410 - The Bossy One

[0] This is exactly right.

[1] And welcome to my favorite murder.

[2] That's Georgia Heartstar.

[3] That's Karen Kilgariff.

[4] And hi.

[5] Hi.

[6] You came to us.

[7] What?

[8] You called.

[9] You called me. There's a whole era of things like that that don't get to happen anymore because nobody makes phone calls on the daily like we used to.

[10] I miss hanging up on people in the middle of them talking as a joke.

[11] that used to be my favorite thing to do powerfully like with the hand held phone and you slam it down or like quietly and no just like mid conversation of someone you know what I mean you're just like the second I actually did feel bored and then I knew they would think it was funny I would only do it to people who would think it was funny I would just hang out the phone because it's just like let's not be on the phone anymore brutal brutal speaking of brutal how your holiday is going is your mom dropped any overt hints about things she wants you to be doing that you don't want to be doing Mm -hmm.

[12] We get it.

[13] We hope your holiday's going well.

[14] These are our little shorty episodes so that we can have a little holiday break too.

[15] But guess what?

[16] It's all new content.

[17] And we're giving a donation for the holidays.

[18] This week, our donation is to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

[19] NAMI works to educate, support, advocate, listen, and lead to improve the lives of people with mental illness and their loved ones.

[20] Their website is NAMI .org.

[21] So check.

[22] them out.

[23] We're giving them $10 ,000.

[24] If you have anything to give, do it.

[25] If you need help, go there as well.

[26] And yeah, we're happy to do that.

[27] Yes, that's exciting.

[28] All right.

[29] Well, it's me this week.

[30] And, Georgia, I have a story for you that I'd never heard of, but it's kind of like, it's an exciting kind of adventurous, kind of a Cohen Brothers vibe.

[31] There's a lot going on in the story.

[32] I think you're going to like it.

[33] It takes place at, the United States penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas.

[34] It's a 30 -mile drive from Kansas City.

[35] Just to clarify, because I know you get confused, this is the United States penitentiary Leavenworth or USP Leavenworth.

[36] It's often confused with the nearby military prison, the United States disciplinary barracks.

[37] Both of them are short -handed as Leavenworth.

[38] They're separate institutions.

[39] Let's clear this confusion that's just on everyone's minds on a daily basis.

[40] Whose nickname was it first?

[41] Because we need to fix that.

[42] It's very confusing for us civilians.

[43] Someone write in who knows these answers.

[44] But the Leavenworth I'm talking about, along with Alcatraz, is one of the most famous federal prisons in the United States.

[45] So I'm talking about the famous one.

[46] But unlike Alcatraz, Leavenworth is still operational today.

[47] It first opened in the late 1890s.

[48] And over the years, it has held some infamous criminals.

[49] And in the 20s and 30s, when America was in its, you know, public enemy era, legendary gangster, an ex -husband of Megan Fox, machine gun, Kelly served time in Leavenworth, as did Al Capone's right -hand man, Frank Nitty.

[50] In 1931, Leavenworth was the site of one of the most violent, ambitious, and wildly unsuccessful prison breaks in U .S. history.

[51] This is the story of the 1931 Leavenworth Prison Break.

[52] Ooh, a prison break.

[53] That's a good one.

[54] Right?

[55] So the main source for today's story is the book Leavenworth Seven by author Kenneth Lemaster.

[56] And Marin says that book is very much worth reading.

[57] If you like this story and you want to hear all the details, get the book Leavenworth Seven by Kenneth LeMaster.

[58] And the rest of the sources are in our show notes.

[59] So this starts around 9 a .m. on a mid -December morning at Leavenworth in 1931.

[60] It's been an unusually rainy and very cold past few weeks, but despite this gloomy, lazy day weather, Leavenworth Prison is buzzing with activity.

[61] So clearly not a lot of lazy days in prison.

[62] So over in the administrative offices, 50 -year -old Warden Thomas B. White is preparing to meet with some inmates as he does every morning between 9 a .m. and 11 a .m. Warden White holds these office hours so he can hear the prisoner's complaints or suggestions.

[63] Oh, sure.

[64] I mean, he was pretty progressive for the 30s, actually.

[65] Yeah.

[66] But the idea of that where it's like, could we have a little more salt in the food?

[67] Right.

[68] Or a suggestion box in a prison.

[69] Yeah.

[70] But straight to the warden's face.

[71] So good luck.

[72] If you wanted to go have one of these meetings with Warden White, you would have to leave the more secure part of the prison and enter the administrative area.

[73] And basically all you needed at that time to do that was like a Hall Pass, basically.

[74] So if you've seen the movie Killers the Flower Moon, the new Scorsese movie.

[75] Not yet, yeah.

[76] I want to see it so bad.

[77] I haven't seen it yet either.

[78] So in it, Jesse Plemons, the great actor and Mr. Kristen Dunst, Jesse Plemons, he plays Warden White in that movie.

[79] Oh, interesting.

[80] But in real life, White is a towering six foot four Texan, a former Texas Ranger, and a special agent for various railroad companies.

[81] So he was a Pinkerton.

[82] Damn.

[83] Then he joined the FBI, where he helped crack the unsolved spate of murders of Native Americans in Oklahoma.

[84] That's what Killers the Flower Moon is all about.

[85] Wow.

[86] So after working the Osage case, Thomas left the FBI, and he joined the U .S. Bureau of Prisons.

[87] And he was sent to Leavenworth, where he was expected to bring a much -needed sense of order to the overcrowded prison.

[88] And by 1931, Thomas B. White has been Leavenworth's warden for almost five years.

[89] Coincidentally, that's the same amount of time, this one group of inmates has been planning a prison break right underneath the warden's nose.

[90] So for almost five years, they have been planning to break out of Leavenworth.

[91] I guess they've been nothing but time, right?

[92] Yeah.

[93] So three of these men were sent to Leavenworth for the same train robbery, George Curtis, Grover C. Durel, and Earl Thayer.

[94] The other four men are Will Green, Tom Underwood, Charlie Berta, and Stanley Burdell.

[95] Brown.

[96] They're all doing time for either assaulting or robbing various mail carriers or post offices.

[97] So obviously a federal crime.

[98] And because of that's so many names to keep track of, we're basically going to just call these guys the Leavenworth Seven or the Seven.

[99] So each of these men are assigned work duties in the prison.

[100] Underwood and Durrell work in, I immediately don't do that.

[101] That's really funny.

[102] Underwood and Durrell work in the main hospital.

[103] Green works on the laundry room.

[104] Brown is in the plumbing.

[105] Bertha is on a construction crew and Curtis and Thayer work in the prison shoe factory.

[106] Which of those jobs would you want if you had to pick one?

[107] Absolutely shoe factory.

[108] I'm like, I would like to work in a shoe factory.

[109] You want to.

[110] What was the first one again?

[111] The first choice was the hospital.

[112] I do the hospital.

[113] Hospital, laundry room.

[114] You could be a plumber, construction crew, or shoe factory.

[115] I feel like plumber is the worst.

[116] A plumber in a prison?

[117] No, thank you.

[118] Oh, yeah.

[119] That's true.

[120] It's like, it's a bunch of drugs down here.

[121] That's why your toilet isn't fludging because you are hiding and mulling drugs.

[122] So the reason the morning is so busy in Leavenworth is that some inmates are headed off to their job posts while many are leaving their overnight shifts and headed back to their cells.

[123] And then others are just going out to the mess hall for breakfast.

[124] As writer and historian Kenneth Lemaster points out, quote, one of the most unsettled times in an institution is when you have a large movement.

[125] going on.

[126] If you've got thousands of inmates running around the institution, they could move a little unnoticed, end quote.

[127] And that's exactly what the Leavenworth Seven are banking on.

[128] So instead of heading to where they're supposed to go, the men take advantage of the morning rush and they head to their stash spots where they've been hiding weapons for the past four years, four to five years.

[129] This arsenal includes a shotgun, a rifle, six pistols, 17 sticks of dynamite, blasting caps, and cords and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

[130] Like, I wouldn't even know where to get that today as a civilian, and they figured out how to get that in prison.

[131] You know, it's the bad guy era, right?

[132] As we said, and they've been doing it, they've been like stowing it away for so long that it's like if they've gotten, you know, two a year.

[133] Accumulated.

[134] It's accumulated.

[135] But it would just be so hard to be that patient.

[136] Hell no. It's not easy smuggling this much firepower into a federal prison, obviously, but the Leavenworth Seven have been working on this for five years, so they've been conspiring with their gangster friends on the outside to get everything they'd need to make a successful prison break.

[137] And they also had help on the inside.

[138] Some prison officers for $1 would either send or receive letters from the outside world.

[139] And in these letters, the seven used code words to request certain supplies and to instruct their friends on how to sneak them into the facility undetected.

[140] So according to Kenneth LeMaster, this is how they did it.

[141] The weapons were sent in boxes labeled as glue, shoe paste, and oil.

[142] Ah.

[143] Right?

[144] And members of the seven, presumably the ones who worked in the shoe factory, they noticed that the shoe repair supplies usually come with a warning label on the boxes that said things like, do not open because, quote, doing so could cause the materials to dry out and become unusable.

[145] Smart.

[146] So it was like a normal practice to just, oh, these are shoe supplies.

[147] Don't open it.

[148] Don't inspect it.

[149] Just send it through.

[150] So smart.

[151] Right.

[152] So once the weapons were inside the prison, the seven would intercept them and stash them away.

[153] And so in the last few days, everything that they've requested has finally come in.

[154] They've gotten the last bunch of stuff that they needed.

[155] So now it's time to put their big, almost five -year plan in motion.

[156] The original plan would have been that the seven bust out of prison.

[157] prison and get picked up on a nearby road in a getaway car.

[158] But the group's go -to guys on the outside have just been involved in a bank robbery that turned deadly.

[159] So they're currently on the run and they can't come and be the getaway driver.

[160] None of them.

[161] That happens.

[162] Hang around the barbershop.

[163] You're going to get a haircut.

[164] You know what I'm saying?

[165] Can I tell you my new favorite saying?

[166] Yes.

[167] Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

[168] Where'd you get that?

[169] You know housewives of Orange County?

[170] Something like that.

[171] I don't know.

[172] It's like, I fucking love it.

[173] It's true.

[174] So even though they don't have a solid getaway plan, the Leavenworth Seven decide they're just going to wing it.

[175] They cannot wait another minute.

[176] It is officially go time.

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[197] Goodbye.

[198] So to kick things off, Daryl, Curtis, and Underwood, head towards.

[199] the warden's office with a forged warden's hall pass, right, pretending that they're going to go make some suggestions.

[200] Got it.

[201] We love a nice pasta every couple nights.

[202] How about Tuesday Taco Night?

[203] Hey, it would be fun.

[204] It would uplift the prisoners.

[205] Right.

[206] Bring us all together.

[207] Come on.

[208] Everyone loves a buffet.

[209] I'll shred the cheese.

[210] Okay.

[211] So they present this fake hall pass to the gate officer.

[212] The gate officer thinks it's legit.

[213] He lets the inmates into the main corridor.

[214] and he assumes that they're just going to head off into the direction of Warden White's office.

[215] Instead, as the three men pass through the gate, George Curtis pulls out a pistol that he's hidden in his clothing, he shoves it into the officer's back, and he demands the officer hand over his gate keys.

[216] Once he has those keys, Curtis unlocks the gate behind them so that the other four members of the Leavenworth Seven can join them, and then they take that officer hostage, they pull out their weapons, and they push him down the hallway toward the warden's office.

[217] office.

[218] So it's on big time.

[219] Yeah.

[220] They immediately have a hostage of one of the prison officers.

[221] Like, there's no going back.

[222] Too easy.

[223] It was.

[224] When they get to the warden's office door, they push their way inside, and they take two clerks and the warden secretary hostage.

[225] So there's like the inner office, and then the warden's office is the inner inner office.

[226] So they grab those people.

[227] Meanwhile, Warden White, he's in his office just beyond the second set of doors.

[228] So he's meeting, with his first inmate of the day, who just so happens to be another famous criminal, it's Fred Barker, the son of Ma Barker of the Barker Carpice gang.

[229] Is that just a coincidence?

[230] If you want to go re -listen to episode 364, the B .I, where I tell you the story of Ma Barker, that's where he got sent after he was arrested.

[231] So he was, I mean, it's not a coincidence only in that he's also a famous guy.

[232] Yeah, that's all I mean.

[233] It's like a coincidence that someone we know is in the office at that very moment.

[234] It's just storytelling magic is what it is.

[235] So when Warden White hears that there's a commotion outside of the office, he immediately assumes it's an attempted prison break, and he immediately knows the one thing escapees want most of all, and that's a getaway car.

[236] So he takes his car keys out of his pocket, and he really quickly hides them under the rug.

[237] So this guy's like on it.

[238] Yeah.

[239] He's been a Pinkerton.

[240] He's like, he knows his stuff.

[241] No bullshit.

[242] Then he looks at Fred Barker.

[243] He tells him to sit tight, and then he walks over to the office door, throws it open, and sees the barrel of of a gun pointing in his face.

[244] Warden White immediately submits to the Leavenworth seven and becomes another hostage in this growing group of hostages.

[245] It turns out the warden was right.

[246] His car is, in fact, what the group is after.

[247] So they plan to take his keys, walk to the warden's nearby residence, which is seemingly right next door from the descriptions I read.

[248] And they're going to steal his Buick, which sits on the front lawn of Leavenworth.

[249] So they know that his car is out there.

[250] Yeah.

[251] The group leaves Fred Barker behind, but they grab a construction foreman and two typewriter repairmen who just happen to be on site that day.

[252] So now there's even more hostages.

[253] That's too many.

[254] It's so many.

[255] You can't keep track of that many hostages.

[256] And also I'm just trying to picture how they're moving, like, is there an inner circle of like 10 hostages as the seven are on the outside?

[257] Taking tiny steps.

[258] I just imagine it's like the three stooges, you know.

[259] Yes.

[260] They have to move on mass or not at all.

[261] Right, right.

[262] Okay, so the group heads to the front door.

[263] When they reach the front door, they see an officer named J .H. Dempsey, and they order him to open it.

[264] Dempsey refuses.

[265] So George Curtis pulls out several sticks of dynamite that have been tied together and yells, quote, if this gate isn't open by the time I like this fuse, I'll blow us all to hell.

[266] To which officer Dempsey responds, quote, I guess we'll all see each other in hell then.

[267] Fuck.

[268] Hey.

[269] Hey, guy.

[270] And that's not just bluster.

[271] Officer Dempsey is actually following protocol.

[272] But at the same time, Warden White, is convinced that George Curtis, along with these other members of the Levin War 7, have nothing to lose.

[273] They really might be willing to blow themselves up versus bungling their escape plan.

[274] And with the lives of these hostages now on the line, including himself, Warden White, is trying to determine what action will cause the least amount of damage.

[275] Yeah.

[276] If the dynamites lit, Warden White knows multiple.

[277] innocent people could die right here in Leavenworth's main corridor.

[278] If that's not dire enough, the entire front of the prison could become blown off, basically, if he really does it.

[279] And that would lead to even more inmates escaping.

[280] So the warden orders Officer Dempsey to open the front door and let them pass.

[281] So as the group moves outside, the seven -take officer Dempsey hostage.

[282] And now there's like around a dozen or so hostages being led by seven armed inmates down this long staircase that leads from Leavenworth's front entrance onto its lawn.

[283] Meanwhile, two guards that are up in the nearby guard tower see all this go down, and one of them removes the tarp from the machine gun and whirls it around to prepare to fire, and the Leavenworth seven, see them do this, and Stanley Brown yells out, quote, if he fires, we'll kill you all.

[284] Warden White calls out to the tower guards, quote, we've made it this far, no reason for bloodshed now, end quote.

[285] When the group hits the lawn, the seven release all the hostages except for Warden White.

[286] They push him toward his nearby residence.

[287] And once they're there, they all pile into his Buick.

[288] But when they demand for him to give them his car keys, he honestly tells them, hey, sorry, they're back in my office.

[289] I feel like it's like when you get robbed at a bank or whatever, like just go with what they're demanding and nobody gets hurt, hopefully.

[290] But also, if you're going to make a plan like this, make sure you have the keys before you get outside.

[291] Don't just assume.

[292] They're doing things you just can't go backwards on.

[293] It's like, sorry, I'll run back in.

[294] Right.

[295] So they climb out of the Buick.

[296] They get him into the Buick.

[297] They realize there's no keys.

[298] They all have to get out of the Buick.

[299] They grab the warden and then they head towards the main road that runs in front of Leavenworth Metropolitan Avenue.

[300] And as they do that, a car comes down the street.

[301] So the seven draw their weapons they force the car to stop and they tell everyone inside to get out now it just so happens that this car is filled with soldiers from the nearby military base coming back from having gone rabbit hunting but they are no match for the desperate and overly armed escapees the seven overtake the vehicle they throw warden white inside and they drive away and when they do they find this car is filled with hunting equipment, including several more guns.

[302] Oh, dear.

[303] Yeah.

[304] But if it seems like the Leavenworth Seven's plan is off to a great start, that's not going to last very long.

[305] So Charlie Bertha is driving this stolen car, and he actually asks the warden which direction he should go to make a clean escape, which is kind of funny.

[306] And then the warden gives him a straight answer.

[307] He says, you should take the road that leads toward Missouri.

[308] And that way, they can disappear like on back roads.

[309] before anyone can pick up their trail.

[310] But then Charlie is like, wait a second, you're trying to trick me. So he does the opposite.

[311] And he immediately makes a hard turn onto a dirt road.

[312] But because of all the recent rain, the road is incredibly muddy.

[313] So before the men can put really any distance between themselves and Leavenworth, Berta drives the car into a ditch and it gets stuck in the mud.

[314] Fucking Berta.

[315] He's always, right?

[316] Like, why do we have him drive?

[317] Yeah.

[318] So meanwhile, the alarms are blaring at Leavenworth signaling that there's been a prison break and word is out.

[319] So the seven are forced to abandon the car that's stuck in the mud.

[320] They grab the warden and they grab their weapons and they just start running down this muddy road.

[321] And as luck would have it, another car is coming up the road toward them.

[322] This one's smaller than the soldier's car that they just abandoned.

[323] But beggar escapees can't be choosers.

[324] escapees.

[325] So again, they basically carjack this next vehicle and they leave the driver who turns out to be a Leavenworth officer who's headed into work.

[326] They leave him on the side of the road and then eight people try to climb into a car that's designed to hold five passengers.

[327] I've done that after a night out.

[328] You get a small Uber and you're like, we're just going to share a seatbelt.

[329] You were probably always the one that laid across the top because you were the smallest.

[330] So this car is so packed that two of the inmates are forced to actually stay outside and ride on the running boards.

[331] Now, this is, remember, 1931, so it is a little bit of a, oh, brother, where art thou situation, where I was like, back then they had much wider side running boards.

[332] But I just want to say really quick, that was a fun thing that my dad, he would come and pick me and my sister up at school in the Volkswagen.

[333] And the Volkswagen had very small running boards on the side.

[334] and he rolled both windows up and then let my sister and I hang on the side of the car while he drove around the playground.

[335] Yes.

[336] And it was the most fun.

[337] And he'd be like, you cannot tell your mother.

[338] And we didn't tell her until we were like in our 20s.

[339] Oh, I love it.

[340] Oh, that's so dangerous, but so rad.

[341] So dangerous, but so fun.

[342] So fun.

[343] Really, I'm going to call him and thank him for that.

[344] So now the getaway car is moving extremely slow under all this extra weight that it can't carry, right?

[345] And it's actually dragging on the muddy ground.

[346] So the seven know they can't escape in this slow -moving car.

[347] So they start looking for another car to steal.

[348] They spot one sitting outside of a one -room schoolhouse.

[349] So good old Charlie Bertha pulls to the side of the road and three of the seven bust into the schoolhouse.

[350] The children start screaming and crying as the escapees demand that the young teacher, a woman named Anna Meyer, give them her car keys.

[351] This is my favorite.

[352] it.

[353] Anna reportedly tells them, quote, you go on about your business, boys.

[354] That car out there is the only thing I have.

[355] Go on and steal one from one of the farmers.

[356] I'm just a poor school teacher.

[357] So she fucking sasses them immediately.

[358] After a tense back and forth, one of the inmates walks to Anna's desk, picks up her purse, and takes her keys, and they rush back outside.

[359] But when they get into her car and turn the ignition, it doesn't start.

[360] It turns out the car has ignition problems.

[361] Anna has had to have a button installed under the dashboard to start the car.

[362] Holy shit.

[363] And of course, they don't know this.

[364] She obviously wasn't going to tell them.

[365] Yeah.

[366] So the seven have to give up.

[367] They have to get back into the little five -seater.

[368] They make it three more miles down the road.

[369] Then Charlie pulls onto what he thinks is a dirt back road.

[370] But it turns out it's just a bumpy driveway that dead ends into some farmhouses.

[371] And the same scene plays out for a second time.

[372] the car struggles then basically sinks in the mud they all have to get out they grab the warden they're trying to figure out their next move literally on their feet they're still close enough to leavenworth that they can hear the prison alarms going off so they haven't gotten away very far at all they make it to a small farmhouse they force their way inside the escapees demand the homeowners give them a phone and a car the family says we don't have either like we don't have any money You don't have a car.

[373] We don't have a phone.

[374] Yeah.

[375] They're like, God damn it.

[376] So the seven decide to keep moving, but they take a few family members hostage on the way out.

[377] Just grab a few family members.

[378] There's no plan at this point.

[379] They're scrambling.

[380] Also, seven people trying to do anything.

[381] Like, have you ever tried to go to dinner with seven people?

[382] No. No. Nightmare.

[383] Everyone's like, is the person with the plan, the bossy person, then there's the contradictor, then there's the person that wants to give up, like, nightmare.

[384] I'm the bossy one.

[385] the bossy one too party of seven please and everyone sit down sit down i'm going to order for us so you do love to order for the table is one of my talents ordering for the table so now the 11 war seven and their hostages are walking through the nearby woods and as they do they have to be really careful because now a large local posse has formed to find them there's airplanes overhead and searchers are combing the fields nearby so they're kind of surrounded and they're very desperate.

[386] And then they come upon another farmhouse.

[387] And once again, they force their way inside and only to discover once again the family has neither a phone nor a car.

[388] It's like 1931, right?

[389] It's 1931.

[390] It's like, I think, Dust Bowl, right?

[391] Definitely like the depression.

[392] It's depression.

[393] It's not crappening.

[394] Yeah.

[395] Sorry.

[396] Goodbye.

[397] The escapees who seem committed to repeating the same actions over and over snag a few more hostages from this farmhouse and start walking toward the nearby road to, of course, hijack another car.

[398] So within moments, a Chevy Coop, which is a four -seater.

[399] This is even smaller car.

[400] And also, this is a time where cars are pretty big.

[401] And it's like they're getting all the compact cars in the area.

[402] So a Chevy Coop comes down the road.

[403] Some of the Leavenworth Seven hide in nearby brush with the hostages and the rest of the game, force the car to stop, they approach the four passengers inside are all young people who are in their late teens, early 20s who heard about the prison break and are driving around to check out what's happening.

[404] Oh my God, you guys.

[405] Right.

[406] So now they're a part of what's happening.

[407] Sure.

[408] So the escaped inmates, all the passengers from the car, they give them careful instructions to go walk down that road, not look back even for a second until they've gone over the hill that's in the distance, right?

[409] So it's like, walk that way, keep walking, don't look back.

[410] Okay.

[411] The group of teens walk away, leaving the escapees to discuss what they're going to do next.

[412] They know this four -seater isn't going to get all of these hostages and all of the seven out of there.

[413] They're getting more and more stressed.

[414] And during this conversation, Earl Thayer looks toward the four young people and sees one of them, of course a dude, turn around and look at them.

[415] So Earl raises his rifle.

[416] No. Warden White sees this.

[417] He immediately reacts, yelling for the other hostages to run as fast as they can, while he manages to grab a gun from the seven's arsenal.

[418] The hostages run, but as they do, one of the seven bashes Warden White over the head with the butt of a gun, and then Will Green fires his shotgun directly at the warden, blowing him into a ditch.

[419] Oh, my God.

[420] So now the escapees are panicking.

[421] They're in the middle of the road.

[422] They don't have a getaway car that can fit all of them.

[423] their hostages are gone, and they think they've just murdered the warden of Leavenworth Prison.

[424] Charlie Berta, Stanley Brown, and Tom Underwood take off running through the nearby woods, and meanwhile, Will Green gets behind the wheel of the Chevy Coop, Grover Durrell, Charlie Curtis, and Earl Thayer hop in beside him.

[425] As Green scrambles to start the vehicle, the men see a car speeding toward them, and it's the warden's Buick that they didn't have the keys for before.

[426] Inside are the deputy warden, two prison officers, and the mayor of a nearby town called McClough, Kansas.

[427] There's a note for me from Marin that says, I don't have a great explanation as to why a random mayor is involved here.

[428] I bet you anything.

[429] He was up for re -election and he wanted to be one of the people who caught the seven.

[430] How do you live near Leavenworth?

[431] And when the prison break alarm goes off, you don't go, well, I'm heading over there to see what's going down and what's needed.

[432] Definitely.

[433] So now a shootout erupts in the middle of the road between these two vehicles.

[434] The passengers in the warden's car have a submachine gun while the Leavenworth 7 fire back with their shotguns and their rifles.

[435] The inmates getaway car is riddled with bullets and people on both sides are getting shot.

[436] An officer in the warden's car is shot in the neck and the arm.

[437] And on the Leavenworth 7 side, driver Will Green is shot in the head and he's temporarily blinded.

[438] but amazingly nobody dies in this gunfight.

[439] Holy shit.

[440] It's like it was such a different time.

[441] Yeah.

[442] The bullets were different, I think, too, right?

[443] And the guns, I think.

[444] And the guns, yeah.

[445] So somehow Green manages to drive away from the warden's vehicle because the warden's vehicle's been damaged in this shootout.

[446] So even though they have a small bad car, it's not as bad as the wardens at this point.

[447] And he's able to take a sharp turn on what he thinks is a country road.

[448] They keep thinking these are country roads.

[449] When will they learn?

[450] Yeah.

[451] How city are these people?

[452] Because, again, it's another driveway to a farmhouse.

[453] And like every other road we've encountered so far, it's extremely muddy.

[454] This makes the third getaway car that sinks and gets stuck in the mud.

[455] Jesus.

[456] So the remaining prisoners abandon that car.

[457] They start running up this mud road with a new level of urgency, except for Earl Thayer.

[458] Thayer does not want to go into another farmhouse just to have this exact same scene play out.

[459] Again, no car, no phone.

[460] So he tells Green, Durrell, and Curtis, that, quote, we have a one in a million chance of escape if we enter that house.

[461] Yeah.

[462] So Earl Thayer breaks off from the group as the other men continue up the road.

[463] The farmhouse is owned by 73 -year -old Emerson Salisbury.

[464] He lives there alone.

[465] And he maybe can't hear the prison alarms going off.

[466] Because as Green, Durrell, and Curtis approach his home, Salisbury asks, howdy boys, you going hunting?

[467] old sales sales just never gets it he never catches onto the plot and he's never met a stranger it's like even if you're carrying a large shotgun he's like what's up oh my god get over here the three men push past old sals into his house they draw their weapons and they wait for the posse to show up it only takes a few minutes before salisbury's home is showered with bullets bombs and tear gas holy shit luckily emerson Salisbury somehow manages to escape unscathed.

[468] And he will later say, quote, there was so much tear gas I thought I was going to suffocate.

[469] So a 73 -year -old got to look back on the time that, like, he was involved in a prison break.

[470] It's amazing.

[471] Okay, so this shootout at the Salisbury home lasts for hours.

[472] Finally, when the gunfire coming from inside the house stops, a member of the posse carefully approaches, goes inside, and finds the bodies of George Currie.

[473] Grover C. Daryl and Will Green all shot to death.

[474] A later investigation will reveal that these men took their own lives.

[475] So basically it was like they knew there was no hope and they weren't going to go back to prison.

[476] The three members of the 11 -war seven who tore off into the woods, Tom Underwood, Stanley Brown, and Charlie Bertha, are tracked down before the day is through.

[477] They're spotted hiding in a ditch.

[478] And when the officers approach, Brown pulls a Hail Mary move.

[479] He pulls a stick of dynamite out of his pocket and says, we all might as well go up to see St. Peter.

[480] But then because of the rain, the fuse is too wet to light.

[481] Because that's a great line too.

[482] And then what a, wah -wah, wah, you know.

[483] He's like, I'm going to blow us all up.

[484] And then just like lighter, lighter, lighter, lighter.

[485] Yeah.

[486] And then the prison official walks up and snaps the dynamite out of his hand.

[487] So the escapees are brought back to Leavenworth.

[488] And as Tom Underwood is put into a cell, he pulls a. Another stick of dynamite out of his coat.

[489] Nobody patted him down.

[490] No, no. They did.

[491] He hands it to the officer saying matter -of -factly, quote, I won't have any use for this anymore.

[492] I don't understand how this wasn't found.

[493] I've been searched three different times.

[494] Wow.

[495] That is a burn.

[496] And also just like, I don't know.

[497] It feels like that was a different time.

[498] Like he just gave up.

[499] He gave up fair and square and was like, here, I'm not going to squirrel this away for a future plan.

[500] You can just have it.

[501] He called uncle.

[502] He really, you really did.

[503] Earl Thayer is finally captured a couple days later after approaching two men in a garage and asking if he could exchange his rifle for some coffee.

[504] Ooh, that's a desperate times.

[505] Yep.

[506] Of course, the men are local.

[507] They know who Thayer is and they restrain him.

[508] And Earl doesn't fight back.

[509] He's taken back to Leavenworth and he's treated for pneumonia.

[510] While we're covering, he tells his doctor, quote, I didn't do so bad for an old man. He was 63.

[511] Not there.

[512] The four surviving members of the Leavenworth 7 are handed additional charges and additional prison time, of course.

[513] In the wake of this event, Leavenworth's prison protocol changes entirely.

[514] Security measures are beefed up.

[515] More gates are added throughout, and new protocols are put into place regarding hostage situations.

[516] Fortunately, every single one of the Leavenworth 7's many, many hostages, escape unharmed, although poor Emerson Salisbury's home was seriously.

[517] damaged from all the bullets and the bombs.

[518] I know, what a bummer.

[519] What about the warden?

[520] Well, let me tell you this.

[521] Okay.

[522] When Warden, Thomas B. White's body is found lying in the ditch where he landed after he was shot with a shotgun, incredibly, he's alive.

[523] Fuck.

[524] Despite severe injuries, he survived being hit with a shotgun blast and makes a miraculous recovery, although he never fully regained the full use of his left arm.

[525] Once he's healed, Warden White is transferred to a quieter job in his native Texas at the Latuna Federal Correctional Institution.

[526] This prison is brand new, and according to Kenneth Lamaster, quote, the institution was the Federal Bureau of Prison's first meaningful effort at the rehabilitative side of corrections as opposed to the punitive side, end quote.

[527] At the age of 70, White leaves Latuna and joins the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole in Austin, And after six years, he finally retires and lives a quiet life with his wife, Bessie.

[528] Thomas B. White, Warden White, passes away in 1971 at the age of 90.

[529] Wow.

[530] Yeah.

[531] As for the four surviving members of the Leavenworth 7, Earl Thayer dies in Leavenworth three years after the escape attempt.

[532] Tom Underwood and Stanley Brown finish out their sentences and are released and fade from public view.

[533] Charlie Berta would actually go on to serve time at Alcatraz.

[534] before being paroled in 1949.

[535] And once he's released, he works at a local bar, which reportedly has direct views of Alcatraz.

[536] And he's often spotted riding his bike across the Golden Gate Bridge.

[537] So he just becomes like a city guy.

[538] Wow.

[539] And I'm trying to think, like, there's several bars that it could be.

[540] But I was thinking of, what's that bar that's famous for the Irish coffee?

[541] Oh.

[542] That's right there in Fisherman's Wharf.

[543] Is it the Buena Vista?

[544] The Buena Vista, yes, thank you.

[545] It just would be cool if it was like a super tourist bar that's like super famous.

[546] And he's just like, it's me. Much later, Warden White's FBI agent's son, who was also named Thomas, is told by another agent that, quote, Charlie Bertha asks about your dad all the time and considers him one of the greatest men ever to live.

[547] Wow.

[548] And that is the story of the spectacular failure of the 1931 Leavenworth, seven prison break.

[549] Holy shit.

[550] That was a caper.

[551] Right?

[552] Yeah.

[553] That was wild.

[554] That was great job.

[555] Great holiday story.

[556] Thank you.

[557] It was kind of a fun one.

[558] Yeah.

[559] But then also was shotgun blasts and sticks of dynamite.

[560] Totally.

[561] Oh, man. What a mess.

[562] Yeah.

[563] We hope your prison break goes better than that and your holidays, too.

[564] The prison break, the holiday prison break of leaving your parents' house and going to a bar to meet people you went to high school with.

[565] Oh, God.

[566] Enjoy that.

[567] Thanks for listening, guys.

[568] Thanks for staying with us.

[569] We love you.

[570] We appreciate you.

[571] Stay sexy.

[572] And don't get murdered.

[573] Goodbye.

[574] Elvis, do you want a cookie?

[575] This has been an exactly right production.

[576] Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck.

[577] Our managing producers, Hannah Kyle Crichton.

[578] Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

[579] This episode was mixed by Liana Skolace.

[580] Our researchers are Marin McClashen and Ali Elkin.

[581] Email your hometowns to My Favorite Murder at gmail .com.

[582] Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at My Favorite Murder and Twitter at MyFave Murder.

[583] Goodbye.