Alvin Karpis watched as Cole and Roe broke through two panes of glass in the mat shop, sawed through a metal sash, and popped through the resulting opening. Cole then twisted off a padlock and rushed out to the water's edge. The pair negotiated their way through a perimeter of rubber tires and submerged barbed wire. Karpis reported that the current then picked them up and carried them off in the direction of the Golden Gate. A low fog prevented him from seeing their fate. Prison authorities mounted a massive search when the two didn't turn up for the 1:30 pm count. Prisoners clung to the hope that they'd made it. For years, newspapers reported sightings of the pair. And prisoners believed that Warden Johnston received annual postcards from South America signed "Ted and Ralph". Exceptionally high and fast tides on the day of the break, however, made their survival improbable. Authorities declared them dead.