The Washington herald., 1914-01-31

v for The Heraid.)
small penknife. and took turns at the
work. While one dug the other removed
the dirt In a wooden spittoon and con-
| cealed 1t under a pile of loose straw that
was stored in the cellar.
FanninE Air to Digger.
Thereafter the work progressed day
after day and night after night. at first
by two men. and later by five in a
shift at night, and two by day The
men assigned to it would go down the
passage in the fireplace as soon as
lights were out and would labor until
near morning when they would return.
and the others would descend. The pas
sage was then closed by inserting the
bricks in the back Of the fireplace.
The farther the work advanced the
more dificult it became. The spittoon
which served as a dirt cart was rigged
with a rope on either side by. which
the digger could pull II when empty
to him and the man in the cellar could
draw it back full. A gentle pull at the
rope was the signal to hand out the
loaded box.
After penetrating some distance the
task became very painful" wrote Capt.
johnson, in his book -Four Months in
Libby" 1T was impossible to breathe
thc III tHc lOT UldHy IIllHuttS
together. The miner, however. would
dig as long as his strength would allow
or till his candle was extinguished by
the foul air; he would then make his
way out and another would take his place
"a place narrow, dark, and damp and
more like a grave than any place can
be short of a mans last narrow home"
To supply the digger with air a man
stood at the mouth of the tunnel and
70 fsl, 4, l. Il
adequate. as the tunnel heightened. Col.
Hamilton devised a fan of rubber
blanket swung on a stick.
As the work approached completion the
difficulty of breathing in the tunnel was
greatly increased. and four men were
employed upon the digging alone. One
would dig until nearly exhausted and
would back out to give way to another.
who would enter and fill the spittoon with
earth. third would draw the box to
the mouth of the tunnel and a fourth
would empty it into another box and
take it TO the straw pile for conceal
ment.
Protecting Abientees.
When the tunnel was about half COM
pleted 1t was found that the guards had
visited disused kitchen apartment In
the corner Of the cellar and had several
times inspected the cellar itself in the
day time. i
The diggers hid in the straw when the
guard appeared. This was dangerous
procedure, for on one occasion one of the
guards nearly stepped upon johnson.
Another source of danger was the
absence from the prison at roll call Of
the two day workers.
1t was customary to line the prisoners
up in groups Of 10o A civilian clerk then
counted them.
For a number of days the prisoners
who were in the tunnel plot succeeded
in concealing the absence of Sneir two
mates in the cellar by repeating" Thus
after a man had been counted he slipped
out OF the line and the gap instantly
closed. STOPPING he ran along behind
the line and appeared at its farther end |
In this way the guard was led to count
the two men twice, making ninety EIGHT
appear to be 100.
One day this trick was detected. The
men were told of one at time and
two were found to be absent A gen.
eral roll call followed. which revealed the |
names of the absentees. They were Maj |
Mcdonald and Lieut.. Mexican.
The two officers when carried before |
the commandant of the prison next day |
offered excuses, one saying that he had |
fallen asleep in a corner at the time of !
roll call and the other that he had visited |
another room. which was against orders, |
and rather than subject the officers there |
to censure had remained there until he |
could return undetected to his own room |
These excuses were accepted.
Confined to Rat He'll"
The day after this occurrence johnson |
was the only one Of the plotters who |
remained in the cellar. Through an extra |
roll call his absence was detected.
A careless prisoner not acquainted with |
the secret oSrthe tunnel stated that he
had seen the prisoner the night before,
which was really the case. for he had |
come up to sleep.
The prison was thoroughly searched. |
but johnson was not found. Lieut..
Fisler told an ingenious story about John
son having a cousin among the guards
who had furnished him with a Confed-
crate uniform by means OF which he had /
escaped. Several other prisoners swore
hat the story was true.
The success of this invention made It
necessary to keep johnson thenceforth
n the cellar, and there he remained,
never seeing his prison room again.
The workers who came down at night