Evening star., 1897-03-20
How a Daring Prisoner Gained His
Liberty.
BE BOLDLY FACED fHE GUARDS
It Was a Desperate Game, but
Successful.
A MEMORY OF WAR TINE

Written for The Evening star.
Lieut.. Kupp of the Ssth Pennsylvania
Volunteers was captured. with many Of
his regiment, at Gettysburg. He was known
"a Pennsylvania Dutchman.'' and came
from Berks county. in that state. where
German colonists settled nearly two cen
turies ago. and where their descendants
cling to the old customs and the mother
tongue even unto this day.
When I, with a number of other unfortu-
mates. was taken on to Libby prison after
the fierce fighting a Lookout and Mission
ary Ridge, one of the first men to attract
my attention among the ragged. paie-faccd
mass of 200 officers In the building was
Lieut.. Kupp.
AS it was summer at the time of Gettys-
burg. the men captured in that battle were
In light attire, and the long march down
10 Richmond and the wear and tear on
their thin blouses since then had reduced
them to rags and this Pennsylvania lieu
tenant seemed to me TO be the most ragged
of all.
kupp was considerably over six feet in
height. lank. long-limbed and inclined to
be round shouldered- He was about twen-
ty-four years of age. and the gray eyes,
long. dark hair and fuzz-covered face gave
MIN the appearance OF North Carolina
rnouuJainser. His comrades jokiugly called
hiIn the tar heel. but he took ii good
naturedly. and this resemblance was much
In his favor when he made up his mind
70 leave LIBBY. and. 10 use his own AN
gUdEs. make 4 bee line for Gods land
a. the prisoners called the north
The TWO subjects that engrossed the
minds ot he men were exchange and
escape mere the rumors came from no
one could tell but nearly every day the re
port spread that the exchange cartel had
been resumed. and that We were TO he sent
north. under Tag of truce. within twenty.
louT nours- On such occasions groups OF
excited men would rush through the sly
divisions of the dark dreary old warehouse
shouting franticalIy:
Pack up Pack up, All exchanged, Hur-
rah for Gods land,''
Constant disappointment failed tn 1a-..r
these rCmors. nor did ii weaken the homes
OF the men who heard them Perhaps 7
should say. kupp was an exception for he
never htN got excited. was never stirred from
ms stoiid bearing by the cry of Pack NM
nave nothing to pack" he would saw
with a grim smile. and without raising his
eyes from the bit of yellow bone he was
trying TO carve into a crucifix with a
broken jack knife.
Planning Escape.
Plans for escape We're daring and in
Vulnerable. but though nearly all were
lmpracticaple. yet, unknown to their COM
rades. twenty-five men pledged to secrecy
were at this time digging in the darkness
+
ly 10 men escaped
hen L get good and ready I'm going
TO lignt out " eoiAe
This kupp would say TO the men unfold
ing lhelr schemes about him. but as he re-
led to tell how he proposed getting 80.
ne was laughed at. and left to his bone
carving ~ ie
Just before Christmas the confederate
authorities. who refused to receive sun
plies for the prisoners from the Irnitad
States government. permitted friends In the
north TO send down little food and cloth
ihs under flag Of truce. Uniforms were
contraDand. so that all the clothes thar
came through were of the citizen styte and
naterial- Our friends learned of this nriy
ntse ana It's limitations. through the brief
open letters We were permitted to send
out once a month.
IN this way some food and clothing cana
'nrousn to the officers from the northern
states and they generally divided the form
er with their less fortunate comrades fron,
Ntst virginia. Tennessee, Kentucky and
Eissourf. whose old homes were sti,l the
scenes of constant fighting
Lieutenant Kupp received a huge box.
IuH OF hams, sausages preserves cheese
and other good things from the old farm
put neither the memory of past hunger nor
Iear OF the future prevented his inviting
the men VINO had no boxes TO help them
serves OF all the things in the big box the
one that most delighted Kupp's soul was a
SUIT OF butternut clothes. evidently of home
manufacture, even TO the cloth.
The lieutenant soon ''shucked" his blue
rags ana donned the new suit. Thus at
Gred. he strobe up and down the Upper
fotouac room, hunk of bread in one
haEd and a chunk of ham IN the other.
while his laughing comrades demanded to
kroW when ne left Moth Caliny.'
Hit don't mattah wen left" responded
hupp. with an inimitable mountainee
crawl. the thing that's borherin me
row is wen an how Ize gwine ter git
hack
Soldiers In Butternuts.
As old soldiers will remember. the uni
forms of our most gallant friends. the enc
my. were anything but uniform about this
time The citizen clothing put aside at the
beginning OF the war. was sent to the front
from home. though gray hat. a gray
trousers. or a gray coat was retained when
ever possible Hundreds of confederates in
"tutternuts" passed the prison along Carey