Clarksville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1865-1867, 1867-02-01
MORGAN'S ESCAPE FROM THE
OHIO PENITENTIARY.

From the advance sheets OF the forthcom-
ing life of John Morgan, by Basil Duke, we
extract the following account of the escape Of
Morgan and his confederates from the Ohio
Penitentiary. They had succeeded in break
ing through the store floor hole large
enough to admit the body of man, and
had reached the air chamber. The narrative
proceeds.
The metbed adopted then was for two or
three to descend and go to work while the
others kept watch In an hour or two a
fresh relief would be put on, and the work
would be kept up in this way throughout the
day, until the hour Of locking up arrived,
except at dinner time wien every man who
was absent from the table had to give rea-
son for his absence. @
The work, conducted under ground, was
tedious and difficult, but all had labored
with will. The candles which had been
purchased ana boarded away, now did good
service. Without them it would have, been
almost impossible to finish the task. A code
BILE contingency. By pounding bar of
wood upon the stone floor, those ADORE COM
municated TO those beneath information of
every danger which threatened, and called
on them to come forth if necessary THE
walls of the air chamber were two or three
feet thick, and built of huge stones
Two or three of these stones were removed
and tunnel was run straight to the outer
wall Of the hall. Fortune favored the work.
men, at this juncture and threw in their way
an adequate tool with which to accomplish
this part Of their work. Some one had dis
covered lying in the yard through which we
passed on our way to breakfast, an old rusty
spade with broken handle. It was at once
determined that the said spade must be Sc
cured. Accordingly men were detailed and
instructed in their proper parts, and at the
first opportunity the spade was transferred to
the air chamber, and put TO work in digging
the tunnel. This is the manner in which
that valuable, that priceless, old, rusty spade
was gotten:
One man was selected to secrete the spade
about his person-him will call No one
He wore for the occasion a long, loose :ack
coat. 1t was assual occurrence for those who
were awaiting their turn at the washing
troughs to romp and scuffie with each other
in the yard. The conspirators were, this
morning exceedingly frolicsome. At length
No. one fell as Uy accident upon the spade,
his accompllces tumbled in heap upon
him. No. one dexterously slipped the spade
under his coat and buttonedf il up. He went
into breakfast with it, and sat wonderfully
straight, and carried it safely into the hall
and down into the air chamber.
When the main wall was reached, the
heavy stones Of its foundation were remov-
ed in sufficient number to admit of the pas
sage of man. But II was then discovered
that the tunnel led right under an immense
coal pile. II was necessary that difficulty
should be remedied; but how? Without
view of the ground just outside the wall, no
one could well calculate how far, or in what
direction to run tunnel, so that when it
was conducted to the surface, all Instructions
might be avoided In this emergency, Gen.
eral Morgan engaged Scott in a conversation
about the remarkable escape of sore con-
victs, which had occurred year or two pre-
viously, and which Scott was very fond OF
describing. These convicts had climbed by
the balconies, in front Of the ranges of cells
TO tho ceiling, and had passed out through
the skylight TO the roof of the prison. Scott
declared his belief that there were no two
other men on the continent who could per-
form the same feat of ascending the balco-
nies. f.
"Why," says General Morgan, Captain
Sam. Taylor, small as he is, can do it,
Thcreupon discussion ensued, ending by
Scott's giving Taylor permission TO attempt
il, Taylor who although very small, was
as active as squirrel Immediately commen-
ced the ascent, and sprang from one to the
other of the balconies until he reached the
top one. He was one Of the men who had
been selected to escape with General Nor
gan, and comprehendei Immediately the lat
ters object in having him attempt this feat
1t would afford him a chance to glance out of
the windows at the ground just beyond the
wall. As he leisurely swung himself down,
he studied "the position carefully, and his
observations enabled them TO di'ect the tun-
mel Alright. Once during the tunneling,
while Captain lIockersmith (another of the
projectors Of the PLAN was at work under
ground Scott called for him and, seemed
anxious to find him at once. General Nor
gan's presence of mind prevented discovery
or at least suspicion of the plot, from OF
once resulting from Hockersmiths absence,
The General said to Scott " Hockersmith Is
lying down in my cell he is sick" and he
requested Scott TO examine and give his
opinion Of a memorial which he (,he General
held in his hand, and which he proposed for
warding TO Washington. Il was something
reaarding our removal TO a military prison
Scott highly fiattered 10y this tribute to hi:
judgment took the memorial looked at II at,
tentiyely for some minutes and returned il
say ing; "i think il will do first rate II
did do. In the meantime, Hockersmilh hat
been signaled, and had come up, and h'
made his appearance complaining Of seri
Gus indisposion. -. ...
While TIE work was going on, Genera
Morgan and those who were TO escape with
him hahitually slept with their faces covereS
and their hands concealed. This was dom
to accustom the night guard TO take thei
nf.e. ~ Tor ora etrd 10 .ks anrSaranrs n