Alcatraz warden's notebook page for Arthur "Doc" Barker, No. 268
Bureau of Prisons notebook page with the identification photograph of Arthur Barker, No. 268, received at Alcatraz from Leavenworth on 26 October 1935 under a life sentence from the District of Minnesota. A red header records his death in the institutional hospital on 13 January 1939. A copy is stored here.
- Date
- 1935-10-26
- Kind
- photograph
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-12
- NAID
- 296721
- Rights
- A Bureau of Prisons record, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. Series "Warden's Notebook Pages" (NAID 296686), Records of the Bureau of Prisons (Record Group 129), National Archives at San Francisco. The National Archives catalog marks the item "Use Restriction: Unrestricted." The series note says that some information on the pages is incorrect when compared with the fuller inmate files, and that clippings in the series may be copyrighted; this page is a prison form. The copy stored here is a downsample of the first digitized image.
The National Archives catalog titles this page “Warden’s notebook page, with “mug shot,” of Arthur “Doc” Barker, 268-AZ..” It is a Bureau of Prisons notebook form with an identification photograph at the upper right; the placard in the photograph reads “U.S. Penitentiary Alcatraz 268”. It belongs to the series Warden’s Notebook Pages (NAID 296686).
The typed entries, as printed: name “Barker, Arthur,” No. 268, received 10-26-35 from Leavenworth, age 36, date of birth 6-4-99. Offense “Conspiracy to Trans.Kidnap Person,” dated 5-17-35; sentence “Life”; district sentenced “D.Minn, St.Paul.” The red header reads: “DIED IN INSTITUTIONAL HOSPITAL, AT 5:45 P.M.-January 13,1939, FROM GUN-SHOT WOUNDS, RECEIVED WHILE ATTEMPTING TO ESCAPE.” The photograph’s placard reads “U.S. Penitentiary Alcatraz 268.” The “Reason for Transfer” box is a staff opinion (it calls the offense one of kidnapping and recommends maximum custody and discipline). A long note on the page about his family and associates is a staff summary and is not reproduced here.
Catalog data, labelled as such: this item has no scope note, and its title is the one quoted above. The matching case-file description (NAID 117695687) gives the offense “NATIONAL BANK ROBBERY & CONSPIRACY TO TRANSPORT KI[DNAPPED PERSON],” receipt at Alcatraz 10/26/1935 from Leavenworth, transfer 01/13/1939 “to DEATH,” birth date 06/04/1899, and the remark “KILLED DURING ESCAPE ATTEMPT; BARKER-KARPIS GANG.” The Bureau of Prisons’ account of the 13 January 1939 escape attempt is on its Alcatraz history page; the FBI’s first telephone report of that morning is a Vault memorandum.
