Bernard Paul Coy

Bernard Paul Coy was a convicted bank robber involved in the most famous, and violent, escape ever attempted at Alcatraz Prison, resulting in the deaths of three would-be escapees and two prison guards. A career criminal, Coy was sentenced in 1937 to 25 years in federal prison for bank robbery. Transferred to Alcatraz from Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in 1938, his good behavior earned him a position as cell-house orderly, which gave him access to most of the main cell block. He noticed a weakness in the iron bars that protected the gun gallery from which armed guards overlooked the cell block. He informed fellow inmates Joseph Paul Cretzer, Marvin Hubbard, Miran Edgar Thompson, Sam Shockley and Clarence Carnes about what he had found, and they devised an escape plan whereby they would break into the gun gallery, steal the guards' weapons, take them hostage and then flee to the island's dock, from which they would escape across the bay to San Francisco. The escape was planned for May 2, 1946. On that day Shockley distracted the gun-gallery guard by reporting a phony incident that drew the guard to Shockley's cell. Coy had devised a primitive but effective bar spreader that enabled him to pry apart the weak protective bars on the gun gallery, and when the guard returned from Shockley's cell, Coy overpowered him and took his weapons. Soon they had taken nine guards hostage and confined them in two cells. Unfortunately, there was one vital piece of equipment that was supposed to be in the guard's cage but wasn't: the key to the door that led out of the prison yard, from which the convicts had planned to run to the dock, seize the prison boat and escape across the bay. It turned out that one of the guards, contrary to regulations, had kept the key in order to let kitchen staff out of the yard instead of returning it to the gun gallery, so as not to disturb the gallery guard at lunch. It wasn't long before prison authorities discovered what had happened and locked down the prison. The authorities would not negotiate with the would-be escapees and the convicts wouldn't give up their hostages or their weapons. Things deteriorated quickly, and a gun battle between the guards and the escapees ensued. The fight--known as "The Battle of Alcatraz"--went on for two days. At one point Cretzer ran up to the cells where the hostage guards were kept and opened fire, wounding five of them; one later died from his injuries. Thompson, Shockley and Carnes, realizing that there was no hope of escaping, returned to their cells, but Cretzer, Hubbard and Coy decided to shoot it out. They beat back an attempt by a squad of guards to capture them, killing one guard in the process. The warden then decided to avail himself of the services of a platoon of US Marines--led by Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell, a hero in the Pacific Theater during World War II--stationed nearby. A squad of guards mounted a rescue operation to save the hostages, and although the three convicts fired at them and wounded one, the hostages were rescued and taken out of the cell-block house. With no more hostages in the building, the Marines mounted a massive assault, involving machine guns, grenades and mortars. Squads of guards also attacked the cell-block house between barrages, unloading a constant fusillade against the convicts. The final assault took place on May 4, and the bodies of Coy, Cretzer and Hubbard were found in the rubble. Thompson and Shockley were tried, convicted and executed for their part in the escape attempt and ensuing killings. Carnes was given an additional life sentence, but was paroled in 1973.