Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 January 1908 — DUG HIS WAY OCT OF LIBBY [ARTICLE]

DUG HIS WAY OCT OF LIBBY

One of the 109 Who Got Ont Through the Tunnel Has Passed Away. Kokomo,lnd., Jan. 2.—Captain Evan Sharp, one of the leaders of the successful plot by which 109 prisoners es caped from Libby prison at Richmond In the civil war, Is dead, aged seventy. During the war he wap captured five times and made five escapes. He was a captain in the Fifty-First Indiana regiment, which was captured entire and sent to Libby prison. Captain Sharp and eleven comrades conceived the idea of escaping from that pest hole by tunnelingunder the prison wall and street. The digging was carried on for several -weeks with table knives and spoons, the earth being removed by pans and buckets. When the passage was completed twelve got away the first night by good luck, for Colonel Straight; a corpulent man, stuck in the tunnel for hours. The following nights squads of a dozen or more went ont, 100 thus leaving before discovery was made. At roll call in the morn ing comrades answered to the nameof the escaped men. and in this way deceived the guard.

New Way to Raise Church Money. Moran, Ind., Jan. 2. —The Womnn's Aid society of the M. E. church planned a unique scheme for raising money for church building purposes. Committees were appointed and they sol id a ted 100 ears of corn from IndiTldual farmers. Altogether 9,800 ears of corn were contributed, and after It had all been gathered It was sold on cell. William Kirby serving as auctioneer in offering It to the highest bidder at so much a bushel. The 9,800 ears made 122 bushels, and the corn netted $08.70.