Joseph B. Waldrupe, a 29-year-old White male, served as a correctional officer at the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. His tenure was cut short on a fateful afternoon in the autumn of 1901. At the time, the new federal prison was still under construction, a massive project utilizing the labor of hundreds of inmates who were marched daily from the Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks to the construction site. On November 7, 1901, the routine of the day was shattered by a meticulously planned and violent escape attempt.
The uprising began around 3:30 in the afternoon, when a group of inmates managed to access weapons that had been secretly stashed at the construction site. With these firearms in hand, twenty-six prisoners quickly overpowered the unarmed guards on the ground, using them and construction crew members as human shields. The armed officers, positioned in temporary wooden guard towers, found their lines of fire blocked by the hostages. The inmates then directed their assault towards these towers. Officer Waldrupe was stationed in one of these precarious wooden structures, which offered little protection from the ensuing gunfire.
Despite the chaos and the danger to his own life, Officer Waldrupe acted with incredible bravery. As the inmates advanced on his position, he was struck by gunfire, sustaining a wound to his hip and a pellet to his forehead. Despite his injuries, he managed to return fire, killing the inmate ringleader who had shot him. The inmates then rushed his tower. Even as they breached the trapdoor, the wounded officer continued to fight, using his rifle as a club to knock one of the attackers back down the ladder. He was ultimately overwhelmed and severely beaten. In a surprising turn, one of the inmates then stood guard at the tower's entrance, preventing the others from further harming the mortally wounded officer.
Following the assault, the twenty-six inmates breached the outer barrier and fled using the correctional officers' horses, triggering a massive manhunt. Joseph Waldrupe was rushed to St. John's Hospital, where he underwent several surgeries. He lingered for several days, at one point feeling well enough to sit up. However, his condition took a turn for the worse, and he slipped into a coma. He succumbed to his injuries on November 10, 1901, with his wife of just one year, Lena, by his side. All of the escaped inmates were eventually recaptured, with the exception of those who were killed during clashes with the pursuing authorities. Three of the main conspirators in the escape and Waldrupe's death had their sentences extended to life in prison.
