. Lehrer
***~~~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------