Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-12-31
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0copwlght. I,I'. ,sy.tAe PUBLIC Lsd0er comssss !.

ABOUT this time the Swiss Commission
Apsid a visit to the hospital II con-
sisted of three Swiss doctors who visited
the English and the French " most of the
hospitals and camps In Germ any and Sc
lected men who were considered unit
for service for year. and who might
be benefited by treatment in. Switzer-
land. The men had to be recommended
! by the doctors in charge. Those accept
ed were sent TO Constance or some other
place near the Swiss frontier. where they
were seen by another commission COM
posed of half Swiss and half German
doctors. and final judgment was passed
on them. The Germans had the decid-
] ing vote In case of doubt.
Gray's arm was In bad state. II
wrist. lie saw the commission without
advising DR. Meyer that he was going to
do so and he was al once accepted, but
unfortunately just as his name was
being entered on the official list DR..
Meyer appeared, lie was furious and
I said that he wanted to treat Grays arm
l for some time to come. This was just
/ what Gray was trying to avoid. but he
/ had TO stand aside and see his name
struck off the list
/ Wells saw the commission. but was
refused Noodle and ] were so far from
recovered that we knew 1t was hopeless
and did not present ourselves.
TALKED ABOUT ESCAPE
]
named Wilson was brought to the hos
1 pital from the camp at Mainz where he
| had been sent with several other officers
| to see the Swiss Commission. lie told
us some interesting things. lie had
been in touch with officers from several
different camps and we listened eagerly
| to his description of camp life. as we all
expected before long TO be leading that
sort of existence We discussed earn
estly different plans he had heard for
escape and looked forward to the time
when We might take an active part in
striving to attain what is cherished as
! the ultimate goal by every prisoner of
war.
While Wilson was in Manz there
was an attempted escape Three Of
| ficers planned to work together. one
| small building in the camp was used
as a recreation room and canteen. In
| side the building and against the wall
| of the canteen was series of long
| wooden steps closed in at the ends. used
| as "A sort of small grandstand for oh
serving the various games In progress.
Beneath this was the spot selected for
the commencement of a tunnel. The
sound of the ripping up of the floor un-
derneath the grand stand was deadened
by the cheering and stamping arranged
by the other occupants of the room.
The work progressed beautifully. There
was plenty of space under the steps for
storing surplus EARTH and the workers
only emerged for roll-call
One day Just before the tunnel was
completed, orders were given that all
officers who had been refused by the
! commission were to he sent to other
camps. Wilson had not been accepted,
but was to be left behind. as he had to
return TO hospital. Most of the officers.
including the three "moles," were on
the list of those to leave.
Our three friends entered their place
Of work. taking with them three days
provisions, Those outside replaced the
boards at the end of the steps, with the
nails in their original holes, and de-
parted When the final roll was called,
of course. these three were missing. No
one had seen them. There was great ex-
ctement and eventually the party had
to move off without them.
That night in frantic attempt TO
complete the work, little noise was
made. when the recreation room was
vacated and absolutely still, The keeper
of the canteen became suspicious, and
his report resulted in the discovery of
the elusive ones. We never heard how
many weeks of jug they got for this.
Wilson only spent few weeks with
u.s. but his visit proveN most profitable,
We learned the things we were entitled
to and of the privileges accorded Ger
man prisoners in England We de-
cided to take firm stand and demand
certain rights for the Englishmen in the
hospital.
We officers formed ourselves into a
committee and interviewed the inspec-
tor. We told him about the way Ger
man prisoners were treated in England,
explaining to him that there were many
men able TO walk who needed fresh air
and exercise. and demanded that system
similar to that in vogue in all the camps
should be introduced i'm the hospital.
In camps men are put on their parole
and gent out in parties OF thirty or forty
in charge of a guard of one officer and
a noncommIssioned officer, TO take a
two-hour walk in the country. On their