Stroud, Robert. (1890-1963) "The Bird Man of Alcatraz". American criminal, a convicted murderer who became a self-taught ornithologist during his 54 years in prison, 42 of them in solitary confinement, and made notable contributions to the study of birds. While living with a dance-hall girl in Juneau, Alaska, Stroud got into an argument with a man over the girl and subsequently killed him. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years in prison in Puget Sound (1909). After stabbing a fellow inmate and proving generally troublesome, Stroud was transferred to the infamous Leavenworth Prison in Kansas (1912). He continued his loner ways but began to educate himself through university extension courses. On March 26, 1916 he stabbed and killed a guard and was sentenced to be executed by hanging; but on April 15, 1920, President Woodrow Wilson commuted his sentence to life imprisonment in solitary confinement. It was during this time that Stroud began raising canaries and other birds, collecting laboratory equipment, and studying the diseases of birds and their breeding and care. Some of his research was smuggled out of prison and published. In 1943, Stroud's Digest on the Diseases of Birds was published and became an important work in the field of ornithology.
Autograph Letter Signed. Two pages, recto/verso, Quarto, Alcatraz, Ca. June 25, 1954. A personal letter written to Marie E. Stroud of Metropolis, Ill. In it, Stroud discusses the hot weather that both parties are experiencing, the status of a book that another party is writing, the economy and McCarthy. Fine.
Estimated Value $300-400.
