Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe
Encyclopedia
Theodore "Ted" Cole and Ralph Roe (1909 - December 16, 1937?) took part in the second documented escape attempt from Alcatraz, in 1937. Although officials were quick to conclude they perished in the attempt, their remains were never found, making the incident the first to shatter Alcatraz's reputation as an "escape-proof" prison.
Cole and Roe, both convicted bank robbers (Cole went into Alcatraz for kidnaping also) in Oklahoma
, had been caught during earlier, independent escape attempts from that state's McAlester
Prison
. Judged to be escape risks, they were both incarcerated in high-security Leavenworth Prison, then transferred to higher-security Alcatraz in 1936. The two were given jobs working in the prison's Mat Shop, a facility at the northernmost point of the island, where discarded automobile tires were cut up and converted into rubber mats for the U.S. Navy.
Roe, an Oklahoma
bank robber, was originally captured after a shootout with local police and FBI agents in Shawnee, Oklahoma
on December 30, 1933. This same gun battle claimed the life of Roe's partner, Wilbur Underhill. Cole had been given a death sentence
by means of an electric chair
for his role in the robbery of a bottling works plant in Tulsa, OK.
, impeding marine traffic and reducing visibility on Alcatraz. At 12:50 p.m., Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe were working in a tire repair shop. A routine headcount showed all prisoners accounted for. At 1:30 p.m., when the guard returned to the shop after inspecting other shops on the island, they were gone. Two iron bars and three heavy glass panes of a window in the shop had a hole eight and three-quarters inches high and 18 inches long. Once through the window, the two slipped down to the gate of a high wire fence during one of the heaviest fogs in years. With a wrench taken from the shop where they had been working they forced the gate lock and dropped twenty feet to the beach. Their trail completely vanished at that point. An exhaustive search of the island revealed nothing.
Ralph Roe and Theodore Cole used cans to keep afloat. Alvin Karpis
watched Cole and Roe make their way into the unusually swift currents of the bay. Suddenly the 5-gallon can which Roe was using as a float, shot straight up into the air. Roe was sucked beneath the surface. Cole was carried out by the rapid current towards the Golden Gate Bridge
and met the same fate, according to Karpis. Karpis then decided never to attempt to escape from the prison by water.
Hampered by the thick fog, guards were able to turn up only one trace of the escapees: an abandoned wrench from the Mat Shop, which had been used to partially dismantle a gate on the outermost fence. An extensive, multi-day search ensued; portions of the island were flooded with tear gas in an attempt to flush out the escapees, with no result.
An investigation concluded that Cole and Roe had prepared for the escape well in advance, using a hacksaw blade to weaken the window bars and disguising the damage with a mixture of grease and shoe polish. After taking advantage of the fog, they entered the water, presumably relying on floats improvised from tires or fuel canisters. There was no evidence to suggest they had constructed or launched a raft.
Prison officials concluded that Cole and Roe's lives ended, by drowning, shortly after their escape. The swift ebb tides at the time, estimated at 7–9 knots, would have swept even an expert swimmer out of the bay and into the Pacific Ocean. The dense fog was so thick that it would have made it almost impossible for outside confederates to pick them up on a boat, nor could the swimmers know whether or not they were swimming toward shore. It is very likely that Roe and Cole did not survive, but their bodies were never found, nor were their floatation devices.
However, police departments in the surrounding counties and the FBI followed up every tip and rumor, with no success. In the following days, months and years, there were various reports of sightings, but their validity is unknown. Sightings included two hitch-hikers, who claimed they had seen Roe and Cole and identified them to police by their photos. A San Francisco Chronicle
reporter in 1941 declared that the pair were living in South America
, and a cab
driver in Cole's Oklahoma
hometown of Seminole
told police he had been shot by men he recognized as the two escapees. If Roe and Cole somehow did survive their escape, it is highly unlikely that they are still living today as Cole would be 98 years of age and Roe 102.
The Daily newspaper The Seminole Producer reported on June 7, 1939
Oklahoma officers seemed to intentionally try to not identify the escapees as they continued their hijacking spree in the Seminole, Tecumseh
and Shawnee Oklahoma area. The Seminole Producer reported on June 24, 1939:
Cole and Roe, both convicted bank robbers (Cole went into Alcatraz for kidnaping also) in Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, had been caught during earlier, independent escape attempts from that state's McAlester
McAlester, Oklahoma
McAlester is a city in Pittsburg County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 17,783 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Pittsburg County. It is currently the largest city in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, followed by Durant....
Prison
Oklahoma State Penitentiary
The Oklahoma State Penitentiary is located in McAlester, Oklahoma, on . It is a prison of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. Opened in 1908 with 50 inmates in makeshift facilities, today the prison holds more than 1,200 male offenders, the vast majority of which are maximum-security inmates...
. Judged to be escape risks, they were both incarcerated in high-security Leavenworth Prison, then transferred to higher-security Alcatraz in 1936. The two were given jobs working in the prison's Mat Shop, a facility at the northernmost point of the island, where discarded automobile tires were cut up and converted into rubber mats for the U.S. Navy.
Roe, an Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
bank robber, was originally captured after a shootout with local police and FBI agents in Shawnee, Oklahoma
Shawnee, Oklahoma
Shawnee is a city in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 29,857 at the 2010 census. The city is part of the Oklahoma City-Shawnee Combined Statistical Area; it is also the county seat of Pottawatomie County and the principal city of the Shawnee Micropolitan Statistical...
on December 30, 1933. This same gun battle claimed the life of Roe's partner, Wilbur Underhill. Cole had been given a death sentence
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
by means of an electric chair
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
for his role in the robbery of a bottling works plant in Tulsa, OK.
Escape attempt
On December 16, 1937, a dense fog swept through the San Francisco BaySan Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
, impeding marine traffic and reducing visibility on Alcatraz. At 12:50 p.m., Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe were working in a tire repair shop. A routine headcount showed all prisoners accounted for. At 1:30 p.m., when the guard returned to the shop after inspecting other shops on the island, they were gone. Two iron bars and three heavy glass panes of a window in the shop had a hole eight and three-quarters inches high and 18 inches long. Once through the window, the two slipped down to the gate of a high wire fence during one of the heaviest fogs in years. With a wrench taken from the shop where they had been working they forced the gate lock and dropped twenty feet to the beach. Their trail completely vanished at that point. An exhaustive search of the island revealed nothing.
Ralph Roe and Theodore Cole used cans to keep afloat. Alvin Karpis
Alvin Karpis
Alvin Francis Karpis , nicknamed "Creepy" for his sinister smile, was an American criminal known for his alliance with the Barker gang in the 1930s. He was the last "public enemy" to be taken.-Early life:Karpis was born to Lithuanian immigrants in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and was raised in Topeka,...
watched Cole and Roe make their way into the unusually swift currents of the bay. Suddenly the 5-gallon can which Roe was using as a float, shot straight up into the air. Roe was sucked beneath the surface. Cole was carried out by the rapid current towards the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
and met the same fate, according to Karpis. Karpis then decided never to attempt to escape from the prison by water.
Hampered by the thick fog, guards were able to turn up only one trace of the escapees: an abandoned wrench from the Mat Shop, which had been used to partially dismantle a gate on the outermost fence. An extensive, multi-day search ensued; portions of the island were flooded with tear gas in an attempt to flush out the escapees, with no result.
An investigation concluded that Cole and Roe had prepared for the escape well in advance, using a hacksaw blade to weaken the window bars and disguising the damage with a mixture of grease and shoe polish. After taking advantage of the fog, they entered the water, presumably relying on floats improvised from tires or fuel canisters. There was no evidence to suggest they had constructed or launched a raft.
Prison officials concluded that Cole and Roe's lives ended, by drowning, shortly after their escape. The swift ebb tides at the time, estimated at 7–9 knots, would have swept even an expert swimmer out of the bay and into the Pacific Ocean. The dense fog was so thick that it would have made it almost impossible for outside confederates to pick them up on a boat, nor could the swimmers know whether or not they were swimming toward shore. It is very likely that Roe and Cole did not survive, but their bodies were never found, nor were their floatation devices.
However, police departments in the surrounding counties and the FBI followed up every tip and rumor, with no success. In the following days, months and years, there were various reports of sightings, but their validity is unknown. Sightings included two hitch-hikers, who claimed they had seen Roe and Cole and identified them to police by their photos. A San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
reporter in 1941 declared that the pair were living in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, and a cab
Cab
The word cab has a number of meanings, most of which are abbreviations:In transport:* Cabriolet, a horse-drawn carriage* Taxicab* Cabin * Cab , the driving compartment of a locomotive...
driver in Cole's Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
hometown of Seminole
Seminole, Oklahoma
Seminole is a city in Seminole County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 6,899 at the 2000 census. Seminole experienced a large population growth in the 1920s due to an oil boom...
told police he had been shot by men he recognized as the two escapees. If Roe and Cole somehow did survive their escape, it is highly unlikely that they are still living today as Cole would be 98 years of age and Roe 102.
The Daily newspaper The Seminole Producer reported on June 7, 1939
Oklahoma officers seemed to intentionally try to not identify the escapees as they continued their hijacking spree in the Seminole, Tecumseh
Tecumseh, Oklahoma
Tecumseh is a city in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 6,457 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Tecumseh is located at ....
and Shawnee Oklahoma area. The Seminole Producer reported on June 24, 1939: