The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1915-07-03
HIDDEN IN BEER
CASK, SPY RIDES
PAST HIS FOES
French Officers Conveyance, a
Dutchman's Dray, Passes
Safe Mid Man Hunt.
STOPPED NEAR THE FRONTIER
PurIoiner Of German Secrets at Namur
Finally Emerges in Holland From
Barrel Refuge-Close to Cap
ture Several Times.
Nv EDGAR ANseL MowRER.

Correspondent of the Chicago News
Paris.-This is a story that was told
me by a hotelkeeper's wife at Namur
who has travelled considerably abou,
Belgium.
After the Germans destroyed the
forts of Namur with their long-range
heavy cannon, the Belgians, for rea
sons which are not yet quite clear
evacuated the place. The invaders oc
cupied the city, made it one of their
centers of operations and settled down
as II they intended to stay.
With their usual precision they saw
even in August, that a time might
come when a retreat would be neces.
sary. Namur, at the junction of the
Mouse and the Sambre, would be one
of the pivots for a line of defense
They hastily began to rebuild the
forts, enlarging and strengthening
them.
Namurrois Go to Work at Last.
But this work demanded many
hands. The Germans called upon the
Inhabitants, offering high wages. For
a month not a man from the town re-
sponded. The Namurrois would die
rather than work for the Germans, and
said SO. So the German military
brought few hundred civilians from
Germany, but left the original offer
open to the Belgians.
There was no work in Namur: the
prices Of foodstuffs rose higher and
higher. Finally one man, maddened
by the pinched faces of his wife and
babies, shouldered his shovel and re-
ported ready for work. This was the
signal. Not only the Namurrois but
idle men from all over Belgium came
to toll at the massive Notifications.
With them one day arrived French.
man, who turned out to be an officer
OF the engineering corps. He came
originally from Givet, near the Bel.
gian frontier, so his French resembled
that Of the Belgians. He was dressed
like workingman, even to the in.
sigma of the Belgian /. w. w., which
he wore conspicuously. His papers
showed his name was Georges Bezon,
Belgian, thirty-two years old, born at
Neufchateau. The Germans accented
him without question or suspicion.
Notices Hands Are Small.
For three weeks the French officer
dug on the Notifications. He did his
work well. Then, one day, a German
officer, who happened to pause near
where the Frenchman was digging. no
ticed that the latter's hands, despite
their coating Of dirt, were small and
well made. To this German thew
seemed too small and too well made.
He questioned the pseudo-laborer. The
latter's replies were satisfactory.
But the German felt that in spite OF
appearances something was wrong
about this Georges Bezon, born T.,
Neufchateau in April, 1882. That
night Namur telephoned Neufchateau
Search among the municipal records
failed to reveal the name Of Bezon.
We'll get him." laughed the Ger.
man officer who had laid bare the de.
ception. and he gave orders to arrest
Bezon the following morning. When
morning came 1t brought the workers
to the Notifications, but Georges Be-
zon was not among them. A search
was made. Inquiries at the house
where the suspect had been staying
showed he had not come in the night
before. All of the efforts made by the
failed to reveal how the art.
full Georges had escaped. Perhaps
some Of the inhabitants didn't tell all