Robert Stroud
Robert Franklin Stroud (born January 28, 1890 in Seattle , Washington , † November 21, 1963 in Springfield , Missouri ) was an American violent criminal who developed into a recognized ornithologist during his more than fifty years in prison . He gained worldwide fame through the feature film The Prisoner of Alcatraz ( Birdman of Alcatraz , 1962).
Life
Childhood and youth
Robert Stroud's childhood was shaped by an abusive father and a caring mother. At the age of thirteen he left home and got by with odd jobs. In Juneau , Alaska , he lived with a prostitute who was twice her age, Kitty O'Brian. In the dispute over Kitty, he killed his opponent. On August 23, 1909, he was then sentenced to twelve years in prison, which he had to serve in the infamous McNeil Island Penitentiary, which was located on an island off Seattle .
In Leavenworth
Defiant and violent Stroud was transferred to the modern maximum security Leavenworth Prison in 1912 after stabbing a fellow inmate. Here he had access to an extensive library and had the opportunity to take part in distance learning courses. Despite his poor school education, he passed all exams with excellent results. During these years a painful kidney disease occurred for the first time, which was to accompany him all his life.
On March 26, 1916, he stabbed a guard who allegedly had particularly harassed him. He was sentenced to death , but after a self-sacrificing struggle by his mother, President Woodrow Wilson pardoned him to life imprisonment . Stroud was separated from all other inmates and transferred to a solitary cell. At first he dealt with painting. One day he found a nest with three young sparrows while walking in the yard, which the storm had blown in. It was the beginning of a career unprecedented in the American prison system. With great patience and observation, he devoted himself to the care and rearing of canaries. After the first articles had appeared in specialist journals, he became aware of him in ornithological circles. Stroud wrote several ornithological books which further increased his popularity.
While the guards had at first benevolently promoted his hobby - it helped to tame an aggressive criminal - the prominent prisoner's intensive contacts with the outside world were increasingly viewed with suspicion. Stroud countered all attempts to curtail his privileges with well thought-out countermeasures, ranging from mail campaigns from his bird friends to a marriage of convenience. Finally, in December 1942, after 30 years imprisonment in Leavenworth, the "troublemaker" was deported to Alcatraz .
In Alcatraz and Springfield
Robert Stroud's main occupation in Alcatraz was studying legal textbooks. There were no bird breeding opportunities. Nevertheless, the "Birdman" became the "Birdman of Alcatraz". In the film of the same name , Stroud's story was brought to the screen in 1962, one year before his death. Burt Lancaster's portrayal of a meek, elderly gentleman, however, had little to do with reality. Stroud himself never saw the film and was not allowed to visit the film.
Because of his poor health and to protect him from fellow inmates who still had a few bills open and accused him of working with the guards, he lived permanently in the infirmary. In 1959, due to poor health, he was transferred to Springfield , Missouri Prison, where he died on November 21, 1963 after 54 years of uninterrupted imprisonment.
Fonts
- Stroud's Digest on the Diseases of Birds . TFH Publication, London 1964
- Diseases of Canaries . TFH Pubns, US 1966, ISBN 0-87666-436-2 .
literature
- Thomas E. Gaddis : Birdman of Alcatraz (Comstock Editions, Inc. San Francisco)
- Biography (German 1957: "See the birds under the sky")
- Leon "Whitey" Thomson: Rock Hard (Simon & Schuster, New York)
- Life on Alcatraz is portrayed from the perspective of a fellow inmate
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Stroud, Robert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Stroud, Robert Franklin (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American violent criminal and ornithologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 28, 1890 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Seattle , Washington |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 21, 1963 |
| Place of death | Springfield , Missouri |