Unraveling the Mystery of the Alcatraz Eel
- Vaughn Hardacker
- Sep 9
- 4 min read
I want to revisit an actual crime case once again, this one much closer to home. It is about a man who was born less than five miles from where I live. You may have heard that no one ever escaped from Alcatraz, but that isn’t exactly correct. I want to introduce you to the Alcatraz Eel.
Who was the ALCATRAZ EEL?
John Millage Stadig – a young man from northern Maine – who, through his genius and daring, became a folk hero and legend in a decade of criminals comprising the likes of Al Capone, John Dillinger, Ma Barker, Bonnie and Clyde, Roy Gardner, and Machine Gun Kelly.
John Stadig was born in Jemptland, Maine (now a part of New Sweden, Maine – scene of the nationally reported church coffee poisonings – but that’s a topic for another blog) near Caribou in northern Maine in December 1908. Stadig moved to St. Francis, Maine, with his family and later crossed the St. John River to St. Francis, New Brunswick. In his relatively short life, he had also taken up residence in Bradbury and Bangor, Maine, as well as Boston, Massachusetts; Indianapolis, Indiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Washington state; and Kansas.
Stadig came from a long line of mechanically inclined people. He also worked on log drives, keeping motors going on boats, and worked the shore, where somebody carved his name in a rock at “The Ledge” along the St. John River. He tinkered with electricity and worked as a store clerk, but never stayed at one job for too long. Dead at 28, he spent many years in prison.
Criminal History
John Stadig’s early life was calm. From an affluent family, he could have been educated or gone on to do anything he wanted, but during the Depression years, he found a way to make money, using plates and printing presses to print counterfeit money. That part of his life brought him to several federal prisons, including McNeil Island in Washington state, Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay, and Leavenworth, Kansas.
His early crimes included motor vehicle crimes, petty larceny, larceny, and violation of the Dyer Act, the national motor vehicle act that made interstate transportation of stolen vehicles a federal crime. His first prison term began in Boston in June 1927 when he was 19 years old.
Stadig’s first arrest for making counterfeit money was in New Brunswick, Canada, in June 1930. He served time in Canadian jails, but his notoriety increased with his November 1931 arrest in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he began his first term in a federal prison. He, along with four other men, was arrested for making $100,000 in $5, $10, and $20 bills. He testified against the others and only served 18 months in the Nevada State Prison.
Within 10 months, he was arrested again for counterfeiting, this time in Chicago. On his way to court, he escaped from federal marshals only to be arrested again two months later for counterfeiting in San Francisco.
Prison Life
Stadig did time in several federal prisons, including McNeil Island in Washington, Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay, and Leavenworth, Kansas, where he ended his life by cutting his jugular vein. He was sentenced to six years in prison and sent to McNeil Island, from which he escaped within one month. Recaptured, he received an additional two years in prison.
Alcatraz Dungeon Cell
Stadig was among the first 50 civilians jailed at Alcatraz, which was built as a military fortress in 1853 and used as a Civil War prison in 1861. Closed by the military in 1934, it became a notorious jail. Stadig arrived in Alcatraz in August 1934. Two months later, he was in Oregon for trial on additional charges of counterfeiting. Convicted again, he escaped from federal marshals by jumping from a moving train while returning to Alcatraz. Having slipped by his guards on two different occasions, he earned his nickname: The Alcatraz Eel.
Recaptured seven days later, he returned to Alcatraz. Prison authorities placed him in the dungeon cells below the prison’s main cell blocks. The conditions in the dungeon cells were deplorable. Prisoners assigned there who were considered problems lived in darkness and solitary confinement. Dungeon prisoners have described their time there: “There’s no light. It’s wet. You’re in shackles. You’re naked. It’s very cold. There are rats and bugs.” One prisoner, Henri Young (portrayed by Kevin Bacon in the movie Murder in the First), whose original arrest was for stealing $ 5.00 from a store that also served as a post office — making it a federal offense—spent three years in the dungeons. Stadig spent nowhere near that much time in the dungeon, but still went mad. During the ensuing two years, he attempted suicide four times. In September 1936, he transferred to the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, where three days later, on September 24, 1936, he slashed his throat, killing himself.
His body was returned to Fort Kent, Maine, by train. John Stadig’s final resting place is in the Congregational Cemetery in St. Francis, Maine.
‡ A March 16, 1994 letter to The New York Times from the Federal Bureau of Prisons points out that Henri Young went to Alcatraz after serving time in two state prisons for burglary and robbery. His subsequent Federal crime was bank robbery, not theft from a post office. He did not commit suicide at Alcatraz in the 1940s; he completed his sentence there in 1954, then served a term in Washington State Penitentiary for murder. He was paroled there in 1972. Whether he is alive or where he is is unknown.
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