The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-03-06

and IL was clear that long turn
/ of hard work must be done TO penetrate under
| the ffty-foot lot the objective point The
| lower part OF the tunnel about six inches
above the leve: of the cellar floor and its top
/ about two and one-haIf feet. Absolute accuracy
was, Of course, mnossiole. either in giving the
1 hole perfestly horizontal direction, in pre-
/ was preserved. and the average diameter OF the
| tunnel was a little over two feet Uusnaliy
man would dig and fill the spittoon la large fat
bottom wooden affair. such as il sometimes
/ in primitive country hoteis with earth; upon
/ the signal of a gentle phil an assistant would
drag the load into the cellar by the clothes-lines
fastened to each side of this box. and then hide
1t under the straw: third constantly famed
/ air into the tunnel with rubber blanket
stretched across a frame, the invention of the
/ ingenious Hamilton; fourth would give occa-
sional relief to the last TWO. while fifth would
keep lookout.
.'rhs danger of discovery was continual. for
| the guards under Instructions from the
| prison commandant to make occasional visits 30
every accessible part of the prison so that it was
not unusual for sergeant and several men to
enter the south door of Rat Hell in the daytime
while the diggers az labor in the dark north
end During these visits the digger would
| watch the intruders with his head sticking out
| of the tunnel, while the others would crouch be-
| hind the low stone tenders crawl quickly
der the straw. The difficulty OF forcing air TO the
digger whose body nearly filed the tunnel, in
creased as the hole extended. and compelled the
| operator to back into the cellar often for air.
and for air that was itself foul enough to sicken
| strong man."
|
| gineers is related as follows
''When the opening had been extended nearly
across the lot, some of the party believed they
| had entered under the yard which was the in
1 tended terminus; and one night when Mcdonald
was the digger confident was he thar the de-
| sired distance had been made that he turned his
! direction upward and.soon broke through to the
surface. A glance showed him his nearly fatal
| bluuder, against which, indeed, he had been
| earnestly warned By Rose. who from the first
had carefully estimated the intervening distance
k.%rrv ofxa roll r y
minus. In fact. Mcdonald saw that he had
broken through In the omen lot which was all IN
| full view of q sentinel who was dangerously
| close. Appalled, by what he had done. be
reiterated to the cellar and reported to his
companions the disaster. Believing that dis
covery was now certain, the party sent OF
their number mp the to report to Rose
who was asleep. The hour was about midnight
when the leader learned of the mischief He
quickly got Up, went down cellar, entered the
tunnel and examined the break. IL not
near the sentinels path as McDonads excited
report indicated. and, fortunately, the breach
was at point whence the surface stoned down
ward toward the east. He took off his blouse
and stuffed il into the opening, pulling the dirt
| over il noiselessly. and in few minutes there
| was little surface evidence of the hole. He then
backed into the cellar in the usual crab fashion
aud gave directions for the required depression
| of the tunnel and vigorous resumption of the
| work. The hole made in the roof of the tunnel
was not much larger than a rat-hole, and could
not be seen from the prison. But the next night
Rose showed an old ahoe out of the hole,
through the prison bars and saw the shoe lying
where he bad placed it, and judged from its
position that he had better incline the direction
of the tunnel slightly to the left"
When the work was nearly finished new fears
of a discovery were aroused. Rose himself re-
sumed work. hoping to finish it before every
thing was lost
''Al1 day long he worked with the tireless pa
thence of beaver. When night even his
single helper, who performed the double duty OF
tanning air and hiding the excavated earth, was
Ill from his hard long task and the deadly air of
the cellar. Yet this as nothing compared
with the fatigue OF the duty that Rose had per-
formed; and when at last far into the night. he
backed into the cellar. he had hardly strength
enough to stagger across to the rope ladder.
From the early morning of Monday Feb 8,
1864, until hour after midnight the next
morning his work went AS midnight ap-
preached. Rose nearly a physical wreck;
the perspiration dripped from every pore of his
exhausted body; food he could not have eaten if
he bad had it. His labors thus far had given
him somewhat exaggerated estimate of his
physical powers The sensation of fainting
strange to him. but his staggering senses
warned him that to faint where he was meant
at once his death and burial. He could scarcely
initiate his lungs with the poisonous air of the
pit; bis muscles quivered with increasing weak
ness and the warning sDasmodic tremor which
their uunatural strain induced; his head SWAN
ike that OF a drowning person.
"By midnight he had struck aad passed be-
yond post which he felt must be in the yard.
During the last few minutes he had turned his
course upward, and To relieve his cramped limbs
he turned upon his back His strength was
nearly gone The feeble stream of air which
his comrade trying with all his might to
send him from distance of hftythree feet
could no longer reach him through the deadly
stencil. His senses reeled; no had not breath
strength enough retreat backward
through his narrow grave. In the agony of
sutfocation be dropped the dull chisel and beat
his two lists against the roof of his grave with
the might of despair, when-blessed boon!-the
crust gave way and the loosened earth showered
upon his dripping face, purple with agony. His
famished eye caught sight of q radiant star in
the blue vault above him: flood of light and a
volume o. cool, delicious air poured him.
At that very instant the sentinells cry rang out
like prophecy: 'Half-past one. and alls wellp
OF the escape of Col. Rose and his compan-
ions the writer says:
ION Tuesday evening, Feb. O. at o'clock
Col. Rose assembled his party in the kitchen,
and posting himself the fireplace which he
opened. waited until the last man went down
He bade Col. Hobart goodbye, went down the
hole and waited 9atil ne had heard his COM
rades pull up the ladder. and finally heard him
replace the bricks in the fireplace and depart
the tunnel, and placed the party in the order in
which they were to go out. He gage each
parting caution. thanked his comradeyfor their
faithful labors. and feelngly shaking their
hands, babe them God-speed and farewell He
entered the tunnel first with Hamilton next and
was promptly followed by the whole party
through the tunnel and into the yard He
opened the gate leading toward the canal and
signaled the marty that all was clear. Stepping
out on the sidewalk soon as the nearest
Iinels back was turned he walked brskly down
the street to the cast, and square below was
joined by Hamilton. The others followed at in
tervals of few minutes and disappeared in
various directions in groups usually of three"
Captain Moran gives account Of his own
experience in making his escape. Like many
other prisonerse h had known nothing of the
tunnel until that night:
My companion. Sprague. was already asleep
when lay down that night: but my other
me, very much awake. and seizing by
the collar he whispered excitedly the fact
that Col Rose had gone our at the head of
party through a tunnel For brief moment
the appalling suspicion that my friends reas-
on had been dethroned by Illness and CAPTIVITY
swept my mind, but glance toward the
window of the east end showed quiet bur APP