Alcatraz documentary premieres tonight in Columbia, Alabama

"Escape to the Wiregrass" to be unveiled!

by Rachael Conrad

The film premieres tonight (Monday, 10/21, 6:30 p.m.) at the
Houston County High School Cafeteria in Columbia, Alabama.

A former dean of Troy University and former Jackson County Sheriff John P. McDaniel are among those who appear in a new documentary set to premiere tonight in Columbia, Alabama!

"Alcatraz: Escape to the Wiregrass" is a feature-length film that explores the links between the Wiregrass area of Southeast Alabama, Southwest Georgia, and Northwest Florida and the 1962 "Escape from Alcatraz." The documentary is funded by Two Egg TV and made possible through the research of historian and author Dale Cox, who produced the film. It unveils new information about the fates of inmates Frank Lee Morris, Clarence Anglin, and John Anglin. The trio paddled their makeshift raft away from Alcatraz prison on June 11, 1962.

Dr. Adair Gilbert, formerly of Chipola College and Troy
University, in a scene from the new documentary.

Among those featured in the program is Dr. Adair Gilbert, Ph.D. As a child, she witnessed the Anglin brothers robbery of the Bank of Columbia, Alabama. Dr. Gilbert later served as Director of Business and Technology at Chipola College and Dean of the School of Business at Troy University. In the documentary, she remembers what she saw from a drugstore across the street where she was enjoying a soda when the infamous robbery took place. 

Columbia historian David Hunter, retired business leaders, and others tell their stories in the documentary - many of them for the first time.

Another recognizable face in the film is that of John P. “Johnny Mac” McDaniel, the retired sheriff of Jackson County, Florida. He unexpectedly became involved in the Alcatraz case many years after the 1962 escape and tells his story on camera for the first time! 

Tourism expert Heather Lopez and historian Dale Cox peer
into the Bank of Columbia building, scene of the 1958
Anglin brothers robbery, during a visit to Columbia, Alabama.

The film breaks new ground in its exploration of possible links between crimes in Marianna, Florida, and Brundidge, Alabama, to the Alcatraz escapees. Both crimes took place AFTER the Alcatraz escape. Jackson County eyewitness Robert Earl Standland remembers a 1963 bank robber in Marianna and historian Dale Cox discusses the Brundidge incident.

Although he now lives near the beloved community of Two Egg, Florida, Cox was born in the same town as the Anglin brothers. He unexpectedly stumbled into a new investigation by the U.S. Marshals Service in the 1980s and shares inside information from the case for the first time. He has researched the Alcatraz escape and what became of the three escapees for thirty years and now tells the whole story of what he has found. Especially compelling are his memories of contacts on several occasions with a man who may have been one of the escapees.

The documentary features locations in Jackson County, Florida; Seminole and Early Counties, Georgia; Houston and Pike Counties, Alabama – not to mention San Francisco, California; Kansas City, Missouri; Brazil, and the Bahamas!

 

“Alcatraz: Escape to the Wiregrass” premiers TONIGHT (Monday, 10/21/2019) at the Houston County High School Cafeteria in Columbia, Alabama. This exclusive, one-time showing takes place at 6:30 p.m. Central/7:30 p.m. Eastern and is appropriate for all ages. Future plans for additional showings will be announced soon.

Two Egg TV is a free, streaming history and travel channel. You can watch on YouTube at www.youtube.com/twoeggtv, online at www.twoeggflorida.com, and on television by adding the Two Egg TV channel to your Roku-enabled smart tv or Roku device. 

Informant claims one of Alcatraz escapees is still alive

Alcatraz Island
Carol Highsmith photo, Library of Congress

An unnamed informant says one of the three men that escaped from Alcatraz prison in 1962 is still alive and "has done a lot of good in the world since escaping."

The claim was made in the wake of the publication earlier this week of a story on a possible connection between the Jackson County town of Greenwood and the 1962 "Escape from Alcatraz." That article included details about how local and federal investigators searched the Greenwood area in 1989-1991 after receiving credible information that two of the men had been living in the vicinity.

Clarence Anglin, 1960 (FBI)

An eyewitness in 1989 said that she knew one of the escapees, Clarence Anglin, and told the U.S. Marshals Service that he was living on a secluded farm near Greenwood, Florida, along with a second man that she thought might be Frank Morris. She did not mention seeing John Anglin, who was Clarence Anglin's older brother and the third participant in the escape. Other eyewitnesses over the years have reported seeing John Anglin as well and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was not able to rule out John as the person who wrote a check to an Alabama store in the 1960s.

Please click here to read the original article: Greenwood and the Alcatraz escape.

The information from the informant is as follows:

Greenwood from the air.

Nice post. Once of these men is still alive, both have lived full good lives that did not include a return by either of them to a life of crime and have raised wonderful families. There are a few details you conveniently left out of your story that reveals more about them on a personal note and circumstances that landed them in Alcatraz. The conditions they experienced were horrible and when given a choice they took a chance as opposed to suffering. Neither ever made excuses for what they did but they have lived good Christian lives and done a lot of good int he world since escaping.
When both have passed on there are arrangements to tell there story for the benefit of others.

John Anglin, 1960 (FBI)

The statement is intriguing because it matches closely with information developed from other sources.

Those sources indicate that the escape was successful and that two of the men succeeded in crossing San Francisco Bay to Angel Island and the Marin Headlands. From there they were picked up by car and eventually made their way back east to their old home turf in the "Wiregrass" area of Southwest Georgia, Southeast Alabama and Northwest Florida.

Other sources also indicate that one of the men has passed away but that one of the escapees remains alive and is now in his 80s, that he has raised a family and that he has avoided further trouble since the time of his escape.

Frank Morris, 1960 (FBI)

The new informant notes that the story posted here earlier this week about a possible Greenwood connection to the escape did not delve into the circumstances that landed the men in Alcatraz. This was due to a space limitation, so look for a more in-depth account on the lives of the three men this Sunday here at http://www.twoegg.blogspot.com.

I normally do not post statements from anonymous informants, but found this one particularly interesting because the information provided matched so closely with what I have been able to learn from other sources.

You can read the original article at http://twoegg.blogspot.com/2014/06/informant-claims-one-of-alcatraz.html.