MOST INTERESTING STORY OF AN ESCAPE FROM PRISON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2457, 20 November 1886, Page 2

MOST INTERESTING STORY OF AN ESCAPE FROM PRISON.

"To be shot in the morning at four o'clock !" This was the .refrain that kept ringing through my mind since the aforesaid aentenco had been passed on me, a soldier of the Confederate Army, caught only a few hours before within tho lines of the Federal camp. 1 had been captured, tried and summarily sentenced, and now lay on a heap of straw in an old hut, bemoaning my unhappy fate. My tiniber ; built prison was paved with stone flags, and had evidently been used as a stable, a large iron grating in the stone floor being the outlet for stable refuse. Suddenly as-1 was lying on my heap of straw, I heard the sound of trickling water.: This set me thinking, and the idea'flashed across me as to the probability of my prison being in any way connected with the river.. Again making use of tho friendly optming { in the wall, I saw, to my joy, a gully about three feet wide and four feet deep, leading from the river, directly under the shanty, forming a natural dram. The thought of a possible escape gave new life to to my sinking spirits. The grating ro my first thought and on looking down I saw the water flowing beneath me, Cautiously I tried to raise the grating but could obtain no hand hold, so I set to' work on the hard earth between it and the surrounding stones. '1 worked tUl jnyfinjjera .wore-core and bleeding,

and at last managed to get a firm grip ot\ the iron. Iwason.Jhe point of raising the grating, but hearing my prison dppj open, I had just time and presence -of mind to fall flat aird'feign sleep, covering with' my body tWdfrjti'had : rak«s/quft when in, and]seeming satisfied, shortly withdrew: ;< As soon as 1 could reeorer, my shaken nerves, I raised the grating, and quietly slipped down into the slimy stream. The advisability of putting off my escape. till night occurred to me, but again the sentence, "To be shot in the morning at four o'clock," re-echoed throu?h my brain, and replacing the .grating after me, crept cautiously along throngh mud and filth towards the river, the high banks of the gully completely screening me from observation. ■ Nearing the river tho water got deeper, and the bankß of the gully wider apart, and 1 saw, tomydißmay, tho camp: was situated on the bank of the river; escape seemed impossible, and 1 resolved reluctantly to defer my attempt till night. I had commenced to retrace my steps to the prison, when, catching sight of an old basket among the garbage that lined the banks of the gully, I seized it, struck with a Budden idea, and once more went towards the river. All at once a tremendous tumult rent the air, and I knew .my'escape was discovered; and now was the time to put in operation the happy thought* connected with the basket. Reaching the river I turned it bottom upwards, and sent it floating into deop water, and then dived down ana came up with my head inside it, and quietly swam along, letting it seem to float with the natural action of the tide. Prom my basket I could see tho whole camp in an uproar, horses scouring the surrounding country, soldiers rushing here and there, searching the banks of gullys and river, and little thinking the innocent-looking basket, floating by the entire length' of the camp, concealed the cause of the whole uproar. That evening round our camp fire few would associate the dejected being of a few hours ago, with the bright animated soldier who was relating, with gusto, the Btory of his escape in a basket.