The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1882-11-15
Respond, Amen
4 BREAK FOR LIBERTY.
The Thrilling Experience of an
Officer Who Escaped From
Libby Prison.
CRAWLING THROUGH THE TUNNEL.
Smoke From the Union Picket
Fires.

lOOf, tOlOiltl lAoct COul pltltu lli'
tunnel at Libby Prison, through
which sixty-one Union soldiess es
capped to the Federal lines, Captain
Frank f. Moran of the Seventy
third New York regiment, then /;
prisoner there, got an Inkling o
what was going on and hurried t.
join the crowd of fugitives. While
hundreds were pressing for prece
dence at the narrow mouth of The
tunnel, the cry of guards" was
raised. A stampede followed. Not
withstanding the panic no guards
appeared and Captain Moran has
tened back towards the opening
What befell him is related in an ex
tremelv entertaining article in the
Philadelphia Weekly Times, from
which article the subjoined extracts
are taken:
Isqueezed myself feet first through
the narrow aperture in the fire place
and found that the opening led in q
descending slant from the back ot
the fire place, through the chimney
and into the east cellar. which was
divided from the cellar containing
the cells by a wall. These cells
were directly under the kitchen at
the front of the building and were
alternately used for the confinement
of hostages, troublesome prisoners
and Onion spies under death SEN
tence. They were floorless closets
about ten or twelve feet square A
small stream of light poured into
them a part of the day from mar
row grated window half sunken in
the sidewalk above. They were
guarded by special sentinels, were
alive with enormous rats and the
air in them was sickening. From
these dreadful cages many a brave
fellow went forth to death. A thick
wall divided this from the east eel
lar under the hospital room, and it
was in the east wall of this cellar
that the tunnel proper began.
SURROUNDED BY RATS.
Finding the short fragment of a
blanket rope hanging from the top
of the opening, let my feet down,
hoping to touch bottom, but found
none, and as my bruised hand and
shoulder made it impossible to hang
long | balanced myself for a fall,
whittier and to what depth knew
not, for it was a rayless pit of dark
ness. With a sortof faith in fortune
| shut my eyes and teeth and in the
name of liberty let go. Thanks to
my thoughtful comrades | fell into
a huge pile of straw, and after roll
ing over two or three times | found
myself in the darkness among hun
dreds of squealing rats, and before |
could recover my equilibrium score
of the repulsive creatures ran over
me. Complying with my instruc-
tions | placed my back to the wall
near where | dropped and waded
knee deep toward the opposite wall
through the straw that covered the
cellar. The place seemed to be per-
fectly alive with rats that fought,
and tore each other and
thumped against my ankle at every
step.
At last / reached the wall and ran
my hand along the cold, damp sur
face in search of the opening to the
tunnel. In this manner ] CROPPED
along until | reached the southeast
corner, and believing that l must
have passed the hole | made my way
back in the same way, feeling the
wall with increased anxiety and
stopped dozen times to
listen for some friendly token from
my friendly comrades who had long
since preceded me, but no sound
could be heard but the horrible
chorus of the rats. The thought of
failure began to harass me. as did
the fear that | should be forced to
pass the night in the loathsome
place. Great beads of perspiration
came out on my forehead when |
thought of being found by the
guards in the morning. if indeed the
colony of rats did not long ere that
time battle for the choice.cuts of my
remains.
A TRAIN OF HORRIBLE THOUGHTS.
1t paralyzed me to think that