The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-11-07

my rachine and wished that some
kind fsIry would set It 10 front Of me
| for Just one minute.
I spent The night In I clump nj
bushes and kept In hiding most OF the
next day, only going abroad for an
hour or two in the middle OF the day
| to intercept some Belgian peasant
| and beg for food. The Beigians in this
| section were naturally very much
afraid Of the Germans and Jared
badly In nearly every house German
soldiers were Quartered and 1t was
out Of the question for me to apply
| for food in that direction. The prox-
Unity OF the border made everyone
eye each other with more or less sus-
| pici0n and l soon came to the conclu-
| sion that the safest thing could do
| was to live nm raw vegetables which 1
| could steal from the fields at night as
I had previously done.
That night / made another survey
! Of the barrier in that vicinity, but 1t
| looked just as hopeless us 1t had the
night before and l concluded that
only wasted my time there.
spent the night wandering north.
guided by the North Star which had
served me so faithfully in all my trav-
cling. Every mile or two would make
my way carefully to the brrrier to see
IL conditions were any better, but II
seemed to be the same all along. felt
Ike a wild animal in cage. with
about as much chance of getting out.
The section OF the country In which
1 was now wandering was very heavily
wooded and there was really no very
great difficulty in keeping myself con-
cealed. which did all day long, striv-
ing all the time to think OF some way
In which I could circumyent that
cursed barrier
The idea OF huge stepladder oc-
CURED TO me. but searched hour after
hour In vain for lumber or fallen trees
| out Of which could construct one. II
/ could only obtain something which
would enable me TO reach a point
about nine feet in the air 1t would be
comparatively simple matter to
jump from that point over the electric
fence
Then thought that perhaps I could
construct q simple ladder and lean 1t
against one OF the posts upon which
the electric wires were strung, climb 20
the top and then leap over. getting
over the barbed wire fences In the
same way.
This seemed to he the most likely
plan and NIL night long sat construct
ing q ladder for this purpose.
I was fortunate enough 10 find q
number OF sfnllen pine trees from ten
TO twenty feet long. selected two of
them which seemed sufficiently strong
and broke OF all the branches, which
used as rungs. tying them TO the
poles with grass and strips from my
handkerchief and shirt as best
could.
II was not very workmanifke
looking ladder wien I finally got
through with ii. leaned II against
tree to test II and II wcbbled ccnsid-
-rahiy. II WAS more like a rope lad
Ter than a wooden one. but strength
'sursi IL here and there and decided
that Il would probably serve the pur-
( pose.
/ l kept the ladder IN the woods all
lay and could hardly walt until dark
TO make the supreme test. If It proved
successful my troubles were over
.viihin a few hours I would be in n
neutral country our Of all danger. If
l faiied-I Dismissed the idea sum-
mariiy There was no use worrying
about failure; the thing to do was to
succeed.
The few hours that were n, pass
before night csme on seemed endless.
nut l utilized them TO REINFORCE my
I ladder. tying the rtmgs more securely
wit, l"ns grass which picked in the
woods.
Al last night came. and with my
! ladder in h-nd made for the barrier.
In front af II there was cleared
space Of about one hundred yards.
which had te.n prepared TO make the
work OF the guards easier In watch
] ing It.
waited In the neighbcrhood until
heard the sentry pass the spot where
was In hiding and then 1 hurried
across the clearing. showed my ladder
under the barbed wire and endeav-
ored TO follow II. Ny cleihing caught
/ in the wire. but l wrenched myself
clear and crawied TO the electric bar
rier.
My plan WAS to place the ladder
against one OF the posts. climb up 10
he top and then jump. There would
u fall OF niae or ten feet. and
'-s' possibps sprsin an ansl" Or
break my leg. but II that was all that
stood between me and freedom 1
wasn't going to stop to consider 1t.
put my ear to the grcund to listen
for the coming OF the seltry. There