Robert Stroud

Robert Stroud

Biography
Robert Stroud was born in Seattle, Washington, on January 28, 1890. He was the first child from his parents’ matrimony, with two half-sisters from his mother’s previous marriage. His father, Ben Stroud, was abusive, and his mother, Elizabeth, was unable to protect them from his alcoholic rages. He worked odd jobs around the country after leaving home at thirteen. Robert met thirty-six-year-old Kitty O’Brien in Cordova, Alaska when he was eighteen. She was a prostitute and a dance-hall entertainer at the time. They started a relationship and moved to the state capital, Juneau.

Murder
On January 18, 1909, an acquaintance of Kitty and Robert named F.K. “Charlie” Von Dahmer arrived at their house while Robert was away at work. He then exploited and brutally beat Kitty. When Robert returned home and found Kitty beaten, he shot and killed Charlie. He was sentenced to twelve years at McNeil Island Penitentiary in Seattle.

Trial
Robert was disorderly and violent during his stay in prison. While at McNeil, he stabbed another inmate for accusing him of stealing food. On another occasion, he assaulted an orderly who reported him for trying to get drugs by way of threats and intimidation. His behavior resulted in his transference to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas on September 5, 1912. At Leavenworth, he had plenty of room to develop his education. In 1915, Stroud was diagnosed with Bright’s disease, a painful affliction which can result in kidney disease and high blood pressure. The next year, he stabbed a prison guard named Andrew Turner in the prison cafeteria with a homemade knife. Turner had reported him for breach of silence. On May 27, 1916, Stroud was sentenced to death by hanging, but his mother worked and campaigned against his death. An appeal to President Woodrow Wilson finally led to the commutation of Robert’s sentence to life imprisonment, and he was never allowed parole.
In June of 1920, Stroud came across a nest of baby sparrows in the exercise yard. He took them to his cell and cared for them. He later bred and sold birds, mostly canaries. Robert was transferred to Alcatraz Prison in December of 1942, and was no longer allowed to keep birds. He was moved to a criminal medical center in Springfield, Missouri in 1959. He died there on November 21, 1963 at seventy-three years old.

-page author: Kyle
-left photo courtesy of http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/
-right photo courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/