El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-09-26
GUARDS ASLEEP;
ENGLISH ESCAPE
Returning Corporal Tells
How He and a Comrade
Escaped from Germans.

FoIkstone. Eng, Sept 26-How two
British soldiers. a captain and corpo-
raj, Of the Dragon guards, escaped
from a convent hospital. where they
were held prisoners by the Germans,
after being seriously wounded, was told
by one Of them when they arrived here
from Ostend-
They had crossed 50 miles OF coun-
try occupied by the enemy and got safe
" by their outposts- The corporal told
the story quite casually. as If ii were
an ordinary adventure
After fighting at Mons and Journal,
he was wounded at Andregnies- He
took refuge in a peasants house,
where he found about 20 other wounded
comrades The Germans started 10
shell the place he said. and we al
took refuge in the cellar The old
Belgian woman to whom the place be
lOnged would not keep quiet. Presently
the Germans entered the village and
came straight TO the house
Germans Find Them
They broke in the door with their
rifles saw the butts coming through
the panels, and as they burst in the
door I held up my hands-there was
nothing else to do. a German soldier
came at me, and though he must have
seen that was wounded, he lifted his
rifle by the breech and came for me
/ received the blow on my forearm, it
was meant for my head
Then the old woman made bolt for
the window. One OF our chaps tried TO
stop her. He got a bayonet through his
hand We were all taken prisoners.
They searched me and took away all OF
my money The old woman was shot
] have seen dead Germans on the field
with bags Of money round their neczs.
With the rest Of the wounded I was
taken 10 a convent inside the German
lines I found my own captain there.
He had been found unconscious on the
field a ghr1ur7n1 ehn1T ha1 7-r
'front.' Of him. and the fumes had sent
him Off He had a slight wound on the
forehead from the shrapneL
Leave Convent UnEuarded.
They left the convent un-uarded.
being confident I suppose that we could
not escape through their lines. We had
been there day or two when we saw
them sending up a guard. This is the
time to escape If we are going to- said
the captain
we got out without difficulty. and
lay for 10 hours in ambush behind a
hedge. Then we set out to get through
the lines The captain had a map Of
the country, and damaged pair OF
compasses, which we patched up with
dough The map enabled him to know
exactly where we were
we lay low all day and Travelled by
night, covering q miles of ground
each night by crawling almost flat
and running bent almost double
when we found cover We had no
sleep Tor IS hours. Often we had to
make a long detOur TO avoid their
outpOsts or swampy ground We went
over railway emhankments and
through outings and twice we had
to cross canals
Once we attempted 10 swim but
found our clothes too heavy to carry
so we made for a bridge It was
guarded by . Germans. We crept up
TO within 10 or u yards. and then the
captain made a Kissing sound We Law
and listened, but there was no reply.
Creeping nearer we made the sound
again Still there was no response
We went still nearer and looked Up
very carefully. The sentry on our side
OF the bridge was asleep We crept
past him and over the bridge The
whole guard was asleep The second
time We crossed the canal was by a
pontoon which they had left IN
guarded.
''Once we got clear Of their lines we
had no further difficulty. The Bel
gians assisted US all they could TO
get to Ostend-"