After we let the men go out to work, I went up to Capone’s cell and talked to him to see what was the matter with him and what explanation he had for his actions. He was sitting on the toilet and in response to my questions all I could get were indistinct, incoherent mumblings.

At about 8:15, Mr. Amende, Cell House Officer, called me and said that Capone had thrown a fit in his cell. I went to Capone’s cell and found he was laying on the floor and appeared to be in a hysterical fit of some sort. I immediately sent for the doctor and when Dr. Hess came and put him on the bunk and examined him, he said we had better take him to the hospital.

Capone was checked into the Hospital.

Capone had developed symptoms of syphilis, a disease that he had evidently been carrying for years. He was committed to the prison hospital, and would remain there for the duration of his imprisonment at Alcatraz. The prison doctors attempted a variety of treatments with no success. Capone was frequently restrained for rants of yelling “at the top of his lungs” and other irrational behaviors. At one point, Capone was located in the “A-Ward” hospital section and locked in what was termed a “bug cage” for mentally unstable or at risk patients. It was a stiff wired cage that sectioned off the large hospital wardroom, typically housing multiple patients. Inmate Alvin Karpis later recounted a fierce fight that ensued between Capone and an inmate named Carl Janaway.

Carl Janaway

Janaway shared one of the adjacent beds, separated by steel-mesh wire enclosures, and it is claimed that the two men constantly argued like small children. Their fighting climaxed in an event that would have them both separated, and would finally convince the administration of the need to transfer Capone to a facility that could better care for his medical condition. The altercation stemmed from Janaway’s insults, which were reciprocated by Capone using names such as “Bug House Janaway.”  At the peak of their exchange, both inmates started hurling the contents of their bedpans at each other through the wire caging. They would end up so saturated with urine and feces that they had to be hosed down before being removed from their enclosures to shower.  In Another incident, Capone got into an altercation with inmate Phil Ryan (AZ-134) assaulting him with a bedpan. In a prison report it stated in part:

Capone has been turned into ward “A” by the guard on-duty in the Hospital, to empty his bedpan. He was in the toilet cleaning it perhaps with a towel which the Ward patients used to clean the table in Ward “A.” Ryan who was mopping in front of the toilet, asked him not to use it. Capone flew into a rage and struck Ryan in the temple with the bedpan inflicting a small laceration. Ryan then struck Capone over the head with the mop. Capone grabbed the mop out of Ryan’s hands and when the Guard, Mr. Comerford and Mr. Sabin arrived on the scene Capone was fighting off all of the patients in the Ward, but no other injuries resulted.

Capone underwent aggressive treatment for syphilis during his final years on Alcatraz and his family made frequent visits to help provide him support. Warden Johnston provided frequent updates on Capone’s condition to the Bureau and surmised that he had both good and bad days while battling his illness. In one such report Johnston noted:

You will note from the above that I told her that he is quiet, cooperative and has good attitude and disposition and that if he continues as at present she may have her regular visit as scheduled.

My view of this is based upon reports from Doctor Hess, the Associate Warden and my own observations. I have seen him several times since he has been in the Hospital and not noticed anything about him or his conduct that make it necessary to cancel the regular visit of his wife. In fact, if it were not for my knowledge of his collapse on Saturday, the fifth, and the history of syphilis, and what the Doctors say about possibilities of progressive deterioration, I would say to ordinary observation, he is just acting normal.

When I was in the Hospital the afternoon of Saturday, the 12th, I walked into the small ward where Capone is and I observed that he had on the regulation hospital pajamas and robe and was by his bed where he had some magazines and writing paper. He greeted me in his usual manner, which as I have noticed on interviews and in conversation is generally a bit effusive. He made inquiry about being allowed to write his regular letters to his wife and possibility of having his regular visit and I told him that if he retained his privileges and took his treatments and there was no radical change that indicated that visiting would be undesirable, it would be allowed.

When I talked to h1m about how he was occupying his time he said he had been writing and he had been reading the magazines. I asked him what magazines he had been reading and he said the last one he read was the Cosmopolitan. I noticed that particularly because Dr. Hess had told me that his tongue was thick and speech slurring which was a noticeable sign in such cases, but I must say that at that particular time I thought his speech was quite clear and that he had no difficulty with the word "Cosmopolitan."

I noticed also that on a previous visit with him when I was endeavoring to appear casual and not testing him, I had some conversation with Dr. Hess not directed to Capone but in his presence and hearing, in the course of wh1ch I referred to another patient who had athletes foot, and Capone hearing it and wanted to get into the conversation, asked me if I knew what was the best thing for that. I said I did not know the best thing, and he said "Absorbine, Jr."

I mention this because I would expect him to be a bit thick tongued, although he was not, on such words as Absorbine, Jr. and Cosmopolitan and in the use of words that he ordinarily employed, he seemed all right. I have no doubt that in the tests that are made in which departures are from his regular vocabulary and sentences are given in order to test out his speech for clearness, that he may become thick.

When I asked him how he was getting along, he responded he was getting along all right and he was going to do whatever the Doctor told him and take whatever treatment was prescribed. I asked him if he was entirely clear and he said he was at that time. When I asked him what happened to him originally to get him to the hospital, he said he did not know exactly but he guessed that he was a bit "wacky". When I asked him to describe just what happened, he said "Well, it's hard to describe. I felt something coming on and seemed to get a little dizzy and things went black and I just laid down."

I asked him if he vomited any after breakfast on that first day, Saturday, the fifth. He said "Well, they told me I did but I do not remember it." When I asked him if there was a feeling of nausea or biliousness and dizziness or what it was like, he said "Something like being bilious, felt kind, of dizzy" but I could not get any better description. I did not interrogate him in such manner as to make him think that I was taking it too seriously or that I wanted precise and accurate answers but Just as if my approach to it was more or less casual and I was just interested in finding out what happened originally and

how he felt at the moment.

If there are any changes in the situation, I will advise.

J.A. Johnston

Warden