The Lamar register., 1918-08-28

to make the supreme test. III IL proved
successful my troubles were over
within a few hours | would be in n
neutral country out of all danger. If
l failed-I dismissed the idea sum-
marily. There was no use worrying
about failure; the thing to do was to
succeed.
The few hours that were to pass
before night came on seemed endless,
but 1 utilized them to re-enforce my
ladder, tying the rungs more securely
with long grass which l picked In the
woods.
At last night came, and with my
ladder in hand made for the barrier.
In front of IL there was a cleared
space of about one hundred yards.
which had been prepared to make the
work of the guards easier in watch
ing it.
waited In the nelghborhood until /
heard the sentry pass the spot where 1
was in hiding and then l hurried
across the clearing. showed my ladder
under the barbed wire and endeav-
ored to follow II. My clothing caught
in the wire, but l wrenched myself
clear and crawled to the electric bar
rier.
My plan was to place the ladder
against one of the posts, climb up to
the top and then jump. There would
be n fall of nine or ten feet. and
might possibly sprain an ankle or
break my leg. but II that was all that
stood between me and freedom l
wasn't going to stop to consider 1t.
l put my ear TO the ground to listen
for the coming of the sentry. There
was not a sound. Eagerly but care
fully I placed .the ladder against the
post and started up. Only u few feet
separated me from liberty. and my
heart beat fast.
l had climbed perhaps three rungs
of my ladder when l became aware
of an unlocked for difficulty.
The ladder was slipping.
Just as | took the next rung. the
ladder slipped. came In contact with
the live wire. and the current passed
through the wet sticks and into my
body. There was a blue flash. my
hold on the ladder relaxed and 1 fell
heavily to the ground unconscious
OF course. / had not received the
full force of the current or l would
not now be here. l must have re-
mained unconscious for few mo-
ments. but l came to just In time to
hear the German guard coming. and
the thought came to me II | didn't get
that ladder concealed ut once he would
see II even though. fortunately for me.
1t was an unusually dark night.
1 pulled the ladder out of his path
and lay down fiat on the ground not
seven feet away from his feet. He
passed SO close that l could have
pushed the ladder out and tripped
him up.
1t occurred to me that could have
climbed back under the barbed wire
fence and waited for the sentry to re-
turn and then felled him with a blow
on the head, as he had no idea, of
course. that there was anyone in the
vicinity. l wouldn't have hesltated
to take life, because my only thought
was to get into Holland, but thought
that rs long as he didn't bother me
perhaps the safest thing to do was not
to bother him. but to continue my ef-
forts during his periodic absence.
His beat at this point was apparent
ly fairly long and allowed me more
time to work than / had hoped for.
My mishap with the ladder had con-
vinced me that my escape in that way
was not feasible. The shock that 1
had received had unnerved me and 1
was afraid to risk 1t again, particu-
larly as / realized that had fnred
more fortunately than l could hope
to again If l met with a similar mis-
hap. There was no way of making
that ladder hold and gave up the idea
of using it.
1 was now right In front of this
electric barrier and as / studied 1t
saw another way of getting by. II
couldn't get over 1t. what was the
matter with getting under It?
The bottom wire was only two
inches from the ground and, of course.
l couldn't touch 1t. but my plan was
to dig underneath 1t and then crawl
through the hole In the ground.
l had only my hands TO dig with.
but l went at 1t with will and fortu-
nately the ground was not very hard.
When / had dug about six inches.