The Tablespoon Trio

All three were complete scoundrels--men of violence, bank robbers and chronic, accomplished escape artists, serving 10-15 years in Alcatraz. the U.S.'s famed maximum-security prison island in San Francisco Bay. They were also men of determination and ingenuity, and they may have become the first ever to successfully escape from The Rock.

The convicts were Frank Lee Morris, 35, and brothers John Anglin. 32, and Clarence Anglin, 31. With an IQ of 133,* ;Morris was undoubtedly the trio's mastermind--and to escape from Alcatraz he had need for real, if perverted, intelligence. The island got its name--Isla de los Alcatraces, meaning Isle of the Pelicans -- from the 18th century Spaniards, and only pelicans have ever been free to come and go easily. At one time Alcatraz held military prisoners; later it became a domicile for such eminent civilians as Al Capone and "Machine Gun" Kelly. Many have tried to escape, but all were either killed or recaptured, save for three, in 1937. who almost certainly drowned in the strong tidal currents of the bay.

In their attempt, Morris and the Anglins took infinite pains. They stole tablespoons from the mess hall, removed the metal grills from the air vents in their cell walls, and night after night, between the guards' hourly bed checks, gouged the crumbly plaster and concrete from the vent. During the days, they kept the holes covered with cardboard grills that they had painted to resemble the original metal. They carefully collected the powdered concrete and plaster that they chipped away and each day scattered it during their outdoor exercise period.

Over the Top. Then, one night last week, the three made their break just after the 9:30 bed check. They stuffed pillows into their cots, topped them off with crude but passable dummy heads fashioned from plaster, paint, and hair scraps that they had gathered from the prison barber shop. The holes in the wall were only 10 in. by 14 in., and though the shoulders of the three men were as broad as 17 in., they pushed through into a little-used utility corridor behind the cell wall. From there, they climbed up a 30-ft. pipe to an air-conditioning vent, pried it loose and squeezed through to the roof. By now they were in full view of the guardpost at the No. 1 tower at the northern end of the prison compound.

But no one saw them as they scuttled 100 ft. across the roof, and then slid 40 ft. down an outside drainpipe that was bathed by searchlights. Finally, they scaled a 15-ft. control fence topped with barbed wire, worked their way to the northeast corner of the island to the water's edge.

All through the night, the guards made their rounds. At 7:15 next morning, the 264 remaining Alcatraz inmates stood at their cell doors to be counted. It was then that the dummies were discovered.

Sirens wailed and radios chattered. With in hours, scores of armed hunters with bloodhounds were tramping over The Rock, and boats searched the bay area.

One Lesson. Prison authorities theorized that the three had died in the water while trying to reach uninhabited Angel Island, 11 miles from The Rock. From a fourth prisoner, who had also dug himself a hole in his wall but had backed out, officials learned that the escapees had planned to use inflated prison raincoats as flotation equipment. The convicts had hoped to make it to Angel Island, and from there in the same fashion to Marin County on the mainland, where they planned to burgle a clothing store. But after experimenting with this equipment, prison authorities found that the rain coats could give little or no support in the water. They discovered a crudely fashioned paddle floating 200 yds. from Angel Island. And no Marin County clothing store reported any thefts.

Still, unless and until the bodies bob up in the water, there would remain the possibility of a successful escape. One woman, for example, reported seeing three men on a raft; police gave it a good try, but found neither men nor raft. And, as for the chagrined officials of Alcatraz, they had learned at least one lesson from the tablespoon trio: start counting the silver before, not after, the guests leave.

* "Genius'' rating: 140.

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