Robert Stroud facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Robert Stroud
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Stroud in 1951
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| Born |
Robert Franklin Stroud
January 28, 1890 Seattle, Washington, US
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| Died | November 21, 1963 (aged 73) Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, Springfield, Missouri, US
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| Resting place | Masonic Cemetery, Metropolis, Illinois, US |
| Other names | The Birdman of Alcatraz |
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| Height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) |
| Spouse(s) |
Della May Spore
(m. 1931) |
| Criminal charge |
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| Penalty | 54 yrs overall |
Robert Franklin Stroud (January 28, 1890 – November 21, 1963), known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz", was a convicted murderer, American federal prisoner and author who has been cited as one of the most notorious criminals in the United States. During his time at Leavenworth Penitentiary, he reared and sold birds and became a respected ornithologist. From 1942 to 1959, he was incarcerated at Alcatraz, where regulations did not allow him to keep birds. Stroud was never released from the federal prison system; he was imprisoned from 1909 to his death in 1963.
Born in Seattle, Washington, Stroud ran away from his abusive father at the age of 13. In January 1909, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for homicide. Stroud gained a reputation as a dangerous inmate who frequently had confrontations with fellow inmates and staff. In 1916, he killed a guard, and, after several trials, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in solitary confinement.
In 1920, while in solitary confinement at the federal penitentiary of Leavenworth, Stroud discovered a nest with three injured sparrows in the prison yard. He cared for them and within a few years had acquired a collection of about 300 canaries. He began extensive research into birds after being granted equipment by a prison-reforming warden. Stroud wrote Diseases of Canaries, which was smuggled out of Leavenworth and published in 1933, as well as a later edition (1943). He made important contributions to avian pathology, most notably a cure for the hemorrhagic septicemia family of diseases, gaining much respect and some level of sympathy among ornithologists and farmers. Stroud ran a successful business from inside the prison, but his activities infuriated the prison staff. He was transferred to Alcatraz in 1942.
Stroud began serving a 17-year term at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on December 19, 1942. Stripped of his birds and equipment, he wrote a history of the penal system.
In what came to be called The Battle of Alcatraz in May 1946, Stroud made efforts to protect other inmates.
In 1959, Stroud was transferred to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, where he remained until his death on November 21, 1963.
Legacy
Stroud is considered to be one of the most notorious criminals in American history. Robert Niemi states that Stroud had a "superior intellect," and became a "first-rate ornithologist and author," but was extremely dangerous" and "disliked and distrusted by his jailers and fellow inmates."
However, by his last years, Stroud's behavior had improved and he was viewed more favorably. Carl Sifakais considers Stroud to have been a "brilliant self-taught expert on birds, and possibly the best-known example of self-improvement and rehabilitation in the U.S. prison system."
Because of Stroud's contributions to the field of ornithology, he gained a large following of thousands of bird breeders and poultry raisers who demanded his release. In 1963, Richard M. English, a young lawyer who had campaigned for John F. Kennedy in California, took to the cause of securing Stroud's release. He met with former President Harry S. Truman to enlist support, but Truman declined. He also met with senior Kennedy administration officials who were studying the subject.
English took the last photo of Stroud, in which he is shown with a green visor. The warden of the prison attempted to have English prosecuted for bringing something into the prison he did not take out: unexposed film. The authorities declined to take any action. Upon Stroud's death, his personal property, including original manuscripts, was delivered to English, as his last legal representative, who later turned over some of the possessions to the Audubon Society.
Stroud became the subject of a 1955 book by Thomas E. Gaddis, Birdman of Alcatraz. Gaddis, who strongly advocated rehabilitation in the prisons, portrayed Stroud in favorable light. This was adapted by Guy Trosper for the 1962 film of the same name, directed by John Frankenheimer. It starred Burt Lancaster as Stroud, Karl Malden as a fictionalized and renamed warden, Thelma Ritter as Stroud's mother and Betty Field as his wife, renamed Stella Johnson in the film. However, former inmates of Alcatraz say that the real Stroud was far more sinister, dangerous and unpleasant than the fictionalized version portrayed in the book and film.
Art Carney played Stroud in the 1980 TV movie Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story, and Dennis Farina played Stroud in the 1987 TV movie Six Against the Rock, a dramatization of the Battle of Alcatraz of 1946.
In music, Stroud has been the subject of the instrumental "Birdman of Alcatraz" from Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record (1977), and the song "The Birdman" by Our Lady Peace is also about him. Several video games such as Galerians and Team Fortress 2 pay homage to him. In addition, Bryan Christopher Williams, a well-known rapper, adopted the stage name of Birdman (Birdman (rapper)).
