First Lieutenant Justus A. Boies, Thirteenth infantry, being duly worn deposed:

Am in charge of prisoners of war at the military prison. On learning that the prisoners had escaped I took a lantern and went through the whole of the prison with the provost - marshal ; examined the corridors, &c. I then went round to the ovens and the wash - rooms in front finding nothing. I went back to where the excavation had been attempted once before but found nothing. I had frequently before examined the prison ovens, but had not got up on top until the hole was discovered by Lieutenant Griffin. In the top was found one of the police spades, some of the old clothes they had used in digging and much soiled. I used regularly to inspect for the police of my command. It was extremely dark that night, and having been a good deal of rain was cloudy.

First Lieutenant Griffin, Thirteenth U. S. Infantry, being duly sworn, deposeth:

The morning after the prisoners escaped when I heard how many had escaped I was astonish and asked the officers if they knew how they gotten out. They said not. In searching the wash - room I saw that the prisoners were astonished. That made me think I had hit the place. I then jumped up on the wash bench in front of the ovens. As soon as I did that I saw a spade and some old clothes and some caps. I then jumped up and went it. To get in I had crawl, when I discovered the hole where they went in. I was the first person who discovered the hole. They dug at least forty - five feet, to the best of my knowledge.

Major F. F. Flint, Sixteenth Infantry, being duly sworn, deposed:

The guard on the morning the prisoners escaped was about thirty - six men. The number of prisoners was about 500 or 600. I considered the guard sufficient as I knew the convects were guarded by a much smaller force. The guard I had mounted was the same as that I found when I assumed command, with about the same number of prisoners. We estimated the distance burrowed underground was about sixty feet. I do not think that any assistance was afforded them in escaping by working from the outside. The work was cut with large knives, some of which were found outside the hole. These knives were probably taken from the mess kitchen. They are not allowed to carry anything of the kind. There was a complete chain of sentinels round the inside through the main prison and one on the outside, where an attempt had been made to cut the bars. This was the sentinel who first discovered the hole. It was late in the ay before the officers were able to find the entrance to the hole. The prisoners has several times before attempted to burrow out and I had every precaution taken to prevent it. The whole prison had been twice inspected before the day the prisoner escaped by two different officers.

Private Moses Peirce, Company B, Thirteenth U. S. Infantry:

I was on Numbers 5 post on the outside of the military prison on the night the prisoners escaped. Between 10 and 12 p. m. I heard a noise at the upper end of my best, and going down to see what it was I found a lot of cows. I could not drive them off and they stayed there. This was where the hole was afterwards found. While I was on post between 4 and 6 a. m., about daylight I discovered the hole about four feet outside my post. I then called for the corporal of the guard. No one could have passed out while I was on post the last time.

There being no further evidence to produce the court was then closed, and after a careful and minute inspection of the premises, the grounds and the manner in which the escape was made in company with the officers above named the court find the following to be the facts:

That for some weeks prior to the escape of the prisoners of war from the military prison at Alton, Ill., a complete organization existed among them to escape, carried out in the most secret manner and with wonderful determination and fortitude. Ascending to the top of one of the brick ovens, crawling through a place scarcely large enough to admit a man, they first cut through the brick archway of an oven, then through the masonry bed to the depth of at least eight feet, placing the debris in the vacant s place round the oven or else carrying off the pieces and scattering and concealing them elsewhere. Thence at a distance of three feet under ground, with a spade and knives, they burrowed in ground full of limestone rock and pebbles a distance of fifty feet an