The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1864-04-23
The Mining of Libby Prison Confirmed
~ nv Gen, Neal Dow

The Mining of Libby Prison Confirmed
Isr - by Gen. Neal Dow.
The following extract from speech re-
Gently delivered at Portland by Gen. Neal
Dow, confirms the mining of Libby Prison,
and the rebel plot to blow up our prisoners
They told US of Kilpatrick's raid, On
the first of March arrangements had been
made to receive him. And what do you
suppose the arrangements were To de-
/ fend Richmond? Was thatit? No. They
mined Libby Prison, with the intention OF
blowing up it and US to use their own
phrase, 10 How as to heliP (Voice-is
there proof of that -? That is capable of
proof I cannot tell you how the fact was
! intimated 10 US the next day, without be-
ftraying those from whom the intimation
came. On the morning of Wednesday,
March Cd, after we had been fnftEmed OF
the gunpowder plot. Dick Turner. the Ia
! spector of Military Prisons, was asked by
many officers, at different times, if we were
correctly informed, and be assured US it
was true that large quantity of powder
had been placed under the prison to blow
US up if fitzpatrick had come in, and that
it would be done yet, If attempts were made
| to rescue us.
Rev DR.. Smith, President of Randolph
Macon College, well known South, and
known IN the North, too, as an able and in
fiuential man, came into the prison to visit
Lieut.. Col. Nichols, Of the 18th Connecti-
cut regiment, with whom he was acquaint-
ed. He said that powder had been placed
in the basement for the purpose of elbow
ing US into atoms'' Col Nichols did not
believe it. Dr.. Smith assured him it was
so. He had then come from the Office of
Judge Ould, Commissioner of Exchange,
who told him it was so. Rev. DR.. McCabe
said the same thing to Col. Cesnola, of the
4th New York cavalry, and others. Some
officers were in the kitchen at the back win-
dow, directly over the door leading into the
cellar Major Turner, the commandant of
the pIson-Dick Turner-and four or FIVE
rebel officers, went into the cellar, and on
coming out they remained few minutes at
the door, and one of the officers said, "By
G., if yon touch that off it will blow them
to h, sure enough - On the morning
we came away, Maj Turner assured Capt.
Sawyer and Capt, Flynn, who were ex-
changed in connection with myself, that the
powder was there, ana he said, Rather
than have you rescued | would have blown
you TO n, even II we had gone there our
selves" At first we could not believe it
not that we did not suppose them capable
of it. We did not suppose them to be fools
enough to be guilty of an act like that.
The destruction Of nine hundred Federal
officers in that way would not have been a
fatal blow to the Union cause, but it would
have drawn down upon them the excavations
Of all mankind it would have united the
Northern people as one man, and would
have fred the Northern heart with an in
tense indignation, and when Richmond
should be captured, it would have been ut
terly destroyed, and blotted out forever from
the earth. At first We could not believe
that such an act could have been contem-
plated, but we now regard it as established
by satisfactory proof. Such is the temper
of the leaders of the rebellion Such their
character l---e