New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1918-11-30

times before they finally loaded me
back into the train.
ARRIVING at the camp I was swathed
in paper MANIFESTATIONS have very
little cloth in Germany, you know.
Had it not been for food supplied by
the Red Cross I'm sure I would have
starved to death but with that we
Jared very we'll and within month
L had regained my strength. There
were about $50 Russian officers and
3 American officers in the camp"
Lieutenant Isaacs and other officers
+ immediately began to lay plans for
escape by collecting necessary arti
Giles, such as pieces of wire and rope
and short boards with which to make
ladder if necessary. They also
traded some of their food to a Rus
sian for a pair Of wire cutters he had
struggled into the camp. Three diff
ferent times they had their escape
plans completed, each time with the
connivance of a Russian, and each
time they had reason to believe tn
Germans had been appraised and they
did not try.
Finally we learned that they were
to take all the Russians away on
oCl 1, dIIu, WORKING WlluOlL LiiS INuo~
slams, we planned to try again on the
night of Oct. g. Fifteen feet from
our barred windows was a high barb
cd wire fence which turned inward
at the top much the same as at our
internmcnt camps in the States. Be
tween the fence and our window was
a ditch seven feet wide filled with
scrapped barb wire. We had almost
severed the bars of the window in the
room In which I was imprisoned, US
ing an improvised saw one of the Of
ficerS had obtained from Russian.
1.-TWO other officers with me were
to use two tennis court markers,
eighteen feet long, as a bridge from
our window to the top of the barbed-
wire fence. The wooden markers
which we calculated would barely
hold US when strapped together were
to be brought into our room after the
roll call at night
I'VE figured that soon after the
attempt the guards would be attract
ed from the main gate, SO three Of
ficers elected to try a. dash there at
the proper moment. Three others
were to attempt to get through the
fence with the wire cutters, while
two others planned to get over. We
hdu lLheu the SlSCtTlC llSnL wires So
that we could quickly short circuit
them. This was to be done exactly
at 1890 O'Clock, when every man was
ready to go.
II will tell the name of only one
of the officers. as l do not know the
fate of the others He was Corporal
Harold B. Willis of Boston, a. men,
Der of the Lafayette Escadrille. He
was one Of those who were to dash
through the gate, and he and I had
a rendezvous two miles from camp
When the lights were extinguished
by the short-circuiting, we forced the
bars as quietly as possible, and ran
out the two markers strapped to-
gether, and darkened with shoe black
ing as much as possible in the short
time we had. There was no moon
but the sky was clear.
F. zone of the window bars stuck,
and we made considerable noise
forcing it., but it didn't take us long
to start the risky trip to the top of
the fence. I got outside all right, but
there were guards both to my right
and left. There were no protecting
trees, SO ran as fast as I could with
bullets whistling about me.
ST met Willis at the rendezvous and
at night, slept in the day and lived
on raw vegetables we took from gar
dens. At last we reached the Rhine
at point between Schaffhausen and
Basic.
I'VE found that at every place
where we might. approach the bank
it was thoroughly guarded. We de-
cided then to find a creek II possible
and walk down it until we struck the
Rhine. The current In the one we
found was very swift and the water
cold. Willis had just taken off most
of his clothes for the plunge into the
Rhine, when he was swept away by
the current which at that point
moved about twelve kilometers an
hour.
cit was an awful trip in the cold
water with eddses swishing me
around, and at one time l turned on
my back to float as long as possible.
1t seemed that it was impossible to
bring that bank any closer with my
waning strength. Finally I was for
tunate enough to be caught in an eddy
that swept me to the shore.
When able to walk found a farm
house and was warmly welcomed by
the Swiss peasants I told them of
Willis and asked them to send some
one down the bank to look for him.
A short distance down the road the
peasant met one of his neighbors who
had come to look for me. Willis had
landed much the same as 7 had, was
treated as I had been by another
peasant and had sent messenger for
me just as had for him. Willis went
to France and assume has Joined his
command by this time"
EXPIRES. Taft Foxs theater, Dec. 16.