Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-09-13
The ladder was slipping.


through the wet sticks and into my
body. There was a blue flash, my
hold on the ladder relaxed and l fell
heavily to the ground unconscious.
OF course, 1 had not received the
full force of the current or I would
not now be here. / must have re-
manned unconscious for a few mo-
ments, but 1 came to just in time to-
hear the German guard coming, and
the thought came to me if 1 didn't get
that ladder concealed at once he would
see it even though, fortunately for me-
it was an unusually dark night.
l pulled the ladder out of his path
and lay down fiat on the ground not
seven feet away from his feet. He
passed so close that 1 could have
pushed the ladder out and tdpped
him up.
1t occurred to me hat l could have
climbed back under the barbed wire
fence and waited for the sentry to re-
turn and then felled him with a blow
on the head, as he had no idea, OF
course, that there was anyone in the
vicinity. 1 wouldn't have hesitated
to take life, because my only thought
was to get into Holland, but 1 thought
that as long as he didn't bother me
perhaps the safest thing to do was not
to bother him, but to continue my eff
forts during his periodic absence.
His beat at this point was apparent
ly fairly long and allowed me more
time to work than l 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 7
was afraid to risk it again, particu-
larly as I realized that 1 had Jared
more fortunately than 1 could hope
to again if / met with a similar mis-
hap. There was no way of making
that ladder hold and 1 gave up the idea
of using it.
1 was now right in front Of this
electric barrier and as 1 studied it I
saw another way of getting by. If I
couldn't get over it, what vas the
matter with getting under it?
The bottom wire was only two
inches from the ground and, of course,
I couldn't touch it, but my plan was
to dig underneath it and then crawl
through the hole in the ground.
I had only my hands to dig with,
but 1 went at it with a will and fortu-
nately the ground was not very hard.
When l had dug about six inches,
making a distance in all of eight
inches from the lowest electric wire.
/ came to an underground wire. l
knew enough about electricity to real
ize that this wire could not be charged,
as it 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 I
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 a lead pencil and
there was no chance of breaking it.
The jack-knife l had had at the start
of my travels 1 had long since lost
and ever if 1 had had something to
hammer with, the noise would have
made the method impracticable.
l went on digging. When the total
distance between the live wire and the
bottom of the hole l had dug was
thirty inches, l took hold of the ground
wire and pulled on it with all my
strength.
1t wouldn't bulge. 1t was stretched
taut across the narrow ditch 1 had
dug-about fourteen inches wide
and all the Juggling didn't serve to
loosen it.
1 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 a
moment or two of pulling as l had
never pulled in my life before, a
staple on the next post gave way,
and my work became easier. 1 had
more leeway now and pulled and
pulled again until in all eight staples
had given way.
Every time a staple gave way, it
sounded in my ears like the report of
a gun, although I suppose it didn't
really make very much noise. Never
theleSS, each time l would put my ear
to the ground to listen for the guard.
If 1 heard him 1 would stop working
and lie perfectly still in the dark till
he had gone by.
By pulling ON the wire, 1 was now
able to drag it through the ground
enough to place it back from the
fence and go on digging.
The deeper l went the harder be.
came the work, because by this time
my finger nails were broken and ]
was nervous-afraid every moment
that I would touch the charged wire.
1 kept at it. however, with my mind
constantly on the hole 1 was digging
and the liberty which was almost with
in my reach.
Finally 1 figured that l had enough
Snape to crawl through and still leave