Elko independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1915-current, 1917-10-24
BY n. S. Wales

PARIS, Oct. s. (by mail 10 New
York; .-"Snowy' Williams, for years
an English jockey riding at the French
race tracks at Chantilly, Maisons La
fitte and Paris, has arrived here, en-
route for London, where he Is TO be
presented to King George ", after
undergoing one of the most harrow
ing experiences OF any soldier in the
great war and escaping from the
hands OF the enemy in the oldest
manner conceivable.
With a French comrade who had
been captured with him in Albania,
williams was tied TO a tree by Bull
garian troops under the leadership Of
two Prussian officers, and kept there
for seven days and seven nights.
During that period the French SOL
der, by twisting his head toward his
left shoulder, gnawed through the
rope that bound him there and then
wriggled himself loose and freed the
ex-jockey.
The pair made their escape a'tcr
killing two Bulgarian sentries and
taking their arms and Iron rations"
and lived on grass and grapes for
three weeks until they signalled a
French fighting aeroplane dying
overhead. The pilot alighted, and
when the refugees had proven they
were members of the French army.
he returned to the allied lines, re-
turning in three hours with two
larger bombarding machines. which
took the men aboard and transported
them inside their own lines.
81 enlisted in the French army at
the beginning of the war; saiu
Snowy" williams. because | speak
French as well as English. didn't
think it was going to be long fight
and it wasn't worth while going
back to Blighty to join up.
My regiment was ordered to Sa
loniki and | went along with them
We were in the trenches in Mace
donia for a long time and were with
the Serbs when they took Monastir
but toward the beginning of this yeal
we were moved over to Albania. It,
mountainous over there and the linz
is not continuous stretch o
trenches, like il Is on the west from
here in France. There are isolated
positions on hilltops and command
ing valleys between mountains, an,
they are about all the line there is
zone day last March ! was ordercr
to take some dispatches and paper
TO the English. | took six French
men with me as a sort of convey ant
we had fourteen horses-two apiece
in case anything happened. We go
to the English headquarters. dcliv
cred the messages and then sLarte,
back. But we figured we could TAX
a short cut and there wouldn't b
much danger. That's what caused al
the trouble.
I'VE cut in behind mountai
where the Bulgarian outposts, wit
their machine guns, were locatet
and they sent n party down and CT
us up pretty badly before We Nre'
what had happened. Finally OH
Frenchman and myself, with one g!
ira horse that had been leading b
the bride, got away, but we wer
turned up a valley leading away froi
our lines. The Bulgarians sent OF
wireless or Photograph messages an
rode right into an ambush. and A.
wonder we weren't both shot.
1.-THE Bulgars took us to their cam
there were about fifty of them an
there were two German officers leat
ing them. The Germans suspected
was an Englishman and tried to tai
English with me all the time, but
Just wagged my head and said Je n
comprend pas and that was nll thel
was to IL.
$50 the Bulgars tied us up to
big tree. They tied me on one sid
Of the tree and the Frcnchmrr o
the other They kept Us tied u
there for seven days and sevc
nights. We each got one cup {
water and two biscuits to eat da!
All night we could hear the wolvo
yelling in the forest around us. bu
they never came near us. becaus
usually the camp fires were burnin
or smoldering and suppose tina
scared them,
"But the Frenehman was bus!
every night He found that by screw
ing his neck around and TWISTING
down his head nc could Just reach
with his teeth one OF the lines OF rope
that bound him around the shoulder
He gnawed away at the rope every
night for hours and in the middle Of
the seventh night he gnawed through
the rope. He wriggied and shook
and shiyered and twisted around un.
tfl he worked the rope loose and then