How wonderful is the hand of Providence! The wicked man fell a sacrifice
to his crime, after having escaped a whole year, and the faithful, the
benevolent-hearted Gelfhardt was thereby saved.
The sentinels were now doubled, that any intercourse with them might be
rendered more difficult. Gelfhardt again stood guard, but he had
scarcely opportunity, without danger, to speak a few words: he thanked me
for having preserved him, wished me better fortune, and told me the
garrison, in a few days, would take the field.
This was dreadful news: my whole plan was destroyed at a breath. I,
however, soon recovered fresh hopes. The hole I had sunken was not
discovered: I had five hundred florins, candles, and implements.
The seven years' war broke out about a week after, and the regiment took
the field. Major Weyner came, for the last time, and committed me to the
care of the new major of the militia, Bruckhausen, who was one of the
most surly and stupid of men. I shall often have occasion to mention
this man.
All the majors and lieutenants of the guard, who had treated me with
compassion and esteem, now departed, and I became an old prisoner in a
new world. I acquired greater confidence, however, by remembering that
both officers and men in the militia were much easier to gain over than
in the regulars; the truth of which opinion was soon confirmed.
Four lieutenants were appointed, with their men, to mount guard at the
Star Fort in turn, and before a year had passed, three of them were in my
interest.
The regiments had scarcely taken the field ere the new governor, General
Borck, entered my prison, like what he was, an imperious, cruel tyrant.
The King, in giving him the command, had informed him he must answer for
my person with his head: he therefore had full power to treat me with
whatever severity he pleased.
Borck was a stupid man, of an unfeeling heart, the slave of despotic
orders; and as often as he thought it possible I might rid myself of my
fetters and escape, his heart palpitated with fear. In addition to this,
he considered me as the vilest of men and traitors, seeing his King had
condemned me to imprisonment so cruel, and his barbarity towards me was
thus the effect of character and meanness of soul. He entered my dungeon
not as an officer, to visit a brother officer in misery, but as an
executioner to a felon. Smiths then made their appearance, and a
monstrous iron collar, of a hand's breadth, was put round my neck, and
connected with the chains of the feet by additional heavy links. My
window was walled up, except a small air-hole. He even at length took
away my bed, gave me no straw, and quitted me with a thousand revilings
on the Empress-Queen, her whole army, and myself. In words, however, I
was little in his debt, and he was enraged even to madness.
What my situation was under this additional load of tyranny, and the
command of a man so void of human pity, the reader may imagine. My
greatest good fortune consisted in the ability I still had to disencumber
myself of all the irons that were connected with the ankle-rims, and the
provision I had of light, paper, and implements; and though it was
apparently impossible I should break out undiscovered by both sentinels,
yet had I the remaining hope of gaining some officer, by money, who, as
in Glatz, should assist my escape.
Had the commands of the King been literally obeyed escape would have been
wholly impossible; for, by this, all communication would have been
totally cut off with the sentinels. To this effect the four keys of the
four doors were each to be kept by different persons; one with the
governor, another with the town-major, the third with the major of the
day, and the fourth with the lieutenant of the guard. I never could have
found opportunity to have spoken with any one of them singly. These
commands at first were rigidly observed, with this exception, that the
governor made his appearance only every week. Magdeburg became so full
of prisoners that the town-major was obliged to deliver up his key to the
major of the day, and the governor's visitations wholly subsided, the
citadel being an English mile and a half distant from the Star Fort.
General Walrabe, who had been a prisoner ever since the year 1746, was
also at the Star Fort, but he had apartments, and three thousand
rix-dollars a year. The major of the day and officer of the guard dined
with him daily, and generally stayed till evening. Either from
compassion, or a concurrence of fortunate circumstances, these gentlemen
entrusted the keys to the lieutenant on guard, by which means I could
speak with each of them alone when they made their visits, and they
themselves at length sought these opportunities. My consequent
undertakings I shall relate, with all the arts and inventions of a
wretched prisoner endeavouring to escape.
Borck had selected three majors and four lieutenants for this service as
those he could best trust. My situation was truly deplorable. The
enormous iron round my neck pained me, and prevented motion; and I durst
not attempt to disengage myself from the pendant chains till I had, for
some months, carefully observed the mode of their examination, and which
parts they supposed were perfectly secure. The cruelty of depriving me
of my bed was still greater: I was obliged to sit upon the bare ground,
and lean with my head against the damp wall. The chains that descended
from the neck collar were obliged to be supported first with one band,
and then with the other; for, if thrown behind, they would have strangled
me, and if hanging forward occasioned most excessive headaches. The bar
between my hands held one down, while leaning on my elbow; I supported
with the other my chains; and this so benumbed the muscles and prevented
circulation, that I could perceive my arms sensibly waste away. The
little sleep I could have in such a situation may easily be supposed,
and, at length, body and mind sank under this accumulation of miserable
suffering, and I fell ill of a burning fever.
The tyrant Borck was inexorable; he wished to expedite my death, and rid
himself of his troubles and his terrors. Here did I experience what was
the lamentable condition of a sick prisoner, without bed, refreshment, or
aid from human being. Reason, fortitude, heroism, all the noble
qualities of the mind, decay when the corporal faculties are diseased;
and the remembrance of my sufferings, at this dreadful moment, still
agitates, still inflames my blood, so as almost to prevent an attempt to
describe what they were.
Yet hope had not totally forsaken me. Deliverance seemed possible,
especially should peace ensue; and I sustained, perhaps, what mortal man
never bore, except myself, being, as I was, provided with pistols, or any
such immediate mode of despatch.
I continued ill about two months, and was so reduced at last that I had
scarcely strength to lift the water-jug to my mouth. What must the
sufferings of that man be who sits two months on the bare ground in a
dungeon so damp, so dark, so horrible, without bed or straw, his limbs
loaded as mine were, with no refreshment but dry ammunition bread,
without so much as a drop of broth, without physic, without consoling
friend, and who, under all these afflictions, must trust, for his
recovery, to the efforts of nature alone!
Sickness itself is sufficient to humble the mightiest mind; what, then,
is sickness, with such an addition of torment? The burning fever, the
violent headaches, my neck swelled and inflamed with the irons, enraged
me almost to madness. The fever and the fetters together flayed my body
so that it appeared like one continued wound--Enough! Enough! The
malefactor extended living on the wheel, to whom the cruel executioner
refuses the last stroke--the blow of death--must yet, in some short
period, expire: he suffers nothing I did not then suffer; and these, my
excruciating pangs, continued two dreadful months--Yet, can it be
supposed? There came a day! A day of horror, when these mortal pangs
were beyond imagination increased. I sat scorched with this intolerable
fever, in which nature and death were contending; and when attempting to
quench my burning entrails with cold water, the jug dropped from my
feeble hands, and broke! I had four-and-twenty hours to remain without
water. So intolerable, so devouring was my thirst, I could have drank
human blood! Ay, in my madness, had it been the blood of my father!
* * * * * *
Willingly would I have seized my pistols, but strength had forsaken me, I
could not open the place I was obliged to render so secure.
My visitors next day supposed me gone at last. I lay motionless, with my
tongue out of my mouth. They poured water down my throat, and I revived.
Oh, God! Oh, God! How pure, how delicious, how exquisite was this
water! My insatiable thirst soon emptied the jug; they filled it anew,
bade me farewell, hoped death would soon relieve my mortal sufferings,
and departed.
The lamentable state in which I lay at length became the subject of
general conversation, that all the ladies of the town united with the
officers, and prevailed on the tyrant, Borck, to restore me my bed.
Oh, Nature, what are thy operations? From the day I drank water in such
excess I gathered strength, and to the astonishment of every one, soon
recovered. I had moved the heart of the officer who inspected my prison;
and after six months, six cruel months of intense misery, the day of hope
again began to dawn.
One of the majors of the day entrusted his key to Lieutenant Sonntag, who
came alone, spoke in confidence, and related his own situation,
complained of his debts, his poverty, his necessities; and I made him a
present of twenty-five louis-d'ors, for which he was so grateful that our
friendship became unshaken.
The three lieutenants all commiserated me, and would sit hours with me,
when a certain major had the inspection; and he himself, after a time,
would even pass half the day with me. He, too, was poor: and I gave him
a draft for three thousand florins; hence new projects took birth.
Money became necessary; I had disbursed all I possessed, a hundred
florins excepted, among the officers. The eldest son of Captain K---,
who officiated as major, had been cashiered: his father complained to me
of his distress, and I sent him to my sister, not far from Berlin, from
whom he received a hundred ducats. He returned and related her joy at
hearing from me. He found her exceedingly ill; and she informed me, in a
few lines, that my misfortunes, and the treachery of Weingarten, had
entailed poverty upon her, and an illness which had endured more than two
years. She wished me a happy deliverance from my chains, and, in
expectation of death, committed her children to my protection. She,
however, grew better, and married a second time, Colonel Pape; but died
in the year 1758. I shall forbear to relate her history: it indeed does
no honour to the ashes of Frederic, and would but less dispose my own
heart to forgiveness, by reviving the memory of her oppressions and
griefs.
K---n returned happy with the money: all things were concerted with the
father. I wrote to the Countess Bestuchef, also to the Grand Duke,
afterwards Peter III., recommended the young soldier, and entreated every
possible succour for myself.
K---n departed through Hamburg, for Petersburg, where, in consequence of
my recommendation, he became a captain, and in a short time major. He
took his measures so well that I, by the intervention of his father, and
a Hamburg merchant, received two thousand rubles from the Countess, while
the service he rendered me made his own fortune in Russia.
To old K---, who was as poor as he was honest, I gave three hundred
ducats; and he, till death, continued my grateful friend. I distributed
nearly as much to the other officers; and matters proceeded so far that
Lieutenant Glotin gave back the keys to the major without locking my
prison, himself passing half the night with me. Money was given to the
guard to drink; and thus everything succeeded to my wish, and the tyrant
Borck was deceived. I had a supply of light; had books, newspapers, and
my days passed swiftly away. I read, I wrote, I busied myself so
thoroughly that I almost forgot I was a prisoner. When, indeed, the
surly, dull blockhead, Major Bruckhausen, had the inspection, everything
had to be carefully reinstated. Major Z---, the second of the three, was
also wholly mine. He was particularly attached to me; for I had promised
to marry his daughter, and, should I die in prison, to bequeath him a
legacy of ten thousand florins.
Lieutenant Sonntag got false handcuffs made for me, that were so wide I
could easily draw my hands out; the lieutenants only examined my irons,
the new handcuffs were made perfectly similar to the old, and Bruckhausen
had too much stupidity to remark any difference.
The remainder of my chains I could disencumber myself of at pleasure.
When I exercised myself, I held them in my hands, that the sentinel might
be deceived by their clanking. The neck-iron was the only one I durst
not remove; it was likewise too strongly riveted. I filed through the
upper link of the pendant chain, however, by which means I could take it
off, and this I concealed with bread in the manner before mentioned.
So I could disencumber myself of most of my fetters, and sleep in ease. I
again obtained sausages and cold meat, and thus my situation, bad as it
still was, became less miserable. Liberty, however, was most desirable:
but, alas! not one of the three lieutenants had the courage of a Schell:
Saxony, too, was in the hands of the Prussians, and flight, therefore,
more dangerous. Persuasion was in vain with men determined to risk
nothing, but, if they went, to go in safety. Will, indeed, was not
wanting in Glotin and Sonntag; but the first was a poltroon, and the
latter a man of scruples, who thought this step might likewise be the
ruin of his brother at Berlin.
The sentinels were doubled, therefore my escape through my hole, which
had been two years dug, could not, unperceived by them, be effected:
still less could I, in the face of the guard, clamber the twelve feet
high pallisadoes. The following labour, therefore, though Herculean, was
undertaken.
Lieutenant Sonntag, measuring the interval between the hole I had dug and
the entrance in the gallery in the principal rampart, found it to be
thirty-seven feet. Into this it was possible I might, by mining,
penetrate. The difficulty of the enterprise was lessened by the nature
of the ground, a fine white sand. Could I reach the gallery my freedom
was certain. I had been informed how many steps to the right or left
must be taken, to find the door that led to the second rampart: and, on
the day when I should be ready for flight, the officer was secretly to
leave this door open. I had light, and mining tools, and was further to
rely on money and my own discretion.
I began and continued this labour about six months. I have already
noticed the difficulty of scraping out the earth with my hands, as the
noise of instruments would have been heard by the sentinels. I had
scarcely mined beyond my dungeon wall before I discovered the foundation
of the rampart was not more than a foot deep; a capital error certainly
in so important a fortress. My labour became the lighter, as I could
remove the foundation stones of my dungeon, and was not obliged to mine
so deep.
My 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 my 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, must again be returned
into the hole; and I have calculated that after I had proceeded twenty
feet, I was obliged to creep under ground, 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 the next to be exactly replaced,
and my chains to be resumed. So severe was the fatigue of one day, in
this mode, 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, must all be done naked,
otherwise the dirtiness of my shirt must have been remarked; 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 at observing so much linen brought into the
prison. At last I took my sheets and the ticking that enclosed 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 incite
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, resolved
patiently to wait the consequence, 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, and exhausted strength return: again would
I begin my labours, that I might preserve my secret and my expectations:
yet has it 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 pendent 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 lee
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 tyranically,
Bruckhausen, that his own negligence might be evident. 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 I should bring out the
sand, I having room to throw it behind me. What my anxiety was, what my
exertions were, may 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. Ho called his comrades first, next thee major;
lee came, and heard me likewise; they then went without the pallisadoes,
and heard me working near the door, at which place I was to break into
the gallery. This door they immediately opened, entered the gallery with
lanthorns, 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 thunder-stroke!
I crept back, made my way through the sand I had cast behind me, and
awaited my fate with shuddering! I had the presence of mind to conceal
my pistols, candles, paper, and some money, under the floor which I could
remove. The money was disposed of in various holes, well concealed also
between the panels of the doors; and under different cracks in the floor
I hid my small files and knives. 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.
No man was more busy on this occasion than the brutal and stupid
Bruckhausen, who put many interrogatories, to which I made no reply,
except assuring him that I should have completed my work some days
sooner, had it not been his good fortune to fall sick, and that this only
had been the cause of my failure.
The man was absolutely terrified with apprehension; he began to fear me,
grew more polite, and even supposed nothing was impossible to me.
It was too late to remove the sand; therefore the lieutenant and guard
continued with me, so that this night at least I did not want company.
When the morning came, the hole was first filled up; the planking was
renewed. The tyrant Borck was ill, and could not come, otherwise my
treatment would have been still more lamentable. The smiths had ended
before the evening, and the irons were heavier than ever. The foot
chains, instead of being fastened as before, were screwed and riveted;
all else remained as formerly. They were employed in the flooring till
the next day, so that I could not sleep, and at last I sank down with
weariness.
The greatest of my misfortunes was they again deprived me of my bed,
because I had cut it up for sand-bags. Before the doors were barred
Bruckhausen and another major examined my body very narrowly. They often
had asked me where I concealed all my implements? My answer was,
"Gentlemen, Beelzebub is my best and most intimate friend; he brings me
everything I want, 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 back, gentlemen! you have forgotten
something of great importance." In the interim I had taken up one of my
hidden files. When they returned, "Look ye, 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, and again they shut their doors.
While they were so doing, I took out a knife, and ten louis-d'ors,
called, and they re turned, grumbling curses; I then shewed the knife and
the louis-d'ors. Their consternation was excessive; and I diverted 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 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, being 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 burger 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 burger waited, my mask was
thrown by, and my face appeared whitened with chalk, and made ghastly.
The burger again shrank back; Holtzkammer kept him in conversation, and I
assumed a third farcical form. I tied my hair under my nose, and a
pewter dish to my breast, and when the door a third time opened, I
thundered, "Begone, rascals, or I'll set your necks--awry!" They both
ran: and the silly burger, eased of his fifty dollars, scampered first.
The major, in vain, laid his injunctions on the burger never to reveal
what he had beheld, it being a breach of duty in him to admit any persons
whatever to the sight of me. In a few days, the necromancer Trenck was
the theme of every alehouse in Magdeburg, and the person was named who
had seen me change my form thrice in the space of one hour. Many false
and ridiculous circumstances were added, and at last the story reached
the governor's ears. The citizen was cited, and offered to take his oath
of what himself and the major had seen. Holtzkammer accordingly suffered
a severe reprimand, and was some days under arrest. We frequently
laughed, however, at this adventure, which had rendered me so much the
subject of conversation. Miraculous reports were the more easily
credited, because no one could comprehend how, in despite of the load of
irons I carried, and all the vigilance of my guards, I should be
continually able to make new attempts, while those appointed to examine
my dungeon seemed, as it were, blinded and bewildered. A proof this, how
easy it is to deceive the credulous, and whence have originated
witchcraft, prophecies, and miracles.