For the rugby league footballer of the 1920s for Great Britain and Rochdale Hornets, see Joseph "Joe" Bowers

Joseph Bowers (rugby league)

Joseph "Joe" Bowers is a former professional rugby league footballer of the 1920s who at representative level has played for Great Britain and at club level for Rochdale Hornets, playing at , i.e...

Joseph "Dutch" Bowers (December 13, 1896 – April 27, 1936) was the first man to attempt an escape from Alcatraz

Alcatraz Island

Alcatraz Island is an island located in the San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. Often referred to as "The Rock" or simply "Traz", the small island was developed with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison, and a Federal...

prison. On 27 April, 1936, Bowers finished working on the prison incinerator. Instead of going back to the prison, he headed out towards the surrounding wire fence. The guards ordered him twice to stop, he refused. They shot twice at the ground. He continued until he reached the fence, then scaled it and dropped down on the other side. The guards shot twice and hit him in the neck and his right thigh. He was propelled headfirst over the cliff and down 60 feet to his death.

Bowers' escape attempt was believed to be a deliberate suicide by inmates and was the first of the island's fourteen.