The Topeka state journal., 1897-11-10
TWO YEARS IN A GAVE.
Ingenuity of an Escaped Convict in
Avoiding Arrest.


| Mankatos Mimi, Nov. 10-That anyone
| can dig out room and live for a period
| of two years under a school house in
| the heart of a thickly settled community
| without detection and without arousing
the slightest suspicion is difficult of be-
lief. Similar cases are found in fiction,
but in real life are extremely rare. This
| fact adds interest to the romantic expert
ence of Cyrus B. Miller, who escaped from
the Lincoln, Neb.. penitentiary and for
two years lived under school house in
the most populous portion of Blue Earth
county, Minnesota, without detection. His
strange rendezvous would not have been
discovered even then had he not for a
moment lost his customary nerve and
given the matter away himself.
Miller was arrested on the charge of
stealing a bicycle, and his case will be
heard before the grand jury in this city
today. When placed in the "sweat-box''
at the time of his arrest he told a story
that surprised the officers. His confess
sion was in substance to the effect that
for period of two years he had secretly
made his home under a school house
about eight miles from Mankato. Such
a story was difficult of belief and the
authorities were ineredulous until the
school house was visited and it was seen
that the mans story was indeed correct.
is constructed of brick. At the rear, on
the outside, is an old fashioned brick
chimney which extends from the surface
of the ground to d point some feet above
the roof.
Securing access to the interior of the
school house while it was unoccupied,
Miller removed a section of the wainscot-
ing on The inside of the building directly
opposite the chimney. The boards were
sawed very carefully just under the mold
ing at the top and across the bottom
level with the floor. Then by saving
downward along the grooves between the
boards a small door was formed, which
escaped detection by the scholars or other
parties. The door had hooks the in
side with which TO fasten it and prevent
it being opened from the school room in
side in the event that it was discovered
while Miller was in the cave. He then
dug down inside the lower part of the
chimney, and by this means tunneled un-
der the school house. Here he excavated
a large room and the ingenuity of this re-
ally remarkable man was again demon
strated by the method adopted to get rid
of the dirt removed in order to form the
room. The dirt was packed between the
raters holding the floor and boards nailed
on the under side, and thus made a re-
ceptacle for the surplus dirt, as well as
forming a dead wall through which no
sound could penetrate to give warning of
the presence of the fugitive to those in
the room above.
Since Nillers arrest it has been ascer-
tanned that he is fugitive from the Ne
braska authorities, having made his es-
cape from the penitentiary at Lincoln
by climbing HIp through hollow wall by
removing brick after brick as he proceed |
ed upward to freedom. 1t is said that
for some days he had saved a small pOr-
ton of his rations, and these were care
fully preserved to sustain him during his
desperate but patient effort to escape. !
Progress in the wall was necessarily slow,
and for three days after his disappear
ance from his cell. while the surrounding
country was being searched for him, he
was in the penitentiary wall slowly work
ing his way out.