The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1871-11-24

1 =
pshaW, impossible !" Impossible
To energE all things are possible.
| La Tude had observed that in No
of the Tower de la Comte-th
roona- over his szoWR-there Wss pris
oner who never made any noise, new
er audibly moved his chair or table
never even cOughed. He went Il
mass on the Sundays and Wednes
| days when La Tude and his FRIEND
did. He descended first and return
ed last. It being necessary to exam
| inc his room, La Tude- arranged ;
simple but efiectuaI plan. On tht
return from mass D'Alegre was tt
pull out his handkerchief and let j
fall down stairs. One day he did so
| then asked the turnkey to 60 down
and fetch it. The moment the mar
was gone La Tnde darted up stairs
drew the bolt of No. 3, and glanced
in: the room was nine or ten fee
high. He then measured quickly
three steps Of the staircase, anC
counted the number of steps to his
own cell. He saw at once that tht
ceiling of his cell had been made
double, and five feet thick, to mufflt
y
ability q similar hollow space would
be found between the floor of bis
own cell and the ceiling of that be.
low. When they were bOlted into
No, 2 La Tude's eyes sparkled; he
clutched his friends arm, and cried
"Patience, courage, and we shall
escaped The floor is hollow; we
can hide our rope there"
"Rope ?" said his friend "but we
could not get ten feet to save ouI
lives"
"In that post-chaise trunk" said
La Tude, pointing to the trunk,
-there are twelve dozen shirts, six
teen pairs of silk stockings, twelve
dozen understanding, five dozen
drawers, six dozen napkins; unrav-
cling these, we shall have more rope
than we want" D'Alegre brighten
ed! up, but again asked how the
iron bars in the chimney were to be
removed, as they had no chisels, no
eroW-bars. 'EThe hand made all in
struments, and the head planned
them," said La Tude while we
have thoJe we can not be at q loss
for resources" He then pointed out
the iron hinges Of their folding ta-
bles. These, sharpened on the tiled
floor, and put into handles, became
working chisels; the steel for light
ing their fire could be made into q
knife, which would shape tool han
dies, and sci We for thousand other
purposes. They talked about moth
ing else all day. Hope whispered
encouragement to these poor prison
eFs, rendered preteFnaturally cum
ming by seven years of slavery. AT
ter supper, when the place was safe
for the night tone great security in
these cases. they pulled a hinge off
the table, and, digging a tile out OF
the floor, dug toward tho ceiling be-
low. In six hours they found there
were two floors below, three fee!
apart, They then carefully replaced
the tile, which presented no appear
ance of having been disturbed. Next
day they broke the fire steel, made a
knife, and cut two handles in which
to insert the sharpened hinges. Af-
ter that they slowly unraYeled two
of the shirts, drawing out thread ef-
ter thread. These strings, knit to-
gether, they formed into clews of an
equal length, and then divided them
into two clews, fifty threads to each
sixty feet. They then twisted these
clews, and formed a rope about fifty
five feet long, to be from time to time
added to by more unraYeled linen
slowly woven in the long hours of
the dreary nights. Then came the
hard task of wrenching the iron bars
out of the chimney. To accomplish
this they fastened their rope-ladders
with heavy weights, and, supported
on them, worked at the bars. In a
few months every bar was loosened
and ready to be removed, but still
left in its original socket.
1t was hard work. Every day the
two men descended with bleeding
hands, and SO bruised that they could
not recommence work below till af-
ter an hour or twO's rest. The bars
removed, there was still a wooden
ladder required to ascend from the
mOat to the sentinePs gallery, the
only way to the governors garden,
and beyond that to liberty. They
had no saw to cut the fire-wOod,
eighteen inches long, daily supplied
10 them. The hinges would not saw
through billets. In q few hours
these ingenious men, with an iron
candlestick and the other half Of the
fire steel, had made an excellent saw,
which in twenty minutes would cut
through log as thick as a mans leg.
With knife and saw they pared and
shaped the billets into steps for the
ladder, with joints to fix ia one an
other, and holes to receive the Cross
bars. They also made pair of COM
passes, a square. reel, blocks, and
every requisite for their escape, all
of which were of course, concealed
between the two convenient floors.
They had also given every one of
their implements q secret name, such
ae FaunUs for the saw, Polyphemus
for the floor, Jacob for the ladder,
Dove for the rope, Anubis for the
reel, Tubal-CaiR for the hinges; and
the rule was that the man nearest the
door, hearing the turkeys foot on
the stairs, instantly called out the
cipher for the special object to be
concealed, as the turnkeys sometimes
by daytime entered the room unex-
pectedly. There not being wood
enough the ladder was only a pole
twenty feet long, in which were
twenty bars thrust through six inch
es on each side, every round being
pegged in and bound with thread to
prevent it slipping. At last the lad
der and rope were both ready, and
hidden snug in the cave Of -Polyphe-
mus. It was evident to La Tude that
the rope ladder would so vibrate, as
they descended the vast perpendieu-
lar wall, as to turn the man using it
giddy with tear. They therefore
wOve a second rope, three hundred
feet long, or twice the height of the
tower. This rope was to pass
through fixed pulley, and by the
second rope the man above and be-
low would be able to regulate and
and aid his companions descent and