Roy Gardner (bank robber)

Roy G. Gardner (January 5 1884 - January 10 1940) was once America's most infamous escape artist and the most celebrated outlaw and escaped convict of the day.

During his career, he stole over a quarter of a million dollars in cash and securities. He also had a $5,000 reward on his head three times in less than a year during his sensational career. He was the most dangerous inmate in the history of Atlanta Prison, and he was dubbed by the newspapers across the West Coast as the "Smiling Bandit", the "Mail Train Bandit", and the "King of the Escape Artists". He was one of the most notorious offenders of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, one of the most notorious inmates at Alcatraz, and one of the most ruthless criminals of all time.

Gardner was the most hunted man in Pacific Coast history. Although legend has it that he was the first to escape the McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary, this is certainly not true. The first escapes occurred before Gardner was even born, and by the time of his imprisonment several dozen inmates had made their escapes. McNeil Island in fact was the only Federal Penitentiary never to have a wall, and was never considered a maximum security facility. Gardner was the "Most Wanted" gangster of 1921.

Twice during his criminal career, he escaped the shrewdest men the government could set to guard him. Twice during his criminal career, he joked with the Federal Marshals whom he turned the tables on and made the prisoners, in his place. Twice during his criminal career, he laughed as he was recaptured by lawmen.

Even so, he is now largely forgotten for his daring acts. He is no longer the household name that he was in 1921, because he never lived as an outlaw on the Western frontier, he was never a Depression Era gangster, and he was never in a gang. He was a lone bandit, but his reputation and notoriety made him a touchstone of his time.

Early life

Roy Gardner was born during the 1880s on a farm in Trenton, Missouri. He grew up in Colorado Springs, where his father managed an electricity plant. He stood just under six feet tall, had short, curly black, rather auburn hair, and gimlet blue eyes. He was attractive, cocky, charming with a stocky build and a ruddy complexion. He spent his early manhood as a drifter in the Southwest, earning the trade of a horse shoer and miner. He joined the army to escape the dangerous world of petty crime, reform school escapes, and the mining business, but he deserted in 1906 and drifted to Mexico.

Gardner began his criminal profession as a gunrunner around the time of the Mexican Revolution. He smuggled and traded arms and ammunition to the Carranza forces until he was captured by Huerta soldiers and sentenced to death by firing squad, but on March 29th, 1909 he broke out of Mexico City jail along with three other American prisoners after they attacked the soldiers. Gardner arrived back in the United States, where he was a prizefighter in the Southwest. He was good enough that he became a sparring partner for Heavyweight Champion J. J. Jeffries at Ben Lemond Training Camp in Reno, Nevada during the summer of 1910.

Roy ended up in San Francisco, where he gambled all of his boxing money away, and he robbed a jewellery store on Market Street. He was arrested, and spent some time in San Quentin, but he was paroled after he saved a prison guard's life during a violent riot. Gardner landed a job as an acetylene welder at the Mare Island Navy Yard, married, fathered a daughter, left the Schwa - Batcher Company in 1918 on Armistice Day and began his own welding company.

Robbery career

Gardner had gambled all of his money away on a business trip in Tijuana at the racetracks. On the night of April 16 1920, outside of San Diego, Gardner robbed a U. S. Mail truck of about $80,000 in cash and securities. A smooth job, but the outlaw was arrested three days later burying his loot. His name would become just as familiar to the lawmen of California as Jesse James.

Roy Gardner was sentenced to 25 years at McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary for armed robbery of the U. S. Mails, and he vowed he would never serve the sentence. On June 5 1920, he was transported on a train with Deputy U. S. Marshals Cavanaugh and Haig. Some way outside Portland, Oregon, Gardner peered out of the window of the train and yelled, "Look at that deer!". The lawmen looked, and Gardner grabbed Marshal Haig's gun from his holster. He then disarmed Marshal Cavanaugh at gunpoint. The daring outlaw then handcuffed the two humiliated lawmen together and stole $200. He jumped off the train, and made his way to Canada.

He slipped back into the United States the next year, and started robbing banks and mail trains across the country as a lone bandit. Gardner came back to California, where he tied up the mail clerk to Train No. 10 eastbound from Sacramento, and robbed the express car of $187,000 on May 19 1921. The next morning, Gardner told the mail clerk to Train No. 20, to throw up his hands, or he would blow his head off. When the train reached the Overland Limited, the elusive bandit darted down the tracks with an armful of mail. The home office recognized the gunman as Roy Gardner, the notorious train robber with a $5,000 reward on his head.

Gardner was recognized at the Porter House Hotel and a convoy of police arrived in Roseville while Gardner was playing a game of cards in a pool hall. Three federal agents came up behind Gardner and captured him. The bandit was arrested, and was sentenced to another 25 years at McNeil Island for armed robbery of the mail trains.

Trying to reduce his sentence he told Southern Pacific Railroad detectives that he would lead them to the spot where he buried his loot. The officers found nothing, and Gardner announced, "I guess I have forgotten where I buried that money". He was heavily shackled, with the addition of an "Oregon Boot", and was once again transported on a train to McNeil Island, this time by U. S. Marshals Mulhall and Rinkell, both fast shooting veterans. During the journey, Gardner asked to used the bathroom. Here a .32 caliber pistol had been smuggled. Gardner came out of the bathroom, pointed the gun at Mulhall's protruding pouch, and ordered another prisoner to handcuff the two humiliated lawmen to the seat. He relieved the officers of their weapons and cash before hopping onto another moving train outside Castle Rock, Washington.

The largest manhunt in Pacific Coast history began after this. He was known all over the country as the boldest hold up man, the cleverest and most slippery prisoner to ever be placed under arrest. Gardner was described as a dangerous man who would shoot on sight, and must be captured at all costs. He once again had a $5,000 reward on his head.

He arrived in Centralia, Washington, where he was almost recognized by Jack Scuitto at the Olympic Club. Roy plastered his face with bandages to hide his identity, leaving one eye slit. Gardner told the Oxford Hotel staff that he had been severely burned in an industrial accident near Tacoma. Proprietor Gertrude Howell and Officer Louis Sonney [imdb name|0814430|Louis Sonney] became suspicious of the bandaged man, and when he saw a firearm in Gardner's hotel room, he accused him of being the "Smiling Bandit". Gardner fought back, but was arrested and a doctor removed the bandages to show that he was indeed the notorious train robber. This time Gardner, who was sentenced to another 25 years, was heavily ironed, and finally brought to McNeil Island. Dan Sonney, [imdb name|0814427|Dan Sonney] son of Louis, tells the story of the arrest in the 2001 documentary Mau Mau Sex Sex, and Louis's subsequent career change to the entertainment industry. The documentary also features a clip of an interview with an aging Gardner promising his reform, and showing his release from prison. [imdb title|0243408|Mau Mau Sex Sex (2001)]

Escape from McNeil Island

After six weeks at the penitentiary, Gardner had convinced two unlikeable prisoners, Lawardus Bogart and Everett Impyn, that he had "paid off" the guards in the towers. On Labor Day, September 5 1921, at a prison baseball game, Gardner said, "Now" during the fifth inning when someone hit a fly ball into center field, as the guards in the towers had their eyes on the ball and the runners. Gardner, Bogart, and Impyn ran 300 yards to the high barbed wire fence where Gardner cut a hole, and the three men made it to the pasture as bullets whirled about their heads.

Gardner was wounded in his left leg, but made it behind a herd of cattle near timber. About the same time he saw Bogart fall, badly wounded. Impyn was shot dead; his dying words were, "Gardner told us those fellows in the towers couldn't hit the broad side of a barn". Bogart later stated that Gardner had deceived them and used his companions as decoys, to better his chances of escape.

Guards scoured the beaches and confiscated every boat on the shoreline, but no trace of the dangerous outlaw could be found. Gardner lived in the prison barn, getting nutrition from cow's milk, and then swam the choppy waters to Fox Island where he lived off fruit in the orchards. Warden Maloney claimed Gardner was still on McNeil Island, but that same day the statement was made, Gardner was already en route to Oregon. Gardner taunted marshals and detectives on McNeil Island when he sent a letter to the Seattle newspaper stating, "Come and get me, you sleepy dicks". Two weeks later, the warden had to admit that Mr. Gardner, the notorious bloodless bandit and badman had probably gotten off the island.

Recapture and Alcatraz

Roy Gardner was now the "Most Wanted" gangster, and committed several crimes in Arizona before he was captured by a mail clerk during a train robbery in Phoenix in the fall of 1921. Gardner was sentenced to an additional 25 years, this time at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. Headlines screamed, "Gangster Gardner brags, 'Leavenworth will never hold me'".

Gardner, now known as the "King of the Escape Artists", raised more hell when he was transferred to Atlanta Federal Prison, the toughest prison in the country in 1925. In 1926, he tried to tunnel under the wall and saw through the bars in the shoe shop. The following year, he led a prison break and attempted an armed escape with two revolvers holding the Captain and two guards hostage, but the escape failed and he was placed in solitary confinement for twenty months for shooting at officers. When he came out of solitary confinement, he was placed in a Mental Hospital in Washington, D. C..

In 1929, the warden described Gardner as the "most dangerous inmate in the history of Atlanta Prison", and that year he began a hunger strike, protesting prison food and threatened suicide. He was then transferred to Leavenworth Annex Prison in 1930, and in 1934 he was transferred to the infamous Alcatraz prison. Gardner was one of the first hardened criminals at Alcatraz during the hardest years.

While at Alcatraz, his wife divorced him. He worked and supervised at the Mat Shop with Ralph Roe and they planned an escape, but Gardner was paroled and released in 1938 after he got an appeal for clemency.

Final years

Roy Gardner published his autobiography, "Hellcatraz", a sensational book that contains not only descriptions of his interesting life but also such familiar names as Al Capone. While at Alcatraz, Gardner confronted Capone about putting one of his friends, Dion O'Bannion "on the spot" by a "bomb".

Roy attended crime lectures, and he and Louis Sonney made one of the first re-enactments on a short film called, "You Can't Beat the Rap". The ex-convict landed a job as a film salesman and an exposition baker. A 1939 movie called "I Stole A Billion" was based on his life. The movie bombed, and in 1940, police found the one-time "Most Wanted" gangster and Western badman, Roy Gardner, dead at age fifty-six by suicide from cyanide fumes and tear gas.

Out of all the gangsters of his era, Roy Gardner was a touchstone of his time, the last of the great Western train robbers, he belonged to no era of men. Roy Gardner described himself as the "last of the daring Robin Hood type of outlaw, a bloodless desperado".

Notes & References