The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1907-11-22
LIBBY PRISON HERO,
How the Late General Rose Duo
a Famous Tunnel.
DESPERATE CHANCES TAKEN.
Marvellous Fortitude of BanG of Wretch
ed Men Working In Foul Air Among
Rats-Escape of Union Soldiers From
the Old Richmond Chandery In 1864.


Brevet Brigadier General Thomas
Elwood Rose, U. S. A. retired. who
Gied in Washington recently. led the
party of Union soldiers who dug theil
way out of Libby prison during The
civil war, says the New York Post
1t was in the battle Of Chickamauga
escaped at Weldon, N. c., was retaken
the next day and sent to Libby prison
on Oct 4. 1863
Libby prison itself was an old ships
ckandlery warehouse. embracing nine
large rooms. into which were crowded
cramped that the inmates had to sleeT
spoon fashion," head to head and
feet to feet in squads.
Outside the prison to the south was
q canal. In wet weather the cellar OF
the prison would become flooded with
should say schools-of hoary rats
emerged from its ancient walls on the
surface OF the tide. The easternmosi
cellar was the darkest and consequent
ly the worst in this respect and was
known as Rats hell.
From the first day of his incarcera
tion Roses mind turned to thoughts OF
escape. and all through the course OF
the partly successful plot he was the
engineer and captain. He found 9
loyal lieutenant In Major A. G. Hamil
ton of the Twelfth Kentucky cavalry
and together the two men decided thai
the most feasible plan was to dig &
tunnel from Rats hell eastward. dis
tance of about seventy feet, to ar
empty shed abutting on q building
owned by the James River Towing
company.
The exterior of the prison was care
fully guarded night and day by senti
nels. but indoors the vigilance was
somewhat relaxed at night. AT one
time more than 400 prisoners were iI
the secret of the work. all under oath
but the Confederates did not discover
what was on foot. This was partly
due to the fact that the end of Rats
hell, where the men worked, was ex
ceedingly dark and filled with such
foul air that the workers themselves
had to create artificial circulation IL
order to live in it.
Work was begun with a broker
shovel and two case knives. With inf
walls and piling in various places only
. find themselves frustrated now by
water from the canal. now by some
impossible obstacle. They tried tt
avail themselves of old sewers. but ont
was too small and one debouched il
too public spot. Finally they adoptef
the plan of digging eastward to thu
shelter of the other building
Rose picked out thirteen faithful fol
lowers in addition to himself ant
Hamilton. Most of the others hl
been discouraged by the slime. the foi
air and the III success of previous at
tempts. Rose 4 his little band wen
on indefatigably. scarcely eating
scarcely sleeping. engrossed in the ons
feverish thought of liberty At bes
it would be slender chance Bu
hope springing persistently drove then
on.
BY great good fortune Rose hat
come into possession of a rope nearly
hundred feet long. an inch thick ant
new BY an agreement between tht
commissioners OF exchange severa
bales of clothing had been sent by thu
Federal government to the sufferin.
soldiers at Belle Isle committee o
Union officers from Libby prison hat
been assigned to supervise the distri
button. and one Of them by bit O
clever legerdemain managed to secret,
the rope which bound one of tn,
bales. Rose and Hamilton fashioned /
into a ladder.
They concluded that the safest means
Of getting into Rats hell without de
lection would be to dig secret passag'
from the Kitchen which was on tn,
floor above. but not directly over Rats
hell. Carefully digging out the NOR
tar with q jackknife. they remove,
the bricks one by one from the bacl
of the large open fireplace. Whel
IHOEIllilp cdlile tHey TepidCtu tue DiiCh
and filed the crevices with the SCOT
which they had taken the precautiol
to collect beforehand on blanket
After several nights work they had al
s shaped passage down which the,
could descend to Rats hell by mean
of their rope ladder.
The wall of that east cellar had t
be broken in three places before
place was found where the cart
would support a tunnel. Rose dug as
siduously. while Hamilton famed al
into him and dragged the excavate
material out as fast as 1t was ready
Without the artificial ventilation th
tallow dip by which Rose worke
would go out and Rose would sumo
cate A wooden box, which had bee
used as n spittoon. served very well
draw the earth out Of the passageWay
part of the precious rope having bee
attached to 1t to enable the outsid
!, worker to pull It out and n turn q