The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-12-28

much prefer to guard IN a strong prison
than to antagonize in the open field. The
state Of Ohio claimed Morgan and his Off
GERS as offenders against the common
wealth because they had been captured
while raiding within its borders, and the
military commander of the department,
Gen. Burnside, turned them over to be
treated as felons The party, to the num-
Der of seventy, were accordingly placed in
confinement in wing of the penitentiary
where the cells were set in solid masonry
so as to form an interior structure, like
huge cage built in a large room. The cells
were in five tiers and Morgan was on the
second tier, and those who ultimately es-
capped with him were on the first. The
doors of the cells were iron CRATES with
Sars an inch and a quarter wide and half
an inch thick, placed two inches apart
each way.
Morgan's men were not allowed to come
in contact with civil prisoners. They were
marched out across the prison yard TO their
meals, and were allowed daily exercise in
the alleys running around their cells. Tno
hall, as the room containing the cage was
called, was under special guard. A turn
key was constantly on watch, two military
sentinels patrolled the room alongside Of
the cage, the prison guards, warden and
deputies made rounds of inspection, and
no communication was allowed with any
persons except the keepers unless military
guards were present. Between shutdown
and sunrise the raiders were securely locked
in their cells. They were not permitted to
have newspapers and their correspondence
was subjected to censorship.
Under these circumstances men of spirit
naturally take great risk to breathe the
air of freedom, and the raiders began to
speculate on means of escape. One of the
officers, Capt. Thomas II. Hines, after some
study came to the conclusion that there
must be an air chamber beneath the floor
of the room, and on consultation with
Morgan, Hines and five others of the same
rank resolved to open hole through the
floor. They began work on the 4th of No
vember with two steel case knives, and af
ter cutting out six inches of cement and
several layers of brick found a chamber
underneath, six feet wide and four feet
high. THY chamber extended to the end
of the wing. The preliminary work had
been done with great secrecy Hines cell
was selected to operate in, and the opening
was made in the back part, underneath his
iron cot. The material taken out was first
placed in his bed tick and afterward re-
moved to the chamber below In order to
avoid the eye of the scrub, Hines secured
permission to clean his own cell as means
of exercise.
The air chamber was found TO be too
strongly walled in to offer a means Of
escape, but it proved an excellent place for
secret labor in tunneling, and the plan
IVA cd 10 of ho
party not included among those who were
to escape. While Others were working in |
the chamber below, which was during the |
day, of course, when the men were allowed |
the liberty of the whole room, Hines sat in |
the door of his cell deeply engaged in |
reading. This had been his favorite pas
time before the tunnel was commenced, |
and was a successful device. BY a system |
of signals made with raps on the floor |
Hines was able TO give notice when any of |
the guards or keepers were in the vicinity |
and likely to overhear the work. But |
with all precautions there were narrow
escapes from discovery. The prisoners |
were taken to dinner in squads, and one |
day squad was summoned out Of the /
usual order, while one man of the number
was in the tunnel. The mama of the miss
ing man was called out persistently, and |
Gen. Morgan, who happened to be in
the hall, said promptly TO the turnkey,
he is lying down in my cell; he is sick"
Then the general began TO talk with the
turnkey in very fattering manner about
a protest he thought of submitting to the
and in this way beguiled the
unwary fellow until the missing man got
out of the tunnel and fell into his place.
The work was finally completed, after
cutting through five feet of foundation
wall beneath the cell, twelve feet of ce-
mented filing and six feet of outer wall.
Four feet Of earth was removed to make
place ofegress. As the men to escape would
be confined at night in their separate cells
It was necessary to open passages from each