Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-03-21
Mistellaaeu'1s 8eadiag.
DIGGING THE TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON.

DIGGING THE TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON.
Work could only be possible be-
tween the hours of 10 at night, when
the room was generally abandoned
by the prisoners because of its inun-
dated condition, and 4 o'clock in the
morning, when the earliest risers
were again astir. 1t was necessary
to do the work with an old jack
knife and one of the chisels previ-
ously secured by Rose. 1t must be
done in darkness and without noise,
for vigilant sentinel paced on the
Carey street sidewalk just outside
the door and within 10 feet of the
fireplace. A rubber blanket was pro-
cured and the SCOT from the chimney
carefully swept into it. Hamilton,
with his old knife, cut the mortar
between the bricks and pried a dozen
of them out, being carefulto preserve
them whole. ra
"The rest of the incision was made
in accordance with the design de-
scribed, but no conception could have
been formed beforehand of the sick
ening tediousness of cutting an So
shaped hole through heavy wall
with feeble old jack-knife, in stolen
hours of darkness. Rose guarded
his comrade against the constant
danger of interruption by alert enc
mics on one side and by laundering
friends on the other land AS frequent
ly happens in human affairs, their
friends gave them more trouble than
their foes. Night after night passed,
and still the two men got up after
taps from their hard beds, and de-
scended to the dismal and reeking
kitchen to bore for liberty. When
the sentinel's call at Castle Thunder
and at Libby announced 4 O'Clock,
the dislodged bricks were carefully
replaced, and the SCOT previously
gathered in the gum blanket was
flung in handfuls against the restored
walls, filling the seams so entirely
between the bricks as to defy detec-
ton. At last, after many weary
nights, Hamilton's heroic patience
and skill were rewarded, and the
way was open to the coveted base Of
operations, Rat He'll. .... ~.
Now occurred a circumstance that
nearly revealed the plot and nearly
ended in a tragedy. When the open
ing was finished, the long rope was
made fast to one of the kitchen sup
porting posts, and Rose proceeded to
descend and reconnoiter. He got
partly through with ease, but lost
his hold in such manner that his
body slipped through so as to pinion
his arms and leaye him powerless
either to drop lower or return, the
bend of the hole being such as to
cramp his back and neck terribly
and prevent him from breathing.
He strove desperately, but each effort
only wedged him more firmly in the
awful vice. Hamilton sprang to his
aid and did his utmost to effect his
release, but, powerful as he was, he
could not bulge him. Rose was
gasping for breath and rapidly get
ting fainter, but even in this fearful
strait he refrained from an outcry
that would certainly alarm the guards
Just outside the door. Hamilton saw
that without speedy relief his com
rade must soon smother. He dashed
through the long. dark room up the
stairway, over the the forms of sew
eral hundred men, and disregarding
consequences and savage curses in
the dark and crowded room, he
trampled upon arms, faces, legs and
stomachs, leaving riot and blasphemy
in his track among the rudely awak-
ened and now famous dodgers of the
Chickamauga room. He sought the
sleeping place of Major Geo. H. Fitz-
simmons, but he was missing. He,
however, found Lieut.. F. F. Bennett,
of the Eighteenth Regulars .(since
Major in the Ninth United States
Cavalry,) to whom he told the trou-
BILE in a few hasty words. Both men
fairly flew across the room, dashed
down the stairs, and by their united
efforts, Rose, half dead and quite
speechless, was drawn up from the
fearful trap, - Centuru MdGdzipe.