During
the tenure of James B. Holohan as Warden at San Quentin, a bold
prison break occurred. Clinton Duffy was secretary to the Warden at
the time. This prison break was so spectacular that one would think
it was a plot for a Hollywood moving picture, featuring the Cops and
Robbers theme.
It
happened on a day when the Board of Prison Directors were holding
their periodical meeting at San Quentin prison. During the noon hour,
as was the custom, the board members, accompanied by Mark Noon,
secretary to the board, and sometimes the warden's secretary, would
go to the warden's mansion for lunch. As Warden Holohan would be
present, Clint did not accompany them as other duties required his attention.
The
board members, Frank Sykes, Warren Atherton and Joseph Stephens, and
Mark Noon and the Warden were sitting down to lunch when four
prisoners entered the room. Three of them held 45 automatic pistols
and they demanded the men to take off their suits and exchange them
for the prisoner's uniforms.
Warden
Holohan chose to resist and reached for a nearby telephone. Before
he could reach the phone one of the prisoners slugged him with the
butt of his pistol and started beating him. In this struggle a shot
was fired but the Warden had thrown his aim off and the bullet hit
the nearby door casement and was imbedded there.
These
four prisoners had through an outside accomplice, smuggled the three
guns into the prison. They had been taped to the undergear of an
automobile that had access to the prison. The three men, posing as
garbage collectors, took the garbage truck and drove it to the
Warden's residence.
Warden
Holohan was beaten severely and probably would have been killed but
another prisoner in the group moved in and stopped the beating.
The
prisoners, now in civilian clothes and the board members in prison
uniforms demanded that Mark Noon telephone the guard at the gate and
ask him to let the prisoners and their hostages pass.
They
all crowded into the limousine and started for the gate. On reaching
the gate, Mark Noon shouted to let them go through or they would all
be killed. So they were allowed to pass, but by this time the county
sheriff's office had been alerted and road blocks were hastily set up.
Then
began a chase that covered many of the roads of northern Marin
County. The fugitives, seeing a road block ahead would take a detour,
but sheriff's cars and the highway patrol would follow.
After
miles of chase, one of the cars following opened fire. The fire was
returned and in this exchange, director Joseph Stephens was hit in
the thigh with a bullet. Eventually one of the bullets hit a rear
tire and the blow out swerved the car off of the road into a ditch.
The prisoners deserted the car and ran to a nearby barn as the posse
moved up. Some shots were exchanged and three of the prisoners were
taken. The fourth one, their leader, barricaded himself in the barn.
A shot from the officers hit him in the head and he fell dead.
Joseph
Stephens recovered from the bullet wound in his leg, but Warden
Holohan was in serious condition in the prison hospital. His skull
was fractured and there were concussions but he eventually recovered.
Clint
Duffy heard that there was trouble at the Warden's house and was
running to the scene when the limousine, loaded with men passed him.
He found Warden Holohan unconscious and in a pool of blood on the
floor of the dining room. He immediately summoned Dr. Leo Stanley,
and they got the Warden to the prison hospital.
Thus,
it is obvious that men, making a break for liberty from prison, can
become very desperate, and will go to many extremes to accomplish
their goal. When one analyzed these attempts, and there are many
similar ones today, it is surprising how few of them even meet with
partial success. The life of a fugitive is really a hard one.
A
few years later, when Clinton Duffy became warden, he sent a message
to all prisoners stating that his job required that they be kept in
confinement and any attempt to escape would have to be met with
force, and that all guards would be instructed to shoot to kill, even
when hostages are held, and even if the hostage is the Warden himself.
This
forceful message was apparently in language that they could
understand, as in all of his eleven and one half years as Warden, no
attempts to break jail ever occurred.
This
rule must have been still in effect when the recent shoot out at the
Court House in San Rafael occurred. It was a San Quentin guard who
opened fire on the fleeing prisoners.
Author:
William J. Duffy, Jr.