The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1882-12-07


1.-THE golden crested wren y;
Were nightingale-why, then,
Something seen and heard of men
Might be half as sweet as when g."
Laughs child of seven
A BREAK FOR LIBERTY.
The Thrilling Experience OF an ON.
GERS Escape from Libby Prison.
From the Philadelphia Times.
When, on the night of Feb. 8, 1864,
Colonel Rose completed the tunnel at
Libby Prison, through which sixty-one
Union soldiers escaped to the Fedral
lines, Captain Frank E. Moran, of the
Seventy-third New York regiment, then
aprisoner there, got an inkling of what
was going on and hurried to Join the
crowd of fugitives. While hundreds
were pressing for precedence at the mar
row mouth Of the tunnel, the cry of
vguards" were raised. A stampede fol-
lowed. Notwithstanding the panic, no
guards appeared, and Captain Moran
fastened back towards the opening.
What befell himi related in an extreme
ly entertaining article in the Weekly
Times, from which article the subioined
extracts are taken:
Isqueezed myself feet first through
the narrow aperture in the fireplace
and found that the opening led in de.
scending slant from the back of the fire.
east cellar which was divided from til q
cellar, containing the cells by Win
These cells were directly underline kitch.
ell Mt the front of the building and were
alternately used for the confinement Of
hostages, troublesome prisoners" and
union spies under death sentence. They
were hoOrless closets about ten or twelve
iect square. A small stream Of light
stole into them part Of the day from a
narrow grated window half.sunken in
the sidewalk above. They were guard
ed by specia' sentInels, we're alive with
enormous rats, and the air in them was
sickening. From these dreadful cages
many brave fellow went forth to death
A thick wall divided this from the east
under the hospital room, and it was in
the east wall of this cellar that the tun-
mel proper began.
Finding the short fragment of blank
ct rope hanging from the top of the
opening, l let my feet down, hoping to
touch bottom, but found none. and a.
my bruised hand and shoulder made it
impossible to hang long, balanced N.Y.
self for fall W hither and to what depth
| knew not for it was ,rayless pit of
darkness. With sort of faith in for
tune shut my eyes and teeth and in
the name of liberty let 20. Thanks to
my thoughtful comrades | fell into
huge pile Of straw, and, after rolling over
two or three times, found myself in the
darkness among hundreds Of soualing
Sats, and before l could recover nv
equilibrium score Of the repulsive
creatures ran over me. Complying with
my instructions, | placed my back to the
wall near where dropped and waded
knee deep toward the opposite wall
through the straw that covered the eel
lar. The place seemed to be perfectly
alive with rats that fought, suuealed and
tore each other and thumped against
my ankle at every step.
At last reached the wall and ran nv
hand along the cold, damp surface in
search OF the opening to the tunnel. In
this manner [ CROPPED along until i
reached the southeast corner, and be-:
!levlng that l must have passed the hole.
I made my way back in the same wav.
Keeling the wall with increased anxiety
and caution. I stopped dozen times to
listen for some friendly token from my
comrades, who had long since preceded
me, but no sound could be heard from
the horrible chorus of the rats. The
thought OF failure began to harass me. "a
Gid the fear that should he forced to
pass the night in the loathsome place,
Great beads of perspiration came out on
my fDrehead when | thought of being
found by the guards in the morning.
II, indeed, the colony Of rats did not
long ere that time battle for the choice
cuts of nay remains.
1t paralyzed me to think that through
my laundering the tunnel would be dis
covered, that had cost such heroic labor.
and that l should be loaded With the
disgrace of depriving hundreds of my
fellow prisoners of their liberty. n
this train of expressing thoughts came
the remembrance that this had at one
time been the "dead cellar" where
bodies from the hospital room above! il
sssed to be boxed up prior to burial
The revolving idea that the Union dead
should ever have been left, even temper.
arlly in such = place sickened me, and !
"enid have given fortune at that mis-
SSr:ofe moment for friendly stream Of
"A ~ q DlOSS0A OE0dtA OF lF0SQ 0lf
tthous"t had already surveyed ar
acre of wall, and was on the border Of
despair, when, to my boundless low. m,
hand fell upon a pair Of heels. [ knew
that they were live heels, for I had nc
sooner touched them than they van.
lsheG II Ike magic in the wall.
Who's there? said voice, as if from
agrave.
= Moran" 1 answered, "from the
:" Gettysburg room. Who are yoti?" 49,
..Charley' ,Morgan." the sepulchral
voice responded, from the Chickmauga
room. Are the rebs corning?'
No. Go ahead and make room for
me-" said |; and away went the heels
after sending shower of dirt into both
my eyes.
, The hole appeared as advanced to
have an average diameter of about two
rect. AT times we appeared to be de-
spending, and again we seemed to rise
The earth was clammy cold, and the air
foul and sufocating. My bruised shoul-
forward on my hands and face. The
hole grew narrower as advanced and :.
Notwithstanding my slight form.
found myself more than once in the
position of the fat man who had
preceded me. Morgan unhappily took a
violent cramp in one of his legs: and to
relieve his distress I pulled of his shoe.
~ This proved a somewhat troublesome
charge, but in order to save it for it's
owner I had to push it ahead of me "a
crawled onward, The length of the tun.
mel seemed interminable: was gasp
ing for breath, and my shoulder was
palnlng me dreadfully. It seemed as if
we were lost in some horrible grave.
/ was struck with the wonderful clear.
ness With which all sounds were trans
United through the passage, as if we
were encompassed by metallic instead
: of clay wallis. At last. near faintine with
= tJcatlon. pain and fatigue, = Fay of
llgnt gladdened my eyes ana i ieit the
e talnly the most delicious air I have ev.
er breathed in my whole life. Morgan
extended his hand and gave me a friend.
t9 TsSs e saaf:os as rose Ike an aPparition
reached terra firma l made A caref;,1
and minute survey of my surroundino.