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THBROBERT STROUD The Birdman of Alcatraz 1956-Dated Autograph Letter Signed Twice
Lot 85
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About Auction
Live
By Early American History Auctions
Aug 24, 2019
Set Reminder
2019-08-24 12:00:00
2019-08-24 12:00:00
America/New_York
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Bidsquare : Autographs, Colonial Currency, Political Americana, Historic Guns
https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/early-american-history-auctions/autographs-colonial-currency-political-americana-historic-guns-4347
Historic Autographs • Colonial Currency • American Civil War Colonial Era • Revolutionary War • Political Americana • Black History Early American History Auctions auctions@earlyamerican.com
Historic Autographs • Colonial Currency • American Civil War Colonial Era • Revolutionary War • Political Americana • Black History Early American History Auctions auctions@earlyamerican.com
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- Lot Description
Autographs
The "Birdman of Alcatraz" Collection of about 300 Canaries
ROBERT STROUD (1890 - 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.
December 23, 1956-Dated, Autograph Letter Signed Twice, "Robert Stroud, P.M.B 594," in the address portion and "Love Bob, - (Signed) Robert Stroud #594." at the conclusion, Alcatraz, Calif., 2 pages 10.5" x 8", Choice Very Fine. This original very clean and well preserved Handwritten Letter is in pencil on light blue lined wove paper, from the "Birdman of Alcatraz," to Mamie Stroud. Contents involve visit from a friend who "had to leave on the ten o'clock boat." Other legal related matters concerning his conviction are mentioned in part: "... it is nice to know that I now have someone out there who is willing to fight to help me..." Concludes with "Love Bob, - (Signed) Robert Stroud #594."
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, although regulations did not allow him to keep birds at Alcatraz, where he was incarcerated from 1942 to 1959. 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, and by the time he was 18, he had become a pimp in the Alaska Territory. In January 1909, he shot and killed a bartender who attacked his mistress, a crime for which he was sentenced to 12 years in the federal penitentiary on McNeil Island in Puget Sound. Stroud gained a reputation as a dangerous inmate who frequently had confrontations with fellow inmates and staff, and in 1916, he stabbed and killed a guard. Stroud was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to hang, but after several trials his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in solitary confinement.
In 1920, while in solitary confinement at 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 prison, but his activities infuriated the prison staff, and he was eventually transferred to Alcatraz in 1942 after it was discovered that Stroud had been secretly making alcohol using some of the equipment in his cell.
Stroud began serving a 17-year term at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on December 19, 1942, and became inmate #594. In 1943, he was assessed by psychiatrist Romney M. Ritchey, who diagnosed him as a psychopath, but with an I.Q. of 112. Stripped of his birds and equipment, he wrote a history of the penal system.
Stroud was transferred to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri in 1959, where he stayed until his death on November 21, 1963. He is buried in Metropolis, Illinois. Author Carl Sifakis referred to Stroud as "possibly the best-known example of self-improvement and rehabilitation in the U.S. prison."
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