Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1888-04-07
LIBBY PRISON.
HOW UNION PRISONERS DUG 4
TUNNEL.
The Escape OF Over One Hundred
Captives Graphically Related
by One Of Them-A Work
Of Great Hardship.

The really historic portion of the |
building in Richmond once known as
Libby prison, later used as tobacco |
warehouse, was the tunnel by which !
Colouel Thomas Z. Rose aud l0S other |
Union soldiers escaped. The story OF
the tunnel is we'll told by Frank E.
Moran in the CentNT-.
Old Libby. AS will be seen by the &C.
companying cut, is, and was, detached
building, and thus easy to guard by
sentries. The plan of tunneling out was
the creation of one brain, that of Thomas
Z. Rose, Colonel of the ! .th Pennsyl-
vania Eo,unteers-now a Captain of the
10th United States Infantry-who was
taken prisoner at the battle Of Chicka-
mauga, September 20, 1861. On his way
TO Richmond he escaped from his guards
at Weldon, y. C., but after days wan
dering about the pine forests with a
broken foot, was retaken by detach-
ment of Confederate cavalry and sent to
Libby prison, where he arrived October
1, 1868.
The prisoners were not allowed on the
ground floor except in the day time, so
that Rose and his co-laborers had first to
! cut an "Sr shaped hole from an access
ible room through floor or intervening
wall to one below, a chamber to which
they had no access. Their only tools
were an old chsel and some jack knives.
These. combined with rope and box
spittoon, formed the sole plant for carry
ing on their stupendous undertaking.
Their early efforts were attended by
wrong leads and a whole army OF ap,
parently insuperable difficulties, and
nearly half dozen times bands that had
been formed of the other prisoners to
prosecute some apparently feasible plan
were dissolved in despair.
The work had been largely in sewage
soaked oil, the earlier projects having
contemplated escape by means OF sewers
leading to the adjacent canal. Thi;
had to be abandoned when it was found
that the conduit in question was toe
narrow to admit even the slimmest o
, the party. and was in addition hne'
with oak planks. which their worn-ou
| tools refused to make any impression ON
A previous effort to reach a slx-1oo
sewer had resulted in the flooding o
E their work by canal water and the mar
0 row escape of Rose from drowning.
S Up to this time, says Moran, thirty
/ nine nights had been sp nj in the wor
| of excavation. The men now made
( careful examination of the northeast col
per of the cellar, at which point tn
=, earth's surface outside the prison wal
7 being eight or nine feet higher than
. the canal or south side, afforded bette
7 place to dig than the latter, being ire
. from water and with clayton enough
!, support itself. The unfavorable featul
!. of this point was that the only pos'ib
!, terminus OF tunnel was yard betwee
d the buildings beyond the vacant lot
1t the east Of Libby. Another objectic
er was that en- when the tunnel should
n made to that point, the exit OF any c
,e Gaping party must be made through
st arched wagon-way under the buildll
l. that faced the street on the canal SID
d and every man must emerge on the sld
er walk in sight of the sentinel on q
re- south side of the prison, t
he intervening space being in the full gla
ne of gas lamp. 1t was carefully note
rd however, by Rose, long before this, u
Dis the west end of the beat of the near
fe sentinel was between fifty and sixty II
a from the point OF egress, and 1t was CO
cluded that by walking away at the n
mept the sentinel commenced his p'
westward, one would be far enough II
the shadow to make it impossible u
the color Of his clothing could be m'
ed out by the sentinel when he faced abb
es- to return toward the eastern end OF
In beat, which terminated ten to fift
ay feet east of the prison wall. 1t
further considered that as these sentir
had for their special duty the guarding
aid the prison they would not be eager
sh- burden themselves with the duty OF
testing persons seen in the vicinity
ac' side OF their jurisdiction, provided,
course. that the retreating forms-m
.iil of which they must certainly see-N
MS not recognized as Yankees. All otl
-. as they might properly leave for the c
i NJ. lenre and usual examination oil
nis provost guard who patro!ed the str
Of Richmond. =,
on The party now consisted oil Col i
oai E. Rose, nth Pennsylvania; MAJ. A
10 Hamilton. 18th Kentucky; Capt.
rance Clark, 18th Illinois; Maj. 6e.
II. Fitzsimmons, both Indiana; Z
.Johu F. Gallagher. I'd Ohio; Capt.
sest s. B. Randall, I'd Ohio; Gaze
IS o Lucas, 9TH Kentucky; Capt
- 6fh Kentucky. No.