The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-10-14
SAYS MORGAN DID NOT
ESCAPE THROUGH TUNNEL


that report Was fled the prisoners.
were gone.
The Conederates claimed tina, they
worked at night in the tunnel. They
also say, and Gen. Basil Duke in his
DOCK on the subject reiterates i, tha.
il was SO still in the hall a, nigh, that
the guards. who wore sneak shoes
would snip up 10 their cell doors be-
fore they heard their footsteps Tho
SOUND or digging beneath the floors
would have been Instantly detected.
Five women, all in hearty
with the cause Of the Confederacy-
three OF them Kentucky women and
TWO ONO women, according 10 the
story OF Captain Gibson-conceived
the plan OF raising money and buying
the way of General Morgan out OF
prison. and carried il out. Their
safety was maintained by Morgan's
silence. and Captain Gibson says that
he honored and respected them for
their devotion to the cause in which
they believed. The Kentucky women
were Lottie Phillips. Miss Noble De-
shea, and a Mrs. Cochran. BY selling
their 1ewelry, carriage horses. etc,
there was raised thirty thousand dol
lars for this urpose
Captain Gibson knew Mrs Phillips
weI~ She vas the wife OF n North
erner who held an office in the Union
army, WHie she was an intense ON
~federate herself. Once before she had
ventured to come TO Camp Chase on a
SlmIar mission. and was warned away
by Captain Gibson She was a re-
markable woman
When Captain Gibson reached Co
lumbus he found that Mrs. Phillips
was there. He located her at the
house Of a we'll known resident of CO.
lumbus. h was accompanied by
her little girl. Captain Gibson sent
her a message advising her tina all
was known to the Union authrities
and suggesting that she leave the
United States. She left that night
for Canada, which she cache in
safety. She did not reach her home
in the South for nearly a rear after
wards n went by ship to Bar
l muda, a Confederate blockading port,
and there her little girl died.
t General Morgan had a first cousin,
a Mrs. Cochran, living south Of Co
lumbuS. Captain Gibson looked there
: for a clue to Morgan's movements and
got it.
Some time ago Mrs, John B. Nc
t Geown. of Gallon. Ohio, wrote os fol-
I lows to Captain Gibson: "In 1864 we
were in Bermuda, which was a block
aiding port of the C~onfederates While
there We met a lady. Mrs. Phillips,
> with a very sick child. This Mrs
Phillips claimed that she had helped
General Morgan AND his officers TO
escape from prison. / remember very
: we'll the attention Southern people
: gave this lady on account OF her help
ing General Morgan and his officers
; to escape. Mrs. Phillips came to
Bermuda ip some ship that q been
Guaranteed. and she and her little
sick girl stayed at the same hotel in
Hamilton, Bermuda. where we were
staying. She left Bermuda in Aug
- lRf INCA m n h1n~La1A 5000 49,
. Old Dominion, for Wilmington. N. c."
= General Morgan and his officers
y were let out OF the prison." said Capt.
a Gibson. They did not dig out.
They walked out through the women's
departQent-the DOR that still stands
- in the west wall Of that department
: 4 carriage was awaiting them at the
street, and in it they were driven
: away to safety"
"a Jesse F. Cochran, formerly serge.
ant at arms Of Senate and well know
ant-at-arms Of the Senate, and vel
known IN Columbus, corrobora.eo
,r Capt Gibson's story. He is Il son o,
l. Mrs.. Cochran, referred ~ Capt. Glib
,e son as a first cousin OF General Nor
20 gan. He said: my parents lived OF
es the Chillicothe Pike about lively,
D. miles south OF Columbus at that time
a. 1t was all before my time, bat re
member TO have heard my father an,
mother tell about General Morgan
and his officers spending the rest o
H. the night of their escape at our house
n The story AS | heard it was that tn,
n men were let out BY some one VIII,
g was paid TO do II: that they wer
y taken IN a carriage direct TO the oil
no United States Hotel, where they too
n the midnight stage south and came {
our house Early the next mornin
a they continued their way south, 20
ne ing TO ChiilicOthe. Our family al
ell ways laughed about the tunnel stor
to and made no bones OF the fact tbs
the prisoners bought their way out.
is -