The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1909-01-21
STORY OF ESCAPE
FROM LIBBY PRISON
Told by Only Survivor of Seven Who
Dug Tunnel and Lei Out los Men.

story OF the desperate struggle dur
ing the Civil War, also casting
new light on the manner in which
the plot was conceived and carried
out.
Before beginning the work, he
said on a recent visit in Spokane,
they took an oath of secrecy, fix
ing death to be the penalty of vio-
lation. 1t was decided that if any
Of the seven men revealed the plot
while they were digging the tun-
mel, the others were to take him
to the top of the warehouse at
night and throw him from the
highest window to the rocks be-
low. This would have meant Ger
tain death.
The rest of Mr.. Mitchell's re-
markable narrative of the escape
is best told in his own words:
81 was in Libby for nine months
the longest, dreariest, most hope
less nine months of my life. Hope
was some thing that none of us
knew. There were in the prison
at that time many of my comrades
of the Seventy seventh Pennsyl-
vania, true patriots, every one of
them. They knew what suffering
was, if ever men did in this world.
There is not one of them who is
alive today who cannot recall as
distinctly as if but a month ago
the awful suffering and misery we
endured But let me tell you,
there is not one of them who would
not go through it all again if ne
cessity demanded it, that the
greatest government in the world
might be perpetuated and the
Union preserved for the greatest
people in the world would my
self, and I know the feelings of
loyalty and patriotism that live in
heir breasts.
After we had spent months
that seemed years-decades-and
to some of us, centuries, in that
horrid pen, the plan of escape sug-
gested itself to seven of us, six
comrades and myself. We CON
ceived the idea of digging the tun-
mel under the warehouse, under
the walls Of the prison pen, and
far enough outside to give a start
to those who were willing to take
the risk in the hope of gaining
liberty
1T was desperate undertak-
ing, as we fully realized, and even
believing as we did in the loyalty
of every prisoner there, we could
not dare to take them into our
confidence for fear the secret would
become known to the guards. 1t
that event we knew it meant moth
ing but wholesale slaughter of
prisoners, many Of whom would
not be connected in the plot to es-
cape. There was one obstacle,
the guard inside the warehouse,
whom we could not expect to es-
cape while we worked, and there
fore there was but one way to
overcome this obstacle, and that
was to bride him. After numerous
attempts we succeeded in doing
this, agreeing each to pay him
$1,000 after we had gained our
liberty and our homes. An agree
ment on this basis was finally con-
cluded, and we set to work.
II need not say it was slow
progress, handicapped as we were
by the fear and danger of being
discovered, and having to work at
the disadvantage of no tools but
our hands and the pocketknives
a few had been able to retain when
imprisoned. The disposal of the
debris, as we lossened it, was a
hard matter. Not one of us was
able, physically, to do much work.
But hope sprang up in our hearts
and the prospect of freedom buoy
ed us up in manner that now
seems miraculous to me.
"The days and nights grew into
years, 1t seemed, as we toiled. But
not once did any of us become