Biography of marvin franklin hubbard alcatraz
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Hubbard falls victim to temptation
Editor's Note: Jan Walker is a freelance writer; her husband is a distant relative of Marvin Franklin Hubbard, a native of Etowah County who was killed in 1946 while trying to escape from Alcatraz. Here is the second installment of the series.
When Marvin Hubbard was released from Kilby prison in 1941, it seemed he might have been motivated to earn an honest living as a bricklayer, as he’d been trained, and return to his wife and son. The U.S. was slowly getting back on its feet following the Great Depression, and most people in the South were struggling to make ends meet.
However, it also may have been tempting to the young native of Etowah County, who already had an interest in cars, to return to his past method of getting vehicles — stealing them. The late 1930s and early ‘40s also were a time when outlaws such as Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde and Machine Gun Kelly were being somewhat glorified in the media and referred to as “public enem
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From Etowah County to Alcatraz
FIRST IN A SERIES
When Marvin Hubbard was born in 1912 to a farm family in Etowah County, his parents had great hopes and dreams for his future. His father, Lynn (Leonard) Hubbard, was a tenant farmer and a widower with four daughters when he married Marvin’s mom in 1906. Another daughter followed in 1911, but Marvin was their first son.
Perhaps they thought Marvin might grow up to be a farmer, a carpenter or a store owner, but never could they have dreamed that his life would end as it did at age 34 in an inmate uprising at the most notorious prison in U.S. history — Alcatraz.
His father died of a stomach ailment the month before Marvin’s fourth birthday, so in a house filled with females, he became the man of the family at a very early age. His mother, Fannie Holliday Hubbard, was quoted in a newspaper article about how many criminals were influenced by their childhood: “My sweet little boy. His daddy died while he was still in rompers. He le
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Battle of Alcatraz
Unsuccessful escape attempt from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in 1946
The Battle of Alcatraz, which lasted from May 2 to 4, 1946, was the result of an escape attempt at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary by armed convicts. Two Federal Bureau of Prisons officers—William A. Miller and Harold Stites—were killed (Miller by inmate Joseph Cretzer who attempted escape and Stites by friendly fire). Three inmates were also killed during the incident.[1] Fourteen other officers and one uninvolved convict were also injured. Two of the perpetrators were executed in 1948 for their roles.[2]
Alcatraz
[edit]Main article: Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary
Alcatraz was a maximum high-security federal prison located on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco bay. It operated from 1934 to 1963 and had a reputation for being impossible to escape from. As a result, it housed some of the most notorious and high-profile prisoners, in particular ones who had a history