The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1901-11-08
A Perilous Escape.

near Neucbatel, written Dy
Captain William Glrod. one OF the par
ticipants in the events which II de
scribes. Is printed in the Century by
permission of his son, also named
William Girod. who died i'm Brooklyn,
New York, in 1896. at the age OF
eighty-five. The text followed Is n
CODY of the original manuscript writ
ten by CAPTAIN Girod for his son. and
no change has been made in the manu-
script except by way OF omission OF
less interesting details and in restor-
ing the narrative to the first person,
It having been changed TO the third
at the time that the present owner
made the copy from the original
which has since been destroyed. The
members Of the family have no knowl-
edge OF any other narrative OF these
events
The Chateau dc JouX has had many
noteC prisoners within It's walls In
1875. Mirabeau. while imprisoned there
undev n lettre-de-cachet, was allowed
To visit Pontarller, where he met Mime.
Sophie de Monnier. 10 whom he wrote
the Letters to Sophie" which were
published in 1893. II was also the
place of the captivity and death Of the
hero Of the negro revolution in Snnto
Domingo, Toussalnt LOuyerture.
Captain Girod's supposed offence
was completely in the attempt 10 blow
up the first Consul with nm internal
machine i'm December, 1900. He and
his fellow prisoners first made a hole
through the ten-foot wall Of their case
ments. The narrative then continues:
The next operation was TO manu-
facture a rope. We had eight strong
linen sheets, nine feet long, each OF
which we slit into eight strips, which
were first twisted separately. and
then two together. In addition To
this. we cut up very large counter
pane, n number OF shirts. table-cloths,
towels-ln short everything that could
be used. When finished. our rope was
found to be twelve times the length
of our casemate.
This was the most anxious period
since we began the work Of escape.
1t was necessary to hide everything
The sheets might have been missed;
they might have come TO change them.
However. as we always made our own
beds, we took care to cover them com
pletely with the large rugs with which
each Of us was furnished, and thus
everything passed without n shadow
of suspicion.
At length arrived the day OF final de
liyerance-January 81, 1905. We took
IN afiectionate leave of our nelghbor.
NJ. de Riviere, who most cordially con
graduated us on the happy progress of
our undertaking, and offered his sin
cerest wish for the final success of our
with the commandant. and he prom
ised 20 ply him so freely with wine
TO which he was known TO be very
partial--as to render him by seven
o'clock. the hour fixed for our depnr
ture. altogether incapable of intcrfcr-
ing with our design. At the appointed
tl'1e we, taking silent farewell OF
our prison room. began the work of
actual dcliverance. Having made the
external opening large enough for n
man 10 creep easily through. we placed
the iron bar across the hole. Round
this the rope was drawn without be
ing tied. so that we were Obliged 10
slide down the double rope to prevent
its slipping. We threw our great coats
and some small bundles containing
such clothes rs we could venture TO
take with us through the hole before
us. | had small terrier. which had
been my companion in prison. rs well
mt the Temple as ut Joux, for about
two years. | could not make up my
mind TO have II killed, and had il been
left behind alone, its cries in all prob
ability, would have led to a prema-
ture discovery OF our escape there
fore made n bag for II. which | hung
about my neck and with il | descend
ed the rope. The precise height of
the first descent could not be accur-
ately ascertained. but II was supposed
TO be from eighty to n hundred feet.
However, we all got safely down, part
OF the end OF the rope having broken
with NJ. d'Hauterochc. who was n
stout. heavy man; but nc was. forum.
ately, so near the bottom that he re-
ceived no injury.
The rope was then discngascd rem
the iron bar by pulling one end of IL.
and | was dispatched 10 nnd the tree
on the edge of the rock Ii was easi.
ly found, but before M. dc Frotte
and dlauteroche had got down. so
thick fog came on that | could Meth.
er see the fort nor could ly com.
panlons see me. The moon Carne to
our assistance. and the others reached
the tree, TO which we tied one end of
the rope, slipping down 1t enc after
the other. sometimes on the shelvin,.
sides Of the rock. covered witt clow.
sometimes without any other support
down the occasional but short preci.
pices, until we got q good footing on
n large projecting point, where we
stopped, and, pulling foroibly. two to-
gether. We succeeded in breaking the
rope pretty high up. We again made
IL fast. descending in the sane nan.
ner: again broke II. and tied II a sec.
ond and third time: but Il was event.
ually too short TO enable III to get
quite down.
We now found ourselves surrounded
by high mountains. without the a.
pearance OF n track in the snow. and
were quite at loss which way to pro-