Birmingham age-herald., 1894-09-11
.MAJ. JAMES ". A. WRIGHT. The Useful and Eventful Life of a
 Gifted Alabamian.
HIS REMARKABLE ESCAPE
From a Federal Prison and Other Points in His Use-.
 ful Life.

ful Life.
 To the Age Herald:
 On August II, 1894, the Iress teegrams from Taladega announced the death in that city of Mai. James William Alert Wright, principal Of the Talladega mili- tary academy. Many people in Alabama and elsewhere throughout the country who read that announcement realized that in the death of this well-known teacher the state had lost one of its most accomplished citizens and one whose life had been marked by more of adventure than ordi- narily falls to the lot of men in his profess sion. The story of his remarkable escape from a federal prison during the war be- tween the states and of his subsequent suo cess in running the blockade of a southern port--a story which was graphically told in the Philadelphia Weekly Times of J uly 30, 1SS7--gives us one of the most interesting individual experiences of the war period and marks Major Wright as man of the most fertile mental resources as well as of the most intrepid courage. A short sketch of the lie of this gifted mar will no doubt be read with interest by the people of Ala Outnu, CcpCcidhy Dy Al5 Oiu Ol taS Thirty sixth regiment, Alabama volun- teers, c. s. A.
 ihe subject of this sketch was born in Columbus, Miss, July 25, 1884. He was the only child of the Rev. David Wright and Mrs. Eliza Albert Wright. The Rev. David Wright, a minister of the Presby terian church, was native of Vermont, who came to Mississippi as missionary to
 IVY Indians, among whom he did
 D6nt work. He was afterwards
 kA nAxyNA Ez<
 |ds and principal of a fourishing
 Dol at that place, having among his ynpils some of the Indians from Mayhew station. His wife, Eliza Albert, was na- tive of Virginia and daughter of John James Albert, one oi the enthusiastic young Frenchmen who came with Count kocham- beau to aid the colonists in their strug- gle with the mother country. M. Albert was native of Marseilles, France; but, to- gether with other gallant young spirits who came with him in quest of military adventure, he cast his fortunes with the new born nation, and one of his sons was afterwards a distinguished officer in the American army. Thus it will be seen that the subject of this sketch combined in his hereditary traits the clear brain and per sistent courage of the New England Puri- tan with the vivacity and enthusiasm for which the French race is noted.
 The boyhood of Major Wright was spent in Columbus under the wise care of de-
 
 the famous Greene Springs school, presided over by the late Dr. Henry Tutwiler. After remaining there as student for two years he became an assistant to Dr. Tutwiler. He taught one year and then entered the junior class at Princeton. His course at that great university was marked with bril- liant success. He was graduated in 1857 as the vaedictorian of his class, the most cov- eted honor that the college could confer. After his graduation he returned to Greene beea ( hoe movement called him from the peaceful pursuits of the teachers life. Ia 1859 9he was married to Mrs Margaret Tutwiler, the oldest daughter of Dy. Henry Tutwiler.
 At the outbreak of the war Major Wright raised company for the Con federate serv- ice, company H, Thirty sixth regiment, Ala bama volunteers, of which he was made captain. In the fall of 1863 he was en- gagged in the battles of Chickamauga, Look out mountain and Missionary Ridge. In the last mentioned battle he was seriously wounded and captured, and the report was sent home that he had been killed. It was some time before his fate was certainly known.
 It was in the spring of 1884, while being conveyed as prisoner of war from Camp Chase to Fort Delaware, that Major Wright made his remarkable escape from the fed- eral authorities. In the party of 300 con- federate officers that were being carried under heavy guard to Fort Delaware was d brother of Governor Vance, and to that fellow prisoner alone Major Wright made known his plan of escape. Just before daybreak March P, as the prison train was nearing Harrisburg, Pa..,. at a rate of about thirty miles an hour, Major Wright took advantage of temporary inadver- tence of a sentinel, raised a window of the car, cautiously climbed ont and stood with his feet on the window sill and his hands clutching the projecting caves of the car. Although something of an athlete, he would not have been able to have pulled himself to the roof of the car had he not taken the precaution to push out the venti- lator, which left a hole in the roof near the edge. He was soon on top of the car. He replaced the ventilator, as it's absence, if discovered, might have provoked a search. As the prison train was pulling in to Har- risburg it ran alongside an unoc- cupied train on side track. Aided by the momentum of the train Major Wright, although still handicapped by his wounded thigh, sprang to the top of one of the unoccupied cars. lie hurriedly scram- bled down the brakeman's iron steps and found himself in one sense free man, but in the heart of the enemy's country. His prison worn Confederate captains uniform was concealed by an old black coat--a rag Ian, as it was then called-with large cape and heavy, baggy sleeves. Under cover of the early morning he made his way undis- covered to the home of his old Princeton chum, who lived in Harrisburg. He knew that he could trust the friend of his college days. He was not disappointed. An ex- followed. His plan then was to go to Phil da1n nh io d hor at yV1n nf ID fo