The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-09-27
An Ingenious
Escape
By OSCAR cox

Jules Chaparal when the pan-Euro-
pean war broke out was working in
machine shop. From there he was
taken into the army and participated
In the lighting that led up to the bat.
tie Of the Marine. In that fight he was
taken prisoner and sent to q concen-
tration camp in Germany.
Jules Chaparal was turned into an
improved machine shop for manufac-
turing field artillery. Very soon his
experience in such work manifested it.
self, and, being found to be very USE
ful, he was put in charge Of one of the
rooms Of the factory. Then the engi-
neer was taken i'll. and. there being no
German engineer to fill his place, Jules
was temporarily given charge of the
engine room and everything in it.
Jules spent year in this factory
and naturally became acquainted with
all parts of it, including the yard in
which it stood. the positions of senti-
nels, the points of entrance and exit.
for 1t is impossible to take the pre-
cautions with ore who fills an impor-
tant position That can be observed
with an nnproductive prisoner. Prob
ably there was never a prisoner who
did not take note of his surroundings
with view to escape.
The factory, not being a PRISON, was
not surrounded by high wall. The
absence of wall was supplied bv a
guard. But since every available man
was needed to fight the factory guard
was made up of disab led soldiers.
Jules had had opportunities to notice
them and had seen one legged men
among them. He had once run against
one Of the guard. who was Off duty.
walking in the factory yard, and it was
evident that the man was half blind.
If Jules could get out of the factory
after dark he might possibly work his
way through this barrier Of armed
men. AT any rate. he would be quite
willing to take his chances Of being
shot. But for months at time the
factory was run day and night, and
there we're as many persons about at
one time as another. When it was not
run at night. as soon as it was shut
down the operators were placed in
huts built near by, the prisoners by
themselves. under guard. and all was
quiet.
Chaparal had his eye on a means of
making an exit from the factory.
broad leather belt connected the fly
wheel of the engine with gearing at.
tached to the joists overhead. The
drum around which the belt turned
was near window, which was used
both for light and ventilation. It oc.
Cured to Chaparal that one might
ride up on the belt and jump off OF the
window To do this when the engine
was running at full speed would be
well nigh impossible without the rider
being dashed against the wall and kill.
ed. To do it when the engine was
starting or slowing up would be COM
paratively easy.
The prisoner had noticed this win
dow when in the yard and knew that
ten feet below It was the roof of an
addition to the building, the addition
being about fifteen feet from the
ground. Two hundred feet from the
factory was the chain Of sentinels. OF
course the chances Of escape by such
an exit were enthusiastically small, and
even If the fugitive should reach the
window in safety and pass the guard
there would remain the difficulty Of
making his way through Germany and
across the border.
For prisoner even to occupy his
mind with such matters is beneficial.
1t prevents his brooding, and he is
buoyed by hope. Jules found relief in
laying out every detail of an attempt
to escape. These details We're NAM