And now, if the letter which has resurfaced were to be determined to be genuine, we'd have much more substantial proof that the escapees had survived. The assumption was that prisoners wouldnt be that motivated to try and escape given the prisons status as an island. In fact, they only used a weapon one time: a toy gun. "I escape from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris," the letter says. "Handwriting samples of all three escapees, John Anglin, Clarence Anglin and Frank Morris, were compared to the anonymous letter, and the results were deemed 'inconclusive,'" said a statement from the US Marshals Service. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved, Mickey Cohen and Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson. Only the worst criminals were sent toAlcatraz. Merry Christmas." There is no loyalty among thieves, but it seems possible that West was getting some pretty hard questioning. The letter, reportedly written by John Anglin (who was 83 at the time), stated that Morris and the brothers barely made it to shore on the night of their escape. All four already had something in common when they got there! "The FBI examined the letter received in 2013 at the request of the U.S. They used spoons, a saw, and even pieces from an old vacuum cleaners motor to create chisels. Not bad fellas. Mr Widner expressed dismay that the letter was not delivered in a timely manner to the family. Yes we all made it that night but barely!. There have been no confirmed siting of the trio since. Marshal Service, however, took jurisdiction of all federal escapes in 1978 and considers the case an open one. The U.S. WOLF: The Supreme Court sent a letter, signed by all nine justices, to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Escape from Alcatraz: Letter claiming inmates survived The nephew of John and Clarence Anglin told CBS that his grandmother used to receive roses with John and Clarence's signature on the cards several years after the escape. Morris entered his first prison at the age of 13, and by age 20 he was considered a career criminal. (Alcatraz itself closed in 1963, not because its reputation as an escape-proof purgatory diminished but because its upkeep became too expensive to sustain.) I escape [sic] from Alcatraz, Richmond station of the San Francisco Police Department in 2013, inmates either being recaptured or killed, History Channel special posited that the inmates had survived, museum maintained by the National Park Service. At times, new wrinkles in the case have led to more questions. The letter states that Frank Morris died in 2008, while Clarence Anglin died in 2011, according to KPIX 5. The letter did undergo handwriting analysis. Both subjects in the Brazil photo have short arms. He was the mastermind of the Alcatraz escape. "Thirty-sixmen tried 14 separate escapes," the FBI says. Widner said John and Clarence's signature was on the cards that came along with those flowers. According to CBS, the letter read: My name is John Anglin. Letter The Anglin brothers were reportedly inseparable, and the one thing they could not (or chose not) escape was each other. Together they would form a partnership that pulled off one of the most daring prison escapes in American history, a story that is told to the over 1.4 million visitors that visit the prison each year. January 24, 2018 at 4:16 p.m. EST. Using an elaborate strategy that involved squeezing through a cement wall, climbing through pipes and vents, and building a raft made from four dozen raincoats, Frank Morris, and brothers John and Clarence Anglin escaped from Alcatraz and disappeared into the San Francisco Bay. It is believed the three inmates spent months digging a tunnel out of their cells using sharpened spoons. 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. The story of Gary Tison's fateful final escape from those who were there, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. 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. After six months of preparation and gathering of materials, their plan was complete! If they are not alive, said a nephew named Dave Widner to a local newspaper, then why is the government still looking for them? Its a mystery that will continue to be discussed by armchair historians for years to come. Aletterallegedlywritten by one of the escapees recentlycame to light. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. LETTER 'ALCATRAZ ESCAPEE JOHN ANGLIN' SENT TO FBI Considering how careful the men would have had to be for the remainder of their lives, keeping the rest of the family at arms length and being cautious with their words and actions, they would have had to devote much of their energy to never making a mistake. Above all, he's a planner. We have no way of knowing but its curious all the same. The FBI dedicates a page to the escape on its website. John Anglin Eventually, John and Clarence ended up at Leavenworth, a penitentiary in Kansas, where Clarence attempted to make a break for it by trying to smuggle himself out in two enormous bread boxes; John likely assisted him. It is. West wouldve certainly been privy to the prisons dilapidated state, having served a previous stretch at Alcatraz. The pipes they climbed to get to the roof should have also provided their way out. Ever since brothers John and Clarence Anglin along with inmate Frank Morris disappeared, the official story has been they didn't make it, reports CBS News' John Blackstone. Whether they made it safely to freedom or perished in the Instead of playing along with the instructions in the note, investigators did not make the announcement, and the notes author may already be gone. While you may think this brilliant idea has Morriss name on it, it was actually conceived from aPopular Mechanics magazines later found in one of the prisoners cells. Frustrated officials tried to profile the men involved and determine who may have been chiefly responsible. After local law enforcement received the letter, they placed a call to the FBI. Marshals Service said in a statement to the television station. Most were either caught or didnt survive. I'm 83 years old and in bad shape. It was the night before June 12, 1962 and all through the prison, not a creature was stirring except four disgruntled inmates preparing to risk their lives to escape their prison sentences. ", Today, Alcatraz is a museum and popular tourist destination. WOLF: The Supreme Court sent a letter, signed by all nine justices, to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Eventually he did make it out of his cell, but by the time he reached the corridor and climbed to the roof, his three mates were long gone. If the men are alive today, Frank Morris would be 90 years old and John and Clarence Anglin would be 86 and 87. Carlson inherited the fake-populist shtick used by OReilly and honed it into something like performance art. Now, a handwritten letter is again raising questions about whether the men survived the frigid waters and deadly currents of San Francisco Bay long thought to make any escape impossible. Letter Allegedly Written By 1962 Alcatraz Island Escapee The letter was sent to the Richmond station of the San Francisco Police Department in 2013, reports CBS News, but had not hitherto been made public; recently, though, San Francisco Bay Area CBS station KPIX 5 acquired it from an anonymous source and now its sparking all sorts of theories and speculation. 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. 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. "My name is John Anglin. WASHINGTON Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee in a letter released Tuesday evening that he was declining 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. Originally a Civil War fort because of the islands strategic position in San Francisco Bay, it was converted into a military prison during and after the war. Morris and the Anglin brothers knew each other from serving time in prison together prior to their time on Alcatraz Island. Police were unable to locate the boat. Most were caught; some were shot and killed, while others drowned. The writer said that Morris died in 2008 and Clarence Anglin died in 2011. Authorities said at the time there was no way the trio could have swam across the frigid waters of the San Francisco bay, although the span is today tackled by triathletes. The men grabbed their gear, climbed the bars and pipes in the corridor, and bang! On January 17, 1958, the Anglins, along with their older brother Alfred, stormed into Alabama's Bank of Columbia. The FBI says theyused a homemade drill made from a broken vacuum cleaner motor to widen the vents. The air ventilation screens were 6 x 9 hardly enough room to fit a full grown man. Marshals Service has released new, age-progressed images of Frank Morris, Clarence Anglin and John Anglin, the three inmates who escaped Alcatraz maximum security prison. The working theory was that the men, who apparently fled on an improvised raft, drowned in the bay's unforgiving waters. The men detached the ventilation screens, removed their makeshift wall, and shimmied through the holes into the adjacent corridor. 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. Once a card came signed "Jerry" and another "Jerry and Joe," The family also produced a Christmas card, purportedly received in the family mailbox in 1962, saying, "To Mother, from John. The men were gone, which triggered prison officials to reach out to the FBIs San Francisco office. I have cancer, the letter reads. But then there was also the ventilator itself, and the men poked at the rivets around it. What did Roberts say in his letter about about Supreme Court ethics? According to CBS, the letter read: My name is John Anglin. Yes we all made it that night, but barely!". Meghan Markle's father says he is 'open to any kind of conversation' to repair his Practising for Charles' big day! Only three of them could make it out their cells! This is no joke," the letter says. Relative Of Escaped Alcatraz Inmates Speaks Out About Letter, 55 Years Later, Escape From Alcatraz Result Still A Mystery, Oakland Mayor Schaaf Calls New Sanctuary Cities Threat 'Un-American', San Francisco Replaces Columbus Day With Indigenous Peoples Day, Public File for KBCW-TV / KBCW 44 Cable 12. Can you imagine how he felt in that moment, after all those months of planning? West, ever the escape artist, saw opportunity where others only saw mundane object. I escape from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris. To this day, the three escapees remain on the most wanted list with photos of what they might look like today. The Anglins and Morris made it as far as Seattle, he said, before the other men involved betrayed and murdered them. From there, they made it to the roof of the cell block, where they had stashed the rest of their supplies including life preservers and a rubber raft they had fashioned from over 50 raincoats. Authorities could not find any bodies where the man claimed they would be buried. They then used art kits available to prisoners to paint them. It was given toSan Francisco television station KPIXfrom an unnamed source. The U.S. Escape From Alcatraz Robbery was their way of life, and this built them up quite a RAP sheet and landed them in and out of federal prison during their late adolescence and early adult lives. 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. 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. They got off the island. But he is not sure if they lived through the escape. None, however, had the same cunning and determination as the Anglins. Also sharing a wall with one of the trio was Allen West, who came to Alcatraz in 1957 after he tried to escape from a prison in Florida. My name is John Anglin. Ken and David Widner, the nephews of escapee bank robber John Anglin, have slammed "inhumane" authorities for keeping secret a 2013 letter purporting to be from their uncle. After months of meticulous planning- on the night of June 11, 1962 - the trio of bank robbers squeezed through the vents in the back of their cells. This is no joke.. I escape [d] from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris. A facial recognition expert enlisted by the History Channel for a special on the escape asserted that Brizzi was telling the truth; law enforcement countered that the sunglasses and facial hair would make a definitive conclusion problematic. Alcatraz closed the year after the escape, but the mystery remains open. Alcatraz escape letter: New evidence reopens "[They're] more on the natively cunning side, throwbacks to the swamp country, more given to action," he said. It adds "I am 83 years old and in bad shape. After all, their remains were never recovered, though its fully within the world of possibility that they are somewhere in the Pacific. 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. And for29 years, it was the most secure federal prisoninthe country - surrounded by the cold, rough waters of the Pacific. To make it look like they were tucked into bed, the men crafted crude dummy heads using plaster, soap, and paints. The letter begins simply: My name is John Anglin. 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. Which would mean that if the Anglins and Morris had succeeded in anything, it was in trading one kind of prison for another. 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. So they had to chisel them wider. Yes we all made it that night but barely, said the letter. Not only was there the Christmas card, but theories abound that the Anglins ended up in Brazil. 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 letter, sent to police in 2013 and recently obtained by local CBS affiliate KPIX, was from a man claiming to be John Anglin. And as if that was not enough, they even figured out the perfect tool for inflating the raft: Morriss own accordion. The What is sort of interesting, though, is this: The Anglin brothers were David Widners uncles and although Widner told CBS News in a follow-up report, I really havent come to a conclusion whether I believe that its John reaching out or not, he also noted that for a number of years following the escape, his grandmother would randomly receive roses. All results came back inconclusive. First published on January 25, 2018 / 8:20 AM. 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. "It's always been talked about through the family," said David Widner, a nephew of John and Clarence Anglin. King World Productions Inc. 2023 Inside Edition Inc. and CBS interactive Inc., Paramount companies. Based on the information gathered from the scene, as well as from West, officials discovered that the Anglins and Morris had gained entry to the roof via another ventilator shaft, then shimmied down to ground level. Letter possibly from famous Alcatraz escapee says they survived escape and that he lived in North Dakota for eight years.https://t.co/yFVYYmzfNn. It was foggy that night as it often was in the Bay another example of things working to their advantage. The U.S. Letter "He's not given to rash violence. Did I mention that Alcatraz is thought to be one of the most haunted locations in America? Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin escaped from the prison on June 12, 1962. Yes we all made it that night but barely, said the note. Not only that, but there was a fourth character in the prison who would also become a player in this real-life crime saga. I'm 83 years old and in bad shape. A photo of them, supposedly snapped by a family member, exists. The FBI closed the case on Dec. 31, 1979, saying there was no credible evidence that Morris and the Anglin brothers were still alive at that time, the Today show reported. ALSO READ:San Francisco Replaces Columbus Day With Indigenous Peoples Day. / CBS San Francisco. Both had also tried to run from chain gangs. Unfortunately, cement has the pesky tendency to harden. I escape [sic] from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris, it reads. "They talked about the grass being greener on the other side," she said. I escape [sic] from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris. Theyslid down the smokestack to the ground and launched their raft - made of more than 50 raincoats. Please enter valid email address to continue. Escape from Alcatraz: Letter claims three inmates survived 1962 CBS San Francisco obtained the letter which says that John Anglin was 83 years old and that he was diagnosed with cancer. There, the escapees had the privacy to work on the other major part of their plan: constructing a raft and life preservers. Dismantling the Suprem Court's argument about its own ethics From there, they shoved off in a makeshift raft made from more than 50 raincoats. I have cancer. Marshals service and the results of that examination were provided to the U.S. Letter allegedly sent from prisoner John Anglin, "I am 83 years old and in bad shape. Subscribe to the Secrets of the Dead Newsletter, Scanning the Pyramids Experts Answer Your Questions on Reddit, From Cleopatra to Roosevelt Historys Famous Romantics, Medieval French Coins, Ancient Mummy Wrappings and More Unearthed Secrets for July, Germanys Stonehenge, 9,000 Year Old Tools Found and More Unearthed Secrets, Roman Soldier Rescue Mission, Thrift Store Dal and More Unearthed Secrets. Alcatraz letter: Nephew of inmate weighs in on mystery First published on January 22, 2018 / 11:49 PM. With West out of the picture, the three men had no choice but to carry on without him. She has since written several books onAlcatraz. Two officers and three prisoners were killed, and the attempt only ended when the Marines intervened and battled it out with inmates. Its possible thats true, given the content of rest of the letter.