Bisbee daily review., 1915-07-21
SEEK FLIGHT FROM COUNTRY FEARING
 ANNEXATION AT HOME
Every Boat Leaving Holland Car
 ries Young Men, of Military Age, Who Have Made Their
 Way Out of Stricken Country.

PARIS. July 20 Scarcely a boat leaves Hallond for England these days without its contingent of Belgiums Of
 military age who have evaded the | Iregistration of all male Belgians cap. able of bearing arms now required by l the German authorities in Belgium | Many of them are on their way to | England to work in the munitions factories, while those who at the be- | ginning of the war were called to the l colors and on account Of the speed with which the invasion of Belgium was accomplished were unable to re- spond to the call, are enroute to join ! the Belgian army in Flanders
 Among the former there are various
 groups wearing bits of colored tape in their bottonholes or pinned to their clothing some purple; some green, some yellow by the representa- tives of the British munitions firms who are to employ them may recog- nize their men, or their women as tho case may be-for many of these fu- ,ure workers in the manufacture Of armament are women
 Those who are going for soldiers
 are generally younger men, in their early twenties for the most part They
 have lived through much, and are
 sobered and saddened by what has passed in their country since last l August They talk together in little groups. in low voices, glancing over their shoulders constantly, unable Co rid themselves of the fear of that con .unual surveillance to which they have SO long been subject
 Their talk just now is an of the 1 proposed annexation of Belgium by . Germany, which they are convinced is l imminent They claim that this is Inew oppressive measure on the par. of the inyaders-that Belgium once annexed and became thereby an in- !. tegral part of the German Empire an Belgians of military age will be called upon to serve in the German army. and on refusal to do SO will be treated as German deserters For this
 reason. they say. every Belgian Of military age now remaining ia tho stricken country is making desperate
 efforts 10 escape before the expected annexation can be proclaimed
 On each boat, also, may be found generally one or more prisoners of war who has escaped from one of the
 German prison camps. of which a few are not far from the Dutch border
 Most of these are French. whose language being the same as that Of most TolEians renders their fgh. through Belgium less difficult. But oc-
 casionally there are Englishmen lett
 behind in the first retreat from Bel
 gium and remaining in hiding ever since, or escaped directly from a mil
 itary prison. once in while there Is
 a Russian The Associated Press cor
 respondent made the journey with two
 such escaped Russians, whose story of
 their flight seemed almost impossible
 of belief yet was borne out by the
 detail with which it was filled. respect ling the country over which they had made their way.
 Both were stnl in the full uniform
 of Russian private soldiers which they
 had neither been able to change nor to disguise during their flight With their trousers thrust into high bools and the conspicuous round, khaki
 hats perched on the side of their heads they were unmistakable as far as they could be seen They spoke nothing but Russian. Yet they told the Associated Press correspondent that when out with a party of other - prisoners working in the fields they . learned from some of their fellows | who understood a little German that , they were being employed but a few . miles from the Dutch frontiers They
 decided to escape if possible. They discussed their plans under the very noses of their guards, Landsturm men i who could not understand what was being said. The ramaining Russians { agreed tO help them and when evening ! fell and the prisoners were returned | Ito their camp, but these two were coy | cred with hay by their companions and left in the field Presumably they
 were not missed, for they got of
 safely, making their way by night and hiding in haystacks by day Al frsl they went without food entirely, bu finally approached peasant woman i who 0yas milking in a field. and sht | gave them some milk with inc eX
 change of a word, plainly ignorant o
 what they were-doubtless thinking them German soldiers in one of th' many new uniforms adopted by th' l Germans since the beginning of th' war
 The third night, they crossed th' | Dutch frontier without seeing a sen try Ultimately, with immense dihI
 culties engendered by their ignorance
 of any speech familiar 10 the Meth
 erlanhers, they succeeded in reaching l The Hague, where they were takel lin charge by the Russian Legation and furnished with necessary fund