Rufus Franklin
Murderer
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- Gender
- male
- Country
- USA
- Location
- Alcatraz Penitentiary, California, USA
- Date of birth
- 1913
- Age at first offence
- 25
- Characteristics
- bank robbery
- Victim profile
- Royal Cline, 36 (custodial worker)
- Method of murder
- Hitting with a hammer
- Date(s) of murder
- May 23, 1938
- Years active
- 1938
- Date of arrest
- Same day
- Status
-
Life imprisonment
Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1938
Background
Rufus Franklin was an American criminal who served a life sentence in Alcatraz.
He became inmate number 335-AZ after being transferred to Alcatraz.
The offence
Franklin was originally sentenced to imprisonment for bank robbery, grand theft auto, and assault.
In 1938, Franklin took part in the third documented attempted escape from Alcatraz Prison with Thomas R. Limerick and James C. Lucas on the night of May 23, 1938.
The escape plan began by incapacitating an unarmed custodial worker supervising a work detail on the top floor. After the supervising worker was rendered unconscious, the convicts would escape through a window to the rooftop. On the rooftop, they would incapacitate an armed guard and leave the island via a seized police boat.
During the escape attempt, Franklin and the others enacted their plan in the prison's mat shop. They assaulted custodial worker Royal Kline with hammer blows to his head.
Franklin and Thomas R. Limerick proceeded to the roof, where an armed guard shot both Franklin and Limerick. James C. Lucas was not shot.
Other guards arrived at the scene. Franklin, Limerick, and Lucas were cornered and surrendered to the guards.
Royal Kline died of his injuries the next day. Thomas Limerick, one of the wounded convicts, also died.
Investigation
The attempt involved Franklin, Thomas R. Limerick, and James C. Lucas, and resulted in Royal Kline being assaulted and dying the next day.
Trial
Franklin and the other surviving convict, James C. Lucas, were tried for murder.
Sentencing
Franklin and James C. Lucas were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Outcome
Franklin was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1938.
Franklin and James C. Lucas were the surviving convicts from the incident after Thomas Limerick died from his injuries.
Other details
The escape attempt was described as the third documented attempted escape from Alcatraz Prison, and it occurred on the night of May 23, 1938.
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