The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1918-08-23
to myself "the noes have It," and
closed down the window again.

u ii1Ntll lHc uotS nave anu
.Iosed down the window again.
AS soon as the window was closed,
the noise Of the train naturally SUBJ
sided and its speed seemed to dimin-
sh, and my plan appealed to me
stronger than ever.
knew the guard In front of me
didn't understand word of English.
fided to the English officer who sat
next me what l had planned to do.
For Gods sake, Pat, chuck ii - he
urged. Don't be lunatic 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 a bridge or
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 1t!
There was a good deal Of logic In
what he said, but l figured that once I
was In that reprisal camp l might
never have even one chance in q thou
sand to escape, and the idea of re-
naming a prisoner of war indefinitely
went against my grain. / resolved to
take my chance now at the risk OF
breaking my neck. tSs.
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 irrltated by the smoke and
then opened the window again. This
time the guard looked up and showed
his disapproval, but did not say a1J-
| thing. ~.
1t was then 4 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.
| hdu VIZ a tiCuNu Gut ilidl iidA
used as flying coat and wore my
knapsack, which I had constructed
out of gas bag brought into Courtrai
by British prisoner. In this l had
two pieces of bread, a piece Of sau-
sage and a pair Of flying mittens. All
! of them had to go with me through the
window.
Tho fru in NJ OF 81
between thirty and thirty-fve miles an
hour, and again it seemed to admonsh
me as 1t ratified along over the ties.
You're fool If you do-you're fool
If you don't. You're fool If you don't
you're fool If you do. You're a fool
II 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 ant
legs out of the window and let go.
] There was prayer on my lips as
e went out, and l expected bullet be
q tween my shoulders, but 1t was al
over in an instant. 10
I landed on my left side and face
t burying my face In the rock ballast
cutting it open and closing my lief
: eye, skinning my hands and shins ant
3 straining my ankle. For a few mo
ments l was completely knocked out
and If they shot at me. through the
window in the first moments after my
escape, l 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
r was going and in the confusion which
must have followed my escape, they
probably didn't stop within half of a
mile from the spot where lay.
/ came to within a few minutes and
when l examined myself and found nc
t bones broken, didn't stop to worry
about my cuts and bruises, but jumped
: up with the idea of putting as great q
) distance between me and that track as
| possible before daylight came. Still be
ing dazed. forgot all about the barbet
t wire fence along the right of way an6
! 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
7 my mind was that for the moment
l was free, and it was up to me now tc
7 make the most of my liberty.