The Portland daily press., 1892-12-10
: some ODD STORIES.

sk
| Fought as an Officer in the Federal
| Army and Who Escaped from Libby
Prison Through the Famous Tunnel. sf
| copyright, 1892, by American Press Assoeia-
! toni ars,
| The men who built or, escaped from the
now famous Libby tunnel did not imagine
| that they were engaged in an undertaking
| destined to be not only historic, but to take
rank with the most daring enterprises in
| the annals of war.
| AS a captain of twenty I had no ambi-
ton for glory, but think the fact that an
enterprise was extra hazardous and had in
| it strong ell ments of danger served in
| those days to makeit attractive. But the
great point about the tunnel was that it
promised a roadway from the wretched
prison to freedom; from starvation in the
capital of the Confederacy to abundance
in Goods land" as we then called the ter
ritory where the supremacy of the stars
and stripes was acknowledged.
! In another place I have told Of the do
ing, daring and suffering of prison life
| during the war, and Ionly refer to those
| gloomy days here in order to Introduce an
incident in the great escape of which my
friend Lieutenant Won Clodt was the I'M
fortunate hero.
Won Ctodt was an Austrian count by
birth, q gentleman by education and
soldier by profession, He came to America
at the breaking out of the war to study
the western method Of conducting cam
paigns, and feel very sure that from the
L. =, h I'm
/ am certain they were when 1 first met
| him-a fellow prisoner of war in Libby
prison. My Austrian friend had secured
lieutenant's commission on the staff of
| General Schurz and was captured in the
first days fight at Gettysburg.
Lieutenant Won Clodt when quite cool
could talk fairly good English, but when
at all excited his knowledge of foreign
languages forsook him, and he fell back
| on his native German. This was certainly
| the case ON the night of the escape from
the tunnel. The lieutenant went out just
ahead of me, and he got along very well
until we reached the middle of the tunnel,
| where there was large stone that caused
a detection and which made the passage
| at that point narrow. Here the corners Of
the stone caught in Won Clodt's ragged
trousers, and in voice full of horror and
agony he called back to me in German:
..Gott i'm himmel herr captainl / am
stuck" S4?s
What is up?" asked.
my trousersl" he cried. :. "a,
Reaching ahead felt his body and ascer
tanned the difficulty.
"You must unloose them," said, land
will carry them out.
Zach Colt, but it is SO cold, and then
may see some womanl" he groaned. as
sured him that there was no danger of
meeting women in the tunnel, and at
length pulled off the unfortunate trousers
and carried them out to the opening where
my Austrian friend, now trembling with
| cold and excitement received them.
| In order to avert suspicion, and to bother
our pursuers, who we weresure would soon
be on our track, we divided into bands of
two, or three at the most. Captain Mar
tin, of Tennessee, was my companion, and
| as soon as he Joined me at the exit from
the tunnel we started off. Had then
known that Van Clodt had no companion
| I should have taken him with me, for as it
turned out we were both recaptured.
When was taken back to Libby found
| my friend there, and a more crushed and
wretched looking being it would be diff
cult to find even in the miserable prison.
He had not yet regained his small COM
mand of English, but this served to in.
crease his f1uency in the German tongue.
! All of us, some fifty who were brought
back, had to tell our experience, and this
is how Van Clodt explained his recapture:
ST had no bread, no drink, no meat, no
nothing, and so very, very little clothes
when I got this ID prison outi There
was no one with me- only just myself
alone, and, ach Colt, how great stranger
| I wasl
s'Of course when / left had knowledge
that the River James it flowed to the east,
so said to myself will follow that river,
will stick close to that river, and it will
take me, with heavens help, to Fortress
Monroe and the great free sea.
'fWell, met no one that first night, and
the next day shivered out in a bomb
proof, not far from a swamp. Oh, was
SO cold and so hungry that I could not
sleep, but I heard what you call ROSTERS
growing all day, and it made my mouth to
water, and | said, 'Ha, you keep up that
growing, and maybe tonight we get some
better acquainted And that rooster he
keep right on Growing.
when it got very dark again and the
rooster no longer crow, tighten my belt
| TO StOp my munger, ttuu OIL Sucdii dAu uay
feet feel very heavy. After time come
to little house. see it between my eyes
and the stars, and my heart beat hard and
say to myself: That is too small for a
man to live in; it must be the place where
that rooster he crowed all day and where
| he now rest with his wives all night. 1
will take the liberty of making the gen
tlemans acquaintance Ach, was so
hungry could eat that bird quite raw;
| nc. care for the feathersl 80
Softly, softly I crept to the door. It
was open. listen; there was no noise in
side.z J. feel my heart get holder. I hit
something on the floor with my feet, Then
hear a yell, Mine Colt, what a yell that
was! No one ever heard anything like
such a yell before"
WAIST the rooster?' I asked. -J9S ~
"Rooster Ach, mol 1t was rebel guard.
| That little house which 1 think was the
ROSTERS home it turn out to be a sentry
box land the id guard he was sleeping
inside But he had gun. and he captured
ne just the same. I tell you, my friend,
L ever get out of this prison alive shall
| havar aat ronutorr on5 ON oartoir r shall