Juliana Goodwin

Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader

Robert Stroud wrote the manuscripts while he was in prison at Alcatraz

One was the history of the prison system through his eyes%3B the other was an autobiography

The works are explicit in places%3B they also reveal his homosexuality

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The Birdman of Alcatraz died 50 years ago behind bars at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners here.

But Robert Stroud's voice is about to be heard.

When Stroud was moved to the "Fed Med" in 1959, the well-known prisoner brought two manuscripts he had penned: Looking Outward, a book about the history of the prison system and his experience in it; and Bobbie, an autobiography.

While in Alcatraz, he was forbidden to publish the books. He tried again when he was moved to Springfield and was denied once again.

In 1962 — the same year a movie about his experience with birds was released to theaters — Stroud filed a lawsuit in Springfield against the Bureau of Prisons for violating his freedom of speech rights.

Dudley Martin of Springfield represented Stroud at no charge. Stroud died before a decision was made in the case, and his manuscripts went into probate.

The manuscripts were handwritten on legal pads available from the prison commissary. His penmanship is precise, almost delicate. The pages are weathered — some have water stains — but here Stroud's life experiences unfold.

Martin spent 21 years fighting for the manuscripts before he obtained them through the court system. It took another 29 years before he released Part 1 of Looking Outward, A Voice From the Grave.

It is the first installment of a five-part e-book series.

Martin, now 80, also sold the book's movie rights to St. Louis-based Coolfire Studios, which specializes in cable-TV projects. Two of its notable series include Sweetie Pies and Fast N Loud.

James Cornwell, a Springfield publisher and author who worked with Martin on the project, said they were not given a timeline of when the manuscripts might be turned into a series, but they were "excited about the interest."

One reason it took so long for publication: Publishers initially were afraid of being sued.

"The statute of limitations has run out, and no one can complain. Oh, Grandma can holler, but she can't bring a lawsuit," Martin said.

Stroud: The early years

Robert Stroud was born Jan. 28, 1890. He was raised — and is buried — in Metropolis, Ill.

At the turn of the 20th century, he moved to Alaska territory, where he became a pimp. When one of his prostitutes was badly beaten, Stroud killed the man who hurt her, Martin said. (Some historical accounts say Stroud killed the man for not paying the woman.)

"That wasn't unusual in Alaska at that time, but there was a new judge in town and he vowed to clean up crime," Martin said.

In 1909, Stroud was charged with manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years. He was 19. Initially, he served time in Washington state but then was transferred to Leavenworth, a federal penitentiary in Kansas.

A historical gem that Cornwell and Martin recently discovered in Stroud's documents were Stroud's early hand-drawn maps of Leavenworth.

"We didn't even know we had them. He drew these maps pretty much to scale," Cornwell said.

Stroud had a third-grade education, but he was very intelligent and taught himself to read German and French.

While Burt Lancaster would later portray him on film as a reformed, mild-mannered man, Stroud had serious rage issues.

In 1916 while at Leavenworth, Stroud killed a prison guard in the mess hall.

"He was a psychopath," Cornwell said. "He killed a man with his bare hands in the chow hall."

Stroud received a death sentence for the murder.

In 1920, President Woodrow Wilson commuted the death sentence to life in prison after Stroud's mother begged that her son's life be spared. However, Stroud would live out most of his life in solitary confinement, first in Leavenworth and eventually in Alcatraz.

How Martin became his lawyer

At 20, Martin was in the Army and stationed in Maryland. The father of his good friend was a lawyer and took pro bono cases several times a year to help people.

"That stuck with me," Martin said.

When Martin returned to Springfield, he told his parents he wanted to be a newspaper man. They told him he would starve to death.

So he became a lawyer, and he never forgot the importance of giving back through his work.

"I defended blacks for free at a time when they were looked down upon," he said. "I took several cases a year at no charge."

And that's how he met Stroud.

Martin heard that Stroud was trying to publish his manuscripts and that the prison system was fighting it. His lawyer was in California when Stroud was transferred from Alcatraz to Springfield.

"I called his lawyer in California and said 'Are you licensed to practice law in Missouri?' He said 'No.' I said, 'Well, I am,' " Martin, recalled, waving his hand. "He said, 'What will you charge?' I said, 'Nothing.' "

Martin met Stroud only once.

"They brought him in; he was a great big, tall man. He said 'Thank you, Mr. Martin' and shook my hand. That's about all he said," Martin said.

The lawyer representing the prison system asked that the book be barred from publication because it contained a lot of lewd content pertaining to sex in prisons, Martin said.

"The judge said, 'There have been many important books written by people in prison. I don't know if this is important or not.' So the judge decided to keep the manuscripts in the custody of the court, read them, and then give his decision," Martin said.

But Stroud died 11 months later on Nov. 21, 1963, before the judge's decision. Stroud's belongings went into probate, and the manuscripts were sent to Jackson County in Kansas City.

Martin set out to be appointed administrator of Stroud's will. He eventually was named administrator, and after more than 20 years, the manuscripts were handed over to Martin.

That was in 1984.

Martin hired the same publicist used by Thomas E. Gaddis, who wrote the biography and screenplay for Birdman of Alcatraz, the film that made Stroud famous.

They sent the manuscripts off to all the big publishing houses in New York.

"And they all had the same response. They said 'We'd love to publish it, but we'll get sued. Stroud is the only person that can verify this, and he's dead. He said Warden so-and-so was taking bribes; Guard so-and-so was a sadist who liked to whip prisoners,' " Martin said.

These people were still alive and still employed in the prison system. In addition, the book has graphic sexual content.

So in 1985, Martin put the manuscripts in storage.

He was disappointed.

"But more than that, I thought this information should be available to the public. They think the prison system is OK. It doesn't transform prisoners; it makes them worse," Martin said.

Bobbie, an autobiography

In addition to Looking Outward, Stroud wrote Bobbie, an autobiography so titled because it's the name his mother called him.

"He was 23 hours a day inside, one hour outside. He wanted to feel like it was some kind of real life. I think that is why he wrote Bobbie," Cornwell said.

But if all you know about the man is Burt Lancaster's portrayal in the movie, these books will shed light on the real man, not the Hollywood version.

In real life, Stroud never had birds at Alcatraz, where he was transferred in 1942.

"I guess Birdman of Leavenworth didn't sound good. Alcatraz sounded better," Martin said.

Stroud spent nearly 30 years in Leavenworth, studying birds for the first 15 years before being ordered to give them up, according to the History Channel. During that time, he raised nearly 300 birds in his cells and learned about their habits and physiology, according to alcatrazhistory.com.

Making strides in ornithology, he wrote the book Diseases of Canaries, published in 1933, and in 1943 published Digest of the Diseases of Birds, a 500-page text that included his own illustrations.

He even developed medicines for various bird ailments that veterinarians used, Cornwell said.

While he was allowed to have microscopes and equipment in Leavenworth, they eventually were taken away because guards said he used some of the equipment to brew alcohol.

Stroud had a wife but said in his manuscripts that he was homosexual. That was never mentioned in Gaddis' 1955 book because it was too controversial at the time, but Stroud is open about it in his writings, Cornwell said.

While stories in the books Looking Outward and Bobbie are told through Stroud's perspective, he doesn't glorify himself, said Cornwell, whom Martin approached in 2009. Cornwell's expertise is actually in cookbooks and children's books.

First, the two researched the market to see if people would be interested in Stroud's writings and then were in negotiations with Coolfire Studios on the movie rights, but the deal fell apart. They then decided to publish an e-book and Coolfire contacted them again about buying the rights, which they sold at the end of last year.

"It was quite an undertaking," Martin said. "We're excited about providing access to it."

U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners

The U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Mo., has housed many famous prisoners including Joseph Bonanno of the Bonanno crime family, Vito Genovese and Vincent Gigante of the Genovese crime family, John Gotti of the Gambino crime family, race car driver Randy Lanier, drug trafficker Michael Riconosciuto, and terrorists Omar Abdel Rahman and Jose Padilla (for a short time).

The prison, which opened in 1933, was originally called The U.S. Federal Medical Center for Defective Delinquents.

Springfield was chosen as an ideal spot for a prison hospital because of its central location in the country, according to early newspaper accounts.

Under increasing deadline pressure, residents of Springfield, Ozark, Marshfield and elsewhere donated $142,000 to purchase a tract of land destined to house a new federal prison hospital, according to The Springfield (Mo.) Daily News in an April 1931 article.

Early prisoners worked a farm situated on the grounds but farming there ceased in 1966. Today, the medical prison houses nearly 1,000 prisoners.

Sources: Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader archives; Bureau of Prisons

Manuscripts being archived

The Missouri State Special Collections has started archiving the Robert Stroud manuscripts, which will be available in the future.

The documents are still in the process of being scanned but are expected to be available at http://digitalcollections.missouristate.edu