Description:

Birdman of Alcatraz Robert Stroud Re: Bird Egg Production & His Book Sales

Single page autograph letter signed on a single leaf of lightly lined paper, 8" x 10". Dated "April 9, 1946", and signed by Robert Stroud as "Love Bob, Robert Stroud 594". Near fine with expected folds.

Stroud writes to his sister "Miss Marie E. Stroud" from the notorious Alcatraz prison in California, also known as "The Rock". The letter offers superb content in which Stroud discusses his applied knowledge from his bird research towards raising chickens, and also his frustration and perhaps distrust with his book sales. 

"Dear Marie,

Your letter came this evening and I am glad to hear from you and to know that you are well. I also had a letter from Frank...But nothing about the matters I am interested in. It leaves me a little disgusted. He did give me the book sales, though and they do not reflect all the activity he has been telling me about, so it begins to appear that it is so much (illegible) - just a lot of lost motion. Otherwise, there would be a reflection in the book sales before this.

I don't think Mrs. Kotes knows much about chickens. With just fair luck they should give you a bigger return from your labor than the (illegible) could. If the birds are of a high production strain, some of the (illegible) should be laying in 4 months but for others it will take six months. They should all be laying this fall though.

I guess they are doing a lot of building everywhere these days, trying to catch up for the five years where they did not do any.

There is no news here and I am not feeling like much tonight so I will make this short..."

Robert Franklin Stroud (January 28, 1890 – November 21, 1963), known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz", was a convicted murderer, American federal prisoner and author who has been cited as one of the most notorious criminals in the United States. During his time at Leavenworth Penitentiary, he reared and sold birds and became a respected ornithologist, although regulations did not allow him to keep birds at Alcatraz, where he was incarcerated from 1942 to 1959. Stroud was never released from the federal prison system; he was imprisoned from 1909 to his death in 1963. In 1920, while in solitary confinement at Leavenworth, Stroud discovered a nest with three injured sparrows in the prison yard. He cared for them and within a few years had acquired a collection of about 300 canaries. He began extensive research into birds after being granted equipment by a prison-reforming warden. Stroud wrote Diseases of Canaries, which was smuggled out of Leavenworth and published in 1933, as well as a later edition (1943). He made important contributions to avian pathology, most notably a cure for the hemorrhagic septicemia family of diseases, gaining much respect and some level of sympathy among ornithologists and farmers. Stroud ran a successful business from inside prison, but his activities infuriated the prison staff, and he was eventually transferred to Alcatraz in 1942 after it was discovered that Stroud had been secretly making alcohol using some of the equipment in his cell. Stroud began serving a 17-year term at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on December 19, 1942, and became inmate #594.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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