The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1879-06-19
Prisoners atsLibby.

H. F,si,t,;ss. io8 .---4-S.aEgtafsld hfa nero
During the winter of 1864 otbers were
above one Thousand federal officers confined
in Libby prison, at Richmond, Va. In De-
cember, 1868, Col. Rose, Of the Tooth p Penn-
sylvania, conceived tho idea of escaping
BY means of tunnel q He communicated
bis plans to some of his. Comrades. who
I promised their oco-opefation ia the matter.
4 The great difficulty they found vas ii get
ting access to the basement of othe building,
where they designed commencing iopera-ai
tons. They could get access to the first y
| floor of the eastern division, for this was
occupied byahosphsble coobswho were en-
| listed soldiers who were captured = hut
| there was no opening into the bssemen ent.i
There was, however. large chimney Lead,
ing up from fire place ii the basement.
They finally discovered that they could 60
down the aperture oof, the schiminey Il Eld I
thus reach the basement. Atthe east end a
of the building there was q marrow alley,
upon the opposite side of which there was
q lot of considerable size, ginear the center
| OF which there was an unused stable, this 4
stable being some distance beyond tile r
guards, who were stationed near the build
ing, twas the design OF o1the projectors
of the tunnel to open the terminus OF it ill- u
to this stable. The greatest difficulty Ell
countered, was at the beginning They had
to effect an opening in the foundation wall
which was of stone. To do this they had
no better tools than few small hatchets
which were used about the prison for; split
ting kindlings. After great labor an open
walled and arched. The only material that
could be found for this purpose was the
wooden boxes which had contained articles
of food and clothing sent to the prisoners
from their homes. The secret of the tunnel
had been communicated to but q few, and it
was not desired that it should be generally
known what they were driving Iat; but to-
avoid this, after using their own boxes, they :
procured the services of the hospital cooks,
who would 60 among the prisoners and BEG
their empty boxes for fire wood. 5jsi iElai
Only one man could work in the tunnel
at the same time, and consequently, the g,
work proceeded slowly. Then the tools they
had to work with, knives and sharpened
sticks, were very insufficient They had to q
remain on all-fours or lie fiat while at work.. a
They had estimated the distance to be
seyenty-five feet in order to reach the center
of the stable. They measured their work
carefully as they advanced, and when they Il
reached the length of seventy-fve feet they .
tunneled upward, and upon reaching tho
outside earth found they were correct i'll Z
their estimates of distances. 8 II; .noienafIiH iH
After the opening was effected in the stabLs
it was carefully covered with q broad board, i.
until such time as was thought proper for Il /,
number of the prisoners to- make their
egrees. The night of the fifth of February b
had been fixed upon for fifty of the officers :
to make their escape through the tunnel.
The design was for fifty to go out on that
night and fifty each succeeding night until
the means of egress was discovered by the L
confederates.j It was thought by those who
projected and completed the tunnel, that the
matter wss not known to above one hundred
officers, to. whom they had communicated it N.
but by some means the thing leaked ont and
prison, and when nine O'Clock had arrived
the hour that the officers should COM y
mence their egress-the entrance to the Il
tunnel was crowded. It was designed for
fifty to leave that night and fifty others
were selected to mislead sthe confederate \
clerk who called the roll each morninga This i
would have been easily done if the exact 4
number who left had been known, for the
manner of calling the roll was 10 crowd all /.
the prisoners into the east room and pass
them through door, and as they passed
through count them and as there was
another doori in the same room it was very (
easy for an officer to pass back through it
and fall in and be counted again. The s'
officer who was to count off the fifty WHO were u
to 90 the first night and conduct the decep-
ton at roll calllthe next morning, finding be
could not stop the of6cers when fifty had 2
gone out, and that 90 many would escape i.
that it would be impossible to conceal their
flight at roll call, made his own escape.
The next morning when the toll was
nAY1o3
1O9 officers we're found missing. This Cre-
ated intense excitement among the oMceys,
Who had charge OF the prison. All the Of q
fcers were then called BY name with the'sf
same result. The prison was carefully ex- 4
amined and the point g. Of aegress WAS not
found IL s's'
The dissppearshca Of these sfederah Vas P
so naysteyipus that tho gconfeds1atssss WERE. Il
As soon fas their astMish-
ment subsidized scouts we're sent in every
direction in search aof the fdgitives. Ia
ID large humber ef Tie citi-8
zens of Richnaond xeoonnoiteesdatlls prisN ii
on the greater portion of the day; sbut III
some time in the afternoon somebody hap
pened to enter the old stable and discov-
cred the tunneli This wsga great rekefs 70
them. It relieved the gnsras from the
charge Of treason sad relieved ths minds q
beffsf from their .minds ta1ae iSSiins sdlf,
natural Aesaoga had. bssaf sdspa sa'iaaths 81
s'9fPs rbs g sss sSs. .5ss s a u =
turn with tome 0f t6e eloe6ped rfisohefs, md =
h NE dpuzee of 1evxlys they suoceet16dfiAS
EyceptuEing Aft9 9fwo et fbe ssDe 1alaredA A11s /
sSas a,as u u ia ia IS seslsl ls. 8pf Soss'
and engineer Of ss1fH6Sl ,