Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1918-10-02
to myself .the moss have it." ana

10 mySeU inc hOcS nhVV IL 688
closed down the window again.
AS soon as the window was closed,
the noise of the train naturally sub
sided and its speed seemed to dimin-
tsh, and my plan appealed to mo
stronger than ever.
1 knew the guard In 'front.' Of me
didn't understand a word Of English,
and so, In quiet tone of voice, con-
fided to the English officer who sat
next me what 1 had planned to do.
For Gods sake, Pat, chuck It'll" he
urged. "Don't be lunaticl This rail-
road Is double-tracked and rock-bal-
lasted and the other track is on your
side. You stand every chance in the
world of knocking your brains out
against the rails, or hitting bridge or
q whistling post, and If you escape
those you will probably be hit by an
other train on the other track. You
haven't one chance In a thousand to
make It'll"
There was good deal Of logic In
what he said, but figured that once I
was in that reprisal camp might
never have even one chance In thou
sand to escape, and the idea Of re-
naming prisoner of war indefinitely
went against my grain. I resolved to
take my chance now at the risk Of
breaking my neck.
The car was full of smoke. looked
across at the guard. He was rather an
old man, going home on leave, and he
seemed to be dreaming of what was In
store for him rather than paying any
particular attention to me. Once in
while had smiled at him, and figured
that he hadn't the slightest idea OF
what was going through my mind all
the time we had been travelling.
began to cough as though my throat
was badly irritated by the smoke and
then opened the window again. This
time the guard looked up and showed
his disapproval, but did not say any4
thing.
1t was then o'clock In the morn
ing and would soon be light. l knew
had to do it right then, or never, as
there would be no chance to escape In
the daytime.
I had on a trench coat that I had
used as a flying coat and wore my
knapsack, which / had constructed
out of gas bag brought into Courtrai
by a British prisoner. In this l had
two pieces of bread, a piece of sau-
sage and pair of flying mittens. All
of them had to go with me through the
window.
The train was now going at rate OF
between thirty and thirty-five miles an
hour, and again 1t seemed to admonish
me as it ratified along o er the ties.
you're fool if you do-you're a fool
If you don't. You're fool If you don't
you're fool if you do. You're fool
If you don't"
I waited no longer. Standing upon
the bench as If to put the bag on the
rack and taking hold of the rack with
my left hand and strap that hung
from the top of the car with my right,
pulled myself up. showed my feet and
legs out of the window and let go.
There was a prayer on my lips as I
went out, and I expected bullet be-
tween my shoulders, but 1t was all
over in an instant.
landed on my left side and face.
burying my face in the rock ballast,
cutting it open and closing my left
eye, skinning my hands and shins and
straining my ankle. For a few mo-
ments / was completely knocked OUT
and if they shot at me through the
window, in the first moments after my
escape, had no way of knowing.
Of course, If they could have stopped
the train right then, they could easily
have recaptured me, but at the speed II
was going and in the confusion which
must have followed my escape, they
probably didn't stop within half Of
mile from the spot where lay.
came to within a few minutes and
when examined myself and found no
bones broken, ] didn't stop to worry
about my cuts and bruises, but jumped
up with the idea of putting as great a
distance between me and that track as
possible before daylight came. Still be-
ing dazed, ! forgot all about the barbed
wire fence along the right of way and
ran full tilt into it. Right there lost
one of my two precious pieces Of bread
which fell out Of my knapsack, but !
could not stop to look for it then.
The one thing that was uppermost in
my mind was that for the moment
was free, and 1t was up to me now to
make the most Of my liberty.