Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-12-19

fire against this one night, but, instead
OF escaping, were nearly sufocated by the
smoke that spread through the caverns
One was found: dead, and FIVE others
were taken out senseless. A few months
later the convicts were taken from the
caverns and confined in a block house
within the enclosure. This; they set or
fire, and nearly all escaped. The spring
of 1881 found in confinement thirty Tor.
les committed by order of the American
army officers. They were desperate men
and for their greater. security a$guard
was appointed equalling them in mum.
Der. While two of the guards were ad,
hitting q relative of one of the Tories to
the shaft leading into The caverns, sever,
al who had climbed up the ladder made
a rush when the trap was opened. The
guards were ove1powered, and the other
prisoners rushed up, and, Selling the
muslkets in the guard house, had des-
perate fight. Several of the guards were
locked up in the caverns, and others fled
for their lives.
A DESPERATE ENCOUNTER.
In July, 1902, forty prisoners were lett
with but a single guard, the officers and
other guards being sick. He was. a stall
wart six footer and full of fight. ); The
prisoners were passing through the guard
house down into the shaft at the close of
work, and had all passed down on the
ladder excepting ten or a dozen. They
sprang upon the guard who, instead of
retreating, dashed in among them and
dealing with one at time, flung him
headlong down the shaft upon those who
had now begun to surge upward to join
their comrades. The uproar summoned
assistance from beyond the walls; but the
guard was master of the situation, had
Gagged his rats, and closed the door. -Four
years later the convicts in the nail-shop,
having unlocked the letters which they
wore even at work with keys made from
the pewter buttons on their clothing, at
tackled the guards, but musket-ball
through the head of the ringleader quell-
ed the mutiny in short order. One con-
vict succeeded in most ingenious plan
for escaping. A ow-convict's body
was removed from coffin and secreted.
Then the daring fellow stretched himse #
in the coffin, and, on reaching the place
of burial beyond the walls put the
guards to flight by a series of sepulchral
groans. He was never recaptured.
AN AWKWARD DILEMMA.
The drain above mentioned, the door
Of which the convicts attempted to de-
stroy by fire. eventually afforded way
to liberty for several prisoners. The
outer end was left unprotected, but the
inner was closed with heavy iron bars.
One of these was removed by convict,
and, after nights of weary toll in cnlarg-
ing the partly-choked and unused drain
he found himself near the outer Office.
When at labor one night far within the
drain he gave himself up for lost. A
stone overhead which he had loosened
fell into the 'd1ain behind him. This
closed the passage to his return, while
the way forward was impracticable. A
lingering horrible death by starvation
stared him in the face, but, lucky i'm
pulse, he kicked desperately at the stone
and found that it could be moved. BY
efforts, continued through
long hours, he worked the great stone
backward until it reached wider place
IN the drain, where he passed around it
and rejoined his comrades. A few nights
latter dozen or more made their way to
liberty through this dangerous passage
and the plucky fellow who had
cleared the road for them escaped
recapture and reached England
A story is tolu of another pris-
oner who, some years later, while attempt
a similar enterprise, became wedged in
the drain and died there, but this is not
supported by the prison records. 1t is
merely neighborhood story, and tells
that the prisoner, a thin, wiry chap,
reached and became fixed in space so
narrow that 10 one could get near him,
and that the drain was c1ogged until his
body dccomposed and passed away.
Many other stories, some Of them high
ly improbable, are related to visitors.
And they have their valne, in one re-
spect at least, that they keep up the in
terest in Newgate and its history. 1t IS
daily visited by parties from an area of
many miles in the vicinity, and OCCASION
al tourists from New York and Boston.
In historical interest it is scarcely second
to any other place in New England, and
especially as it remains in very much the
same condition as it was when occupied
for prison purposes, more than half a
century ago. Within the past few years
some attempts were made to develop
the mil e but the results were unproft-
able, and 1t is doubtful that it will ever
be worked again.