Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-04-01
The MINING Of Libby Prison.

General Neal Dow made long and in
teresting speech st Portland, Maine, on
Friday last, at the public reception given
him by the citizens, and in the course Of
his remarks confirmed the report that the
Rebels in Richmond mined the Libby pris-
on st the approach Of Kilpatrick's forces.
The following is General DOW's account
Of this bsrbsrous act :
They told us Of ofKilpatriok's raid. On the
first Of March arrangements had been
made to receive him. And what do you
suppose the arrangements were 2 To de-
fend Richmond Was that it ? No. They
mined Libby Prison, with the intention Of
blowing up it and us: to use their own
phrase, 4" to blow us TO hell p Voice, Is
there proof Of thst7) That is capable Of
proof. 1 cannot tell you how the fact was
iutimsted to us the next day, without be-
traying those from whom the intimation
came. On the morning Of Wednesday,
March I'd, after we had been informed Of
the gunpowder plot, Dick Turner, the In
spector Of Military Prisons, was asked by
many officers at different times if we were
correctly informed. and he assured us that
it was true that large quantity Of pow
d@ had been placed under the prison, TO
blow Us up if Fitzpatrick had come in, and
that /. would be done yet il attempts were
u Q . to rescue US.
Rev. DR.. Smith, President Of Randolph
Macon College, well known down South,
rnd known in the North too, as an able
and influential man, came into the prisen
to visit Lieutenant Colonel Nichols Of the
Eighteenth Connecticut regiment, with
whom he was acquainted. He said that
powder had been placed in the basement
for the purpose Of blowing us into atoms.
Colonel Nichols did net believe it. DR..
Smith assured him that it was 30. He had
then come from the Office Of Judge 0uld,
Commissioner Of Exchanges, who told him
il was 30. Rev. DR.. McCabe said the same
thing TO Colonel Cesnola of the Fourth
New York Cavalry, and others. Some Of
ficers were in the kitchen at the back win
dow, directly over the door leading into the
cellar. Major Turner, the oommandant Of
the prison-Dick Turner-and four or five
rebel officers went into the cellar, and on
coming out they remained 3 few minutes
at the door, and one Of the officers said,
" By c., if you touch that off it will
blow them TO hell, sure enough r. On the
we came away, Major Turner as
sured Captain Sawyer and Captain Flynn,
who were exchanged in connection with
myself, that powdsr was there, and he said,
4" Rather than to have you rescued would
have blown you to h, even if we had gone
there ourselves" 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 fatal blow to the Union |
cause, but it would have drawn down up
On them the execrstions Of all mankind; it
would have united the northern people as
,ne man, and would have filed the nor
hern heart with an intense indignation,
md when Richmond should be captured,
n would have been utterly destroyed, and
'lotted out forever from the earth At
rst we could not believe that such an act
ould have been contemplated, but we now
egard it as established by satisfactory
roof. Such is the temper ofof the leaders
the rebellion Such their character