Ok, so maybe its only an interesting date. But today is the day that Robert Stroud was arrested in Juneau.

And who, do you say, was Robert Stroud? Read on.


Robert Stroud had a "disagreement" with a man who had beaten his girlfriend, a prostitute. He shot him. Stroud was, at the time, only 19. He was sent first to McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary in Washington. Alaska was, at the time, still a territory and so came under federal law.


He was later sent to Leavenworth, where he killed a prison guard. Three trials later he was sentenced to be executed. However, his mother intervened and President Woodrow Wilson signed an order of clemency. Stroud was sentenced to life. The prison superintendent placed him in isolation. This is the pen in which he kept his birds, having 100 to 200 of them in a cell next to him. During this time, he wrote two books on birds and their diseases. He also concocted several medicines to heal them. Whether they were effective is still the subject of debate.


After many years, Stroud was transferred to Alcatraz; however, he was never allowed to keep birds at Alcatraz. He did, however, start studying law in hopes of obtaining his release from prison. His efforts were to no avail. He wrote a couple of books here dealing with the law and the prison system.


While at Alcatraz, he became very ill, and, in 1959, he was transferred to a maximum-security hospital prison in Springfield, Missouri. There he died on November 21, 1963. He was 73 and had served 54 years in the prison system.


All this because a man beat up the 37-year old girlfriend of a 19-year old man in Juneau, who later became known as the Birdman of Alcatraz--even if he should more accurately be known as the Birdman of Leavenworth. .


If all this has peaked your interest, the best and most complete article on-line that I've seen is at


http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/stroud/index.html.

Young Mr. Stroud

Very interesting Dan. Thanks for sharing that tidbit of history.

Very interesting to me, as we live in the bay area and never quite knew the story of The Birdman. Thanks!

Cool stuff, Dan. Thanks for sharning that bit of history