James Crittenton Lucas (June 11, 1912 – November 28, 1998) was an American

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

who served a

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are c ...

Alcatraz Alcatraz Island () is a small island about 1.25 miles offshore from San Francisco in San Francisco Bay, California, near the Golden Gate Strait. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fo ...

. He is best known for being part of an attempted escape from Alcatraz Penitentiary in 1938, and for attacking

Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone ( ; ; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American organized crime, gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-foun ...

in the prison's laundry room on June 23, 1936.

Biography

Lucas was originally sentenced to thirty years' imprisonment for robbing First National Bank in Albany, Texas, and violation of the Dyer Act (interstate trafficking of stolen vehicles). He arrived at Alcatraz in January 1935 from the Texas State Prison and was known there as James "Texas Bank Robber" Lucas.

Attack on Capone

On June 23, 1936, Lucas stabbed

in the back with a pair of scissors from the prison barber shop. Capone had been working in the laundry area away. Lucas was sent to solitary confinement for his attack on Capone. After being stabbed, Capone turned and grabbed Lucas and threw him into the wall. The inmates were angry with Capone for not taking part in an inmate strike.

Alcatraz escape attempt

In the spring of 1938, James Lucas, Thomas R. Limerick and Rufus Franklin planned an escape from Alcatraz. Their escape plan began by incapacitating an unarmed guard supervising a work detail on the top floor. Once the supervisor was rendered unconscious, the convicts would escape through a window to the rooftop, where they would incapacitate an armed guard and leave the island via a seized police boat. They enacted their escape plan on May 23, 1938, in the prison's mat shop, where they assaulted Custodial Officer Royal Cline with hammer blows to his head. They proceeded to the roof, where armed guard Harold Stites (who was later killed in the 1946 Battle of Alcatraz) shot both Franklin and Limerick, although Lucas wasn't shot. Other guards arrived at the scene. Franklin, Limerick, and Lucas were cornered and surrendered to the guards. Cline died of his injuries the next day, and Thomas Limerick, the other wounded convict, also died. Lucas and the other surviving convict, Rufus Franklin, were tried for murder and sentenced to life

imprisonment Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...

, after the jury spared them from execution. Lucas spent six years in isolation for the incident. He was transferred a few years later, and paroled in 1958. After having a brief stay in prison at

McNeil Island McNeil Island is an island in the Northwestern United States, in south Puget Sound southwest of Tacoma, Washington. With a land area of , it lies in an area of many inhabited small islands, including Anderson Island (Washington), Anderson Island ...

for parole violation, he was given a presidential commutation of sentence by

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

in 1970 and released. He later worked in the oil business and died on November 28, 1998.

References

External links

Alcatraz Archive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, James C. 1912 births 1998 deaths Inmates of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary American bank robbers American people convicted of murder American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment People convicted of murder by the United States federal government Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States federal government People paroled from life sentence Recipients of American presidential clemency

Biography

Attack on Capone

Alcatraz escape attempt

See also

References

External links