Evening star., 1914-02-22


the stores, and on top of the cases is
room for to sleep comfortably. Outside
of all are the curtains, which extend down
to the bottom Of the desks, protecting
them entirely from dust and rain Upon
hating for the night it is only necessary
to loosen the curtains and extend them,
like the roof of a house, by means Of
side Of the wagon and all the parapher-
MALTA of a complete desk is exposed. 1t
is proposed to furnish the commanding
general of each army corps with one of
these vehicles
Reports reached Washington the middle
of February, 1864, that several score of
federal officers had
Escaped From escaped from Libby
Libby Prison. prison in Richmond by
tunneling. and there
was considerable excitement when the
fact was briefly confirmed. In The Star
Of February 1s. 1864. few days later,
appears a two-column account Of the ar
rival in Washington Of number Of
these officers and a statement of how
they effected their breach of the walls of
the old warehouse that had for SO many
months represented to the north the
worst features of the civil strife. he
plan to dig out of Libby had been con-
ceived some two months earlier. seven or
eight of the officers organizing for this
purpose. The tunnel was to run under
the cellar, which was filed with refuse
straw and other materials, to sewer
that connected with the prison. The
working parties were let down nightly
into the cellar by way of chimney
=; Ind bofs iv1fC ha vol a
and hidden under the refuse. cuspidor
serving as a conveyor. The digging was
done with finger nails, knives and chtsels.
I At one stage barricade of piles foot
thick was encountered, but these were
eventually cut through, with prodigious
labor, and the sewer was reached. The
stencil from it. rendered it's use as an
avenue of escape impossible, and then
the plan was changed and the tunnel
was directed to pass under the street
to a fence-surrounded carriage house. On
digging in this direction a stone wall
was Immediately encountered, but even
this was penetrated, though three feet
thick, in nineteen days and nights. When
it was estimated that the ooleeuve nao
been nearly reached one of the omcers
secured permission to go under guard TO
the carriage house, used to store boxes
sent to prisoners, on the pretext OF LOOK
ing for a package addressed to him. rms
enabled him to pace off the distance, and
with the information thus obtained the
work was pressed, and at last, February
Z, an upward move was made, out the
exit point was still in the street, two or
three feet short of the fence. narrow
escape from discovery resulted from the
fall of a paving stone into the hole. Inc
tunneling was resumed and the carriage
house inclosure was reached
One hundred and nine officers formed
the escaping party. some of the ofncers
invited refusing for
The Flight various reasons to go.
At $50 o'clock Feb
these men started under the leadership
of Col. Rose Of New York. with Col.
w. P, Kendrick of Tennessee, Capt u.
]. Jones of Kentucky and Lieut. h. Y.
Bradford of Tennessee remaining In the
prison as ''rear guard" These omcers
could see from a window their com
rades who had gone before walk OUT
of a gate at the other end OF the car
rage house inclosure land Yearlessiy
move off, Only one man could pass
through the tunnel at a time. and 1t was
not until 2:30 am. six hours after the
first man left, that the rear guard de-
parted The officers had divided them
ceed in various directions toward the
Union lines. each squad carrying pro-
visions, which had been accumulated In
secret savings for some time before the
escape. The officers who reached Wash
ington stated that in their escape they
were valuably aided by citizens Of
Richmond. whose names they, or
course. declined to disclose. lest the
Confederate government visit them
with it's vengeance.
OF interest in connection with the sue
cessful exodus from Libby prison is the
following news item in
Futile Try The Star of February II.
1864, telling of futile
Tor ADerty. EFFORT of Confederate
prisoners to break bounds:
"a few days ago the officers at the
camp Of the rebel prisoners at Point
Lookout discovered that some of
the prisoners were evidently making ar
rangements to escape. It appears that by
some means the prisoners in one OF the
quarters had procured some lumber. with
which they had built two boats, in
which 1t is supposed they were to en-
bark for the Virginia shore. Fortunately
they were detected in their operations
before they had calked the boats. 1t ap-
pears also that they had collected some
seventy old muskets and lot of stones
"a scarce article in that locality. and
which must have been brought from
some distance), which they probably de-
signed using as weapons against any
persons who should resist them. 1t is
thought. however. that but few of the
prisoners were to attempt the escape,
unless, indeed. more boats were to be
built, as the two boats found would not
he able to carry more than fifty persons.
The officers on discovering the plot i'm
mediately took every precaution to in
sure the safe keeping Of the prisoners.