9. Alcatraz Prison
SEE ALSO: 10 fascinating photos from World War II
Alcatraz Island Federal Penitentiary is situated in the middle of San Francisco Bay and therefore considered inescapable. The notion was almost proved wrong on May 2, 1946, when Bernard Coy, a prison inmate convicted for bank robbery, suddenly attacked the guard who was overseeing the prison’s weapons. Coy and his five accomplices— Miran “Buddy” Thompson, Joseph “Dutch” Cretzer, Clarence Carnes, Marvin Hubbard and Sam Shockley, stole some of the weapons and managed to disarm other prison guards as well. They had planned to; first, take some hostages and then hijacking the prison motorboats, dash for an escape. But the door to the prison yard got jammed and they got trapped. Unable to escape, they decided to kill the witnesses to the riots and began firing erratic shots at the guards. It was utter chaos. All this continued for two days until two pantaloon Marines stormed into the prison and rescuing the hostages, put an end to the crisis.
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