The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-11-02

sexton opened it, and Russell after re-
locking it put the key in his pocket.
Now, my good man." he said to the
sexton, you need have no further
communication with an enemy. You
have done a good turn for France"
The next thing Russell did was to 60
again to the basement and examine
how he could mine his way out Of the
church. 1t was very old and the foun
dation crumbling. The floor Of the
basement was about four feet lower
than the outside surface. Russell
found place where the wall was bro
ken, and all he had to do was to tun-
mel through it and up to the surface, a
distance of only six feet. Returning to
his comrades. he proposed his scheme,
as follows:
"If one OF us can make an escape and
get through the lines We can be of
great service to our fellows. l think
an escape can be made. We can break
through the wall in the basement or
tunnel under it and upward to the sur
face. A man thus getting out at night
might be able to pass the guard when
he Is at the far end Of his beat.
81 propose TO use the hands of the
clock Of the church for cipher. / can
visit the belfry whenever choose and
can place the hands on the dial at any
point. Our men by means Of their
glasses can easily see the tower and
just where the hands are. All that Is
to be done Is to arrange CODE"
It was decided that Andrews should
remain and send the signals, and James
Brooks volunteered to make the at
tempt at escape, taking the code with
him. There were plenty of hands to
dig the tunnel, and all the caution that
was required was to avoid work at
the hours the guard visited the prison
ers to bring their meals and for other
purposes.
That same evening the tunnel was
dug 1t was found that the wall could
not be pierced, and portion Of the ce
ment floor was removed and the tun-
neling done under the wall instead of
through it. The work was not difficult
and was accomplished in a few hours
The earth removed was concealed in a
dark inclOsure under the clock tower
When all was ready Brooks, who was
a small man of great agility, having
been provided with the code, crawled
into the tunnel and when at the point
where it extended straight upward
stood on his feet with his head above
ground and looked about him.
The night was dark. and he could sec
nothing, but he could hear the sentry
on that side of the church walking hi.
beat. The man passed within twenty
feet Of him. Brooks noted his move
ments and estimated that the exit from
the tunnel was located about a thirt
nearer one end of the beat than th;
other. 1t behooved the American tC
leave his point Of concealment afte
the man had passed him on the longes
section of his beat and make his wa,
beyond the beat before he returned.
".asts---e -. .re-.-....., ,........- C:c ':
sprang out Of the tunnel and ran som,
fifty yards into bush, behind whicl
he concealed himself He heard tn,
sentry give challenge, which indi
Gated that he had been heard. Th,
sentry stood still for some time, ant
Brooks heard the click Of his rifle
lock. But he probably made up hi
mind that he had heard some animal
for he presently started again on hi
beat.
Brooks crawled away toward tn
firing line and on his way encountere,
dead body. The corpse was that of
German. and Brooks appropriated hi
helmet and his coat His rifle lay near
and Brooks took that too. Then he ad
vanced to the trench at point betweel
the occupants and after standing guar
for awhile found an opportunity t
steal out unobserved, and, throwing OF
his helmet and dropping his rifle, Ii
crawled on all fours toward the Amer
can line. Before he could make him
self known several shots were fred a
him. but fortunately he was unhurt.
The next morning a man was sta
sAoiSd WIN a pooS SlstSS lev eleu u
the dial Of the clock. In time he Gale
an officer, who in turn called Brook.
.. When they reached him he report 9
that the minute hand of the clock wa
moving-now backward. now forward
: Brooks consulted the code and reporte
to the officer:
Nothing DOING
This, of course, meant that there wa
nothing of importance to be reported q
the enemy's movements. During til
day the American troops made attack
at two different points. About 4 o'cloc
In the afternoon the watcher reporte
that the minute hand of the clock wa
again moving backward slowly. Aftt
moving over twenty minutes on th
dial it suddenly sprang forward an
again began its slow retrograde NOV
!. ment Brooks at once read from I'll
l code:
"They are retreating"
The officer ut once hurried to a tel
!, phone station and reported the info
. nation to the general commandin
- | The general ot Onca ordarad n no rr, .