Criminal. A native of Austria, Bowers was arrested for a post office robbery in 1931 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. After spending some time at McNeil Island Penitentiary and later Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, he was transferred to the newly opened Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in 1934. Believed by many inmates to have gone insane, he attempted to commit suicide in his cell a year after his arrival. On April 27, 1936, he was assigned to work at the prison's garbage incinerator when, for unknown reasons, he suddenly began climbing a nearby fence. Prison guards, assuming that he was trying to escape, opened fire in the attempt to stop him. Bowers was hit, knocked off the fence, and fell 60 feet down the cliff behind it to his death. He is considered to be the first federal prisoner to attempt to escape from Alcatraz.
Criminal. A native of Austria, Bowers was arrested for a post office robbery in 1931 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. After spending some time at McNeil Island Penitentiary and later Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, he was transferred to the newly opened Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in 1934. Believed by many inmates to have gone insane, he attempted to commit suicide in his cell a year after his arrival. On April 27, 1936, he was assigned to work at the prison's garbage incinerator when, for unknown reasons, he suddenly began climbing a nearby fence. Prison guards, assuming that he was trying to escape, opened fire in the attempt to stop him. Bowers was hit, knocked off the fence, and fell 60 feet down the cliff behind it to his death. He is considered to be the first federal prisoner to attempt to escape from Alcatraz.
Bio by: G.Photographer
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Records on Ancestry
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