The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1918-10-10


My friends version Of this incident,
I have since heard, Is that seated
myself In the taxi and leaning through
the window said: Buckingham pal
ace" whereupon the taxi driver got
down, opened the door and exclaimed
threateningly:
"If you don't get out quietly and
chuck your drunken talk, I'll jolly
quick call bobby, BIZ me, II l
won't |"
But can only give my word that
nothing of the kind occurred.
When l arrived ut the palace gate.
the sentry on guard asked me who l
was and then let me pass at once
up to the front entrance Of the palace.
There I was met by an elaborately
uniformed and equally elaborately
decorated parsonage who. judging by
the long row Of medals he wore, must
have seen long and distinguished serv-
ice for the king.
l was relieved OF my overcoat. hat
and stick and conducted up long
stairway, where / was turned over to
another functi0nary, who led me to
the reception room Of Earl Cromer.
the kings secretary.
There / was introduced to another
earl and duke, whose name do not
remember. ! was becoming so bewll-
dered, In fact, that II Is wonder that
/ remember as much as | do of this
eventful day.
l had heard many times that before
being presented to the king man 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.
| certainly had no Idea that 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 while and got me
to relate In brief the story of my eI-
perience, and they appeared to be
very much interested. Perhaps they
did II only to give me confidence and
as sort of rehearsal for the main
performance, which was scheduled to
take place much sooner than l ex-
pected.
/ had barely completed my story
when the door opened and an attend
ant entered and announced:
"The king will receive Leftenant
O'Brlenv
II 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 large ROOM
where l supposed was ut last to re-
ceive my coaching, but | observed the
earl bow to man standing there and
realized that | was standing In the
presence Of the king Of England.
"Your majesty, Leftenant O'Brien y
the earl announced, and then immedl-
ately backed from the room. be-
lleved would have followed right
behind him, but by that time the
king had me by the hand and was
congratulatlng me, and he spoke Sc
very cordially and democrntlcally
that he put me Mt my ease at once.
He then asked me how l felt and
whether | was In condition to con
verse, and when l told him was, he
said he would be very much pleased
to hear my story In detail.
"Were you treated any worse by the
Germans. leftenanti" he asked, "or
account of being an American? I've
heard that the Germans had threat.
ened to shoot Americans serving In
the British army II they captured
them, CHASING them as murderers
because America was neutral coun'
try and Americans had no right to
mix In the war. Did you find that to
be the case2'
| told him that / had heard similar
reports, but that l did not notice any
appreclabe difference In my treat
ment from that accorded Brltlshers
The king declared that he believed
my escape was due to my pluck and
will power and that It was. one of the
most remarkable escapes he had ever
heard Of which l thought was quite
compliment, coming rs It did from
the king Of England.
~ hope that all the Americans will
give as good an account of themselves
as you have, leftenant," he said, "and
| feel quite sure they will. | fully
appreciate all the service rendered us
by Americans before the States en-
tered the war;"
At this moment | asked him II
was taking too much time.
"Not ut all, leftenant, not ut all |!
ho replied. most cordially. ~ was
extremely interested in the brief re-
port that came to me Of your wonder
full escape and sent for you because
wanted to hear the whole story first
hand. and | am very glad you were
able to come"
had not expected to remain more
than few minutes, as l understood
that four minutes Is considered lonl
audience with the king Flfty-twC
minutes elapsed before finally left
therel
During all this time l had done most
of the talking, In response to the
kings request to tell my story. 0cca
sionally he interrupted to ask ques
ton about point he wanted me tc
make clear, but for the most part he
was content to play the part Of lis
tener.
He seemed to be very keen on every
thing and when described some OF
the tight holes l got into during my
| a