The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-07-24

ed miner the guard ordered me to accompany him and. do the work There were miners in the otheA. parts of the mine free workmen- but they were not going to call one of these way and pay him extra money whilst they had a prisoner who could do the job for nothing. It mattered not that had already done hard days work
 I followed the guard and the two dogs. or rather they followed me; and until we reached the pitmouth Here the dogs were ordered to stay whilst the soldier accompanied me below. But had no intention of going be- low. My plan had been formed in my mind, and judged the time to be ripe. Waiting until we neared the end of a tunnel, approaching the cage I bounced upon my man, holding him by the throat with both hands. Then with sharp movement I banged his head against the wall of the tunnel The sharp contact with the hard cor nerstone did the rest. The guard sank gently to the ground with hardly a sound
 It was the work of a few minutes to divest him of overcoat, trousers boots and cap, and to don the same myself over those I already wore. I hardly like to leave him thus, but there was no time to waste over nice- ties.
 I had now to think about those dogs waiting outside for their master confess to a feeling of fear as I walked towards them and saw their eyes shining red against the dark black ground, but it was my only chance, and I took it.
 Walking boldly out, was relieved to find they followed me, evidently without suspicion. Straight on to- wards the wire fence I went the dogs at my heels. The uniform had done the trick.
 When I reached the barrier I took l off my cap or rather the Germans (, and threw it as far as could to- wards the huts. I had seen the sol- diers exercise the dogs in this way many times.
 The trick worked, as the dogs rac- ed madly after the cap, and stopped to worry it.
 By the time they returned I was on the outer side of the wire and mak- 1 ing my way across country. I met with no thrilling adventures on my march towards the frontier so kept the open countr.., as much as
 
 Entering any lonely house or farm house demanded food in the name of the Kaiser-a usuai thing for Ger man soldiers to do. What the peo- pie thought of the lonely soldier with out cap cannot say. However, they provided me with a share of what they had readily enough. I did not impose upon them more than I was obliged, never entering a | poor looking house, or indeed, any house unless I was really hungry. When nearing the frontier I fell in with two others who were also es- caping and 1t took me some time to convince them that I was not what 1 appeared to be-a German soldier. Indeed, could only convince them by showing the clothes, that I wore underneath the uniform, otherwise it | might have gone ill with rne, for they were no lovers of the German milf- tary.
 |, obtained food for the three of us in my usual way and they in return allowed me to accompany them safe ly past the danger of the death-wire in a secret and safe way known to very few.
 Safely across the frontier, we made the best of our way to Rotterdam, where I presented myself to the
 Italian Consul. You may guess the surprise of that gentleman when a German soldier" appeared before him asking his assistance to get to
 Italy. You may further guess how he laughed and shook my hand when he heard my story. Later I arrived in London and then took passage to , America and visited Boston where I l joined relatives.
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