The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1918-07-15
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Copyright, 1918, by Pat Alva O'Brien

BY puInus wire, was now
able to drag it through the ground
enough to place 1t back from the
fence and go on digging.
The deeper I went the harder be-
came the work, because by this time
my finger nails were broken and ]
was nervous-afraid every moment
that would touch the charged wire.
kept at it. however, with my mind
constantly on the hole l was digging
and the liberty which was almost with
in my reach.
Finally l figured that I had enough
space to crawl through and still leave
a couple Of inches between my back
and the live wire.
Before 1 went under that wire I no.
ticed that the lace which the Belgian
woman had given me as a souvenir
made my pocket bulge, and lest it
might be the innocent means of cleo
trocuting me by touching the live wire,
/ took it out, rolled it up and threw 1t
over the barrier first.
Then l lay down on my stomach and
crawled or rather writhed under the
wire like snake, with my feet first,
and there wasn't any question Of my
hugging mother earth as closely as
possible because / realized that even
to touch the wire above me with my
back meant instant death.
Anxious as / was to get on the other
side, didn't hurry this. operation. l
feared that there might be some little
detail that I had overlooked and I ex-
ercised the greatest possible care in
going under, taking nothing for
granted.
When I finally got through and
Strengthened up. there were still sew
eral feet Of Belgium between me and
liberty, represented by the six feet
which separated the electric barrier
from the last barbed wire fence. but
before went another step / went
down on my knees and thanked God
for my long series Of escapes and es.
pecially for this last achievement,
which seemed to me to be about all
that was necessary to bring me free
dom.
Then I crawled under the barbed
wire fence and breathed the free air Of
Holland. l had no clear idea just
where 1 was and I didn't care much.
l was out Of the power Of the Germans
and that was enough. had walked
perhaps a hundred yards, when I re-
the lace'I had thrown over
the barrier, and dangerous as real
lied the undertaking to be, deter
mined to walk back and get it. This
my going back onto Bel
giaf soil again, but 1t seemed shame
to leave the lace there, and by eNer-
cising little care I figured could
get it easily enough.
When / came to the spot at which 1
had made my way under the barbed
wire, put my ear to the ground and
for the sentry. I heard him
coming and lay prone on the ground
till he had passed. The fact that he
might observe the hole in the ground
or the ladder occurred to me as l lay
there, and it seemed like an age be-
fore he finally marched out of ear
shot. Then went under the barbed
wire again, retrieved the lace and once
again made my way to Dutch terri
tory.
It does not take long to describe the
events just referred to, but the incl
dents themselves consumed several
hours In all. To dig the hole must
have taken me more than two hours
and I had to stop frequently to hide
while the sentry passed. Many times.
indeed. thought I heard him coming
and stopped my work and then dis
covered that 1t was only my imagina-
ton. certainly suffered enough that
night to last me a lifetime. With a
German guard on one side. death from
electrocution on the other, and starva-
ton staring me In the face, my plight
was anything but a comfortable one.
It was on the 10th Of November,
1917, when I got through the wire. /
had made my leap from the train on
September 9th. Altogether, therefore,
just seventy-two days had elapsed
since i escaped from the Huns. If l
live to be as old as Methusaleh, never
expect to live through another sew
enty-two days so crammed full of in
cident and hazard and lucky escape.
CHAPTER XVIII.