XLVIII.
OUT OF PRISON.
WONDERFUL ESCAPE FROM A FRENCH PRISON.—PLANS OF ESCAPE.—A LONG LABOR.—TUNNELLING THROUGH A WALL.—INGENUITY OF A SAILOR.—LUCKY ACCIDENTS.—DISCOURAGING EVENTS.—HOW SUCCESS WAS ATTAINED.—ELUDING THE GUARDS.—REACHING A PLACE OF SAFETY.
Among the most remarkable efforts of prisoners to escape from their confinement was that of some French Communists, who were sentenced to incarceration upon their failure to establish their government in France, after the downfall of Louis Napoleon in the disaster at Sedan. The story, as told by one of them, is of the most thrilling character.
We were political prisoners—three hundred of us—in the fortress of Port Louis, a part of that line of fortifications which was built by Sully to defend the French coast from Brest to La Rochelle. At high tide the fortress is entirely surrounded by the sea, and communicates with the land only by a bridge. Round its circuit runs a rampart on which the casemates abut. The entrance is opposite the bridge—that is to say, facing the peninsula on which stands the little town of Port Louis. On the left are the offices of the prison authorities and the residence of the governor; on the right, the quarters of the soldiers. In the centre of the fortress are barracks, forming a square, and having an inner court; and it is here that the prisoners are confined. The soldiers are strictly forbidden to speak to the prisoners. Their duty consists in mounting guard on the terrace running along above the casemates. A road, known as the Round Road, goes round the citadel, and separates the casemates from the buildings in which the prisoners are confined. The ground floor, occupied by the prisoners, is divided into twenty dormitories,of unequal size, containing from seven to thirty prisoners each.
PULLING NAILS WITH FINGERS.
The dormitories are lighted by windows looking out on one side on the Round Road, and on the other side on the inner court; and these windows are protected by strong iron bars. Having observed that the floor boards were badly joined, the idea occurred to us of working out with our finger-nails the nails by which they were fastened; and having done this, we discovered under our room large excavations without any outlet, which had doubtless been formed for ventilation. 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 walls 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 were replaced, and were 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 arms, these quarters having formerly been occupied by soldiers. We had worked out these nails with our hands; and to do so had cost us several days’ 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 we were just on a level with the Round Road; but this road served as a thoroughfare for wagons loaded with powder, and for all the vehicles bringing provisions and other stores into the citadel. It was therefore necessary, before excavating the tunnel, to sink a vertical shaft about thirteen feet in depth, in order that the superincumbent weight of the wagons passing might not cause the road to fall in.
UNDER THE ROUND ROAD.
Digging with 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 in the farthest of the underground compartments and well trampled down,so that it might occupy as small a space as possible. There were only six of us to carry on this work, for the numberless difficulties which stood in the way of our escape had discouraged the others. We followed to the last the same method of disposing of the earth and the stones, which we worked out one by one after incredible efforts. Having finished this shaft of thirteen feet in depth, we commenced the horizontal tunnel. We had in the first place to pass under the Round Road, which is twenty-two or twenty-three feet in width. As the earth was much easier of excavation than stone, we excavated our gallery with a downward slope, in order that we might be able to pass underneath the foundation wall of the casement facing our dormitory. Thanks to this slope, we succeeded so well that for a space of about forty-six feet—that is to say, until we reached the wall of the rampart—we had only to work through earth. This tunnel was just large enough for one man to creep along in it. We therefore took our turns at the excavations, lying flat on our faces. Unforeseen accidents occurred to increase the difficulties, already great, which we had to surmount. The part of the tunnel passing under the Round Road, notwithstanding the depth below the surface at which it was excavated, and notwithstanding the care we took to construct it arch-shaped, so that it might be better able to support the heavy weights passing above, threatened entirely to fall in. Heavy rains had loosened the soil, and pretty large masses of earth fell every day. It was necessary that this part of the tunnel should be propped up. How could it be done? One of our number, who had been a sailor, and who was a resolute and enterprising man, as sailors usually are, conceived the idea of supporting the earth by packing against the sides of the tunnel the stones which we had removed from the walls. This was done; and the downfall from above being thereby effectually prevented, we were able to continue our labors. A second accident, which seemed at first much more serious, then occurred, threw us into a fever of anxiety, and delayed the accomplishment of our project.When our tunnel had attained a length of about thirty-three feet, we could not get our light to burn. We thought this phenomenon was caused by want of air, and this is what we did to remedy the defect. While one of our number was kept constantly at work excavating, another, standing in the shaft at the entrance of the tunnel, and making a sort of fan of his jacket, forced a strong current of air into the tunnel. However, after some few days, when the length of the passage had been increased by a little more than a yard, there was no longer any need of our improvised ventilator, as the light burned of itself. There doubtless occurred in this part of the earth some gas which prevented our light from burning; and this gas, having little by little become dispersed, the phenomenon ceased.
REACHING THE RAMPART.
At length, after being distracted by doubts and fears, after the innumerable difficulties which every day for three months we had encountered,—difficulties which we should never have overcome but by dint of sheer energy, and thanks to that incredible patience with which prisoners only are endowed,—we reached the wall of the rampart. A few more days of labor and suffering and we shall be free. Free! The reader will understand what courage and hope that word must have given us to induce us to undertake and enable us to accomplish a work which, under any other circumstances, would have appeared to us as simple madness. Alas! it was at the very moment when we seemed to be approaching the end of our fatigues that the obstacles became most difficult to surmount. Some of our number seemed ready to abandon the task which for more than three months we had been prosecuting. All our labor was going to be thrown away. Again it was the energy of the sailor which saved us, and gradually revived the hopes of his weaker brethren. The wall of the rampart which we had still to pierce, and which is, of course, intended to resist cannon-shot, seemed to us 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 unitedinto one solid mass by means of Roman cement, which has become as hard as the stone itself. We endeavored with the nails—the only tools we had, and which we had put in wooden handles—to loosen the joints of the stones. With another piece of wood we had made a mallet, and to get the wood necessary for these purposes we had broken up the musket-stand and the barrack-shelves.
IMPROVISING TOOLS.
A DISCOURAGING SITUATION.
But the only result of our efforts was to blunt our implements. What could we do to supply our lack of tools? Our first thought was to take away a bar from one of our bedsteads, which were of iron; and this we did. This bar which we took was two feet in length and about as large round as a man’s thumb. After using one of the ends of this bar against the stone, we tried what use we could make of it as a lever. But the stones were too hard and too heavy, and our iron bar bent like a switch. What could we do now? We were not disposed to abandon at the last moment a project which had cost us so much toil; and yet we had many times emerged from our tunnel with the skin rubbed off our hands, and our faces as red as fire, having hardly succeeded, after long days of fatiguing labor, in working out a stone about as big as one’s fist. At length the bright thought occurred to one of us of making the very things which had been intended to secure our confinement contribute towards our escape. We determined to remove one of the iron bars which guarded the window. These bars were five feet and a half in length, and an inch and a half thick. But, 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 we colored with ink and blacking. When this was finished and dry, we succeeded in unfastening with nails one of the bars of the window. 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 one very lucky moment, we gave the bar a wrench, got itout, and instantly replaced it by the imitation bar of wood. We then took the precaution of stopping up with bread crumbs—which we kneaded so as to look like mortar—the hole made in loosening the bar, and afterwards threw a handful of dust over the whole, that the different shades of color might not betray our device. This bar of iron became in our hands a formidable weapon. Without it we must inevitably have lost all the fruit of our labors. When we were in possession of this formidable tool, as we had now to attack stone, it was impossible for us to continue to work lying flat on our faces, as we had done when it was a simple question of burrowing in the earth. It was absolutely necessary that we should have complete control over all our movements. We were obliged, therefore, before resuming our attack on the wall, to enlarge this part of our tunnel, and to excavate in front of the wall a little chamber high enough for two men to work there on their knees, and large enough for us to use the iron bar to advantage. Of this bar we made, as occasion required, a crowbar or a ram. Then, and not till then, did we make any real impression on the wall. The scraps of information which we had been able to gather from the unguarded talk of the warders had given us a false idea with respect to the thickness of this rampart. We thought it was only about six or six and a half feet thick, whereas in reality it was more than sixteen feet. When, therefore, after indescribable labor, we had worked away the stone bit by bit, and made our hole six feet and a half in depth, we were disconcerted to see no sign that we were approaching the end of our labors. Far from being discouraged by this, however, we redoubled our efforts, and our astonishment increased as the hole became deeper. Still we worked on. The hole became ten feet deep; then twelve feet; then fourteen feet; and it was not until we had dug sixteen and a half feet into the wall, that the man who happened just then to be at work giving a heavy blow to the stone, pierced it, and after being dazzled for a moment by the sudden entry of the light, saw the sea stretching out in front of him. He immediatelystopped up the aperture, and came to impart the welcome news to his comrades. We took counsel together, and decided that our escape should be attempted that very night.
ROUTINE OF THE PRISON.
And here I must interrupt the course of my narrative for a moment in order to give the reader a few necessary explanations. “How was it,” he will say, “that the officials did not perceive the destruction of the wood-work which you had been obliged to break up to make the handles of your tools, and the bar of wood with which you had replaced the iron bar of the window?” To this question I have a very simple answer to give. The officials of the prison had very little to do with us. The warders never came into our rooms except morning and evening, when they came to call the muster-roll. These visits were made at fixed hours, and I need hardly say that we were always sure to be present when they were made. We took good care, too, to work only in the daytime, for in the silence of night the dull blows struck underground would have been audible above. The warders went from room to room, calling over the muster-roll, and having seen that all the prisoners were in their places, immediately retired without troubling themselves about what might be going on. Besides, nodétenuwishing to retain the good opinion of his comrades ever spoke to the warders; and these latter, finding themselves thus isolated, sought no intercourse with the prisoners. Again,détentionbeing an essentially political punishment, we were not subjected to hard labor, and within the court, as well as in our rooms, were absolutely free. Another question which the reader will have asked is this: “How did you manage to keep your secret unknown during these four months?” Again his curiosity shall be satisfied. There was no secret, and there could not have been any. It was impossible for us to descend into our cellar and tunnel, or to remount to the surface, without being seen by those of our fellow-prisoners who happened to be in our dormitory. The dormitories being open all day long, the prisoners passed freely from one room to another, and by degrees they had all cometo know of our resolution. The majority dissuaded us, and endeavored to point out all the difficulties which stood in our way. Our project seemed to them an absolutely impossible one. They thought that, our work having lasted so long, the officials had got scent of it, and were letting us go on, because they intended to have soldiers stationed ready to shoot us when we attempted to make our escape. We allowed our comrades to talk thus, and only asked one thing of them—that they would not betray our project. This they all promised, and, as the reader will see, they kept their word. I must, however, add that we had deceived them as to the time of our departure. When they inquired as to the condition of our work, we carefully guarded ourselves from revealing the stage at which we had arrived. Several times I gave them to understand that our work would not be finished before the end of January; and on the very day when everything was finished, we had given no sign of our approaching departure until we were about to set out. We had nothing more to do but to enlarge the hole we had made in the day, and to get out through that aperture.
DECEIVING THE GUARDS.
The rampart which we had pierced is on the left of the citadel, and therefore faces seaward. When the tide is low the sea retires and leaves the rocks dry for a distance of sixty or seventy feet around. On the night of our escape 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 labor occupied them two hours. On their return we informed our companions that the moment for our escape had arrived. Their emotion was certainly greater than ours. Before setting 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 night-caps stuck at the top. We also spread our prison clothes on our beds, as we were in the habit of doing every evening. Our object in adopting these precautions was to deceive the warder when he came in the morning to call over the muster-roll. The stratagem succeeded,and the officials did 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 infallibly have been retaken. It was the 14th of November, at nine o’clock in the evening; the tide was out, and the rocks at the foot of the rampart were left bare. We had been able to find out the times of the tides in the almanac at the canteen. Our precautions had been all carefully taken, and, thanks to the depth of the shaft we had sunk at the entrance of the tunnel, and to the slope given to the tunnel itself, the hole which we had made in the wall of the rampart was only ten feet above the rocks.
OUT IN THE OPEN AIR.
One after another we crept through the tunnel, and then getting through the hole in the wall, we were able, while still clinging with our hands to the wall of 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 passed 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 one thousand yards from the fortress; and thus at length, after creeping silently between the huts of the coast-guardsmen, we reached the dry land opposite a little village called Loe Malo. The tide was now coming in. It had been our intention to divide, as soon as we were clear of the fortress, into two groups of three men each, only six prisoners having ventured to escape. We, however, marched on together, and without resting during the remainder of the night, in order, as quickly as possible, to put as much distance as we could between us and the fortress. Our object was to reach some little port of Brittany, and then endeavor to take ship for England. When we were brought to the citadel the authorities had caused us to be minutely searched, and had not left any money in our possession. I had, however, succeeded in concealing a small sum by carefully sewing it into the lining of my coat. This money was of the greatest service to us, as it enabled us onthe following morning to take the railway, and thus in a few hours to put a considerable distance between us and the citadel.
FREEDOM AT LAST.
After marching all night, however, through a drenching rain, if we had presented ourselves at the railway station as we then were, our appearance would have excited suspicion. We had taken the precaution of bringing with us from the prison shirts, brushes, blacking, and, in short, everything necessary to our toilet. In a place of concealment we carefully brushed up and dressed ourselves to the best of our ability; and when, at daylight, we presented ourselves at the railway station, we were clean and tidy, and appeared to have come from some place very near. I had brought a book away with me from the prison, and this I carried under my arm to give myself the look of a traveller. On our way to the railway station we saw threegendarmesrunning towards us, gun in hand. Without faltering we walked coolly on, and thegendarmes, as we came up, politely stepped aside to let us pass. We took the train for a small port in Brittany, and in the evening succeeded in getting on board an English vessel. We were saved!