Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-19
Raiders
Hanged.

On the eve of their execution the two
white men, Cook and Coppic. attempted
to escape, being detected just in time
to prevent their departure The first
| news of this affair is told in The Star
of December IL. Every suggestion OF
Il jail breaking by any of Browns com
rades was magnified into a report of a
plot by northern sympathizers to eff
feet the rescue of the entire company.
The military precautions at Charles
Town were undoubtedly ample to pre-
vent or Illustrate any such attempt,
but the state authorities were never
theless extremely nervous lest some
slip In the arrangements might result
in the liberation of the captives One
of the dispatches from Harpers Ferry
said:
"A misunderstanding occurred sew
eral days ago between Gen. Talia-
ferro and the jailer in regard to plac-
ing sentinels inside the Jail. The jailer
claims the right to have his own men.
The general gave way to him, bu.
placed a guard on the outside which
has thus prevented the escape of The
prisoners. Cook says he could have
made his escape had he jumped down
and throttled the sentinel"
Before their execution on the 1Gtn,
Immediately after the hanging of the
negroes Copeland and
Prison Green, the two white
Breaking. prisoners who tried to
escape prepared a state
ment of the case to eXonerate the Jail
| officials of completely and blame, printed
in The Star of December II, 1859:
Having been called upon to make a
fair statement in regard to the ways
and means of our breaking JAIL l have
agreed to do so Uhe statement was
written by Cook and subscribed to by
Coppic) from "a sense of our duty ~
the sheriff of the county and jaiIer and
jail guard. We do not wish that any
one should be unjustly censured on our
with which we opened a passage
through the wall of the Jail were Il
Barlow knife and a screw which We
took from out of the bedstead. The knife
was borrowed from one of the guarus
to cut lemon with. We did not re-
turn 1T to him. He had no idea of any
intention on our part to break out
neither did the sheriff's jailer, nor any
of the guard, have any knowledge of
our plan. We received no aid from any
person or persons whatever. We had,
as we supposed, removed all the brick
except the last tier several days ago.
but on the evening previous to our
breaking out we found our mistake in
regard to that matter. We had intended
to go out on the evening that my sister
and brother-in-law were here, but l
knew that it would reflect on them
and we postponed it, but 1 urged Cop
pic to go and l would remain, but he
refused. We then concluded to wait |
got knife blade from Shields Green
Zone Of the colored men executed late )
and with that made some teeth in the
Barlow knife. with which we sawed off
our shackles. We had them all off the
night previous to our getting out Cop
pic went out first and l. followed. We
then got up on the wall when he was
discovered and shot at. The guard out
side the wall Immediately came up to
the wall. We saw there was no chance
to escape, and as it was discovered that
we had broken Jail we walked in de-
liberately and gave ourselves up to the
| sheriff, Capt. Avis, and the Jail guard.
There was no person or persons who
aided us to escape"