Bird Man; The Many Faces of Robert Stroud

Berkeley, California: Ariel Vamp Press, 1994. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Trade paperback. Very good. [8], 327, [1] pages. Illustrated front end page. Signed by the author, Jolene Babyak, on the title page. Includes Introduction, as well as Part I, Grand Illusion; Part II, The Prevailing Winds; Part III, Meet "John Pain"; Part 1V, Cage Bird; Part V, Cell House Suite; Part VI, The Birdman of Alcatraz; Part VII, Broken Promises; Part VIII, Marketing the Birdman. Also includes Epilogue, Source Notes, Bibliography, Acknowledgments, and Index. 23 black and white photographs appear following page 184. Meticulously researched, with never-before-published prison reports and Stroud's own writings, as well as quotes from prisoners, officers, psychologist and avian pathologists, Birdman explodes the myths surrounding Robert Stroud. Jolene Babyak lived on Alcatraz while her father, Arthur M. Dollison, was an administrator and an associate warden. A feature-writer and book reviewer for many years, Jolene Babyak's previous best-selling book, Eyewitness on Alcatraz, is a lively, compelling look at life on the notorious federal prison island. During the '50s and early '60s, Babyak was among the 75 or so children who lived on Alcatraz because their fathers worked at the prison. Babyak's father, Arthur Dollison, headed the prison's work programs, later served as associate warden, and was in charge the morning of the famed escape from Alcatraz in 1962. Her biography of the "Bird Man" challenges the image of him as a sympathetic amateur ornithologist. To Babyak, he was a "raw avowed psychopath who murdered two men" and who actually raised his canaries in another federal prison, not Alcatraz. A genius? A scientist? A sociopath? Known to millions as the "Birdman" of Alcatraz, was he the earnest, warm-hearted "bird doctor" and writer of two books, as portrayed by Burt Lancaster in the 1962 film? Or was he a far more flamboyant and diabolical double-murderer, whose event-filled, tragicomic life converted a 12-year conviction into a 54-year death sentence? .--From publisher description. Robert Franklin Stroud (January 28, 1890 - November 21, 1963), known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz", was a convicted murderer, American federal prisoner and author who has been cited as one of the most notorious criminals in the United States. During his time at Leavenworth Penitentiary, he reared and sold birds and became a respected ornithologist, although regulations did not allow him to keep birds at Alcatraz, where he was incarcerated from 1942 to 1959. Stroud was never released from the federal prison system; he was imprisoned from 1909 to his death in 1963. Born in Seattle, Washington, Stroud ran away from his abusive father at the age of 13, and by the time he was 18, he had become a pimp in the Alaska Territory. In January 1909, he shot and killed a bartender who attacked his mistress, a crime for which he was sentenced to 12 years in the federal penitentiary on McNeil Island in Puget Sound. Stroud gained a reputation as a dangerous inmate who frequently had confrontations with fellow inmates and staff, and in 1916, he stabbed and killed a guard. Stroud was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by hanging, but after several trials his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in solitary confinement. In 1920, while in solitary confinement at Leavenworth, Stroud discovered a nest with three injured sparrows in the prison yard. He cared for them and within a few years had acquired a collection of about 300 canaries. He began extensive research into birds after being granted equipment by a prison-reforming warden. Stroud wrote Diseases of Canaries, which was smuggled out of Leavenworth and published in 1933, as well as a later edition (1943). He made important contributions to avian pathology, most notably a cure for the hemorrhagic septicemia family of diseases, gaining much respect and some level of sympathy among ornithologists and farmers. Stroud ran a successful business from inside prison, but his activities infuriated the prison staff, and he was eventually transferred to Alcatraz in 1942 after it was discovered that Stroud had been secretly making alcohol using some of the equipment in his cell. Stroud began serving a 17-year term at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on December 19, 1942, and became inmate #594. In 1943, he was assessed by psychiatrist Romney M. Ritchey, who diagnosed him as a psychopath, with an I.Q. of 112. Stripped of his birds and equipment, he wrote a history of the penal system.