Democratic messenger., 1894-03-10
MORCAN'S RAID!
\ Remark able Incident Of
the Civil War.
A DISAPPOINTED FEDERAlIST.
How Tunneling Out Of the
xDlliO Pemitentiary was
Done by Cap. Hines.

Done by Cap. Hines.
General John Morgan's raid around
Cinci nnati, which resulted in his cap
ture and imprisonment in the Ohio
Penetentlarv, was the result Of disobe-
dience of orders. and it brought Gen
eral Morgan into lasting disgrace with
the Richmond government.
1t appears, however. on the authori-
" of General Basil Duke, that, in
disobeying General Bragg's orders not
to cross the Ohio River, General Nor
gan had calculated the risk and had
decided in advance that he and his
command were almost to be captured.
lie thought that he could do the Con-
federcy more good by being captured
after a raid north of the Ohio than by
remaining in Kentucky and carrying
out the plan of campaign agreed on
with General Bragg,
Nearly his entire command Of 2, 400
men were under % years OF age, all
eager for adventure and not disposed
to stop To count the cost of finding it,
Ii he had told them that he intended
to lead them in raid around Boston
and back, no doubt they would have
undertaken it with the same enthusi-
asm they showed in crossing the Ohio
when the chances were 10 To that
they would never get back except rs
prisoners.
After their capture, General Nor
gan, General Duke and 6S officers of
the expe dition were committed to the
Ohio Penitentiary by order of Gener-
al Burnside.
Among the prisoners was Captain
Thos. W. Hines, who, as he originated
the plan of the celebrated escape, is
the best authority on everything con
nectcd with it, and he writes that he
probably got the idea from the French
studies he was carrying ON in his cell
TO relieve the monotony ofprison life.
At that time Victor Hugo's LES
Xiserables" was a new book, and it
become very popular in the Confeder-
aey. When Grant was pressing Lee
back towards AppomattoN the novel
circulated from hand to hand among
the ragged and hungry Coniederates,
who with, grim humor, pronounced
the title Lees Miserables." In the
summer of 1863 Captain Hines was
sitting in the door of his cell in the
Ohio penitentiary when a deputy
warden addressed him with insulting
roughness. He at once retired to his
cell, and determined TO revenge him
self upon the warden by escaping.
having in mind, he thinks, some of
the methods practiced by Jean Val
jean. He had been reading how Val
jean had escaped from barricades
through the sewers Of Paris, and as
the floor Of his cell was perfectly dry
and free from mold, he concluded
that there must he an air pacsage un-
der it which could not be utilized to
escape as the sewers of Paris had been.
In the first anger with the deputy
warden he had said to himself that he
would neither eat nor sleep until he
had worked out plan of escape. He
ate nothing and drank nothing during
the day, but by 8 o'clock at night he
had framed plan that satisfied him
well enough to allow him to go to
sleep. The next morning he had a
consultation with General Morgan, 10
whom he communicated the plan sub
stantially as it was carried out. 1t was
to cut through the floor of the cell
into the air chamber, should one be
found, and to tunnel from that into
the yard, which was found to be on a
level with the cell floor. After reach.
ing the yard the prison wall would
have to be scaled, but they were con.
fident of their ability to get over the
wall if they could once reach it. Gen.
eral Morgan approved the plan, and
as only limited number would be
able To escape in the event Of success
he selected Captain j. {. Bennett. G.
;. Magee, Ralph Sheldon, Samuel b
Taylor and l.. ID. Hockersmith to 60
operate with Captain Hines.
In the beginning they cut through
six inch of cement and took out siX
layers of bricks, after which they
reached the air chamber they suppos
ed to exist in the wall. Ii was siN
feet wide nv four feet high and ok.
tended the entire length of the row oi
cells in which they were confined.
As the end of the air chamber wa:
heavily grated with large quantity ol
coal piled up against the grating OF
the outside, they could not escape ex
cepi by the original plan OF tunneline
from tho mir chamber into tho v,rd