When Scarface Capone and Machine Gun Kelly Held Up. Father Damien

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1 An abridged version of this story ran in AMERICA Magazine under the title ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ When Scarface Capone and Machine Gun Kelly Held Up Father Damien By Daniel J. Demers Copyright 2014 All Rights Reserved February 11, 1936 was a gray and dreary day in San Francisco. The army transport ship Republic arrived from Honolulu that afternoon at Fort Mason, just inside the entrance to the bay. The ship passed under the Golden Gate Bridge, then under construction. It would be opened to traffic the following year. In the ship s hold was the body of Father Joseph Damien the leper priest. Damien s remains were being taken back to his native Belgium at the request of King Leopold III. Pope Pius XI had notified the King that Damien was to be considered for sainthood in the Church. The King had contacted President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, asking for his assistance in the move. Roosevelt, in turn, had the body lifted from its grave on Father Damien the Island of Molokai in the then Hawaiian-Territory and promptly ordered the troop ship to prepare to transport the body. Damien was born in Tremeloo, Belgium, in While Civil War raged in the United States, the Roman Catholic missionary priest arrived in the Kingdom of Hawaii in April of In 1868, the King of Hawaii ordered all leprosy victims quarantined and expelled them to an isolated 800-acre tract on the island of Molokai known as Kalaupapa. As was widely known within the island kingdom, the settlement had fallen into civil disarray due to a shortage of supplies, food and medical treatment. In 1873 Damien volunteered to spiritually serve the leprosy patients at the colony. He is credited with organizing the populous into a community overseeing and participating in the construction of housing, a hospital and church. He publicized the terrible plight of the victims torn from their homes and families. His efforts received worldwide recognition and, as a result, he was able to garner large donations of money and supplies, which 1

2 enhanced the living conditions at the colony. He ministered to the lepers for twelve years before he himself contracted and succumbed to the disease. He died at the Kalaupapa settlement in He was 49. The remains of the holy man were taken from the ship in a procession normally reserved for a deceased ambassador. The cortege which wound its way through San Francisco was composed of thousands of Catholic clergy, the Belgian Consul-General and U.S. federal, state and city officials, Belgian World War I veterans living in San Francisco, ordinary citizens and a full military honor guard. Damien s body lay in state at St. Mary s Cathedral under an around-the-clock military guard provided at Roosevelt s direction. The public was invited to pay their respects to the hero-priest. A series of religious rites were performed during Damien s five-day stay in the City including masses and eulogies by the Archbishop and high-ranking clergymen. With the ship safely docked and its precious cargo unloaded, the crew was given shore leave. As was the custom at the time, the ship s laundry was transported to the nearest federal prison for processing in this instance Alcatraz. But therein lay the rub. The prison was in lock down due to a riot a few days earlier as the result of a flubbed surgery that had left a prisoner dead. Jack Allen, a prisoner on the island, was known to prison medical authorities as a faker who often appeared in sick lines when he apparently was not ill. On February 7 th he reported to the hospital complaining of painful stomach symptoms. The on-duty physician, Dr. Jess Jacobsen, because of Allen s history of hypochondria, initially ignored the patient s complaints. When an operation was finally performed, Jacobsen discovered a stomach ulcer that had ruptured. Allen subsequently died. The incident resulted in the physician becoming the target of catcalls by the inmates. The catcalls led to a prison riot, which the local press sensationalized one calling the incident the Mad Mutiny and another the Revolt on the Rock. The melee forced the warden to order a lock down. Compounding the seething unrest Al Capone 2

3 were extraordinary precautions, which had to be taken to protect Al Scarface Capone and George Machine Gun Kelly, both of whom had refused to participate in the prison riot. The mutineers had branded them as rats for their refusal to join in the uprising. Leaders of the uprising were Ludwig Dutch Schmidt and Norman the Fox Whitaker. Schmidt was a notorious mail truck robber who federal authorities had transferred to Alcatraz after he had escaped from a federal prison in Atlanta. In one internal report, the FBI noted Schmidt was a leader and dangerous criminal and a dangerous influence on other prisoners. Whittaker was an international chess master and notorious thief who had been implicated in the Lindberg kidnapping case. He was serving a fifteen-year sentence. Schmidt and Whitaker were being held in solitary confinement in the prison dungeon. An additional 65 other prisoners who had participated were confined to their cells. The result of the redundant incarceration of the participating prisoners was that prison industries were being hampered by the number of men confined to their cells. According to prison officials, handling of the large shipment of laundry from the army transport Republic was expected to be delayed. The Republic was on a tight schedule. It was to continue its voyage to the Panama Canal. There, Father Damien s body was to be transferred to the Belgium ship Mercator, which would take the venerated remains on to the port of Antwerp. The problem was resolved when Alcatraz warden, James A. Johnson, announced the transfer of Dr. Jacobsen to a Marine hospital in Seattle which relieved the strained conditions amongst the prison population. Still, delivery of the laundry was nearly twelve hours late forcing a delay of the Republic s scheduled departure. The Machine Gun Kelly Dutch Schmidt Fox Whitaker Captain of the Republic was able to make up the lost time during the voyage by sailing at full steam. The ship s transiting of the Panama Canal was also expedited by canal 3

4 authorities, advancing her to the head of the line of waiting ships. The casket containing the leper martyr s body was transferred to the Mercator at Colon, Panama Canal Zone. Father Damien was finally buried in Belgium on May 6, His long trek home had finally ended. When he was laid to rest, one newspaper speculated that the memory of his deeds in Hawaii caring for the lepers might lead to his eventually being enshrined in sainthood. When Damien was removed from Hawaii in 1936, it was done so amidst the wails and lamentations of the Hawaiian people who considered him one of their own. In 1995, Pope John Paul II presented the bones of the Damien s right hand to a delegation of Hawaiians. The relic was returned to Damien s grave on Molokai. Father Damien was canonized a saint on October 11, Sources: Martyr s Tribute, Asked by King, Roosevelt Agrees, San Francisco Chronicle, December 8, 1935, 10. S. F. To Join in Tribute to Heroic Priest, San Francisco Chronicle, February 9, 1936, 8. Father Damien, Editorial, San Francisco Chronicle, February 10, 1936, 10. Damien s Body Due Today on Army Vessel, San Francisco Chronicle, February 10, 1936, 13. Life of Leper Priest Reveals Crown of Thorns, San Francisco Examiner, February 11, 1936, 2. Homage Paid Leper Martyr, San Francisco Call Bulletin, February 11, 1936, 2. Alcatraz Dr. Sent North in Strife, San Francisco Examiner, February 11, 1936, 2 S. F. Pays Fr. Damien Tribute, San Francisco Chronicle, February 11, 1936, 9. Thousands Pay Tribute at Bier of Fr. Damien, San Francisco Chronicle, February 12, 1936, 15. Father Damien at 33 Cast His Lot With Lepers, San Francisco Call Bulletin, February 12, 1936, 2. Priest s Work Makes Life Brighter on Leper Isle, San Francisco Call Bulletin, February 13, 1936, 5. Juror Knew Father Damien 50 years Ago, San Francisco Call Bulletin, February 13, 1936, 5. Father Damien Gets Leprosy, Keeps Work to End, San Francisco Call Bulletin, February 14, 1936, 3. Father Damien s Heroism, Editorial, San Francisco Chronicle, February 14, 1936, 12. Damien Ship Rites Today, San Francisco Chronicle, February 14, 1936, 34. Final Tribute Paid Fr. Damien, Thousands Attend Services at St. Mary s Cathedral, San Francisco Chronicle, February 15, 1936, 26. 4

5 Father Burke s Eulogy of Damien, San Francisco Chronicle, February 15, 1936, 26. U. S. Transport Bears Body of Martyr Priest, San Francisco Chronicle, February 16, 1936, 14. Father Damien Buried in Belgium, San Francisco Chronicle, May 7, 1936, 28. Infamous Inmates of Alcatraz, Warren G. Harding and Norman T. Whitaker, Father Damien, a Lasting Legacy, 5