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

back to port. 1t would have been
strange climax to my adventure if thu
disaster had resulted in the sinking
Of my boat and l had lost my If,
while on my way to England aftel
having successfully outwitted thu
Huns. But my luck was with me Il
the last. and while the accident re
suited in some delay our boat was moi
seriously damaged and made the trlI
over In schedule time and without fur
Their accident. another destroyer hay
Ing been assigned to escort us through
the danger zone In place of the one
which had been put out of commits
sion.
When | arrived in London, the re,
action from the strain l had been
under for nearly three months imme-
dlately became apparent. My nerves
were In such a state that it was abso-
lutely impossible for me to cross the
street without being in deadly fear
OF being run owe or t%rampled. l stood
at the curb, like an old woman from
the country on her first visit to the
city. and | would o venture across
until some knowing policeman. recOg-
nizing my condition. came to my as
sistance and conveyed me across.
Indeed. there vas Il great number Of
English officers at home at all times
getting back their nerves" after a
long spell of active service at the
front, so that my condition was any
thing but novel to the London bob
bies.
1t was not many days, however, be-
fore | regained control of myself and
felt In tirst-class shape.
Although the British authorities in
Holland had wired my mother from
Holland that | was safe and on my
way to England. the first thing | did
when We landed was to send her Il
cable myself.
The cable read as follows:
Mrs. NJ. j. O'Brien. Momence, Ill.,. U.
s.. A..
'Just escaped from Germany. Let
ter follows"
AS l delivered it to the cable dis
patcher | could just imagine the ex-
ultation with which my mother would
receive 1t and the pride she would
feel as she exhibited it among her
neighbors and friends.
l could hear the vOlley of II told
you SOS" that greeted her good It'd
ingS.
ut would take more than the kaiser
to keep Pat in Germany" l could hear
one of them saying.
knew he'd be back for Christmas,
anyway" l could hear another re-
mark.
IL had an idea that Pat and his
comrades might spend Christmas In
| could hear another admit
ting, but | did o think any other
part of Germany would appeal to him
very much"
Mrs. O'Brien, did Pat write you
how many German prisoners he
brought back with him?" | could hear
still another credulous friend inquir-
ne.
1t was all very amusing and graft
wing to me and | must confess l felt
quite cocky AS l walked into the war
to report.
For the next five days | was kept
'ery busy answering questions put to
ne By the military authorities regard
ny what | had observed as to cOndi-
in Germany and behind the lines.
What | reported was taken down
" II st%enographer and made part Of
he official records, but | did not give
hem my story In narrative form. The
Information | wa able to give was
naturally of interest TO various
of the service, and experts
n every line of government work took
t in turns to question me. One morn
ng would be devoted, for instance,
D answering questions of a military
ature-German methods behind the
line trenches, tactics, morale of
and similar matters. Then the
Walton experts would take a whack
t me and discuss with me all l had
of German flying corps
,ethods and equipment. Then, again,
he food experts would interrogate
lie as to what I had learned of food
In Germany, Luxembourg
nd Belgium. and as I had lived pretty
lose to the ground for the best part
seventy-two days l was able to give
lem some fairly accurate reports as
actual agricultural conditions,
ANY Of the things I told them prob
bly, having more significance to them
ian they had to me.
There were many things l had OBJ
rived which I have not referred to in
Iese pages because their value to us (
light be diminished IL the Germans 4
new We were aware of them, but {
ey all reported to the authori- =,
es and it was very gratifying to. me I
hear that the experts considered
of them of the greatest value,
One of the most amusing incidents
my return occurred when 1 called at
y bankers In London to get my Der.
nal effects. q