Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-01-21
.fT TAKES THE IRISH
/ TO BEAT THE DUTCH
Pat O'Brien Brings Home Real
Thriller on His Brushes
/ With Huns
DUG WAY OUT OF TRAP
Regaled King George With Story of
Marvellous Escapes
From Foe
NEW YORK. Ian o1

He has been heralded i'm cables
from England as the Royal Flyer who
escaped from a German prisoner train
and travelled unaided through three
hostile countries to the Holland from
tier. He kept King George on needles
and pins for exactly iifty.two minutes,
according to Earl Cromcr, with the re.
Cital Of his experiences.
Pat O'Brien-he disdains longer
title-is an American war hero of the
first water. His intrepidity. his re.
sourCcfulness, his determination to
make no mark for a German firing
squad, carried him through four
+, months of hand-to.mouth flight
through the German lines.
His story begins with an aerial bat.
lie at 5000 feet over Npres, "A machine.
gun bullet that pierced his throat and
q spinning fall to earth. Three weeks
he was a prisoner and while being
taken to a reprisal camp, where he
expected to be killed, he escaped by a
plunge through train window.
For seVenty.two days, partially
blinded by the force Of his jump from
the train, unable to speak word of
German, he stole his way alone
through hostile territory through
Germany, Luxembourg. Belgium -- till
he reached the electrically charged
wire barrier on the Holland frontier.
With his hands he dug a trench under
the high.tension wires, after once re-
ceivinS a shock that rendered him
unconscious. The distance he had GOV.
cred in his escape was $50 miles.
EVERY DAY 4 LIFETIME
EVERY day was lifetime" he said
today. "There was not a minute when
] could afford to he off my guard,
Time and again / had such narrow
suueaks from capture that | thought
the end had come.
"I Travelled by night, my uniform at
first concealed with clothing I had
fllched from clotheslnes, living ON cab
bage leaves, carrots sugar beets, any.
thing | could find without endanEering
myself | lost htty pounds coming
through.
Later I discarded the uniform and
wore other bits of clothing similarly
obtained.
ct was about 4 o'clock in the morn.
ing of September that | made my
escape There were two other pris-
oners-Englishmen i'm the same com.
partment with four German guards.
The guards sat bolt upright, guns be-
tween their knees. We started from
the detention camp at COutrais, in Bel.
glum, early the same morning. |
knew where we were going. l knew
even better what we might expect at
the reprisal camp.
king George expressed great sur.
prise later that ! had not been killed
at once. Through the long hours |
came to q resolve to escape. There
was only one possible avenue, ana
that was the car window. ] whispered
the plan to the prisoner who sat next
10 me. A..
Don't 1t would he death to try
It. he said. The train was going be-
tween thirty and thlrtS-lNe mics an
hour, I judged.
ats death where we're going ]
answered.
GRABS FOOD AND LEAPS
'T rose twice at intervals and
onened tho window. The German guard
growled and looked at me strong. lie
slammed the window down. ! waited,
The train sped on. The guards grew
drowsy, They would not have imag-
ined l would attempt to jump anyhow.
NV knapsacll was i'm a rack over the
window. Suddenly ! jumped up:
grabbed the knapsaCK ut had two days
food i'm IN swung up by a strap and
crashed feet first out Of the window.
"I landed on a rock-ballast track
he'd falling on my side, and was par
tIaIiv stunned. The left side of my
face was scraped and bleeding pro
fusely. l couldn't see from my lett
eve. II was closed for month. .atter'
ward. The train stopped about three
quarters OF a mile further ON. came
10 lust before it stopped. | guess.
got up and ran like a wild man, steer
ing away from the track. There We're
cabbage and garden truck plots mostly.
Light already was coming up IN the
east. l ran as fast as | could for an
hour 1t seemed longer. lheh l
came to a little shrub and hid.
~ 10 I |
do know l never saw guard on my
trail. After had rested l crept away
TO a more secure thicket and remained
there till night. Then / went on. MY
FIRST aim wds 10 cover my UNIFORM
and I made use of a hausfrau's wash
ing for the purpose
Mindful instantly of his danger
o'Brien went on. He was swimming
q river one night, when a German
guard on the opposite bank heard the
noise. The guard gave shout 10
summon aid O'Brien turned back
and ran along the opposite bank
skulking behind bushes. The Germans
searched only along the guarded bank
HID IN LITTLE THICKET
"That is how got through
. O'Brien said. 81 did not do what the
Germans expected me to do. When
hid l hid in small thickets, not large
ones, some Oh lllGlu NOlhleillNlNNlg ~
the open and along well-beaten paths
The guards could not conceive my
being there, but l guess they looked
for me everywhere else"
Clad in his absurd costume, un
kempt. his face scabbed over on the
left side, one eye swollen and closed
oBrien passed all recognition as al
American.
II was a fright to look at,P he said
at was in Belgium that ] first looked
in the mirror. l did not recognize my
self, But the spectacle was so funny
] had to laugh"
On one occasion, before he had sheC
his uniform, 'O'Brien was stopped by
a guard at a German town. The guarC
searched him for potatoes. 1t ap
pears that potatoes are Germanyi
scarcest food. II carried water bot
Tie in one hand" he said, "and forkeC
stick in the other. The guard fun
bled at my clothes but did not opeI
my shirt. / muttered to myself, IF he
doesn't get the iron cross, he'll ge
the wooden cross" and held the cudge
ready for use. He let me pass"
In Belgium O'Brien went about
more openly. In villages of size ht
mingled with the people, assuming the
stopped slouch and shpffiing walk o.
the Belgian peasant His disguise was
perfect. He entered an amusement
place where motion pictures went will
drinks and lounged at a table. Two
German officers came in with womeI
and sat at the same table. 81 stayed