The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1918-12-06

N"h prisoners In Germany
Sm,s muMer path had been shipped from
owitzerland and it had been installed
oasickl got a bath and a change =
underwear. Many of The Amorioo y. y
III the camp were ron-coms Non
Inns, ons' oaVicki was told, are not re
quired to labor. Tn, American 20
"iaihed 10 days in this camp and re
ceiVed two boxes from the Red Cross
containing each 10 younds Of CANNED
meat, Deans. tobacco aid hard tack
Inc fed Cross forwards one of thos.
'oAes each week to every American
prisoner in Germany
From Rastatt, Sa,icKi wa, sa,. o.
WORK on farm. The farm was nea,
nttie town of so houses. l. WAS nre
sized over by an aged German and. his
wiie' Their son, 80 years old. was a,
'he front. The old farmer mn b;e
charge to digging potatoes with q
'ork. Savicki worked from dovliyh,
uhtii dark, about Ia hours.
AFTER dark he had p late sumner n,
me same table as the German connie
sometimes the Germans hal eggs and
occasionally a little uilk- mover ony
| 'heat-but usually ;ha',. sol, articIe RI
uiet was potatoes, and potatoes was
all they ever gave Savicki
| After supper German soldier rama
| LOT the prisoner and marched him 10 ::
sort OF guard house in wnicn wero
!4'Ertered a group Of Russian prison
ers who worked on nthar farms
Il ese Russians, although peace be-
t"een Russia and tI.jrn.anv had lonc
since been signed, we.n sti in can
tV;ty despite thei' protests They
were treated the sar.e as the lone
American except that. whereas the
latter was locked in his prison al;
ga! on Sundays they were allowed
The freedom of the farm.
Speaking their language, Sayicki
soon gained the confidence of the
Russians. Some of them had been
captive for nearly foar years. All of
them were restrained from efforts to
escape by i;e rigorous punishment in
tiicted upon fugitives when caueht.
This punishment consisted of 20 days
solitary confinement in Il bare room
on diet of bread and water, bread
one day and water the next, alternat-
ing through the 20. You got this pun
ishment if you were not shot, but,
they explained, escaping prisoners
usually were shot
Despite this prospect, Savicki de-
cided to chance it. He learned from
the Russians that 4 snow-cap3ed
mountain, visible in the distance, was
IN Switzerland; it would serve to
guide him. On the fifteenth day of
his stay on the farm came his weekly
box of provisions from the Red Cross.
He and the Russians ate it between
them, all except two cans of corned
beef and two packages of hardtack.
This the American reserved for his
flight.
That night, as usual, the guard
came to the farm house for his
charge. AS usual, the Yank started to
the guardhouse. AS usual, the sentry
followed about 20 feet behind. In
fact, the only unusual thing that hap
pened this evening was that Savicki
stepped aside at the door of his Jail
and when the guard entered, as was
his habit, he shut the door and locked
it. Then he quietly made Off
He cut straight across country,
avoiding all highways. His path lay
over the tops of several hills, through
knots of woods and stretches OF
ground heavy with underbrush, across
several small cultivated valleys. he
travelled all night. guided by the knob
of the mountain. He paused when ne
saw before him, glistening IN the
moonlight, a little river which ne
knew separated Germany from Swift
zerland.
Dawn found him in a clump OF
shrubbery on hillside, less than SUI
wards from the nearest OF the httle
yine-covered German sentry DoNes
spaced scarcely more than loo rect
anart along the international bound
arv. He breakfasted on corned peel'
hardtack and water.
In the cover of the bushes ne re-
NAMED all day. Across the valley ne
cold see the peasants tilling the SOIL
Tbev he knew, were in Switzerland.
BEFORE him, in the foreground. 100, ne
could see the river and the dllnculties
hoforo him in crossing it. Parallellng
.ho river was a railroad, the string OF
Gentry boxes and wide belt of barpeo
wire obviously put there to prevent
the escape of such as he. AT noon ne
COW the sentries changed. ana again
| in the evening. s.a not
The senries. he discovered did not
walk post, merely maintaining d
watch from their boxes The wire, re
decided he could get through ! ne
liver he calculated. was too proao u
irmn-but it, could be vaulted' ne
! St;rrod during the afternoon JUST
onorgb s 70 get a sturdy stick and trim
| II for vaulting pole.
After dark he started. He crawieu
ca slowlv and cautiously did ne &c
that the trip to the edge of the paroeo
,,;ro took five or six hours. There re
rose and threaded his way through , Tue
strands. pausing after each step 10 u'i i
sten the barbs which cluhs " HE
Va came to the railroad track ane
,,o1 over that. He could dlihl!
d;scern the sentry boxes. He heard
auard cough in one of them ut
s.,od on laving a course midwa!
between two of them. -,
He gained the edge of the river. NJ
ad on the bank. The other banR
,on feet away, was Switzerland AM
safety He poised his vaulting poll
and sprang for the further side. I'M
nole n sank four feet into the mud o
tbs pu,' river bottom. Private Frank sav
,n n,,, landed belly deep,in the waite