The Best Laid Plans …
Bernard Paul “Barney” Coy was a convicted criminal originally from Kentucky who was doing 25 years at Alcatraz for bank robbery using a sawed-off shotgun. While at Alcatraz, Coy earned the position of cell-house orderly, which gave him a certain amount of freedom to move about the facility. Over time, he contrived a plan to gain access to the prison arsenal. The weapons were maintained in galleries separated from the inmates by steel bars.
Coy had improvised a makeshift tool in the prison workshop out of toilet parts that he planned to use to pry the bars leading to the ordnance apart. He had actually intentionally starved himself for some time to help him squeeze through the bars. Five other inmates were in on the scheme, including one man named Sam Shockley. Shockley was assessed as having an IQ of 68 and the mind of a 10-year-old. However, this did not prevent him from robbing a bank and taking hostages. Once inside, he was badly beaten by another inmate and began suffering hallucinations.
In keeping with Coy’s plan, a kitchen orderly named Marvin Hubbard created a disturbance that allowed Coy to overpower a guard and release the other inmates. Coy then got to work on those bars, eventually spreading them about 10″ apart to gain access to the weapons. He passed a Colt M1911A1 pistol as well as a bolt-action .30-caliber rifle and a billy club along with gas grenades out to his waiting accomplices.
The original plan had Coy and company taking hostages and then making their way to the dock to seize the prison boat and make good their escape. Apparently, they hadn’t thought the plan through much past that. After taking nine guards hostage, the prisoners were unable to locate the key to the yard door of the prison, and their attempt was foiled. The whole sordid episode then degenerated into a three-day standoff followed by a proper war.
Eventually, most of the inmates returned to their cells. However, Coy and two others decided to go down fighting. Realizing the nature of the opposition, the prison warden secured the assistance of two platoons of heavily armed Marines from the nearby Naval Station Treasure Island. These guys had only recently finished spanking the Japanese in the South Pacific. They put their hard-earned combat skills to good use.
Eventually, the captive guards were freed, and the Marines went to work. They drove the convicts into a confined space and then drilled holes through the roof through which they dropped hand grenades. The three primary conspirators were ultimately killed in the exchange.
Two guards lost their lives; 14 were wounded. Sam Shockley and another inmate were subsequently executed for their part in the attempt. In the aftermath, the gun galleries were further secured, and the M1 carbines exchanged for the selective-fire M2 sort. Of 14 documented escape attempts over the course of 29 years, none were known to have been successful.
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