John Stadig and the Trip to Cook County Jail (Adapted from research gathered by Darrel McBreairty and published in Alcatraz Eel: the John Stadig Files)

   John Stadig was in quite a predicament. Handcuffed in the marshal’s wagon on the way to the Cook County Jail it looked like he was headed back to prison. He didn’t seem as worried though as one would think he should have been. In the van with him were five guys, all crooks and four women, all prostitutes, one of whom was sitting on the lap of the man to his left, who just happened to be Stadig’s partner, Harry Abramowski, known to the fuzz as Richard Adams. Why was she on his lap? Well, the van was crowded and when the deputies loaded them all in, that’s where Hazel Snowdie plunked herself down. What did they care? Let Adams have a little thrill on his way to stir. He wouldn’t be seeing a woman for a long time once he got there.

   As Hazel giggled and squirmed on Harry’s lap, Stadig smiled as from the corner of his eye he watched his pal lean forward and pull a bobby-pin from her hair with his teeth. Harry drew it into his mouth and hid it there until Deputy Glaubke, the only guard in the back with them, turned his head to look out the small window on the door, then Abramowski whispered for Hazel to slide forward while he dropped the pin into his cuffed hands. Hazel then moved back up against him and he went to work on the lock. Within seconds his hands were free.

   At that moment, as the wagon reached the corner of Racine Avenue and Jackson Boulevard the van lurched to a sudden stop as a small boy was knocked down by a black Ford Coupe which had now stopped in the middle of the street in front of the prisoner wagon as the driver got out to check on the boy. The arrest-wagon driver, Deputy Edward Smith shouted back to Glaubke what had happened and as he and the other man in front, Deputy Ben Goldberg got out to investigate, Glaubke opened the back door to get a better look. That’s when Henry passed the bobby-pin to John Stadig, who was quickly free of the cuffs. They both rushed Glaubke, knocked him down, jumped out of the van and dashed down the street.

   Glaubke shouted as he got up, Smith and Goldberg ran to him. Seeing what had happened, Deputy Smith trained his weapon on the remaining prisoners who were still in the van while Glaubke and Goldberg, weapons drawn and firing, chased after the runners. Several bullets whizzed around Stadig and Abramowski but they had quite a head start and and the distance made them harder targets. Every shot missed and the act of shooting slowed down their pursuit.

   Meanwhile at the front of the van, with a word from the driver of the Coupe the young boy on the concrete miraculously jumped to his feet and smiled gratefully as the driver tossed him a silver dollar. As he skipped away, the driver got back in the Model B and sped off in the direction that John Stadig and Harry Abramowski had run. He picked them up a few blocks away.