Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-01-24
JOHN Il. MORGAN.
How Ne and His COnfederaies Es-
capped from the Ohio Penitenfiary-

iederates from the Ohio penitentiary
They had succeeded in breaking through
the stone aoor hole large enough to admit
the body Of 4 man, and had reached ID,
air chamber. The narrative proceeds:
The method adopted then was for two Of
three to descend and 90 to work, while tht
Others kept watch. In an hour on two
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 ar
rived, except at dinner time, when every
man who was absent from the table had to
give a reason Tor his absence. The work.
eo1Iuc4ed underground. sas tedious ard
( dificalt bul ali lsbored with will The
! candies which had been purchased and
boarded away, BOW did good service.
/ Without them Il would have been almost
impossible 70 finish the task. A code of
signals was invented 10 meet every possible
contingency. By pounding bar of wood
upon the stone floor, those above commu-
nicated 10 those underneath information of
every danger which threatened, and called
on them 10 come forth, II necessary. The
walls Of the air chamber were two or three
feet thick, and built Of huge stones. Two
or ihree Of these stones were removed, and
tunnel was run straight to the outer
wall Of the hail. Fortune favored the
worlzmen, at this juncture, and threw 10
their way an adequate tool with which 10
accomplish this part Of their work Some
one had discovered lying in the yard
| through which we passed on our way to
brea kfass, an old rusty spade with broken
| handle. Ii was at once determined that
/ the said spade must be secured. Accord
| ingly men we're detailed and instructed In
their proper parts, and al the FIRST oppoftu-
| nifty the spade was transferred % the air
chamber, and put 20 work in digging the
/ tunnel. This is the manner in which that
valuable, that priceless, old, rusty, broken
| spade was gotten:
One man was selected to secrete the spade
about has person-him viii call No. /.
He wore, for the occasion, long, loose
sack coat. Six or seven other men were
his aecomplices II was usual occurrence
for those who we're awaiting their turn al
the washing troughs 10 romp and soufie
with each other in the yard. The con-
spirators were, this morning, Vexceedingly
frolicsome. Atlength No. fell, apparent
" by an accident, upon The spade, his ac-
completes tnmbled in q heap upon him.
No 1 dexterously slipped the spade under
his coat, and buttoued il up He went into
breakfast with IL and sat wonderfully
straight and carried it safely into the hall
and down into the air chamber.
When the main wall Of the ball was
reached, the heavy stones Of its foundation
were removed in sufficient number to admit
Of the passage Of a man. But II was then
discovered that the tunnel led right under
an immense coal pile. It was necessary
that this difficulty should be remedied; but
how2 Without a view Of the ground Just
outside Of the wall, nc one could calculate |
how far, or in what direction to run a tun-
mel, 50 that when il was conducted b the |
surface all distractions might be avoided. |
In this emergency, General Morgan en-
gagged Scott In conversation about the re- |
markable escape Of some convicts, which |
had occurred a year or two previously, and 1
which Scott was very fond of describing.
These convicts had climbed By the balco- |
MES, in front Of The ranges Of cells, to the ]
ceiling, and had passed out through the
skylight 70 the roof Of the prison. Scott
declared bis belief that there we're no two
other men on the continent who could per
form the feat ofascending by the balconies. |
Why" says General Morgan, Captain
Sam. Taylor, small as he is, can do IT,"
Thereupon a discussion ensued, ending ]
by SCOTS giving Taylor permission 10 at |
tempt it. Taylor, who, although very
small, was as sCtive az q squirrel, immedi |
ately commenced the ascent and sprang /
from one 10 the other of the balconies, un- |
til he reached the top one He was one Of |
the men who had been selected to escape |
with Gen. Morgan, and eomprehended |
Immediately the latter's object in having /
him attempt this feat Il 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 ohserva- |
tons enabled them 10 direct the tunnel I
Alright. Once during the tunneling, while i
Captain Hockersmith (another of the pro-
iectors Of the PLAN was at work under /
ground, Scott called for him, and seened I
anxious to find him at once. Gen. Nor /
gan's presence Of mind prevented dis
covery, or, az least, a strong suspicion of |
the plot at once resulting from Hooker
smiths absence. The General said 10 Scott.
"Hockersmith is lying down in my cell he /
IL sicly, p and he requested Scott TO examine
and give his opinion upon memorial
a. Il
and which he proposed forwarding 20
Washington. 1t was something in regard
to our removal 20 military prison Scott
highly iattered by this tribute TO his iudg-
ment) took the memorial, looked at Il at
tentively for some minutes and returned il,
saying, II think II viii DO FIRST rate !:
did DO. In the meantime, Hockeusmith
had been signsled, and had ''come up, and
he made his appearance complaining of
serious indispOsition.
While The work was going on, General
Morgan and those who we're 10 escape with
him habitually slept with their faces COW
cred and their hands concealed. This was
done 10 aocustom the night guard to take
their presence in the cells for granted, by
the appearance OF the bulk upon the beds,
without sotually seeing them. This guard
went the rounds at the expiration of every
two hours during the night, and he would
place has lantern close 10 each cell door, in
order that the light should gu the cell and
show the occupant Gen. Morgan used 20
say that peculiar shuddering and creeping
Of the flesh would assail him whenever this
man approached. He would frequently
creep about with list slippers on his feet,
and he moved then without the slightest
noise. He used 10 remind me Of sly,
cruel, bloated, suspicious, night-prowling
spider
When the tunneling approached its COM
pletion, all the other necessary prepara-
lions were made. The prison yard, into
which they would emerge from the tunnel,
was surrounded by wall twenty-five feet
high, and means for scaling that had TO be
There was an inner wall run
ming from the corner Of the East Halr' to
a smaller building, in which some Of the
female eonvicts were imprisoned, bot Il was
low, and they anticipated
little difficulty in getting over il. The
coverlids Of several beds were torn into !
strips, and the strips were plated into q
strong rope, nearly thirty feet in length. |
A strong iron rod, used for stirring the fires |
in the stoves, was converted into q hook,
and the rope was attached toit. Rope and
hook were taken down into the air-chamber. !
where all the "valuables" were stored.
General Morgan had managed 70 get a
suit Of citizens clothing, and the sig men
who were going % escape with him were
similarly provided The Warden had mo
hibited the Introduction into the prison Of ,
uniform clothing, but they occasionally al
lowed plain suits % be received The Gen 1
erai had also gotten a card OF the schedule
lime on the Little Miami Railroad. ana t,
Knew when the train leit Columbus. and
when il arrived st Cincinnati--for this he
paid fifteen dollars the only money. used IN /
sfecling his escape.
Despite the strict search instituted when
We frst entered the Peniteniiary, several Of
he party had managed 60 secrete money
% that il was not found. This was divided !
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