The National tribune., 1899-11-30
By N. J. MYERS.

Truman, VINO was or nau Dee1l, d Scou
in the Union army on the frontier, but wa:
at that time prisoner, he said, for killing
30 bushwhackers. Harry was good
hearted man and Mason, and was favored
by those in command. He was portly anC
commanding in person, weighing oyel
200 pounds.
The Winter of '63, while the 10th Kan
was on duty at Kansas City, Harry was
not brought to trial, and my regiment was
ordered to st. Louis, leaving Truman IL
the prison; but soon after he was sent tC
St Louis to be arraigned for trial.
From st. Louis my regiment was sent tc
Alton, ILL.,, where we took charge of the eX'
change prison, which contained 1,5OO
rebel prisoners and 400 Union prisoners.
This was at the time when the rebels at
Chicago and other prisons had made a
plan for general break for liberty. Our
guard noticed signal from house over
looking the prison, that was answered from
the prison. The signalers in the prison
were Immediately thrown into the under
ground cells, and a watch kept over the
house. The Union soldiers were called
upon to find out all they could of the plan.
This prison was where the Illinois State
lPenitentiary was once located, and was
inclosed in stone wall some 80 feet high.
The main prison building was a stone
structure, where We're the headquarters
of the 10th Kan.
While this prisoners plot to escape was
going on the prisoners We're mining a
tunnel under the wall secretly. While
| was sitting in the door of Co. C'S quarters
a man came riding down the street joining
the outside prison wall, and just in front
of where | sat. Suddenly the hind foot
of the horse went through the gravel street.
The rider glanced back and rode on, but l
jumped up and went to the place and soon
| discovered tunnel. | discovered this
spot was as far i'll the direction of our com
pany quarters as they had got SO | in
formed the Captain. Capt. G.. ID. Brook
had the hole opened up so as to admit the
passage of a man. In the tunnel was
pick without any handle, and a case-knife
broken in the middle, which had been used
in digging. Three men We're also found
in the tunnel, and were taken back and
put in cells. This passage had been com
menced by taking up a fiat hearth-stone
in one of the old work-houses that had
been used when this was the State Prison.
A BOLD PLAN.
This was the first we knew of their plan
to escape, and a watch was kept over them.
AS to those plans did not know fully until
after the war. While living in jackson
County, Mo-, II miles south Of Kansas
City, | was told that the tunnel which
the horses foot had broken into was started
by a rebel soldier named Jeff Kenney.
The plan was TO reach the basement story
of our quarters across the street in the night,
when we were asleep, overpower the guards,
and before our men could awaken, seize
their arms and kill the garrison.
Another tunnel was soon after started
in sink. In April, 1864, the regiment
had moved out in tents on the hill near
the wall of the prison. This mine was
aimed so as to bring the rebels out to a
washout a few rods outside Of the prison
wall, and between our camp and the wall
We knew of this tunnel soon after it was
commenced, and then when it had ap-
preached a point outside the wall, which
we could tell by holding an ear to the ground,
guard was placed there at night with
instructions to shoot the first man who
stuck his head above the ground.
The dirt taken from the tunnel and scat
tered over the ground at night was soon
tramped over and dried, so that it could not
be discovered. While this was going on
the Union prisoners learned of the time
set TO make the escape. When the rebels
heard how some one who had known the time
had told it to a Union prisoner, they at
tackled the Union men with anything they
could get.
TnWprlpgG n n rfy.
with nearly 1,5OO men engaged; but as
soon as Col. William Ware could get two
companies Of the 10th to the gate bayonets
were fixed, the gate thrown open, and a
charge made on the prisoners to stop the
fight. Bayonets were used freely before
order was restored, many on both sides
being severely hurt.
Ny tent was in line with the tunnel that
the rebels were at work on, and not far
from where the guard was first placed to
watch. My thoughts We're that some
night they might reacl! my tent while
was alseep, which kept me awake most of
the time listening for sounds Of the diggers.
A NIGHTS SURPRISE.
One night, after taps, the rebels dug
through the surface of the ground IA few
feet from my tent, and was startled by the
report of the guards gun and "A yell of
agony from the first man to show his head
above ground. | rushed out TO find the
man only stunned, having the hair on the
top Of his head cut away by the bullet. |
We entered the tunnel and found five men |
there, who were taken to cells.
We were ordered back to St. Louis soon |
after this, and put on duty over prisoners
at McDowell's College and at Myrtle Street J
Prison. and policed the city, as it at that
time was under martial law
While my command was at Alton, ILL.,,
Harry Truman had been tried by court
martial, and the sentence was death. Harry
sent for me, and told me he was doomed,
and as he had no hopes of life he wanted
TO make me a present of his ivory-handled
Colts navies; he said he knew in my hands
the pistols would do as good service as they
had done in his. These pistols had been
taken from him when he was put under ar
rest.
My three years only lacked a few months
of service now, and the most of this time
was put in at St Louis. When John
Morgan made his raid north into Indiana
my regiment, with the 1st Kan. battery,
was ordered there TO intercept him. We
were halted at a point called Mitchell,
where the Salem & New Albany Railroad
crossed the Ohio g. Mississippi Railroad.
Here we We're to wait as Morgan was mov- |
ing in that direction, but before reaching
al Mt ln Tan .,t,, L. tt,. 4.