Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-10-04

accompanied by military motor
truck. hadn't the slightest idea that
they were coming after me, but still
the possibilities of the situation gave
me more or less alarm, and l consid-
cred how 1 could make my escape If
by chance 1 was the man they were
after. The idea of hiding in the wine
cellar appealed to me as the most
practical; there must have been
plenty of places among the wine kegs
and cases where a man could conceal
himself, but, as a matter of fact, 1 did
not believe that any such contingency
would arise.
The marching soldiers came nearer,
1 could hear them at the next house.
In a moment l would see them pass
the keyhole through which was look
ing.
Halt! !"
At the word of command shouted by
a junior officer the squad came to at
tention right in front of the house!
Iwaited no longer. Running down the
stairs l flew into the wine cellar and
although it was almost pitch dark
the only light coming from grating
which led to the backyard-I soon
found a satisfactory hiding place in
the extreme rear of the cellar. I had
had the presence of mind to leave the
door of the wine cellar ajar, figuring
that If the soldiers found a closed door
they would be more apt to search for
a fugitive behind it than if the door
were open.
My decision to get away from that
front door had been made and carried
out none too soon, for had only just
located myself between two big wine
cases when l heard the tramp of sol
diers' feet marching up the front stoop,
crash at the front door, a few hasty
words of command which | did not I'M
derstand, and then the noise of sour
rying feet from room to room and such
a banging and hammering and smash
ing and crashing that / could not make
out what was going on.
If Huyliger had revealed my hiding
place to the Huns, as 1 was now con-
fident he had, 1 felt that there was lit
tie prospect of their overlooking me.
They would search the house from top
to bottom and, if necessary, raze it to
the ground before they would give up
the search. To escape from the house
through the backyard through the iron
grating, which / had no doubt l could
force, seemed to be the logical thing
to do, but the chances were that the
Huns had thrown Gordon around the
entire block before the squad was sent
to the house. The Germans do these
things in an efficient manner always.
They take nothing for granted.
My one chance seemed to be to stand
pat in the hope that the officer in
charge might possibly come to the con-
clusion that he had arrived at the
house too late-that the bird had
flown.
My position in that wine cellar was
anything but a comfortable one. Rats
and mice were scurrying across the
| floor and the smashing and crashing
| going on overhead was anything but
| promising. Evidently those soldiers
imagined that / ought to be hiding in
the walls, for it sounded as though
they were tearing off the wainscotting,
the picture moldlng and, in fact
everything that they could tear or pull
apart.
Before very long they would finish
their search upstairs and would come
down to the basement. What they
| would do rhop thou diccovorod the
wine l had no idea. Perhaps they
would let themselves loose on it and
| give me my chance. With a bottle OF
wine in each hand figured / could put
up a good fight in the dark. especially
as l was becoming more and more ac
customed to it and could begin to dis
tinguish things here and there, where
as when they entered the pitchy dark
ness of the cellar, they would be a!
blind as bats in the sun.
| Perhaps it was twenty minutes be
fore / heard what sounded like m!
death-knell to me; the soldiers wer'
coming down the cellar stepsi
clutched a wine bottle in each hanC
and waited with bated breath.
Tramp! TrampI Trampl In a mo
ment they would be In the celia
proper. / could almost hear my hear
beating. The mice scurried across tn
floor by the scores, frightened n
doubt by the vibration and noise mad
by the descending soldiers. Some O
the creatures ran across me where
stood between two wine cases, but
was too much interested in bigge
game to pay any attention to mice.
: Tramp! Trampl Halt ~ Agai
: an order was given in German, and a
though / did not understand it 1 al
; willing to bless every word of it, be
cause 1t resulted in the soldiers turI
: ing right about face, marching up tn
: stairs again, through the hall and OF
l of the front door and away!
l could hardly believe my ears.
: seemed almost too good to be true thf
: they could have given up the scare
+ just as they were about to come upo
: their quarry, but unless my ears d
s ceived me that was what they ha
j done.
n The possibility that the whole thin
: might be German ruse did not oscar
} me, and l remained in the cellar fl
e nearly an hour after they had appa
$ emily departed before 1 ventured
move, listening intently in the meal
e while for the slightest sound whiC
It would reveal the presence of a sentl
upstairs.
$ Not hearing sound began to fe
# that they had indeed given up the hur
II for l did not believe that a Germf
= officer would be so considerate of h
Is men as to try to trap me rather ths
1t carry the cellar by force if they hs
1t the slightest idea that l was there.
took off my shoes and crept soft
20 and slowly to the cellar steps and tn,
er step by step, placing my weight doV
IS gradually so as to prevent the ste
ly from creaking, l climbed to the to
It The sight that met my eyes as
)e glanced into the kitchen told me {
7e whole story. The water faucets h
been ripped from the sinks, the wat
ID pipes haveing been torn off, a
lie gas fixtures, cooking utensils q,