ESCAPE OF SIX COMMUNISTS FROM A FRENCH FORTRESS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 278, 29 May 1873, Page 3

ESCAPE OF SIX COMMUNISTS FROM A FRENCH FORTRESS.

Under the title of " A Historical Parallel to Monte Christo," the London " Tiraos " publishes the tale of the escape of a Communist convict. He was one of the 300 political prisoners in the fortress of Port Louis, a part of that lino of fortifications which was built by Sully to defend the French . coast from Brest to La Kochelle. At j high tide the fortress is entirely surrounded by the sea, and communicates with the land only by a, bridge. Having observed that the floor-boards were badly joined, the idea occurred to some of, tho prisoners of working out tho nails by which they were fastened with their finger-nails, and having done this, they discovered under the rccn large excavations without any outlet, which had doubtless been formed for ventilation. The narrator says : — " On lifting two of the floor-boards under my bed we were able to descend into this cellar, and then, after working holes in the walla separating the different compartments, we reached the foundation wall abutting on the Round road. Immediately the working" party had descended into the 'cellar, the floor-boards wore replaced, and only lifted again when it was necessary for those below to remount. " The only tools we had were large nails or spikes, which had been used in fixing the stand for the anna, these quarters having formerly been occupied by soldiers. We had worked out these nails with our harnld, and to do so bad cost us several days' hard labor, and no little laceration of fingers. We then conceived the idea of excavating a tunnel to run from the cellar to the sea. We found that wo were jiv^t on a level with tho Hound road, but this road served as a thoroughfare for waggons loaded with powder, and for all the vehicles bringing provisions and ! other stores inte the citadel. It was, therefore, necessary, before excavating ! the tunnel, to sink a vertical shaft ! about 13 feet in depth, in order that j the superincumbent weight of the waggons passing might not cause the road , to fall in. Digging witb the nails we loosened the earth, which we then scooped up in a tin plate which we had been able to conceal. When we had, in this manner, filled a dinner napkin we formed a sort of chain, and passed from hand to hand the napkin full of earth, which was deposited iv the furthest of the underground compartments, and well trampled d*nvn, so that it might occupy as small space as possible. There were only six to carry on this work, for the numberless difficulties which stood in the way of escape had discouraged the others. Having finished this shaft of 13 feet in depth, they commenced a horizontal mine, which had in the first place to piss under the Round road, 22 to 23 feet in width. After innumerable ' difficulties for three months, the workers at longth reached the wall of the rampart. But the wall which fiey had still to pierce, and which was, of course, intended to resistcannonahot, seemed proof against ' anything :—: — "It is constructed of enormous blocks of granite, jammed tightly together by smaller stones driven in like wedges, and the whole is united into one solid mass by means of Roman cement, which has become as hard as the stone itself. Wo endeavored with the nails — the only tools we had, and which we had put into wooden handles — to loosen the joints of the stono. With another piece of wood we had made a mallet, and to get the wood necessary for these purposes we hod broken up the musket stand and the barrack shelves. But the only result of our efforts was to blunt our implements. Wiiat could we do to supply our lack of tools ? At length the bright thought occurred to one of us to remove one of the iron bars which guarded the window. These bars were five foet and a half in length, and an inch and a half thick. Bat in order that the warders might not perceive that one of them had been taken away, we first of all made an imitation bar of a piece of wood cut from one of the broad shelves, and which wo colored with ink and blacking. When this was finished and dry we succeeded in unfastening with nails one of the bars of the windopr. We watched for a moment when the sentinel on the rampart opposite our window had his back towards us, and little by little loosened the stones in which the bar was set. When this was done, taking advantage of every lucky moment, vre gave the bar a wrench, got it out instantly and replaced it by the imitation bar of wood. We then took the precaution of stopping the hole made in loosening the bar with bread crumbs, which we kneaded so as to look like mortar, and afterwards t'irew a handful of dust. over the whole, that the different shades of color might not betray our device." Before resuming the attack on the wall with this bar it was necessary to enlarge this part of the tunnel arid to excavate in front of the wall a littlr chamber high enough for two men to work there on their knees, and large enough to use the iron bar to advantage: — "Then, and not till then, did we make any real impression on, the wall which was more then sixteen feet thick the hole became ten feet deep, then twelve feet, then fourteen feet in depth and it was not until wehad dug six-

teen and a half feel into the wall that the man who happened just thon to be at work giving a heavy blow to '!)? stono pierced it. and after being for a moment by the sudden entry of tho light saw the sea stretching out in front of him. lie immediately stopped up the aperture, and camo to impart the welcome news to his comrades. We took council together, and decided that our escape should be attempted that very night. . . . The evening muster-roll was called as usual, and we were shut up in our dormitories. Almost immediately two of our number went down to complete the enlargement of the hole, and this labour occupied them two hours. On their return we informed" our companions thatthe moment forourescapehad come. Their emotion was certainly greater than ours. Before getting out we took the precaution of placing in our beds our bolsters, made to look as much as possible like a man's body, and with our nightcaps stuck at tho top. We also spread our prison clothes on our beds, jia we were in rhe habit of doing every evening. Our object in adopting these precautions was to deceive the warder when be came in the morning to call over the muster-roll. T.ie stratagem succeeded, and the officials dkl not know of our flight until six o'clock the next evening. This was very fortunate for us, as otherwise we should not have been able to get away any great distance from the citadel, and we should have inevitably" been retaken. It was the Hth Novemboi-, at nine o'clock in the evening, the tide was out, and the rocks at the foot of the rampar b were left bare. " One after another we crept through the tunnel, ami then getting through the hole in the wall we were able, while still clinging with our hands t<> the wall on the rampart, to reach with a drop the rocks beneath. Then, following all the bends of the wall, and keeping as near to it as possible, we pissed around to the land side of the fortress. In like manner we passed along over the beach, keeping as near as possible to the little town, situated about a thousand yards from the fortress, and thus at length, after creeping silently between the huts of the coast-guards-men, we reached the dry land opposite a little village called Loe Malo. We marched on together and without retting during all the rest of the night, in order as quickly as possible to put as much distance as we could between us and the fortress. Our object Wcis to reach some little port of Brittany, and then endeavor to tul c ship for England. I had succeeded in concealing a small sum by carefully sewing it into the lining of my coat, and this money was of the greatest sorvice to us, as it enabled us on the following morning to take the railway, and thus in a few hours to put a considerable distance between us and the citadel. On our way to the railway station we saw three gendarmes ruuning towards us. gun in hand Without faltering we walked coolly on, took the train for a small port in Brittany, and in the evening succeeded in getting on board an English vessel. We were saved !"