The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1892-11-17

SissTJack Hurd showed the stun he was
made Of. He took In the situation and
Its necessities Quickly buckling on the
well filed belts and seizing the musket
that had been brought him, he shouted
to the prisoners to follow him to the jail
yard. Here there were twenty or thirty
men all armed, some Of them with
weapons just taken from the thunder
struck guards, and there was q black
man who had volunteered to guide the
fugitiVes from the town.
Sam Mcneil wanted to bind the guards
and leave them, but knowing that this
would not postpone the discovery Of the
prison delivery, Jack Hurd shouted to
carry them along. and to shoot them
down II they resisted.
Ten minutes from the time the guards
were, overpOwered 1.-THE Hurd boys"
with the black man in the advance and
the frightened prisoners in the center,
were hurrying through the town for the
west. But they were not destined to get
away without detection.
How the discovery Of their flight was
made 90 soon l cannot pretend to say.
but they were still in the struggling out
skirts Of the city when q score Of drums
were beating the long roll and as many
bugles from as many points were thrill
ing the night air with their notes Of alarm.
As nothing could be gained by carry
| ing the guards along after this, they were
released. Still, three of the sixteen elect
ed to keep on with the fugitives.
Jack Hurd was In commandment by
reason Of o formal election or Q prear-
ranged decision, but because every man
present had confidence in his courage
and ability. The forty-two men kept in
the road till the pounding Of hoofs away
behind told them that the cavalry was
IN pursuit and urging their horses to the
utmost. At jacks suggestion, the black
guide left the road and struck into a trail
which forced the men to march in single
file.
They could see signal fires lit to the
left and right. And tho pounding Of
hoofs and the braying of bugles came
from the same directions, but the noun
taineers gave no heed to these things.
Their purpose now was to get out Of the
valley Of the Tennessee and into the
Cumberland range. where their feet
would be upon their native heath and
with their force they could set pursuit at
defiance.
At a pace that no horse could have
maintained for so many hours, the party
reached the ferry at Clinch river about
eight o'clock the next morning, the black
man still guiding. They destroyed the
boat after crossing, and were now in the
mountain foothills.
Frank Hurd knew that the garrison
at Cumberland Gap would be informed
Of the delivery by telegraph, and that
every available man there would be sent
; TO keep him out Of Kentucky; but for
such a man to anticipate a danger was
to prepare for it.
In the fOothill farms he coniiscated all
the provisions his men could conven-
iently carry. and once he was in the
mountains he had no need for a guide,
though the faithful black man kept on
with him, for he and his men could have
traversed the trails or made their way
without on the darkest night.
! On the way up, his force was increased
by the addition Of twenty Union rifles,
but this added strength did not lessen
his vigilance or weaken his caution.
Now and then they saw from the higher
ridges bands Of Confederate horsemen,
but they neither feared them nor sought
them out. And SO they kept on for six
days and nights, frequently doubling
back when q friendly mountaineer ap-
prised them Of danger in advance. AT
length they reached the Kentucky line,
and Pike Hurd announced that he could
go no further.
1--WE seed Jack outen Tennessee" he
said, but ez amt Union. can't go no
further with you uns."
Jack had been expecting this, and SO
made no protest. In reply to a question
from Sam Mcneil, Pike said. "Ill go to
GENIAL Johnston and enlist under an.
other name, hit wouldn't be safe to GO
back to Knoxville"
He shook hands with his brother and
friends, and as he disappeared in the
woods to the left, with his rife at his
back, the Union men gave him three
hearty cheers.