Description:

Robert Stroud
Alcatraz Prison, Alcatraz Island, CA, April 17, 1950
Robert Stroud "Birdman of Alcatraz" 4x Signed ALS: "getting me out would be the biggest and most profitable deal he could ever put over" With PSA/DNA LOA
ALS
A 2pp autograph letter signed four times by "Birdman of Alcatraz" Robert F. Stroud (1890-1963): the first and second times as "Bob" and "Robert Stroud, 594," both at the conclusion of the letter; the third time as "Robert Stroud" at the top of the first page above the pre-printed recipient's address panel; and the fourth time as a partial signature when writing out the name of the letter recipient as "Mamie E. Stroud." April 17, 1959. U.S. Federal Penitentiary at Alcatraz, Alcatraz Island, California. Pen on blue-lined paper. With several numeral dockets. In near fine condition, with expected flattened paper folds. 8" x 10.375." Accompanied by a Letter of Authenticity from PSA/DNA Authentication Services (Newport Beach, California), certification number J33120, dated January 18, 2010.

Federal prisoner #594 Robert Stroud wrote this letter to his half-sister Mamie E. Stroud (1881-1969). Stroud speaks conversationally about book deals and court cases, all the while longing to "get out." All excerpts from Stroud's letter include his original spelling.

In part:

"Your letter of the 10th came this evening and I had a nice letter from Marc in the same mail… He is still trying to close that deal for the sale of my book, and I specified that regardless whether I he or I made [a] dime on the deal, you had to have $500 out of it. I think he will close the deal and he will do as I say on that, because he knows I am just stubborn enough to wreck everything if he don't.

I have not heard anything from the court, yet, but when I do, I think that it will be good and that you will hear about it…

Marc says that he is working hard trying to sell out his holding in Minneapolis… I think that he has finally woke up to the fact that getting me out would be the biggest and most profitable deal he could ever put over.

My new book is moving right along now. I did not get much done on it for a month, while I was busy with that legal work and was sick but I now am bringing the third section to a close. That will end the history part of the work.

The rest will be much easier, but the job of proof reading and making corrections will be a big one, for the book will run almost six hundred hand printed pages which is almost a thousand printed pages. I think that it will be the top books of its kind ever written, and I think it will sell…"

Stroud was already a veteran published author in 1950. His 1933 "Stroud's Diseases of Canaries" and the 1943 second edition reprint called "Stroud's Digest on the Diseases of Birds" examined the causes, symptoms, and treatment of common bird diseases. (Stroud's interest in birds began as an inmate of Leavenworth Prison in Kansas around 1920, after nursing some jail yard sparrows back to health. He later obtained permission to breed, house, and study up to 300 birds in 2 adjacent prison cells. He also maintained a research laboratory there where he produced homemade mail-order bird medicine.) Stroud's scientific study is still acknowledged as an authoritative reference book among ornithological circles. The book deal of Stroud's letter probably related in some way to his original bird reference book.

Stroud's letter also refers to his unfinished "new book," almost certainly the manuscript of what would become "Looking Outward: A History of the U.S. Prison System from Colonial Times to the Formation of the Bureau Prisons." In it, Stroud sharply criticized the American prison system, highlighting its systematic mistreatment of prisoners and corruption among guards. He also treated the incendiary topic of homosexuality in all-male prisons. His lengthy manuscript was written on prison commissary issued legal notepads in Stroud's elegant script, and was only published well after Stroud's death.

The letter also discusses Stroud's recent legal struggle concerning overturning the rulings of a prejudiced judge by representing himself in a specially convened multi-judge court. Despite Stroud's and others' earnest attempts to emancipate him from prison, he died while still incarcerated at age 73.

Robert Stroud spent 54 years in prison, 42 of which were in solitary confinement. After his initial 1909 arrest for manslaughter, Stroud compounded his sentence by assaulting fellow inmates and staff, as well as by killing a prison guard in 1916. At Alcatraz, prohibiting from caring for birds, he devoted his energies to learning French, studying the law, and writing.

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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  • Provenance: LOA by PSA/DNA.
  • Dimensions: 8" x 10.375"
  • Medium: ALS

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