The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1918-11-09


His beat at this point was apparent
| ~ fairly long and allowed me more
time to work than had hoped for.
My mishap with the ladder had con-
WINGED me that my escape In that way
was not feasible. The shock that I
had received had unnerved me and
was afraid to risk 1t again, particu-
| larly as l realized that I had Jared
more fortunately than I could hope
| TO again IL / met with a similar mis-
hap. There was no way Of making
| that ladder hold and gave up the idea
| Of using 1t.
/ was now right In front Of this
! electric barrier and as I studied 1t l
saw another way Of getting by. II
couldn't get over 1t, what was the
matter with getting under II?
The bottom wire was only two
inches from the ground and, Of course,
couldn't touch 1t, but my plan was
to dig underneath 1t and then crawl
through the hole In the ground.
had only my hands to dig with,
but I went at It with a will and fortu-
nately the ground was not very hard.
When I had dug about six inches,
making a distance in all Of eight
inches from the lowest electric wire.
came to an underground wire.
knew enough about electricity to real
ize that this wire could not be charged,
as II was in contact with the ground.
| but still there was not room between
the live wire and this underground
wire for me to crawl through, and
ether had to go back or dig deep
enough under this wire to crawl under
it or else pull it up.
This underground wire was about
as big around as lead pencil and
| there was no chance of breaking it.
The jack-knife had had at the start
Of my travels had long since lost
and even II had had something to
| hammer with, the noise would have
| made the method impracticable.
! went on digging. When the total
distance between the live wire and the
bottom Of the hole l had dug was
thirty inches, I took hold Of the ground
wire and pulled on 1t with all my
| strength.
It wouldn't bulge. It was stretched
taut across the narrow ditch I had
dug-about fourteen inches wide
and all the tugging didn't serve to
loosen 1t.
was Just about to give up In de-
spair when a staple gave way In the
| nearest post. That enabled me to pull
the wire through the ground a little
| and I renewed my efforts. After q
moment or two Of pulling as had
never pulled In my life before, a
staple on the next post gave way.
and my work became easier. had
more leeway now and pulled and
pulled again until In all eight staples
had given way.
Every time staple gave way, 1t
sounded in my ears like the report Of
gun, although I suppose it didn't
| really make very much noise. Never
theless. each time would put my ear
to the ground to listen for the guard.
If heard him I would stop working
and lie perfectly still In the dark till
he had gone by.
By pulling on the wire, was now
able to drag 1t through the ground
enough to place 1t back from the
fence and go on digging.
The deeper I went the harder be-
came the work, because by this time
my finger nails were broken and
was nervous-afraid every moment
that would touch the charged wire.
kept at it. however. with my mind
constantly on the hole was digging
and the liberty which was almost with.
in my reach.
Finally figured that had enough
space to crawl through and still leave
couple Of inches between my back
and the live wire.
Before went under that wire no
ticed that the lace which the Belgian
woman had given me as a souvenir
made my pocket bulge, and lest 1t
might be the innocent means of cleo
trocuting me by touching the live wire,
took it out, rolled it up AID threw 1t
over the barrier first.
Then lay down on my stomach and
crawled or rather writhed under the
wire like a snake, with my feet first,
and there wasn't any question OF my
hugging mother earth as closely as
possible because realized that even
to touch the wire above me with my
back meant instant death.
Anxious as I was to get on the other
side, I didn't hurry this operation. 1
feared that there might be some little
detail that had overlooked and ! ex-
ercised the greatest possible care In
going under. taking nothing FOR
granted.
When I finally got through and
Strengthened up, there were still sew
eral feet Of Belgium between me and
liberty. represented by the six feet
which separated the electric barrier
from the last barbed wire fence, but
before I went another step l went
down on my knees and thanked God
for my long series Of escapes and es-
pecially for this last achievement,
which seemed to me to be about all
that was necessary to bring me free
dom.
Tbop ororIod r1pdor tho harhpi