The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-07-18
mans foot. How it came tha, he did not k.. -al ( 1 L..a

 temptation was kep, secret, except to a small number of prisoners, until within a day or two before the escape. It then. however, became universally known, and was the cause of continual conference, speculation, apprehension. aud hope. During all this period l never heard the suggestion that any one other than Hines had origin sted the plan. It Is true, 1 be- l,eve, as Captain Hockersmita says that Hines spent the time sitting at his cell door studying French but this only con- firms the belief iu my mind that Hines was directing the op 'rauons. He cer tainly stood in the prison as its repre- sentative and director. Hockersmith, i, meanwhile, as recollect certainly performed the most important ser vice in the execution of the work itself. His mechanical skill and his ca pacity for labor enabled him to do what the others could not have done The de- tails of this of course, cannot give, but Captain Hockersmith in the series of ar, tlcles he IS writing, have no doubt will develop 1t fully.
 As bearing upon this question. must mention another circumstance. Captain Taylor and Captain Sheldon, who made their escape with Morgan, were cap sured within a short time and returned 10 the prison. 1 had been intimate with Captain Taylor all my life, and the inu- macy was kept up. Alter he was returned to the prison talked with him fully and freely about the escape and all matters connected with 1t. am sure that he did not, upon any occasion, claim the ere lit of having devised the plan, either alone or with Captain Hockersmith, nor did he a, any time contravene the statement of Cap.ain Hlnes. can hardly conceive it pos ible that in the intimacy of that in- tercourse should not have learned the fact, had Captain Taylor believed that himself and Captain Hockersmith instead of Hines. had devised and executed the plan of Morg ms escape. have written this without consultation with Captain Sheldon or any other of our prison com panlons, wishing to give my own recol- lections for what they are worth, trusting that if am wrong in any respect l may be corrected by the recollections of others ! Captain Taylor dted some years ago, and jeff no written "reminiscences on this sub ject so far as know.
 There are two or three statements in Captain Hines paper which, though no, very material in themselves. think are Lightly erroneous The most important of these IS his statement that "On the evening of the 27!h of November the cloudy weather, so anxiously waited and watched for. came, and prior to being lo ked in our cells it was agreed to make the attempt at escape that night" Ac- cordlng to my dis tinct recollection, the afternoon of November ? h was to all appearance, clear and beautiful The weather was mild, and the radiance of an Indian summers sun was bright and glo- rious as It streamed down through the nigh windows. Great apprehension was fe among us all that the attempt at es- cape could not be successfully made tn Ia, night, aud many protes's were made with General Morgan against it; bnt his mind was made up. He knew that a change in prison commandants had been made and was sure that an inspection would follow He resolved to go that night. shall never forget his appearance as he paced up and down the hall as the sun was almost setting on that beautiful after. noon. While apprehension was felt and depicted on the countenances of most oi the prisoners, General Morgan wore a smile hich betokened the perfect con Wction of success. In my mlnd he was always a handsome man, and upon this evening his face was lighted with the ra. dance ot hope and the expectation oi freedom. His expression 1t is beyond my power to describe, but the painter who could have caught and repro du ei that cx preston would have oren immoralized. That night between 9 and II o'clock, as now remember the storm arose and the darkness came.
 Shortly after the appearance of Hines article 1 met him and called his attention to this fact. His recollection confirm: mine but he told me fact which did not know-that late in the afternoon he had gone to the platform of the second tier of cells, and there looked through the window toward the declining sun. He found that light clouds were gathering upon the horizon, which, though they did not intercept the suns rays, convinced him that falling weather was coming. A little later he went again his impres- s,ons were confirmed, and he requested General Morgan to make the same in- spection, which he did, and concuned in Hi"es' opinion. This explains Captain Hines bnef statement about the cloudy weather.
 Captain Hines has omitted one Of the most interesting and exciting episodes of that evening A number of the boys had spent much of their prison time in cary. ing gutta-percha and cannel-coal orna. ments. Their tools consisted of pocket knives and three or four small diamond sa ~s, which the prison officials permitted them to have. From the incident which follows am satisfied that the pnson of hci4ls had on this day conceived some apprehension that an escape was intended for almost immediately after we had been locked up guard came in inquiring for these saws. He had gotten them all but one and was trying to fnd who had that. Suddenly he recollected that i. had been gwen to Colonel Dick Morgan. As Gen.