His marriage to Zella Peabody ended in 1915 amid charges of bigamy, and he was dismissed from the USDA for conduct unbecoming a government employee. Midway through his career, Dyar encountered problems in his personal life that had serious effects on his professional life. Dyar’s eccentricities didn’t end with his tunnel digging: There, his tunnels were equipped with electric lighting, stone stairways, and cement walls, and went as deep as 24 feet. When he moved to 804 B Street, SW (now Independence Ave.), his digging habit continued. Dyar’s tunnels were not limited to the area surrounding the property he had owned at 1510 21st Street. “When I was down perhaps 6 or 7 feet, surrounded only by the damp brown walls of old Mother Earth, I was seized by an undeniable fancy to keep on going.” Photo from the Washington Post archives.ĭyar told the Washington Star that the urge started when he dug a flowerbed for his wife around 1906. There’s nothing really mysterious about it.” (Post, 9/27/24) Why? “I did it for exercise,” he said, “Digging tunnels after work is my hobby. Dyar, let the public spectacle go on for a couple of days before admitting to city newspapers that he himself had dug the tunnels from about 1906 until 1916, at which time he moved away to California. The Smithsonian Institute’s mosquito-expert entomologist, Harrison G. Was it a Confederate soldier hideout? A stop on the Underground Railroad? A liquor depot for bootleggers? A counterfeiter’s lair? Or maybe a secret laboratory for “Dr. Some electric lighting was discovered inside. Reports indicated that the tunnels were long and extensive - that they may have reached as far as Rock Creek Park. Other German periodicals and scores of empty bottles were brought to light by the investigators. Cryptic signs and engravings in cipher defaced the papers to some extent. Dimly seen in the feeble rays of the electric torches, it was possible to discern in the newspaper articles frequent references to submarine activities then employed by the imperial government of Germany. On the ceiling were pasted numerous copies of German newspapers dated during the summer of 19. ![]() One of the most astounding features of the place was the fact that the walls were carefully, even artistically formed of white enameled brick, pronounced valuable by builders. The tunnel was perfectly constructed and an architect who viewed it said its proportions were correct. ![]() The manager and janitor of the building decided to explore, and called up some newspapermen to report.ĭescending through the opening made by the wheels of the truck, the searchers stood in a passageway high enough and broad enough for a man to walk with ease. ![]() While driving behind Pelham Courts in mid-September of 1924, a truck’s tires sank into the ground, revealing the entrance to a hidden underground shaft. No one had time to care about old hidden tunnels.īut for a couple of days in 1924, when the war was over and life was calmer, the tunnels were uncovered again and “Washington was alive with stories of mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure.” (Post, ) There were more important things going on - only a month earlier, the US had officially entered World Ward I, and the Selective Service Act was passed just the day before the article was published. With that quick newspaper blurb, a story was born and died, receiving no other attention at the time. It is presumed that it was used by Union forces in the civil war or by English forces in the war of 1812. Oldest inhabitants in that section say they did not know of the existence of the passage. In May of 1917, while working on the foundation for the luxurious Pelham Courts apartments in Dupont Circle, workers made an unusual discovery:Ī mysterious subterranean tunnel built of brick, and 22 feet in circumference, was uncovered yesterday by workmen who are excavating for the new building being erected at 2115 P street northwest by Harry Wardman. But sometimes what I discover is more bizarre and ridiculous than I could have imagined… ![]() One of my favorite things about historic research is that no matter how strange or intriguing a story is at first, I really have no idea where a little digging might take me.
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