Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1908-05-28
the mortar with jackknife

placed the bricks and filed the crevices.
with SCOT which they had taken the
preeaution to collect beforehand on
blanket. After several nights work
they had an S shaped passage down
which they could descend to Rats hell
by means of their rope ladder.
The wall Of that east cellar had to
be broken in three places before a
place was found where the earth
would support a tunnel. Rose dug as
siduously, while Hamilton famed air
In to him aud dragged the excayated
material out as fast asst was ready.
Without the artificial ventilation the
tallow dip by which Rose worked
would go out and Rose would suffo-
cate. A wooden box which had been
used as a spittoon served very well to
draw the earth out of the passage
way, part of the precious rope having
been attached to it to enable the out
side worker to pull it out and in turn
the digger to pull it in. AS fast as
the earth was taken out it was hid
den under a deep layer of filthy hay
which covered the floor of the damp
cellar.
The average diameter of the tunnel
was about two feet. AS the work
progressed it was pushed with greater
haste Usually one man would dig
ana fill the spittoon with earth, at a
given signal a second would draw the
spittoon out, third man would keep
the air moving by tanning it with a
rubber blanket, fourth would act as
relief, while fifth would keep
guard. AS there were fifteen in the
plot, they were able to work in three
relays. The work was fearfully mo-
notonous, however. Absolute silence
was necessary, and when the men be-
came separated they had to find each
other by cropping around in the dark
ness.
The rules Of the prison required that
the prisoners should be counted twice
a day To account for the absence of
the five men who were at work each
day their comrades resorted to various
repeating devices and managed to be
counted twice in sufficient numbers to
make up the deficiency.
The whole plot was nearly upset by
Hamilton's eagerness to see it brought
to a successful end Being certain that
the tunnel was sufficiently long, he dug
upward. contrary to Roses counsel,
and found, to his dismay, that the hole
he had broken was outside the shed in
plain view of the sentinels if they
chose to notice it. Rose then pushed
an old shoe through the hole and the
next day by looking out an upper win
dow saw where the old shoe lay and
made a rehabilitation
On Saturday, Feb. 8. 1864. it seemed
almost certain that the Confederates
had discovered the plot. Rose decided
to push the work to an immediate con-
clusion. On Sunday Rats hell was
usually neglected by the Confederates.
and Rose entered the tunnel and work
ed all day without food or rest, accom-
plishing twice the distance that any
digger had done up to that time. The
earth was composed of dense, hard
sand. The only implement was broad
bladed cold chisel.
On Monday morning Rose again de-
scended to the work 1t was the seven
tenth day of that tunnel, and Rose
resolved that it should be the last.
Until an hour after midnight his
work went on. Rose was nearly a
physical wreck. The perspiration soak
ed his weary limbs. He could scarcely
Initiate his lungs with the poisonous air.
His head swan.
In the agony of suffocation he drop
ped the dull chisel and beat his fists
against the roof Of his grave with the
might of despair, when-blessed boon!-
the crust gave way, and the loosened
earth showered upon his dripping face,
purple with agony. His eye caught
sight of radiant star in the blue
vault above him. A food of light and
a volume of cool. delicious air poured
over him. At that very instant the
sentinel's cry rang out like prophecy,
Half past |. aud ais welI!'
Rose recovered quickly He was in
a yard under shed. with fence be-
tween him and the sentinels. He walk
ed out on the street and reconnoitered
a little. Then he returned to the tun-
mel, covered the exit with a piece of
plank and crawled back to Rats hell.
The party of fifteen agreed that as
| the night was nearly gone it would be
better to wait till the next night before
attempting to escape 1t was also
agreed that each member of the party
should have the privilege of taking one
friend into his confidence. The sec
ond party of fifteen thus formed was
pledged not to follow the working par.
ty out till an hour had elapsed.
Rose and his companions made sue
cessful departure at 8 o'clock on the
evening Of Tuesday, Feb. 8. But the
news leaked out, and the little kitchen
was soon crowded to suffocation with
200 prisoners, all clamoring to get at
the entrance to the tunnel At the
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