Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-09-13

%%e%AAS%%$%%<A%s%.
the house, but l groped around very
carefully and soon 1 touched some
thing hanging on a peg. 1 diGn't
know what it was, but l confiscated
it and carried it out into the fields.
There in the moonlight 1 examined
my booty and found that it was an old
coat. It was too short for an over
coat and too long for an ordinary
coat, but nevertheless 1 made use of
it. 1t had probably been an oyercoat
for the Belgian who had worn it.
Some days later l got scarf from
a Belgian peasant and with this equip
ment l was able to conceal my uni
form entirely.
Later on, however, 1 decided that it
was too dangerous to keep the uniform
ON anyway and when night came l
dug Il hole and buried it.
l never realized until / had to part
with it just how much l thought of
that uniform. 1t had been with me
through hard trials and l felt as if
were abandoning friend when l
parted with it. l was tempted to keep
the wings off the tunic, but thought
that would be q dangerous concession
to sentiment in the event that I was
ever captured. 1t was the only dis
tinction l had left, as / had given
the Royal Flying Corps badges and
the stars of my rank to the German
flying officers as souvenirs, but l felt
that it was safer to discard it. AS
it finally turned out, through all my
subsequent experiences, my escape
would never have been jeopardized
had | kept my uniform but, of course,
L had no idea what was in store for
me.
There was one thing which surprised
me very much as journeyed through
Belgium and that was the scarcity of
dogs. Apparently most of them had
been taken by the Germans and what
are left are beasts of burden who are
too tired at night to bark or bother
intruders. This was a mighty good
thing for me, for l would certainly
have stirred them up in passing
through back-yards as l sometimes
did when was making q short cut.
One night as 1 came out of a yard
it was so pitch dark that 1 could not
see ten feet ahead of me and l was
! right in the back of a little village,
although l did not know it. l crawled
along fearing l might come to a cross
| roads at which there would in all
probability be a German sentry.
| My precaution served me in good
stead for had 1 come out in the main
street of the village and within twenty
feet of me, sitting on some bricks
where they were building a little store,
1 could see the dim outline of Ger.
man spiked helmet!
1 could not cross the street and the
only thing to do was to back track
1t meant making a long detour and
losing two hours of precious time and
effort, but there was no help for it
So l plOdded wearily back, cursing
the Huns at every step.
The next night while crossing some
fields l came to road. 1t was one OF
the main roads of Belgium and was
|
roads you can hear a wagon or horse
about mile or two away. l listened
intently before l moved ahead anG
hearing nothing concluded that the
way was clear.
As l emerged from the field and go
my first glimpse of the road, 1 got the
shock of my life! In either direction
as far as l could see, the road wa:
lined with German soldiers! Wha
they were doing in that part of Bel
GUM l did not know, but you can be
mighty sure / didn't spend any timt
trying to find out.
Again it was necessary to chang'
my course and lose a certain amour
of ground, but by this time had be
come fairly well reconciled to thes'
reverses and they did not depress IN,
as much as they did at first.
At this period of my adventure, If
day or night passed without its thrill
l began to feel almost disappointed
but such disappointments wer
rather rare.
One evening as l was about to swim
n canal about two hundred feet wide
| suddenly noticed about one hundre'
yards away canal boat moored t
the side.
1t was at sort of out-of-the-wa
place and l wondered what the cana
boat had stopped for. 1 crawled u
to see. As neared the boat five me
,, were leaving it and l noticed ther