Home >
1936 McAlester prison break... Hindenburg airship...
1936 McAlester prison break... Hindenburg airship...
Item # 721331
May 14, 1936
THE KNICKERBOCKER PRESS, Albany, May 14, 1936
* McAlester, Oklahoma prison convicts break
* Hindenburg - LZ-129 zeppelin - airship
* Returns home after 1st American visit
The top of the front page has a one column heading: "1 SLAIN, 11 SHOT IN WILD BREAK BY 24 CONVICTS" with subhead. (see images)
The front page has another one column heading: "ZEPPELIN ARRIVES AT GERMAN BASE" with subhead.
Complete in 20 pages, light toning at the margins, some small binding slits along the spine, generally nice.
AI notes: In May 1936, the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester experienced a violent prison break that highlighted severe security vulnerabilities. Around noon, inmates working in the prison brickyard armed themselves with makeshift knives and attacked several guards, quickly overpowering them and forcing some toward a guard tower, where additional personnel were coerced into surrendering firearms. The inmates then crowded into a car in an attempt to escape, prompting guards to open fire. The confrontation resulted in the deaths of brickyard foreman Charles D. Powell and Warden Jess Dunn, while other officers and several inmates were wounded. Although a dozen or more inmates initially fled, most were quickly recaptured, and the incident exposed the dangers of outdoor work areas, inadequate supervision, and insufficient preparedness for coordinated inmate violence, prompting scrutiny of penitentiary operations and security protocols in Oklahoma.
Category: The 20th Century
Available Now
$48.00
