Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-04-03

Moses crossed the Red sea, he's jist half
dOne,' and he relapsed into unconscious
ness. ."-DaWon Herald.
<-
HISTORIC REMINISCENCE.
The death at the age of 81 of Mrs. Eliza
beth Heating, on the 10th of March, recalls
to the recollection Of her old friends some
of the romantic incidents of the life of her
father, DR.. Justis Eric Bollman, who died
in Philadelphia about the beginning of this
century. The most remarkable of these in
cidents was his nearly successful attempt, in
concert with Francis Kinloch Huger, of
South Carolina, to rescue Gen. Lafayette
from confinement in an Austrian prison,
and an account of this occurrence cannot
fail to interest the readers of the present
time. This account of it is made up from
a pamphlet, entitled "OlmutZ," published
two years ago, having been ''prepared from
the personal narratives and conversations
of Col. Huger by one of his family"
About the close Of the year 1893, Gen. La
fayette, despairing, no doubt, of the Re-
public, had withdrawn from France, but ne
was arrested in Germany and consigned to
secret Imprisonment in the Austrian For
tress of Ofmutz, in Bohemia. Some of his
French and American friends in London
conceived the design of releasing him from
this confinement, and they entrusted the
execution of it to DR.. Bollman, who had
just been instrumental in etfecting the es-
cape of NJ. de Narboune, Minister of War,
from Paris to England. DR.. Bollman went
to Germanya and contrived very ingeniously
to discover the place of Lafayette's confne-
ment. At Vienna he happened to fall in
with Mr.. Huger, then but q years old and
travelling for recreation and improvement,
off ho hpan n6npotpl t,npand
and having pursued his medical studies
under the celebrated surgeon, John Hunter.
In talking with DR.. Bollman, Huger men,
toned that Lafayette had first been recelV-
ed in America at his house in Georgetown,
South Carolina, and DIR. Bollman soon af-
terward made known to Huger the enter
prise which he had undertaken to release
Lafayette. Huger promptly agreed to CO.
operate with him. The manner in which
Bollman had contrived tocommunicate with
Lafayette deserves particular mention. He
had managed to make acquaintance with the
surgeon of the prison. who consented to take
a message to Lafayette informing him about
his friends in England, and Bollman wrote
their names on piece of paper on which
he had previously written in lemon juice a
message to the prisoner, adding only the
apparently innocent direction, "when you
have read this, put it in the fire" or ''naettez
le au feu." Lafayette had the sagacity to
understand this direction, and on holding
the paper to the fire was able to read the
message, asking him to arrange plan OF
escape. The next day the obliging surgeon
took to Lafayette from DR.. Bollman, a little
book Miss Burney's Evelina) of which
Lafayette was requested to give his opinion,
and when the book was sent back 1T con-
tanned long letter written in lemon juice
on the margin, giving his plan of escape
The scorched letter and the copy of 1--we
lima" were preserved, and were offered by
Mrs. Heating to the inspection of the writer
of this article short time ago.
Lafayette was permitted to take the air
on certain days in an open carriage, accom-
panied only by a corporal and mounted
guard and the plan of escape was that the
two friends should ride out on the same day,
and that the three should overpoWer the
guards and escape across the frontier when
was not far off.
The details of the attempt are given in
Miss Huger's pamphlet, but they would
occupy too much space here; suffice it to
say that it was nearly successful, and that it
was defeated by some misunderstanding or
the instructions, and perhaps partly by Dr.
BOllman being extremely near-slghted, ana
soldiers from the Fortress came on the
ground and the prisoner and his two friends
were captured.
The rigor Of Lafayette's imprisonment
was not increased in consequence of this
attempt but the two friends were closely
confined in dungeons. They were tried by
a court-martial in 1895, and sentenced only
to a months confinement, hard labor and
Punishment from the Austrian dominions.
After their release, few years after Huger's
return home, DR.. Bollman came to this
country and finally settled in Philadelphia,
where he married adaughter of John Nixon,
the man who read the Declaration OF lnde-
pendence to the people from the steps OF the
State house.
Mr.. Huger entered the army in the war of
1912, and was promoted to the rank of Adju-
tant General. One Of his sons was Col
Benjamin Huger, of whom General Scott
wrote, after the capture of the City of Mex,
leo, "an officer distinguished for every kind
of merit"