which as they were newly laid, was easily done, and heaped them up in
the middle of my prison. The inner door was quite open, and with my
chains I so barricaded the upper half of the second, as to prevent any
one climbing over it. When noon came, and the first of the doors was
unlocked, all were astonished to find the second open. There I stood,
besmeared with blood, the picture of horror, with a brick in one hand,
and in the other my broken knife, crying as they approached, ‘Keep off,
major, keep off. Tell the governor I will live no longer in chains, and
that here I stand if he pleases, to be shot, for so only will I be
conquered. No man shall enter; I will destroy every one that approaches;
here are my weapons; I will die in despite of tyranny.’ The major was
terrified, and lacking resolution to approach, made his report to the
governor. I, mean time, sat down on my bricks to await what might
happen. My second intent, however, was not so desperate as it appeared.
I sought only to obtain a favourable capitulation.
“The governor-general, Borck, presently came, attended by the town major
and some officers. He entered the outer cell, but sprang back the moment
he beheld a figure like me, standing with a brick and uplifted arm. I
repeated what I had told the major, and he immediately ordered six
grenadiers to force the door. The front cell was scarcely six feet
broad, so that no more than two at a time could attack my intrenchment,
and when they saw my threatening bricks ready to descend, they leaped
back in terror. A short pause ensued, and the old town major, with the
chaplain, advanced towards the door to soothe me: the conversation
continued some time to no purpose. The governor grew angry, and ordered
a fresh attack. The first grenadier I knocked down, and the rest ran
back to avoid my missiles.
“The town major again began a parley. ‘For God’s sake, my dear Trenck,’
said he, ‘in what have I injured you, that you endeavour to effect my
ruin? I must answer for your having through my negligence concealed a
knife; be persuaded, I entreat you; be appeased. You are not without
hope or without friends.’ My answer was, ‘But will you promise not to
load me with heavier irons than before?’
“He went out and spoke with the governor, and gave me his word of honour
that the affair should be no further noticed, and that everything should
be reinstated as formerly.
“Here ended the capitulation, and my wretched citadel was taken.”
The state of the unfortunate prisoner excited commiseration, and he was
attended with great care, and supplied with everything needful to his
recovery. For four days he was suffered to remain out of irons, but on
the fifth he was again fettered, and new doors, one of them of double
thickness, were set up in place of those he had destroyed.
[Illustration: The first grenadier I knocked down.]
Gefhardt came on guard soon after this, and he at once began to concert
with Trenck measures for a new attempt at flight. He furnished him with
writing materials, and undertook to post a letter to a friend of the
prisoner, in Vienna. This friend sent back some money, which Gefhardt
found means to convey to the prisoner while handing him his food.
“Having money to carry on my designs, I began to put into execution my
plan, of burrowing under the foundation. The first thing necessary was
to free myself from my fetters. To accomplish this Gefhardt supplied me
with two small files, and by the aid of these this operation, though a
difficult one, was effected.
“The cap or staple of the foot-ring was made so wide that I could draw
it forward a quarter of an inch. I filed the iron which passed through
it on the inside; the more I filed this away the farther I could draw
the cap down, till at last the whole inside iron through which the
chains passed was cut quite through; by this means I could slip off the
ring, while the cap on the outside continued whole, and it was
impossible to discover any cut, as only the outside could be examined.
My hands, by continued efforts, I so compressed, as to be able to draw
them out of the handcuffs. I then filed off the hinge, and made a
screw-driver of one of the foot-long flooring nails, with which I could
take out the screws at pleasure. The rim round my body was but a small
impediment, were it not for the chain which passed from my hand bar, and
this I removed by filing an aperture in one of the links, which at the
necessary hour I closed with bread rubbed over with rusty iron, first
drying it with the heat of my body; and I would wager any sum that,
without striking the chain link by link with a hammer, no one not in the
secret would have discovered the fracture.
“The window was never strictly examined. I therefore drew the two
staples by which the iron bars were fixed to the wall, daily replacing
and carefully plastering them over. I procured wire from Gefhardt, and
tried how well I could imitate the inner grating. Finding I succeeded
tolerably, I cut the real grating totally away, and substituted an
artificial one of my own making, by which I obtained a free
communication with the outside, additional fresh air, together with all
necessary implements, tinder and candles.
“In order that the light might not be seen, I hung the coverlet of my
bed before the window, so that I could work fearless and undetected. The
floor of my dungeon was not of stone, but of oak plank three inches
thick, three beds of which were laid crossways, and were fastened to
each other by nails half an inch in diameter and a foot long. Having
worked round the head of a nail, I made use of the hole at the end of
the bar which separated my hands to draw it out, and this nail,
sharpened upon my tombstone, made an excellent chisel.
“I now cut through the board more than an inch in width, that I might
work downwards, and having drawn away a piece of wood which was inserted
two inches under the wall, I cut this so as to exactly fit. The small
crevice it occasioned I stopped up with bread, and strewed over with
dust, so as to prevent all suspicions. My labour under this was
continued with less precaution, and I had soon worked through my
nine-inch planks. Under them I came to a fine white sand, on which the
Star Fort was built. My chips I carefully distributed beneath the
boards, but I soon saw that, if I had not help from without, I could
proceed no farther; for it would be useless to dig, unless I could rid
myself of my rubbish.
“Gefhardt supplied me with some ells of cloth, of which I made long
narrow bags, stuffed them with earth, and passed them between the iron
bars to Gefhardt, who, as he was on guard, scattered or conveyed away
their contents. Furnished with room to secrete them under the floor, I
obtained more instruments, together with a pair of pistols, powder,
ball, and a bayonet. I now discovered that the foundation of my prison,
instead of two, was sunk four feet deep. Time, labour, and patience were
all necessary to break out unheard and undiscovered; but few things are
impossible where resolution is not wanting.
“The hole I made was obliged to be four feet deep, corresponding with
the foundation, and wide enough to kneel and to stoop in. The lying down
on the floor to work, the continual stooping to throw out the earth, the
narrow space in which all must be performed,--these made the labour
incredible; and after this daily labour, all things were to be replaced,
and my chains again resumed, which alone required some hours to effect.
“I now continued my labour, and found it very possible to break out
under the foundation, but Gefhardt had been so terrified by the late
accident, that he started a thousand difficulties, in proportion as my
end was more nearly accomplished; and at the moment when I wished to
concert with him the means of flight, he persisted that it was necessary
to find additional help to escape in safety, and not bring both him and
myself to destruction. At length we came to a new determination, which,
however, after eight months’ incessant labour, rendered my whole project
abortive.”
A letter posted by Gefhardt’s wife, containing an unusual number of
recommendations, revealed the whole plot; though, after a strict search,
the authorities failed to discover any of the signs of Trenck’s
activity on either his chains or the flooring of his cell. All that was
noticed was the changes he had made in his window, which was immediately
closed up with planks. The prisoner was interrogated with threats as to
the names of his accomplices, in presence of his guards, and his
firmness in refusing to make any revelations proved of great service to
him afterwards among men, who were not unwilling to aid a prisoner if
they could feel quite certain of not being betrayed. Some days after,
all his chains were padlocked together; and his window too was narrowed
till it became little better than a mere air-vent. He was at the same
time deprived of his bed, and he had no other means of taking repose
than by sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, in which
position he was half strangled by the weight of the padlock. He became
ill, and lay for two months at the point of death without receiving any
aid. He was again, however, allowed the use of his bed.
When he had again recovered, he contrived to gain by bribes three of the
four officers who attended him, and through them he obtained candles,
books, newspapers; and, more precious than all, some tools for cutting
through the chains hanging from his padlock. He also, through one of the
officers, obtained larger handcuffs, from which he could easily withdraw
his hands. He then renewed his subterranean labours with the design of
cutting a passage, thirty-seven feet in length, to the gallery beneath
the rampart. He made a new opening, however, to avoid working beneath
the feet of the sentinels:--
“The work at first proceeded so rapidly that, while I had room to throw
back my sand, I was able in one night to gain three feet; but ere I had
proceeded ten feet, I discovered all my difficulties. Before I could
continue my work, I was obliged to make room for myself, by emptying the
sand out of the hole upon the floor of the prison, and this itself was
an employment of some hours. The sand was obliged to be thrown out by
the hand, and after it thus lay heaped in my prison, it had again to be
returned into the hole. I have calculated that, after I had proceeded
twenty feet, I was obliged to creep underground in my hole from fifteen
hundred to two thousand fathoms within twenty-four hours, in the removal
and replacing of the sand. This labour ended, care was to be taken that
in none of the crevices of the floor there might be any appearance of
this fine white sand. The flooring was next to be exactly replaced, and
my chains to be resumed. So severe was the fatigue of one day of this
kind, that I was always obliged to rest the three following.
“To reduce my labour as much as possible, I was constrained to make the
passage so small that my body only had space to pass, and I had not room
to draw my arm back to my head. The work, too, had all to be done naked,
otherwise the dirtiness of my shirt would have been remarked; and the
sand was wet, water being found at the depth of four feet, where the
stratum of the gravel began. At length the expedient of sand bags
occurred to me, by which it might be removed out and in more
expeditiously. I obtained linen from the officers, but not in sufficient
quantities. Suspicions would have been excited had too much linen been
brought into the prison. At last I took my sheets, and the ticking that
inclosed my straw, and cut them up for sand bags, taking care to lie
down on my bed as if ill, when Bruckhausen paid his visit.
“The labour, towards the conclusion, became so intolerable as to excite
despondency. I frequently sat contemplating the heaps of sand, during a
momentary respite from work; and thinking it impossible I could have
strength or time again to replace all things as they were, have resolved
patiently to wait the consequences, and leave everything in its present
disorder. Yes, I can assure the reader that to effect concealment, I
have scarcely had time in twenty-four hours to sit down and eat a morsel
of bread. Recollecting, however, the efforts and all the progress I had
made, hope would again revive in me, and exhausted strength return, and
again would I begin my labours; yet it has frequently happened that my
visitors have entered a few minutes after I had reinstated everything in
its place.
“When my work was within six or seven feet of being accomplished, a new
misfortune happened, that at once frustrated all further attempts. I
worked, as I have said, under the foundation of the rampart, near where
the sentinels stood. I could disencumber myself of my fetters, except my
neck collar and its pendant chain. This, as I worked, though it was
fastened, got loose, and the clanking was heard by one of the sentinels,
about fifteen feet from my dungeon. The officer was called, they laid
their ears to the ground and heard me as I went backward and forward to
bring my earth bags. This was reported the next day, and the major, who
was my best friend, with the town major, and a smith and mason, entered
my prison. I was terrified. The lieutenant, by a sign, gave me to
understand I was discovered. An examination was begun; but the officers
would not see, and the smith and mason found all, as they thought, safe.
Had they examined my bed they would have seen the ticking and sheets
were gone. The town major, who was a dull man, was persuaded the thing
was impossible, and said to the sentinel, ‘Blockhead, you have heard
some mole underground, and not Trenck. How indeed could it be, that he
should work underground at such a distance from his dungeon?’ Here the
scrutiny ended.
“There was now no time for delay. Had they altered their hour of coming,
they must have found me at work; but this, during ten years, never
happened, for the governor and town major were stupid men, and the
others, poor fellows, wishing me all success, were willingly blind. In a
few days I could have broken out; but when ready, I was desirous to wait
for the visitation of the man who had treated me so tyrannically,
Bruckhausen; but this man, though he wanted understanding, did not want
good fortune. He was ill for some time, and his duty devolved on K----.
He recovered, and the visitation being over, the doors were no sooner
barred than I began my supposed last labour. I had only three feet
farther to proceed, and it was no longer necessary that I should bring
out the sand, as I had room to throw it behind me. What my anxiety was,
what my exertions were, can well be imagined. My evil genius, however,
had decreed that the same sentinel who had heard me before, should be
that day on guard. He was piqued by vanity to prove he was not the
blockhead he had been called, he therefore again laid his ear to the
ground, and again heard me burrowing. He called his comrades first, next
the major; who came and heard me likewise, they then went outside the
palisades and heard me working next the door, at which place I was to
break into the gallery. This door they immediately opened, entered the
gallery with lanterns, and waited to catch the hunted fox when
unearthed.
“Through the first small breach I made I perceived a light, and saw the
heads of those who were expecting me. This was indeed a thunderstroke. I
crept back, made my way through the sand I had cast behind me, and
shudderingly awaited my fate. I had the presence of mind to conceal my
pistols, candles, paper, and some money, under the moveable floor. The
money was disposed of in various holes, well concealed in the panels of
the doors; and I hid my small files and knives under different cracks in
the floor. Scarcely were these disposed of before the doors resounded.
The floor was covered with sand and sand bags; my handcuffs, however,
and the separating bar I had hastily resumed, that they might suppose I
had worked with them on, which they were silly enough to credit, highly
to my future advantage.”
The passage which had cost Trenck so much trouble was filled up, the
flooring repaired, heavier irons replaced those which he had broken, and
he was once more deprived of his bed. Bruckhausen and the major
interrogated him in presence of the workmen and the soldiers as to the
manner in which he had obtained his tools. “My answer,” says Trenck, was
‘Gentlemen, Beelzebub is my best and most intimate friend; he brings me
everything I want, and supplies me with light. We play whole nights at
piquet, and, guard me as you please, he will finally deliver me out of
your power.’
“Some were astonished, others laughed. At length, as they were barring
the last door, I called, ‘Come, gentlemen, you have forgotten something
of great importance in the interior.’ I had taken up one of my hidden
files when they returned: ‘Look you, gentlemen,’ said I, ‘here is a
proof of the friendship Beelzebub has for me, he has brought me this in
a twinkling.’ Again they examined the cell, and again they shut the
doors. While they were so doing I took out a knife and the
_louis-d’ors_. Their consternation was excessive, and I solaced my
misfortunes by jesting at such blundering short-sighted keepers. It was
soon rumoured through Magdeburg, especially among the simple and vulgar,
that I was a magician, to whom the devil brought all that I asked. One
Major Holtzkammer, a very selfish man, profited by this report. A
foolish citizen had offered him fifty dollars if he might only be
permitted to see me through the door, as he was very desirous to see a
wizard. Holtzkammer told me, and we jointly determined to sport with his
credulity. The major gave me a mask with a monstrous nose, which I put
on when the doors were opening, and threw myself in an heroic attitude.
The affrighted burgher drew back, but Holtzkammer stopped him, and said,
‘Have patience for some quarter of an hour and you shall see he will
assume quite a different countenance.’ The burgher waited. My mask was
thrown by, and my face appeared whitened with chalk and made ghastly.
The burgher again shrunk back, Holtzkammer kept him in conversation, and
I assumed a third facial form. I tied my hair under my nose, and
fastened a pewter dish to my breast, and when the door opened a third
time, I thundered, ‘Begone, rascals, or I’ll twist your necks awry.’
They both ran, and the silly burgher, eased of his fifty dollars,
scampered first.”
Some time after this Trenck meditated another and a far bolder plan of
escape. The garrison of Magdeburg was but 900 strong, and there were at
least 7000 Croat prisoners of war in the fortress. He proposed to gain
access to the Croats by bribing his jailers, and then putting himself at
their head to seize the place for Maria Theresa. He sent to Vienna for
2,000 ducats, but failed to obtain them, and the project came to
nothing.
He then once more began his mining operations, and had already made
considerable progress with them, when the governor of the fortress
becoming mad, he was replaced by the hereditary Prince of Hesse Cassel,
who treated Trenck with so much kindness that the grateful prisoner
pledged himself not to attempt to escape. This state of things continued
for eighteen months, at the end of which time the prince, leaving the
fortress in consequence of the death of his father, Trenck considered
himself justified in making another effort for liberty. He accordingly
procured the necessary tools with the same facility as before, and was
opening up one of his old galleries, when an accident happened that had
nearly put an end to his project and his life.
“While mining under the foundation of the ramparts,” he says, “just as I
was going to carry out the sand bag, I struck my foot against a stone in
the wall, which fell down and closed up the passage. What was my horror
to find myself thus buried alive! After a short time for reflection, I
began to work the sand away from the side that I might obtain room to
turn round. By good fortune there were some feet of empty space into
which I threw the sand as I worked it away, but the small quantity of
air soon made it so foul that I a thousand times wished myself dead, and
made several attempts to strangle myself. Further labour began to seem
impossible. Thirst almost deprived me of my senses, but as often as I
put my mouth to the sand I inhaled fresh air. My sufferings were
incredible, and I imagine I passed full eight hours in this distraction
of horror. Of all dreaded deaths surely such a one as this is the most
dreadful. My spirits fainted, again I somewhat recovered, again I began
to labour, but the earth was as high as my chin, and I had no more space
into which I might throw the sand, that I might turn round. I made a
more desperate effort, drew my body into a ball and turned round. I now
faced the stone, which was as wide as the whole passage, but there being
an opening at the top I respired fresher air. My next labour was to root
away the sand under the stone and let it sink, so that I might creep
over, and by this means at length I once more happily arrived in my
dungeon.”
He had hardly time to clear away the traces of his work, and to put all
in order, before he received the daily visit of his jailers. A change of
the garrison and other circumstances somewhat hindered the
accomplishment of his design, but the gallery was at length finished,
and an officer had even promised to bring him false keys to open his
prison doors. The thought that he was on the very eve of liberty turned
his head, as he admits himself.
“I was then vain enough, stupid enough, mad enough,” he says, “to form
the design of casting myself on the generosity and magnanimity of the
great Frederic! Should this fail, I still thought my lieutenant a
certain saviour. Having heated my imagination with this lamentable
scheme, I awaited the hour of visitation with great anxiety. The major
entered. ‘I know, sir,’ I said, ‘the great Prince Ferdinand is again in
Magdeburg’ (my new friend had told me this): ‘Be pleased to inform him
that he may first examine my prison, and double the sentinels, and
afterwards give me his commands, stating at what hour it will please him
I should make my appearance in perfect freedom on the glacis of
Klosterbergen. If I prove myself capable of this, I then hope for the
protection of Prince Ferdinand, and I trust he will relate my
proceedings to the king, who may thereby be convinced of my innocence
and the perfect clearness of my conscience.’
“The major was astonished, and he supposed my brain turned. The proposal
he held to be ridiculous, and the performance impossible. As I, however,
persisted, he rode to town and returned with the sub-governor,
Reichmann, the town major, Riding, and the major of inspection. The
answer they delivered was, ‘That the prince promised me his protection,
the king’s favour, and a certain release from my chains, should I prove
the truth of my assertion.’ I required they would appoint a time; they
ridiculed the thing as impossible, and at last said that it would be
sufficient could I only prove the practicability of such a scheme; but
should I refuse they would immediately break up the whole flooring and
place sentinels in my dungeon night and day; adding, ‘The governor would
not admit of any actual breaking out.’
“After the most solemn promises of good faith, I immediately
disencumbered myself of my chains, raised up the flooring, gave them my
arms and implements, and also two keys, that my friend had procured me,
to the doors of the subterranean gallery. I desired them to enter this
gallery and sound with their sword hilts at a place through which I
could easily break in a few minutes. I further described the road I was
to take through the gallery, informed them that two of the doors had not
been shut for six months, and that they already had the keys to the
others, adding, I had horses waiting at the glacis that would be ready
the moment I wanted them.
“They went, examined, returned, and put questions, which I answered with
as much precision as the engineer could have done who built the Star
Fort. They left me with seeming friendship, continued away about an
hour, came back, told me the prince was astonished at what he had heard,
that he wished me all happiness, and then took me unfettered to the
guard-house. The major came in the evening, treated us with a sumptuous
supper, assured me everything would happen in accordance with my wishes,
and that Prince Ferdinand had already written to Berlin.