Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-01-30

coin, should have presided over the |
most abundant crop of themes for ro- /
nance that has ever been accorded to !
American authors.
If any one of these romantic Incl |
dents that occurred during the war be |
tween the states may be selected as |
standing out with especial prominence |
it is the making Of the tunnel by Fed |
eral soldiers at the old tobacco ware |
house in Richmond, Va, that had been !
turned into Libby prison. The story
of how these men, beginning in an old
fireplace in the cellar. little by little
scooped the earth away, forming a tun-
mel Just large enough to admit Of a
mans body passing through it and
leading out to point beyond the wall,
| then escaped in body, has been told
| again and again. The story am about
| to tell Is connected with that escape.
feel bound to state, however, that,
since the heroine was a real woman
and shall use her real name. only the
main features are given as they actual
ly occurred. In other words, they are
fiction founded on fact. But Mr.. Lin
coins connection with the story shall
give in the words of the assistant of
Edwin NJ. Stanton, secretary Of war,
as he told it at a dinner a number of
years ago.
One morning three men in blue uni
forms that had faded through exposure
into a sort Of green, whose trousers
were in rags and the soles of whose
shoes tapped every time they stepped,
approached a house a short distance
southeast of Richmond, on the James
river. They stood in wood, where
they were partly concealed. looking
wistfully at the house. They were hun
CRY almost to starvation. They had
recently escaped from Libby prison
and had lain In hiding for fear of
recapture, with nothing to eat except
little corn pone furnished them by a
negro.
81 wonder If we'd better risk it,
boysT said one of the three.
IF you do" said another, wen go
back to that horrid pen, and that
means death to me. I'll be carried out
with the regular load of dead"
At that moment there was a clatter
Of hoofs of many horses, and the trio
retired from the edge of the wood. A
company of Confederate cavalry passed
over the road not a hundred yards
from where they had been standing
and refined up in front of the house
they had been looking at. The COM
manding officer dismounted and went
in, while the men waited outside on
their horses. Presently he reappeared
followed by a woman. They were
talking together, but the men in the
wood could not hear what they were
saying. Then the Confederates moved
on.
81 wonder if they're looking for US, u
said Captain Porter, one of the fugi
tives.
doubt it," replied Lieutenant Dob
SON "If they had been they'd have
sent few men through the woods"
But didn't you see their captain
post men around the house when they
rode up to it," said Sergeant Sweitzer
'Its my opinion they were thinking
we might be there"
"Then why didn't they search the
premises?" asked Porter.
Meanwhile the sound Of the horses
hoofs had died away. A girls head
was thrust out of a window of a lof
in the barn. She looked up the road
in the direction of the retreating horse
withdrawn, and the girl, perhaps TWEEN
ty years old, emerged from a lower
door and went to the house.
That's the party they were looking
for" said Dobson.
Q "a girlT exclaimed the other.
eyes, a girl. And she must be
Union girl. They're Union people il
there for sure. Come on, boys. II
risk it."
a You'd better go and reconnoiter. L
the coast is clear you can call u.s."
Captain Porter evidently upon con
sideration concluded to move cautious
ly. Some of the Confederates nigh
come back. So skulking behind trees
running along beside fences, he finall,
made a rear door and knocked. TIL
woman who had talked with the Con
federate leader came to the door and
seeing wretched specimen of human
II fly in a faded blue uniform, said
n Come in here quick" Porter wen
y in, and she shut the door. In fey
words he told how he and his compar
ions had escaped from Libby prise
Il and how the others were skulking i
p the woods near by. The woman toll
him they had nothing to fear from he
and babe him beckon his companion
p to come to the house. He did so, an
IN within a few minutes the three me
b. had found temporary abode.
The first matter of moment was III
satisfaction of hunger. There was nc
g much to eat in the house, but such a
h 1t was they were made welcome to /
* While they were eating their hostes
went upstairs, and they heard lo-
voices. Presently she came down, an
at with her was the girl they had seen i
the barn.
This young lady" said the woman
a sis Miss Green. She acted with som
Of the men who have escaped wit
Won from Libby prison. and the Col
" federates are hunting her. A CON
n pany of them stopped here a spe