The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1890-02-28
NY Prison Life and Escape.
(Br Col. j b. f.arrxn

Tie tOulU, Il hlSl@bCC Va OiiC
~. 1t is from fifteen to twenty miles in |
width. There is said to be a verv 1esp |
lake in the center of il which furnish |
es water for the marsh all around, the !
water running sluggishly in all directions |
from the lake, showing clearly that the |
lake is higher than the surrounding |
swamp. There are two canals running |
through it, one uniting the Chesapeake
Bay with Albermarle Sound; the other
running east and west terminating at Cur
rituck Sound. These canals are used
principally for the purpose OF conveying
lumber out of the swamp. There are cor
duroy roads running in all directions from
lumber camps to the canals. Around the |
edge of the swamp is very fine farming
country. There are ridges Of dry land
running through the swamp, impercepti-
BILE as a ridge, however, but from the fact !
OF their being free from water. The whole |
country both in and around the swamp
is perfectly fat: The timber is princi-
pally cypress, juniper, white cedar, pine,
beech and oak. The underground juui
per and huckleberry. There were no var
nlents larger than the wild cat, but snak-
es ad inin item. There was no soil of
earth at all, only deep leaf mould.
This / know from the fact that / had to
dig well as often as we drank water; not
very deep, however, and not much labor
using our hands as spade, in two or
three minutes we could dig a well the
depth of the arm and by waiting ten
or fifteen minutes it would sipe half full
OF good cool water, far preferable to the
sluggish, red-colored swamp wlter by
which we were surrounded. The most
valuable lumber obtained from the swamp
was dug up from the mould from depth
of twelve or fifteen feet, the trees having
tall en- and sunk into the mould, and been
covered deeper and deeper with falling
leaves of hundreds of years, it had lain
there excluded from air until it had be-
come impervIous to water and incapable
of rotting. Roofs nade OF these shingles
will last until washed away by the fric-
ton of falling rain. How did the lumber
men know where to dig, did you say?
Well, asked the same question. They
went around with long, sharp iron rod
in hand and pushed it down to depth of
fifteen feet almost as easily as you can
push your finger through rotton apple.
They felt for the logs and finding one
they in the same way discovered the size
and the direction il lay. They then dug
down to it and sawed it into blocks. The
difference in price justified extra labor.
In slave times the swamp was asplendid
place Tor runaway negroes. One negro |
heard of with his wife, remained conc eal-
ed in the swamp for twenty years and had
raised four children. The oldest one had
reached manhood at the time of their
capture. The four children went on all
fours, very rarely strengthening up and
were as wild as the beasts of the forest
1 Why they went on all fours / will OK
plain to you. The juniper bush, which
is the principal underground. does not
put out any growth until about three feet
from the ground. Above that the BRAN
ches are thick and strong and heavily
leaied to such degree that you cannot
see ten feet, neither can you walk upright
without great difficulty. STOPPING down
you can see hundreds Of ards in any DIR
/ ~ ,,,ova about ,.OD,Daro-
tive rapidlty and ease. The tread of one
hundred men on a march gave back no
more sound than the slippered foot OF
woman on Brussels carpet. This was
true OF the roadway as of the bush. The
logs, of which the roads were built, were
buried beneath the mould. The march
If a regiment of cavalry was almost
sonndless; but for the rattle of sabers and
spurs we might have been easily surpris-
ed and captured; but in the midst o. sill
ence so profound that it was almost pain
full at times, we could hear them at long
distance. They sometimes came up on
our rear. A low whistle In advance or
rear, followed and the cry of "saber! sa.
Der" and we would disappear as sudden
" and silently as the witches in Macbeth
1t is time to return to my story. The
information above given was picked up
during my ten days and nights stay In
and around the swamp. In a march of
half a mile or Whereabouts, going west
ternly direction, we found the swamp and
entered its profound solitude. Not far
into the swamp, however, 1t was not nee
essary and besides we were afraid of get
ting lost. Placing a man on the out
skirts to watch, we lay down and waited
for severl hours. Suddenly our sentinel
appeared among us with man in citi-
| zen's dress, armed with n shot gun and
| two navy skies in his belt. This silent,
sudden, ualooked-for appearance was
| startling-we had not become accustom-
ed to our surroundings. Startled as we
were, we did not run away-at least all
of us did not-one man, however, from
the old North State, as brave as Caesar it |
is said, and as he had proven on more
than one battlefield, became a little de-
moralized, and salloped off on his all fonrs
into the yet deeper depths of the swamp.
He soon came back and stood the laugh |
ter with commendable patience. He was
known after that as "North Kalliner."
| He never recovered from this demorali- |
eaton. If but dry stuck cracked, the |
sound was so distinct amid the usual pro-
| found silence that he would start away
like young chicken hearing the cutlery |
of the mother hen and hide himself. One |
night he came very near losing himself |
in this way. This part of the story does