
Burton Phillips

Burton Earnest "Whitey" Phillips (May 20, 1912 – July 28, 1999) was an American criminal, convicted of bank robbery and kidnapping. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison. He robbed $2,090 (equivalent to $38,663 in 2019) from the Chandler Bank of Lyons in Kansas in February 1935, before taking the cashier and his assistant hostage and driving away in a stolen car with an accomplice.
He was initially sent to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary and had planned on overpowering the sheriff and obtaining his weapons before escaping and robbing the same bank again. He was assessed as a dangerous criminal who would be more secure at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. He was sent to Alcatraz on October 26, 1935.
Phillips was a malicious, angry character, and was noted by the Alcatraz staff upon arrival. In 1937, he savagely attacked the Warden of Alcatraz James A. Johnston in the Dining Hall from behind and beat him until he was restrained. Johnston was 63 at the time and Phillips around 24. Phillips was said to have been angry at Johnston over a worker's strike. His attack was described as a "queer mental quirk". He died in Kansas in 1999, following parole in 1952.