The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-01-24
A1RNAN LEAPS TO FREEDOM.
Lieut.. O'Brien, American, Makes
Thrilling Escape.


Patrick O'Brien, of Momence, ILL.,,
the first American member OF the
British flying corps to escape from
Germany, has arrived in London.
O'Brien eluded his captors by jump
ing from the window Of speeding
train. He then became a fugitive
for seventy-two days and, as his goal
was within sight, narrowly escaped
.electrocution from the charged wires
along the Holland frontier. Recent
" O'Brien was dined by group of
admiring fliers, who had believed he
had been killed when he was report
ed missing on August II, last.
O'Brien, who is q years old, was
flying in the American aviation
squadron at San Diego, when he went
to Victoria, B. c., and obtained a
commission in the Canadian army.
Going to France the next year he dis
tinquished himself by his great dar-
Ing over the German lines.
Greatly Outnumbered.
In an encounter on August II,
there were twenty German machines
to six British, O'Brien's machine
alone engaging four enemy craft and
accounted for one before O'Brien was
shot through the upper lip. He fell
with his damaged airplane eight
thousand feet. O'Brien says he can
not explain why he was not killed.
When he regained consciousness he
was in a German hospital.
Later the lieutenant spent three
weeks at a prison camp at Courtral
before he was started for the inter-
ior of Germany. There were three
other prisoners under a strong
guard in his compartment when
O'Brien, as ruse, had the window
opened by complaining of the smoke.
Took Desperate Chance.
The train was now sixty miles in
side Germany and travelling at th1r-
ty miles an hour, but O'Brien decid-
ed to take a desperate chance. He
Jumped from the train, skinning the
whole side of his face, reopening the
wound in his lip and losing conscious
ness. It was about o'clock in the
morning, and the darkness shielded
him. When he recovered he was ly-
Ing in field. Then for seventy-two
days he was a fugitive, travelling only
at night. He trudged through fields
and swamps, rivers. and canals IN
Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium
before he reached the Dutch frontier.
At the time of his flight he had a
piece of sausage, on which he sub
sisted for several days, after which
his sole sustenance consisted of tur-
nips and other vegetables.
.Belgians Aided Him.
O'Brien did not know German, but
he used a little French on kindly
Belgian who sheltered him for sew
eral days. The Belgian gave him old
clothes to cover his uniform and dl-
rected him to the nearest route to
the. frontier. O'Brien swan the riv-
er Meuse near Namur and the next
day was challenged by German SEN
tries, who decided he was a peasant.
But his narrowest escape was re-
served for his last day as fugitive,
when he could see Dutch territory.
To circumvent the charged wires,
O'Brien built a bridge in a nearby
wood and threw it across the wires.
But it broke under his weight anu
O'Brien received a shock which he
says he can still feel. He recovered
and dug with bare hands a tunnel
under the wire and, although 1t was
slow progress, after several hours he
had a hole big enough to crawl
through.
He concealed himself in hay
barn until the next morning, when
he hurried to the nearest British
consul, who arranged for his trans
portation to London.
Merry Christmas.