New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1918-10-18

drive me to Buckingham palace. q
though l was paying my regular mOrI
Ing call on the king.
My friends version of this inciden
have since heard. Is that l seate
myself In the taxi and leaning throug
the window said: buckingham pa
ace" %whereupOn the taxi driver &c
down. opened the door and exclaime
threateningly:
III you don't get out quietly an
chuck your drunken talk, I'll jOll
quick call a bobby. biz me, II
won't"
But l a only give my word tina
nothing of the kind occurred.
When l arrived at the palace gate
the sentry on guard asked me who
was and then let me pass at ono
up to the front entrance of the palace
There I was met by an elaborated,
uniformed and equally elaborated.
decorated parsonage who. judging b.
the long row Of medals he wore. mus
have seen long and distinguished serv
Ice for the king.
was relieved of my o%vercoat, ha
and stick and conducted up a lOni
stairway, where l was turned over t.
another functlonary. who led me t.
the reception room of Earl CrOmer
the kings secretary.
There l was introduced to another
earl and a duke, whose name I do moi
remember. l was becoming so bewil
dered, in fact, that 1t Is a wonder thai
I remember as much as l do OF this
eventful day.
l had heard many times that before
being presented to the king a nan Is
coached carefully as to just how he Is
to act and what he is to say and do,
and all this time l was wondering
when this drilling would commence.
l certainly had no idea that l was to
be ushered into the august presence
Of the king without some preliminary
instruction.
Earl CrOmer and the other nOblemen
talked to me for a while and got me
to relate In brief the story of my ex-
perience. and they appeared TO be
very much Interested. Perhaps they
did it only to give me confidence and
as a sort of rehearsal for the main
performance, which was scheduled to
take place much sooner than l eX-
pected.
l had barely completed my story
when the door opened and an attend
ant entered and announced:
"The king will receive Leftenant
O'Brien !"
If he had announced that the kaiser
was outside with a squad of German
guards to take me back to Courtrai
my heart could not have sunk deeper.
Earl Cromer beckoned me to follow
him and we went into Il large room,
where supposed l was at last to re-
ceive my coaching. but l observed the
earl bow to a man standing there and
realized that l IA standing in the
presence of the king of England.
Your majesty, L%eftenant O'Brien! !"
he earl announced, and then immedi-
ately backed from the room. l be-
lieved l would have followed right
behind him. but by that time the
king had me by the hand and was
cong%ratulating me, and he spoke SO
very cordially and Economically
that he put me at my ease at once.
He then asked me how l felt and
whether l was in a condition to ION
verse. and when I told him l was, he
said he would be very much pleased
to hear my story In detail.
Were you treated any worse by the
Germans. leftenant?" he asked, ION
account Of being an American? I've
heard that the Germans had threat
ened to shoot Americans serving In
the British army If they captured
them, CHASING them as murderers,
because America was a neutral cOun-
try and Americans had no right to
mix In the war. Did you find that to
be the case?"
l told him that I had heard similar |
reports. but that l did not notice any
appreciable difference in my treat
ment from that accorded Britishers.
The king declared that he believed
my escape was due to my pluck and
will power and that 1t was one Of the |
most remarkable escapes he had ever
heard Of, which l thought was quite
a compliment. coming as 1t did from
the king Of England.
II hope that all the Americans will
give as good an account of themselves
as you have. leftenant," he said, "and
l feel quite sure they will. 1 fully
all the service rendered us
by Americans before the States 4.
tered the war"
At this moment I asked him IL l
was taking too much time.
mot at all, %leftenant, not at all 2"
replied, most cordially. Il was
interested In the brief re-
port that came to me of your wonder
full escape and l sent for you because
| wanted to hear the whole story first
hand. and I am very glad you were
able to come"
l had not expected to remain more
than a few minutes. as 1 understood
that four minutes Is considered a long
audience with the king. Ffty-two
minutes elapsed before l finally left
During all this time I had done most
Of the talking, in response to the
king's request to tell my story. Occa-
he interrupted to ask q ques-
lion about a point he wanted me to
make clear. but for the most part he
vas content to play the part Of a lis
ener.
He seemed to be very keen on every
hing and when I described some of