The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-06-27
GENERAL MoRGAN's ESCAPE
BY CAPTAIN THOMAS II. HINES.

BY CAPTAIN THOMAS II. HINES,
 On the 3Ist of July and the 1st of Au- gust, 1863, General John H. Morgan, General Basil w. Duke and sixty-eight other officers of that command were, by order of General Burnside, confined in the Ohio state penitentiary, at Columbus Before entering the main prison we were searched and relieved of our pocket knives, money ahdrall other articles of value, subjected to bath, the shaving of our faces, and the cutting of our hair We were placed each in separate cell in the first and second ranges of cells on the south side ol the east wing of the prison. These cells were let into solid block of masonry one hundred and sixty feet long and twenty-five feet thick. They are six feet high, three and half feet wide and six feet deep, with iron grated doors facing hall twelve feet wide, between the cells and the inside wall of the wing, and running entirely around the block of masonry in which the cells are let. There are five tiers of cells with a narrow platform running in front of each tier, and reached by wooden steps running up at the end of the block. General Morgan and General Duke were on the second range, General Morgan be- ing confined in the last cell at the east end of the range, those who escaped with Gen. eral Morgan having their cells in the first range. The main building, workshops, and yard are enclosed by solid stone wall thirty feet high, four feet in thick ness and level on top, so as to form walk-way for the armed guards stationed there during the day.
 From , o'clock in the evening until 2 o'clock in the morning we were locked in our cells, with DO possible means of com. munication with each other, but in the day, between those hours, we were per. mitted to mingle together in the narrow hall twelve feet wide and one hundred and sixty long, which was cut off from the other portion of the building, occupied by the convicts, by planking partition, in one end of which was wooden door. At each end of the hall and within the partitions was an armed military sentinel, while the civil guards of the prison passed at irregular intervals among us, and very frequently the warden or his deputy passed through in order to see that we were secure, and not violating the prison rules. We were not permitted to talk with or Tn any way communicate with the convlcts, nor were we permitted to see any of our relatives or friends that might come from a distance to sec us, except upon the written order of General Burn. side, and then only in the presence of a guard Our correspondence underwent the censorship of the warden, we receiv- ing and he sending only such as met his appreciation. We were not permitted to have newspapers, or in any way to re- ceive information of what was going on in the outside busy world. Thus cut of from knowledge of the rapidly chang ing scenes ofthat historic period pregnant with events vitally affecting our cause, our people and ourselves, and hopeless of speedy exchange, confinement be- came intolerable.
 Many plans for escape, ingenious and desperate, were suggested, discussed and rejected because deemed impracticable. Among them was bribery of the guards. This was thought not feasible because of the double set of guards. military and civil, who were jealous and watchful of each other, so that it never was attempted, although we could have commanded through our friends in Kentucky and elsewhere an almost unlimited amount of money.
 On morning in the last days of Octo- Der l was rudely treated, without cause, by the deputy warden. There was no means of redress, and it was not wise to seek relief by retort, since knew, from the experience of my comrades, that it would result in my confinement in dark dungeon, with bread and water for diet, at the pleasure of the warden. retired to my cell and closed the door with the determination that would neither eat nor sleep until had devised some means of escape. It, doubtless, required such a stimulus as was furnished by the deputy warden to arouse me to mental action. l ate nothing and drank nothing during the day, and by g o'clock at nig ght had uatured the plan that xe carried into execution. It may be that owe some thing to the fact that had just com pleted the reading of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables," !" containing such vivid delin- cations of the wonderful escapes of lean Val Jean, and of the subterranean pas- sages of the city of Paris. This may have led me to the line of thought that termi- mated in the plan of escape adopted. It was this: l had observed that the fosr of my cell was upon . level with the ground upon the outside of the building, which was low and Hat, and also that the floor of the cell was perfectly dry and free frsm mold. It occurred to me that. as the rear of the cell was to great ex tent excluded from the light and air, this dryness and freedom from mold could not exist unless there was underneath something in the nature of an air-chamber to prevent the dampness from rising up the walls and through the floor. If this chamber should be found to exist, and