Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-03-10
WONDERFUL ADVENTURES OF
EDGAR Blocking IN LONG HIKE
FROM ABYSSINIA TO GERMANY

Edgar Booking are among the most
rema rkable of the many experiences
which Germans from many corners OF
the earth have had in trying 10 reach
| the Fatherland for patriotic service.
Docking was in AbySSinia when Ger
MANY went to war last August He
had been living in that remote section
for six years. and was widely known
there as d former captain of cavalry
in the German army. The ingenuity
he was called upon to exercise in his
"trip home was worthy of Phileas
Foge. whom Jules Verne sent Around
The World in Eighty Days" 1t inclu-
ded an imaginary case of rabies. to
feign which Boecking had the nerve
to burn two holes in his leg. These
were to represent the bites Of mad
dog, for tres tment of which he sue
cessfully begged aid in expediting his
trip to the Pasteur Institute in Cairo.
He carried out his bluff even to the
extent of submitting to the Pasteur
treatment.
When Booking determined, imme-
diately upon the outbreak Of the war
to return to Germany to volunteer,
he first considered which was the SAT-
! est of the three usual routes out OF
| Abyssinia. The quickest, via Jibouti.
| would take him into French Somali-
| land. where he was we'll known and
| could not hope to escape detention by
| the French officers. A second route.
! via Massaua, led through neutral 1tal-
| ian territory, but French and British
warships were on the watch and were
IN
! Apart from the danger of the hostile
! ships. this route required a two
months trip by caravan in the rainy
season. The third choice, which
| Booking selected, Notwithstanding
| that il was perhaps the most risky
way Of all, was through the English
! Soudan.
He secured 2 pass purrorting to be
| issued by a neutral state and started
out with eight mules and six servants.
! He believed the English would hardly
| assume that a German had the nerve
to travel, after the outbreak Of hostil-
| tiles, through region so strictly
| guarded as the Soudan. He started
on September 23 and notwithstanding
! the rains, covered the distance, which
| ordinarily takes 81 days. in %.
In Gambela he encountered an Ital-
| ian acquaintance. and, casting about
for an excuse for his presence. recol-
| lected that this Italian had, in the pre-
! Vious year, been bitten by rabid
| dog, a thing not uncommon in ADNs-
| sinia. Booking promptly imagined
that he too had beer bitten, and told
his friend he was on his way to Cairo
TO be treated at the Pasteur Institute
there. He explained the situation 10
his friend. asked him to announce his
arrival TO the British authorities, and
he, in the meantime, repaired to his
hotel and carefully burned two holes
in his calf with a red hot poker.
He had to wait in Gambela ten days
for steamer 70 khartoum. The whole
time he suffered torments of mind for
fear that the authorities might be
! moved to telegraph to the British le-
cation at Addis-Abeba a query as 10
his IDENTITY. They did not do 50. how
over, and Booking left Gambela by
steamer, still keenly alive to the ne
| cessity Of preserving appearances.
The victim of the rabid dogs bite,
he said to himself, must, if possible
| reach the Pasteur Institute within
forty days to be certain of a cure. l;
is therefore up to me. if l want tc
make my dog story credible, tc keel
within this period, or. al least, to eX-
coed it as little as possible. To this
end he left the steamer at q small sta
ton on the White Nile, and Travelled
on 10 khartoum by rail.
AS he left the train he was greeted
by seven English officers, who told
him he could not proceed Immediately
| 10 Cairo, and that, since he had beer
bitten, he must accompany them t
the British military hospital Two
officers accompanied him thither. Two
surgeons examined his bites ant
praised his foresight in cauterizine
! them. Boeclking continues:
After l had spent three days as :
military prisoner in the hospital, wore
came that l was to be brought before
the encouragement. At noon
STOOD before his excellency. ant
learned to my great delight (Which
did not exhibiO that as a citizen OF
the neutral state of / was free
His excellency was kind enough Il
talk with me for an hour about con.
diuons in -Abbyssinia, and he sent me
back to the hospital in his own auto
mobile. There all my belongings were
returned tc me, and I was told that i,
was greatly regretted that, in conse.
quence Of a denunciaton as a Ger
| man officer, l had been arrested.
was to be permitted 10 go to Cairo I'm
hindered, but a military escort would
be given me TO prevent me from being
molested.
4 Il was held four days in khartoum
hut can speak only in terms Of praise
of my treatment there. If had beer
recognized as a German it would have
| been different. The English major
who brought me TO the railway sta.
ton told me that had been denounced
as a German captain, and he con-
graduated me that had proved was
not. otherwise, he said, should have
been brought before a court MARTA
and either shot or condemned to life
imprisonment for having a false pass.
port"
At Cairo Booking went directly t
the Pasteur Institute and began taking