Inseparable: An Alcatraz Escape Adventure by David Kruh

Publisher: DX Varos Publishing (June 21, 2022)

Category: Historical Fiction, Action/Adventure

Synopsis

Tommy knew the right thing to do was turn them in to the cops. But that wasn’t the adventurous thing to do!

What happened to the three men who escaped from Alcatraz prison in June, 1962? Did they meet the same watery fate as dozens who preceded them into the cold San Francisco Bay? There is credible evidence two of them – brothers John and Clarence Anglin – not only survived but lived for years in South America. Inseparable is a fictional account of how a 13-year-old boy named Tommy helped them to freedom.

Tommy O’Conner was an only child whose mother, a widow of the Korean Conflict, had been left to make it on her own. She passed her independent, sometimes lonely spirit, to her son. But Tommy was also, in many ways, no different than other boys his age who dreamed of adventure. Then, one June day in 1962, his daydreams were interrupted by the real thing when he came face to face with John and Clarence Anglin – two of the Alcatraz escapees – and made the decision which would change all their lives.

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Excerpt

“Clarence.”

“Yea?”

“You… okay?” John asked, each syllable punctuated by the splash of his arms through the cold water.

“Yea,” replied his brother. “You?”

“I was thinking.”

“About what?”

“This picture I saw in LIFE magazine. Or LOOK. I can’t remember which one.”

“What about it?”

“These people in Boston who jump into the water on New Year’s Day. Call themselves Polar Bears.”

“They sound like idiots.”

“Yea, that’s what I thought, too,” John said as he momentarily stopped swimming. Clarence gratefully stopped, as well. The two of them dog-paddled for a while, both sucking in as much air as their lungs could hold. “How’s your head?”

“Hurts. Frank got me good.”

“As long as you’re awake, brother. We’ll see how bad it is after we get to shore. You ready?”

Clarence, still catching his breath and shivering noticeably, nodded. In unison the brothers kicked and pushed their bodies towards the shore. John looked to his left as he stroked into the water. The Golden Gate Bridge. It was definitely getting bigger. Boy, what would the people driving across it think if they could see him and his brother out here? Couple of crazies, they’d say. Like them Polar Bears up in Boston.

“John?”

“Yea?”

“I don’t know how much longer I can go on.”

“I know.”

“I’m so cold, John.”

“I know. Me too, but you gotta keep going.”

“I’m trying.”

“Do you want to stop again? Rest?”

“No, I just want to be out of the water already.”

“You will be soon,” John said as he looked at his brother with concern. “I think we’re almost there.”

“Yea. Please, John don’t –”

“No, I mean it. I can make out a cliff or something ahead of us. And I think the water’s getting warmer.”

“Warmer? Yea, right.”

“I’m not lying to ya,” he said in between gulps of air. “Like when we’d go swimming in Lake Michigan in the summer, remember?”

“I remember,” Clarence replied. He didn’t know how to tell John he had just been in the lake a short while ago.

“The water got warmer closer to shore. I remember it…” John said, his voice trailing off.

“John, what is it?”

“I think we’re almost there. Can you see it? It’s a beach.”

“Are you sure? ‘Cause I’m not sure how much longer I can keep going.”

“Damn it, Clarence, you’ll keep going as long as you have to.”

“I’m so cold, John,” Clarence said again, his voice trailing off. “So cold…”

John put his arm around Clarence. He could feel his brother’s body shaking. “Clarence, look… look ahead. Can’t you see it? That little beach? We are soooo close, brother. So close.”

“I’m tired John. So tired and cold,” Clarence said as he flipped onto his back and floated. “Oh, man, look at the stars, John. So many stars up there, just like we used to see at night in the fields, remember?”

“I remember.”

“What happened, John?”

“What do you mean?”

“How’d we end up here? Were things that tough? Or are we just… bad?”

“No. Don’t ever say that. We’re not bad. Things just… happened. We didn’t plan it. They just… happened.”

Still on his back, looking up into the night sky, Clarence’s voice seemed to be getting weaker with each word. “I’m so tired. You go ahead, John. You got a better chance if you –”

“Hey, stop that shit now. No one is leaving anyone behind,” John said as he began kicking and using his free arm for stroking forward. Every few minutes John, near the point of exhaustion, would stop and let his legs dangle beneath them while he slowly dog-paddled. He didn’t want Clarence to know the cold was starting to get to him, too. It felt like his mind was drifting away from his body, from Clarence. He looked at his brother and saw his eyes were closed.

“Clarence,” he said loudly.

“I’m here,” his brother replied, softly, without opening his eyes.

The sight of his brother looking so helpless – perhaps near death – filled John with regretful rage. This is my fault. I prayed for Clarence to be sent to Alcatraz so we could escape together and now… no, damn it, not now. John took a big gulp of air and began kicking and stroking with a vengeance. But after only a few strokes his body fought back, forcing him to stop and lower his legs again. He began a slow dog paddle when he felt one of his feet hit something.

“Clarence. Clarence.”

“I’m here, you don’t have to yell.”

“I think I touched bottom.”

Clarence’s eyes opened slightly. “Don’t lie to me.”

John looked and saw the shore was now so close he could make out details of a bluff in front of them. “Hang on Clarence, just hang on. I swear to you we are almost there.” With more difficultly than he would admit, John brought his legs up and began kicking again. All he needed was to get a few more feet closer and… he slowed and brought his legs down to…

“Clarence, I can stand.”

“What?”

“My feet… they’re touching the ground,” John said as he placed his arms around his brother and began trudging through the water moving Clarence, still on his back, closer to shore. The water was soon only waist-high and John felt a surge of exhilaration as he saw how close they were to the beach.

Guest Review by Nora

It was a feat that had never been accomplished—escaping from Alcatraz was in their sights and they had no intentions of giving up now. Alcatraz was said to be the U.S.A.’s most inescapable prison.  Frank Morris, Clarence Anglin and John Anglin set out from the island one summer night in 1962 on a raft made of carefully hand stitched together raincoats.

None of the men knew whether they would make it across the bay to San Francisco alive, but they did know one thing– the possibility of death was a better option than the possibility of being caught. Most prisoners in Alcatraz were sent there after attempting to escape from other prisons, and Frank Morris had actually escaped from the Louisiana State Penitentiary and managed to avoid capture for an entire year before he was caught while attempting another burglary. Because of this, and his high IQ score, Frank was considered somewhat of a mastermind in Alcatraz.

When Frank devised a plan, the other inmates could be certain that it was a winner, and this plan was so simple that it was actually genius. The 3 men crafted fake papier-mâché heads to put in their bunks so that the guards that did rounds in their cell block overnight would not realize that their beds were empty. After this, they climbed through the vents in their cells that they had been steadily chipping away at for months, and up to their workshop where they had stowed their raft and paddles. It was audacious, it was clever and it did work. The men escaped and were never found again.

‘Inseparable: An Alcatraz Escape Adventure,’ written by David Kruh is a historical fiction novel about what might have happened to the three prisoners after they fled from the island, and who might have helped them along their way.

This is an outstanding book of history and adventure and one that would be great for book club discussions! I could not put it down and read all the way to sunrise.  It’s a good thing I didn’t have to work that day!

About the Author

David is the published author of several books on Boston history and the co-author, with his father Louis, on a book about presidential homes and landmarks.

A frequent contributor to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald and History Magazine, David is also a published and produced playwright, and a popular lecturer on a variety of historical subjects. ‘Inseparable’ is his debut novel.

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