OCR Text |
Show - . . . . . - . 2 FELQriS FLEE from u -s. isle priso;m;i fog S. ' F. Bay Patrolled for Desperadoes , . in Break SAN FRANCISCO, Dee. 17 (AP) Alcatru island authorities authori-ties inclined more and mora to- day to 'the belief two desperadoes despera-does who tried to gain freedom from the "escape-proof federal . prison met death In tha cold waters of San Francisco bay. 11m ieaaa fee which aiiislhaul tha is acta rack and smroaael-Ing smroaael-Ing territory wbea tha anea leak their tone "lamMer-a chanee yesterday, lifted slightly eeday, faHUtattng- tha aaarch far tha bodies etfldaJs expected ta Bad. Author! tiee agreed there waa only one chance in a thousand that Ralph ; Hoe, zs-year-ald bandit front Duncan. Dun-can. Okla. and Theodore Cole, 25, Stroud, Okla, kidnaper, still lived. They had been missing sines shortly short-ly after Boon Thursday whea they escaped tram their machine shop by breaking a window and, hidden by the thickest fog mt tha winter, . made their way to tha outside fence and jimmied a fata. Only fasaiWUtr ' There la a possibility, said Warden War-den James A. Johnston, "that tha men are still hidden on tha Island. . But It hi only a possibility. Tide-carved Tide-carved caves on the Island have beea searched repeatedly and thoroughly. It la more probable the men eecsped into the hay." Tha nearest point of land ta tha Island prison la ens and one-quarter miles away. Tba tide yesterday's yester-day's was ana ef tha highest of the year sweeps past A lea Iras with tremendous force. Warden Johnston John-ston said it would have beea virtually vir-tually Impossible for tha convicts to swim to safety. "Even If they onoa had beea proficient pro-ficient swimmers," be said, "they would have been unable to make It because thsy havea't dona any swimming for some years." Patrol Bay Coast guard and police boats patrolled tha bay, while oa shore augmented police foroes kept close watch for ths fugitives. Further search of tha island also was planned. "If they went Into tha water,' Johnston said, "it waa a long gambler's gam-bler's chance. I don't see how anybody any-body could make It There waa driftwood in the tide and I could sea it swirling out It went out at high speed, turning over and ever. "The tide would have ewept shorn right out the Golden Gate Into tha sea. "I don't see that the men had any chance of clicking if they hoped ta reach a prearranged boat standing out of sight I don't think thsy eon id have got to the boat" He recalled boats were unable ta reach a soldier lost off near-by Angel An-gel island a few weeks ago. He waa carried by the rushing tide through ths Golden Gate into the Paetfis ocean. His body waa recovered a few days later. "If they got off the Island." earn-mented earn-mented Inspector Max Rssnlk, "they're probably out to the Far-allons Far-allons by now." 25 Mlka Out The Farallon Islands are 25 miles from the Golden Gate. The desperate nature of the con-vlcte con-vlcte Alcatraa la the Devil's island for America's most hardened criminals crim-inals and Cole's repeated attempts to escape from other prisons, lent credence to the theory they took a desperate chance in the waters of San Francisco bay. Each faced a virtual life term on "the rock." Former fellow prisoners recalled that shortly after be was sentenced to 50 years on Alcatraa for kidnaping kidnap-ing J. A. Rutherford, Oklahoma pipeline worker, Cole remarked ha would not stay on the Island sang enough to be bored. In the three years since Alcatraa became a federal penitentiary, eon-victe eon-victe have escaped from It only la death. Lifting of the fog around tha Island Is-land aided searching coast guard and police boats early today. They cruised around arsas where currents cur-rents would have carried the men If they had attempted ta swim or pilot a email boat or raft Ponce and sheriffs deputies patrolled al ef the aear-bjr share. I ' 1 |