Writer chronicles Depression-era counterfeiter Allagash author researches infamous criminal, a native of St. John Valley

ALLAGASH – Al Capone or Bonnie and Clyde may be the most famous gangsters, but the St. John Valley had its own in a counterfeiter who ended up in Alcatraz at the same time as Capone.

John Stadig’s early life was calm, but during the Depression years he found his own way to make money, using plates and printing presses. That part of his life brought him to several federal prisons, including McNeil Island in Washington, Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay, where he became mad, and Leavenworth, Kan., where he ended his life by cutting his jugular vein.

Darrell McBreairty of Allagash has chronicled Stadig’s life by conducting five years of interviews, scanning scores of newspaper articles and reams of letters and documents from federal agencies, especially from histories of jails where Stadig was incarcerated.

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 his name is carved in a rock at “The Ledge” along the St. John River.

He tinkered with electricity and was a store clerk, but never stayed at one job too long. Dead at 28, he spent many years in prison.

“He could have done almost anything, being a very bright man,” McBreairty said. He had a family that was affluent, and he could have been educated or gone on to do anything he wanted.

“He needed to make money, and the only way he knew how was to make it [counterfeit], according to an anecdote I was told,” the author said.

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.

“Alcatraz Eel: The John Stadig Files,” a 383-page work, details McBreairty’s “demythologizing the life of John Millage Stadig – a young man from northern Maine – who, through his own 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.”

Born in Jemptland near Caribou in northern Maine in December 1908, Stadig moved to St. Francis with his family and later to St. Francis, New Brunswick. In his rather short life, he had also taken up residence in Bradbury and Bangor, as well as Boston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Washington state and Kansas.

His early crimes included motor vehicle problems, 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.

It was in New Brunswick that he was first arrested for making counterfeit money. That was June 1930. He served some time in Canadian jails, but his notoriety increased when he was arrested in Las Vegas in November 1931 and he began his first term in a federal prison.

He and four other men were arrested for making $100,000 in $5, $10 and $20 bills. He testified against the others and was sentenced to 18 months in the Nevada State Prison.

Within 10 months, he was arrested again for counterfeiting, this time in Chicago. He escaped from federal marshals on his way to court, only to be arrested again two months later for counterfeiting in San Francisco.

Sentenced to six years in prison, he was sent to McNeil Island, from which he escaped within one month. Recaptured, he was sentenced to two more years in prison.

He was taken to Alcatraz in August 1934. Two months later, he was taken to appear in court in Oregon on counterfeiting charges. Convicted again, he escaped from federal marshals while en route to Alcatraz.

Recaptured seven days later, he was returned to Alcatraz. During the ensuing two years he attempted suicide four times. In September 1936 he was transferred to Leavenworth, where he killed himself three days later on Sept. 24, 1936.

His body was returned by train to Fort Kent. He was buried in the Congregational Cemetery in St. Francis.

McBreairty said he started his work on Stadig to write an article about the man.

“I had no idea that there was this much material on this man,” he said. “I had heard the legends about John Stadig for years.

“I found all kinds of little pieces of information and decided to put it together.

“I had a True Detective Magazine article from the 1940s,” he said of his five years of work. “I started talking with people, and all this stuff came out.”

The book features material from all over the country, including newspaper articles and information from the Department of Justice. McBreairty also interviewed a number of people.

“It was important to take the legend, oral tradition, and bring in the documentation,” he said.

McBreairty characterized Stadig as an “extremely handsome, very charismatic man. He was mischievous, full of life, and no one ever felt he was a danger.

“People laughed at his antics, they almost cheered when he escaped from a prison,” he said. “Stadig became a romantic hero to the people in his village and they were in awe of him.”

McBreairty finished the book in 2005. It is now available on eBay, Country Cottage in Fort Kent, Mr. Paperback in Caribou and by mail from him at 33 Walker Brook Road, Allagash. His e-mail address is dmcbreairty@yahoo.com.