The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1915-03-27
BRAVE BELGIAN
TOURS PRUSSIA
TO JOIN TROOPS
Young Soldier Escapes After
Battle in Trenches With
Sentinel Feigning Dumb.
ness He Passes Policeman.
~ FRANKLIN p. MERRlck,
stair Correspondent The international
News Service.

~ eNANNItN ~ "GUuI~Ns
stair Correspondent The international
News Service.
PARIS, March 27.-After most
daring escape from prison camp IN
Germany and an adventurous trip
through Germany. Switzerland and
italy. Jules Liaudat, % years old. has
rejoined the Belgian Fifth Line regi-
mept, in which he fought at Aerschot
last August.
With fifty Of his comrades he was
captured at Malines. They we're placed
in q wooden compound at Aix-larChap-
pelle, fed on soup and potatoes, forced
to sleep on straw and worked very
hard at road repairing. Their guards
were five landsturmers.
The prisoners had noticed that they
were left unguarded by the sentineis
for a few minutes each day while the
guards went to get the soup. ON De-
cember ! the Belgians lay In wait TOT
the return of the sentineis AZ the en-
trance of the compound.
-'. shoot Down Germans
As one of the Germans came .oack
with the customary cauldron OF SOUP
he was set upon and strangled. He was
able to utter cry. however, ana MS
comrades came running to see wnat
was wrong. One after the other tney
were shot down by one OF the BEL
gians who had picked up the revo"er
of the strangled soldier.
Then began a wild rush for liberty
under the bullets of company OF land
strumers. brought to the scene by the
sounds Of the shots. The Belgians ran
In zip-xaRs to avoid being hit. Almost
all az them made toward the Dutch
frontier, Not SO with Liaudat, who did
not wish to be interned in Holland un'
III the end of the war. He had con-
ceiyed the more desperate plan ot
crossing Germany and reaching italy
To this holiness he probably owes MS
life. Al the landetrlm men. feeling con-
fidemt that he would be caught later,
fired only a few shots after him, where
an in the the opposite direction al
most all the runaways were brought
down.
pisouises a. Tramp.
Once we'll on his way, Liaudat gain
81 in confidence and succeeded IN
walking to Merestret without being
ouestioned. He went around the out
skirts Of the town and on to Lemburs'
whara he found some old clothes IN an
abandoned house. This allowed MIN 10
discard his Belgian uniform. now all
tattered and torn. Thus disguised ne
continued his journey as tramp. WIN
out papers OF any sort ano WIN no
money. He was obliged to pose as a
deaf mute, when he met people ana
hep1ed food by signs. He slept IN
bitches. behind hedges and IN DID,
tumble-down barns. The weather was WAS
Extremely bad and his su1erinss were
eraet nut the courageous Belgian kept
IN. ma with the aid Of signposts along
he roads he found his way through Tst
Coblantz, Mayence, Mannheim, Caris-
ruhe. strassburg and Erstein. hnally
crossing the swiss-German frontier
and reaching Basel.
While in German territory he was OF
ten stopped and questioned by ponce
and military patrols. but he always
sienaled that he could neither hear nor
speak, and when paper and a pen were ERE
offered to him he would write. Itch bin
schweiz" Il am Swiss). This was MS
nasSnOrt