The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-02-14
DUGAN's PRISON EXPERIENCE.
Adventures OF the Ohio Congressman
During the Difficulty Down south.


Frank q. Carpenter.
Representative Dugan, of Ohio, had sew
eral most remarkable escapes during his
career In the military prisons of the South
west. He went into the war in the Nine
teenth Iowa infantry, was captured at the
battle of Morganza, near Baton Rouge,
and confined at first in the prison near
Tyler, Tex. The stoCkade about this
prison was made of huge square posts, set
about six feet deep in the earth, one close
to another, forming wall or fence around
the enclosure. Some OF these posts were
very large, and at first there was no guard
inside of the enclosure and no guards on
top, as there were later on. Mr.. Dugan
and two of his companions concocted q
plan of escape. They dug the earth out
from one of the larger posts so that they
could pull its bottom inward without
disturbing the wall, and could move
1t back and forth. They then
watched the guard, and when he had
turned OF his way past this spot the three
OF them slipped out and rushed for the
woods. They got INTO the underbrush ana
safely away without discovery that night.
When it was discovered that they mad
gone the country was secured for them,
and some days later they heard the bay
ing of the hounds who were on their
track. They were at this time hear a
river, and they jumped into this and sw am
several miles down il to an island which,
was covered with bushes. They crawled
painting in among these, and lay there
while the hounds beat up and down the
banks, but failed to locate their trail. After
their pursuers had gone away they
crawled out and made their way north,
following the north star and at last get
ting into the Indian territory. They
were thinly clad, and it was very cold. One
~ "a hu-n or rntI liz
zard came up, and they thought
they would perish. The cold rain beat
down upon them, but they saw in the dis
lance spark and they thought this might
be camp of Indians. They hurried for
ward to it and found it was burning
stump from a clearing which had been
burned over by the Indians. DUNCAN
whipped off his coat and shielded the
blaze from the rain, and the other two
gathered logs of wood and they soon had
big fire, which warmed them and about
which they lay all that night.
THE next day We pushed our way on
northward and we were almost famished
when we saw an Indian hut. Upon COM
ing into it we found il empty. The other
two men rushed for the cupboard while
picked up copy of Virgil which was lying
on q table and, looking i'll the front of 1t,
| found the name of man with the words
Marietta, Ohio, under it. 1t seems we
were in the hut of n civilized In
dian who had gone to school at Marietta.
The Indian came in soon. | told him who
we were and where We had been. He said
that he was an Indian and that he was a
Confederate, but he was more than that,
he was Christian, and that as we were in
need and had called upon him, he would
help us. He then got US up good dinner
and took Us to q trail leading over the
mountains We followed this and were
soon in Arkansas. Here we were captured
by bushw hackers, ard We were kept with
q troop of these for several weeks. They
at last handed us over to the jail at Wash
inton, Ark, and we were crowded with q
lot OF Confederates and Union sympathiz-
ers in the second story of the Jail. We
made plan of escape from here. ] had
n knife which l carried in my bootleg.
We made file Of this and filed
one of the bars of the Jail window so that
we could slip il down and crawl out. Now
the thing of it was to get a rope, and We
bought one for So pretending that we
wanted it for game. We inaugurated the
game of Copenhagen in the prison with
this, and one night, when the Confeder-
ates IN the prison were all asleep, we tied
this to the iron bars and slipped ont.
We intended to wait for q dark night, but.
none coming, we tried 10 escape when it
was bright moonlight The last man who
got out scraped the wall with his foot, and
the guard heard him and made for us.
The result was that we were captured after
a lively run, and were carried back to
Tyler. Ny prison life altogether lasted
about ten months, and as ! look over the
hardships OF it and those of my attempted
escapes, | wonder that | was able to en-
dure them"