Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-10-18


1 was fortunate enough to find
number of fallen pine trees from ten
to twenty feet long. / selected two of
them which seemed sufficiently strong
and broke off all the branches, which
used as rungs, tying them to the
poles with grass and strips from my
handkerchief and shirt as best I
could.
1t was not a very workmanlike
looking ladder when / finally got
through with it. 1 leaned it against
a tree to test it and it wobbled consid-
erably. 1t was more like a rope lad
der than wooden one, but strength
ened it here and there and decided
that it would probably serve the pur-
pose.
l kept the ladder in the woods all
day and could hardly wait until dark
to make the supreme test. If it proved
successful my troubles were over;
within a few hours would be in a
neutral country out of all danger. If
l failed-I dismissed the idea sum-
marily. There was no use worrying
about failure; the thing to do was to
succeed.
The few hours that were to pass
before night came on seemed endless,
but 1 utilized them to re-enforce my
ladder. tying the rungs more securely
with long grass which picked in the
woods.
At last night came, and with my
ladder in hand l made for the barrier.
In front of it there was a cleared
space of about one hundred yards,
which had been prepared to make the
work of the guards easier in watch
ing it.
/ waited in the neighborhood until /
heard the sentry pass the spot where
was In hiding and then / hurried
across the clearing, showed my ladder
under the barbed wire and endeav-
ored to follow it. My clothing caught
In the wire, but 1 wrenched myself
clear and crawled to the electric bar
rier.
My plan was to place the ladder
against one of the posts, climb up to
the top and then jump. There would
be a fall of nine or ten feet, and /
might possibly sprain an ankle or
break my leg, but If that was all that
stood between me and freedom l
wasn't going to stop to consider it.
l put my ear to the ground to listen
for the coming of the sentry. There
was not a sound. Eagerly but care
fully / placed the ladder against the
post and started up. Only few feet
separated me from liberty, and my
heart beat fast.
I had climbed perhaps three rungs
of my ladder when became. aware
of an unlocked for difficulty.
The ladder was slipping.
Just as l took the next rung, the
ladder slipped. came in contact with
the live wire, and the current passed
through the wet sticks and into my
body. There was a blue flash, my
hold on the ladder relaxed and fell
heavily to the ground unconscious.
OF course, had not received the
full force of the current or 1 would
not now be here. must have re-
mained unconscious for q few mo-
ments, but / came to just in time tC
hear the German guard coming, ant
the thought came to me if didn't gel
that ladder concealed at once he would
see it even though, fortunately for me
1t was an unusually dark night.
pulled the ladder out of his batl
and lay down fiat on the ground no
seven feet away from his feet. H'
passed SO close that could hav,
pushed the ladder out and trippeC
him up.
I 1t occurred to me that 1 could hav,
climbed back under the barbed wir,
fence and waited for the sentry to re
turn and then felled him with a blow
on the head, as he had no idea, o
course, that there was anyone in tn
vicinity. l wouldn't have hesitate,
to take life, because my only though
was to get into Holland, but 1 though
that as long as he didn't bother m
perhaps the safest thing to do was no
to bother him, but to continue my ei
forts during his periodic. absence.
His beat at this point was apparent
ly fairly long and allowed me NOR
time to work than had hoped for.
, My mishap with the ladder had cor
, vinced me that my escape in that wa
was not feasible. The shock that
! had received had unnerved me and
. was afraid to risk It again, particr
larly as / realized that 1 had fare
: more fortunately than 1 could hop
! to again If l met with a similar mi
) hap. There was no way of maxim
] that ladder hold and gave up the ide
] of using 1t.
4 was now right in front of TIL
5 electric barrier and as 1 studied 1t
y saw another way of getting by. If
: couldn't get over 1t, what was IL
g matter with getting under it?
+ The bottom wire was only tv
+ inches from the ground and, of cours
o 1 couldn't touch it, but my plan W;
/ to dig underneath 1t and then GRAY
s through the hole in the ground.
had only my hands to dig wit
y but went at it with a will and fort
L nately the ground was not very. har
e When 1 had dug about six inche
1 making a distance In all of eig
inches from the lowest electric wiz
l, l came to an underground wire.
d knew enough about electricity to rel
v ize that this wire could not be charge
e as it was in contact with the groun
e but still there was not room betwe,
1t the live wire and this undergroul
1t wire for me to crawl through, and
h ether had to go back or dig de-
{. enough under this wire to crawl und
h 1t or else pull it up.
" This underground wire was abo
y as big around as a lead pencil al
n there was no chance of breaking
" The jack-knife had had at the sta
" Of my travels 1 had long since IL
1T and even IL had had something
hammer with, the noise would ha
c. made the method impracticable.
er went on digging. When the to-
es distance between the live wire and I
IL bottom of the hole / had dug "
n thirty inches, 1 took hold of the grou
~ 1 . Ill q.