Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1916-01-19

and told us.,tol keep quiet and not tc
move, for otherwise they would shoot
us as dogs, they said. (Thev had
! been betrayed to the sentrles by one
Of their fellow prisoners.)
'The next morning we were sent
to a camp at distance Of about 2O0
kilometres fro m the Dutch frontier.
'One side of the head was shaved
off, one blue and one red sleeve
sewn into our coats. and otter dis
ciplinary measures taken. The
"Sennelager," (tte name of the
camp, was dreadful place, the cen
ditions being much worse than in
Erie drichs Id Tie accommo oda-
ticns were disgusting, and the food
uneatahle. Our usual dish used to
be turnip soup.
One morning l went out to clean
an automobile belonging to Gen. Won
Prodewcld, commando Of the camp.
was so lucky in this car, to find a
road map, of which l soon took pos
session. Later Russian prisoner CT
fered me a compass needle CHe day,
for a piece Of potato bread This
helped me a great deal later en- when
l had escaped from the camp.
"On the 3Oth OF October, l disguis-
ed myself undre my other clothes as
German workman, end managed to
get out of the camp. (This was Oct.
80, 1915, a year after his being in
termed at this cemp.) | was one Of
a party employed in digging pota-
toes. Taking advantage CT a mo-
ment's inattention on the sentrle S
part, I ran into a wood close by. ~
had the time to take off my coat,
and by that was changed into Ger
man mechanic, by my clothes under
meath. A, little 'rucksack,' with ten
biscuits and two pounds Of cEocc-
late had previously been hidden in
part of this wood. soon found it
and thus equipped ran for about
twenty minutes until l reached a
small wood where I lay hidden until
might came.
II then took a road in nearly an
opposite direction to the frontier and
marched about 40 kilometres the
first night. Next morning,I continu-
ed my road, but in the right direction
l took the train and travelled by rail-
way nearly SO kilometres without be-
ing annoyed. l was sitting along
side German soldiers and talking to
them Gle spoke German just like
native, to which in all probability he
owed his escape.)
"The same night after leaving the
train lost myself, for it was very
dark, and l had no matches to look
at my map. About 5 O'Clock a Ger
man soldier came along and showed
me the road. (The soldier told us
that this German soldier must have
been unusually stupid, or he would
have noticed something wrong about
so young a man being in workman
clothes, rather than in uniform.)
''The following day ! kept. hidden
in thick wood. It was Sunday,
and it would have been madness to
walk about as I was dressed, and
dirty as my clothes were. But as
soon as darkness came / proceeded
on my way again.
"On All Saints day had a lot Of
rain and the roads were very bad. l
burst mot ahelter myself and was ma
|tarall We through for four follow
Link%dayS. ~ f1i1ls astaso& my
journey Il was dfizzling and raining
continually. On the Tuesday 13ven,-
tured into the town Of Emsdetten,
and bought an electric pocket lamp
and some sausage, for my biscuits
were soaked and reduced to paste. =
Continuing my way through the
marshes L reached a place only 10
kilometres away from the border.
(His sea training was invaluable
to him in guiding his course, at
night by the stars.)
"There walking about 2 o'clock at
night, along the railway embankment,
fell down from the railway track
about twenty eight feet, and hurt
myself very badly. intended to
surrender, as I was totally discourag-
ed, I shouted and called out but
nobody was near. Gle told us that
weakened as he was by lack of food
and exposure, the shock of the fall
took his last bit Of resistance, and
that as he says, he literally shouted
out for some one to make him again
a prisoner, but fortunately for him
no one was near.)
II succeeded at last in drag
ging myself to wood, where I laid
for forty eight hours in the rain. AS
my arm got better, I decided to risk
it and try to cross the frontier.
threw my boots away and walked
bare-footed through the bogs, some
times far above the knees in the
mud. l reached bog pasture grounds
and guessed was close to the bor-
der
AFTER creeping on my hands and
knees for about two hours, heard
some one who I supposed to be the
sentry, and lay very still, hearing
too the dreadful baying Of the blood
hounds. However, remembered
that the bloodhounds were kept on
duty only from ten to twelve at night;
so after they had gone, watched to
see where the sentry was, being
able to see his location when he
struck a match, then knowing that
the sentries were 100 yards apart
estimated the distance between the
two and crept under the barbed
wires, that separated me from lib
erty.
(By the time he reached Holland
soil, it wus getting light, and he was
able to see the Dutch sentries. but
they were wearing gray uniforms,
which gave him a dreadful fright, as
he thought they we're still wearing
their blue uniforms, so thinking that
there were two rows of German
Sentries he again carefully wOrmed