The Anglins were known to be strong swimmers as kids; Morris was said to have engaged in an intense exercise regimen to prepare for the effort. To pull it off, these men were going to need some extreme ingenuity, and the extremes they went to for every little detail is legendary. The Anglins and Morris made it as far as Seattle, he said, before the other men involved betrayed and murdered them. In 2013, a letter claiming to be from John Anglin was sent to the San Francisco Police Department. Personally, as someone who swims in the bay, and we have a triathlon that goes on every year, and there's not a single person that doesn't make that swim," he added. With so few leads to go on, a nationwide manhunt for the Anglins produced nothing in the way of evidence they had made it. I have cancer.". Which would mean that if the Anglins and Morris had succeeded in anything, it was in trading one kind of prison for another. If you announce on TV that I will be promised to first go to jail for no more than a year and get medical attention, I will write back to let you know exactly where I am. Instead, every single ventilation duct the pipes led to had been cemented shut at the top. Im 83 years old and in bad shape. I escape from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my Brother Clarence and Frank Morris. While serving there, he met the acquaintance of two men named John and Clarence Anglin. The men made an inflatable raft out of raincoats, set off into the water sometime at night, and were never seen again. The mystery may never be solved, leaving us to only speculate as to what became of them. The working theory was that the men, who apparently fled on an improvised raft, drowned in the bay's unforgiving waters. I escape (sic)from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris. The letter begins simply: My name is John Anglin. He reached a San Francisco beach in water colder than what the three men would have experiencedand did it naked, no less. From there, the trail grew cold. Its writer said that after the escape, he lived in Seattle for several years, then North Dakota; at the time of the letters writing, he said he lived in Southern California. The next phase of the plan was actually the easiest part. Accordingly, he tried to strike a deal: Hed turn himself in if he could be guaranteed a lenient sentence and medical attention. Though no one could prove it, a San Francisco police officer claimed he saw a boat in the water that night; its lights were off but a small flashlight was scanning the water. January 26, 201800H:40GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME, John Anglin, Frank Anglin, and Frank Morris before their escape, by Kathy DiNuzzo and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, San Francisco. ", The letter makes an offer: "If you announce on TV that I will be promised to just go to jail for no more than a year and get medical attention I will write back to let you know exactly where I am". It was West who got the ball rolling when he came across some old saw blades that were apparently abandoned. The men may have made it after all. (He was, however, suffering from hypothermia and quickly recaptured.). According to History.com, the island that later became known as Alcatraz was first mapped in 1775 by Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala, who named it La Isla de los Alcatraces the Island of the Pelicans. The men were discovered missing on June 12, 1962, and the hunt was on. Unfortunately, cement has the pesky tendency to harden. They placed the dummy heads in their beds and tucked in extra pillows to give the illusion of a body under the blankets. I lived in Seattle for most of my years after the escape. 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Its isolated location made it a difficult location to get into and out of. WebFamily members of the Anglin brothers occasionally received many unsigned postcards and messages over the years. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. The writer of thelettersays he spent many years after his escape fromAlcatrazliving in Seattle. Did I mention that Alcatraz is thought to be one of the most haunted locations in America? My name is John Anglin. But that was far from the end of the story. The letter begins simply: My name is John Anglin. Other supposed evidence, including a photo that allegedly showed the Anglin brothers in Brazil more than a decade after the escape also turned up over the years, adding to the mystery of what happened to the three men. The inmates had another major factor that was on their side. In fact, they only used a weapon one time: a toy gun. To have any chance at success in escaping, prisoners would have to have special skills. They werent after all, penning long-form essays on the regular. "[They're] more on the natively cunning side, throwbacks to the swamp country, more given to action," he said. The Anglin brothers, similar to Morris, were career criminals who stuck together. They also created life vests and wooden paddles. In reality, the four men went to extreme efforts to create dummies that were very convincing. Marshal's Service says the FBI couldn't determine if it was real. The Rocks unique geographic location made it an ideal place to build a prison. The former prison is now a popular San Francisco tourist site, with more than a million tourists each year. And he had plenty of practice rounds before his stay at Alcatraz. My name is John Anglin, the letter, which was provided to KPIX 5 by an unnamed source, began. (Alcatraz itself closed in 1963, not because its reputation as an escape-proof purgatory diminished but because its upkeep became too expensive to sustain.) Published: 11:20 BST, 24 January 2018 | Updated: 17:34 BST, 24 January 2018. According to CBS, the letter read: My name is John Anglin. The FBI closed its case on the Alcatraz escape on Dec. 31, 1979. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. As luck would have it, they all managed to be placed next to each other. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. I escape [d] from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris. West may have overthought his attempt to mask his efforts. It had only been loosened before, this loud move was necessary to open it. The jurys still out on that one. From there, they were able to launch their raft. But the Anglins had another advantage. Marshals Service). The letter states that Frank Morris died in 2008, while Clarence Anglin died in 2011, according to KPIX 5. Thats why we consider this particular escape to be the only successful one; 12 of the others resulted in the inmates either being recaptured or killed, and while an additional attempt the one made on Dec. 16, 1937 by Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe ended up with the inmates simply missing, its highly likely that they drowned in the San Francisco Bay, according to Alcatraz History. Its possible that Brizzi and Widners accounts, sensational as they are, could be accurate. From there, they shoved off in a makeshift raft made from more than 50 raincoats. The FBI said that between 1934 and when the prison closed in 1963, 36 men tried to escape in 14 separate attempts. Yes we all made it that night but In what the Anglin family would later point out as suspicious, Alfred was said to have been electrocuted during an escape attempt that came just days before he was set to be paroled. Brothers John and Clarence Anglin and Frank Morris did the unthinkable when they squeezed through the vents of the cells and disappeared from what was regarded as the most secure federal prison in the U.S. on June 11, 1962. But the Anglins and Morris would have had to endure considerable adversity. My name is John Anglin. A view of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in the 1930s when it was America's premier maximum-security prison. The breakout of three inmates from the famous Alcatraz prison in 1962 has been the subject of wild speculation for more than half a century. The U.S. Yes we all made it that night but barely!". Yes we all made it that night but barely! But despite its simple beginnings, the letter is extraordinary because it might shed light on the only successful escape attempt that was ever made from the infamous Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco Bay. I escape from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris. Labour leader condemns MPs letter but says decision on whether she will stand for party again must wait Keir Starmer has condemned comments about racism by In 1933, the U.S. Justice Department took over, changing Alcatraz from a military prison to a federal one meant for particularly dangerous prisoners. The fate of three particular inmates, however, remains a mystery to this day Its one mystery wed all like to solve.". Hair swept up from the barbershop completed the illusion. Im 83 years old and At this time, there are no leads stemming from the 2013 anonymous letter. Yes we all made it that night, but barely!". This is no joke". The original FBI investigation concluded the men drowned after they recovered a lone rain jacket, used as a makeshift life preserver and pieces of a wooden paddle. I escape from Alcatrazin June 1962 with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris. At Alcatraz, they were reunited with Frank Morris, an inmate whom they had met at another prison and whoin addition to purportedly having a high IQalso had a penchant for escapes: He had broken out of a Louisiana facility where he had been serving time for a bank robbery, and was sent to Alcatraz after he was arrested for burglary in 1960. At times, new wrinkles in the case have led to more questions. Officials turned to the other incarcerated Anglin brother, Alfred, who was housed in an Alabama facility, to see if he knew anything. Brizzi, a friend of the Anglins, claimed the men had not only survived their escape attempt but had made it to South America. The pipes they climbed to get to the roof should have also provided their way out. Yes we made it that night but barely!. They got off the island. But he is not sure if they lived through the escape. Her father was acting warden. Along with Allen West, the men set in motion an escape plan right out of a movie. There were unconfirmed reports that the raft was found on Angel Island. Marshals Service, where it is still active. Once the chiseling was complete, the walls were replaced with cardboard, and the holes wide enough for their bodies to squeeze through, the next phase of their plan began to take shape. Marshal for northern California,falls far short of putting the matter to rest. Said CBS security analyst Jeff Harp, who worked with the FBI for 21 years but did not work on the Anglin/Morris escape, So that means yes, and it means no, so this leaves everything in limbo., Whats more, the U.S. Marshal Michael Dyke told the Today show: Obviously not. In a statement toKPIX 5,the U.S. The FBI dedicates a page to the escape on its website. According to KPIX 5, the FBI first learned of the letter after it was sent to the San Francisco Police Departments Richmond station in 2013. But recently, the U.S. If that wasnt enough, Dutch programmers contradicted the FBI when they released a study that found the tides suitable for escape! Widner said John and Clarence's signature was on the cards that came along with those flowers. FBI agents reopened an investigation into three prisoners who escaped from Alcatraz after receiving a letter claiming to have been penned by one of the men. (NCD). Once in there, they stalled, because there was a problem. After chipping away a hole long and big enough to squeeze through, the men were able to come and go as they pleased (albeit not very far). Not bad fellas. A homemade life vest was also discovered washed up on a beach, but extensive searches did not turn up any other items in the area. Someone claiming to be John Anglin wrote to WOLF: The Supreme Court sent a letter, signed by all nine justices, to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Experts say Morris had extremely polished mental faculties and was said to have an exceptional IQ of 133. The FBI also came to their own conclusion that the letter by the supposed Anglin was a fake. Guards were posted outside and making the rounds as the men hit the ground. After all, their remains were never recovered, though its fully within the world of possibility that they are somewhere in the Pacific. Its now a park and museum maintained by the National Park Service; you can visit it if you like. If you announce on TV that I will be promised to first go to jail for no more than a year and get medical attention, I will write back to let you know exactly where I am. The US Marshals Service has committed to finding the men until they find credible evidence as to their fate, or the men turn 99 years old. Not that they had time to do much with the money. The U.S. Homeless Man Gets $100,000 Reward After Helping Nab California Prison Escapees, New York Prison Escapee David Sweat Pleads Guilty to All Charges Related to Break-Out, Newly Found Investigation Notes Provide Leads in 1999 Cold Case of Missing Girls, Nephew of 1962 Supposed Alcatraz Escapees: I Think They Are Alive. Three months after that, Clarence arrived. I have cancer. West, ever the escape artist, saw opportunity where others only saw mundane object. In 1963, J. Campbell Bruce published Escape from Alcatraz, a history of the prison and those who had attempted to flee it, including Morris and the Anglins. The parents of John and Clarence said they received a Christmas card in 1962 that read, To Mother, from John. The whole operation seems typical of him.". Marshals service and the results of that examination were provided to the U.S. "No evidence, lots of allegations, no real evidence, nothing you can follow up on," she said. The men shaved everyday, collected the shaving cream mixed with hair, and then blended it together with toilet paper and soap. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. If the men are alive today, Frank Morris would be 90 years old and John and Clarence Anglin would be 86 and 87. The letters author claims that after escaping the prison, he lived in Seattle before moving on to North Dakota and eventually settling in Southern California. After roughly six months of plotting and effort, the men were ready to ruin the prisons reputation. The Anglin brothers were reportedly inseparable, and the one thing they could not (or chose not) escape was each other. He had met them in Brazil in 1975, Brizzi said, and later gave the photos to their relatives. Fourteen attempted escapes occurred during Alcatrazs history operating as a maximum-security prison or at least, 14 that we know of but only one was successful, according to the FBI.