Potosi journal., 1918-11-20
MADE FINE TUNNEL
Avenue by Which Captive Allies Had
Hspsd 10 Escape VIA Really .
Perfect Piece OF Wofk-Even
Germans Admired T.

There Ii certainly NOR. Tragedy
than cofaeiy Ia the cruel di~ni'i'oihi'
lneDi of unhappy prisoners ihaaf"'l
In q promising aud al,los. successful
effort 10 ESCAPE: nevertheless. ia" sal
liant gayriy .lla' has marked so nnny
OF the allied i.htiDg iii-n d""s not 1871
them wholly even IN such cream
stances. Lance corttDfat Charles
Baker, who recently tsrounted his
prison experiences Ia the metropolitan
Magazine. wastes no l,atltns nh h'ih'
self or on his fellow sufferers when
they failed to get safe aNny through
their Ingenious tunnel. md can even
see d funny side to the affair.
Some of the other prisoners lad be-
gun the tgnnei and had worked upon
II daily for IA month before The! let
him into the secret which finally be-
came known "a several hundred of the
cnptives.
Ii opened from the lasf hut ~ the
end Of the back row and was headed
for the only culnp of bushes anywhere
hear the camp. The soil MAS so sandy
that Ii was impossible to make tun-
nei In the ordinary way; q long time
passed before the boys hi: Oh Il plan.
After our own packages had begun 10
come and We had white bread 10 eat,
says the corporal some genius had q
happy thought Of using the war bread
for bricks. The war bread Is a. tough
rnd as hard as rubber and Of abou,
the size and shape of & small stone
block that you use for paving streets.
We kept the bread huriet. until nj sht.
Then We piled il up in kind of crate,
and when the sentries were out OF
SIGHT we rushed II over 10 the tunnel. ],
WAS the mos; beautiful tunnel you ever
saw. The sides were built up like
Trick walls. and the roof was Ii perfect
The same color us the sand OF the
camp. and as the ground MAS aimos.
always Wet you couldn't tell the diff
ference. We would take ii out In small
t!nfuls and scatter II all over the place,
nnd with several thousand men walk
Ing round there was no way Of detect
ing IL.
of course IL was slow work making
The tunnel. for We had to accumulate
war bread, and SO to amuse ourselves
"" axed II all up. We stuck pictures
from newspapers on the wall, and We
even ran ii wire down from the cook
house and lighted (, all up with elec-
iricity. We took some Of the lamps
rnd when the guard wanted 10 know
where they were we said they had got
broken
A hundred and twenty yards had
been bull, out ~ the hundred and
fifty that the tunnel had to go when
miserable Frcnchman. to curry favor
with his cnp,ors, betrayed the secret.
The other French prisoners concerned
were Wild with rage and shame: and
when the whole camp MAS lined NJ for
Investigation and punishment the
French uon-c"mm!s~iauei officers
stepped forward and begged ''for the
honor Of the French army" 10 he al.
lowed "a take not only their own share
uf punishment, hut ,ha, ot all the 9th.
ers
But Of course says Corporal Baker.
tl" British couldn't have that, and the
non commissioned British officers gave
themselves up, II was a regular bow
ing and scrapinS, "iou!irst my dear.
Alrhonse" sort Of pruces~iiag A few
OF the men were given i've months in
solitary, but mast os them sut OF pref
~ easy. because the German officers
were So much amused. They thought
they had taken away every conceivable
thing that could he uscS. for tunnel
building. hut they never though, " the
war bread. German officers came from
miles round in see III. tunnel. They
wouldn't lei Us destroy I, hu; KEEP, Il
as . curiosity, Even the general "
division near by came Ia Ia see II.
He said II wss the finest piece of sap
ping he had ever seen..~-You,h's Com.
ran!on-