The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-12-05
CHAPTER XIX.

Am Presented to the King.
When the dreaded 7fh of December
arrived, I halted a taxicab and in RS
watter-of-fact tone of voice as could
command, directed the chauffeur to
drive me to Buckingham palace. as
though i was paying my regular morn
ing call on the king.
My friends version of this incident,
/ have since heard, is that 1 seated
myself in the taxi and leaning through
the window said: "Buckinghan pal
ace ~ ,whereupon the taxi driver got
down. opened the door and exclaimed
fAreateningly:
elf you don't get out quietly and
chuck your drunken talk. rn DOLLY
quick call bobby, biz me, II I
won'ti'
But can only give my word that
nothing of the kind occurred.
When i arrived at the palace gate.
the sentry on guard asked me who I
was and then let me pass at once
up to the front entrance Of the palace.
There 1 was met by an elaborately
uniformed and equally eiaborately
decorated parsonage who. judging BY
the long row OF medals he wore. must
have seen long and distinguished serv-
ice for the king.
i was relieved Of my cvefcoat. hat
and stick and conducted mp long
stairway, where was turned over to
another functionary. who led me to
the reception room Of Earl Cnomer.
the kings secretary.
Sr,s~ -
carl and duke, whose name de not
remember. / was becoming so bewil-
dered. in fact, that 1t is n wonder that
i remember as much ms do OF this
,eventful dsv-
ilad heard many times that before
beiuk presented to the king a man is
coached carefully as to just how he is
90 act and what he is to say and do,
and all this time I was wondering
WHEN this drilling would commence.
1 certainly had NO idea that Was to
he .ushered into the august presesce
.m the kfrx without some preliminary
Instruction.
Earl CrOmer and the other noblemen
10 relate In brief the story Of my ex-
pes1ence. and they appeared TO be
very much interested Perhaps they
did 1t only to give me confidence and
ms a sort of rehearsal for the main
performance, which was scheduled to
take place much sooner than i ex-
pecfed.
had barely completed my story
when the door opened and an attend
ant entered and announced:
The king will receive Leftenant
O,Brienr r.
II he had announced that the kaiser
was outside with q squad Of German
guards to take me back to Courtrai
my heart could not have sunk deeper.
Earl Cromer beckoned me to follow
him and we went into . large room,
where supposed I was at last to re-
eeive my coaching. but observed the
earl bow to . man standing there and
realized that was standing in the
presence Of the king Of England.
-Your majesty, Leftenant O'Brien !"
the. eari announced, and then immedi-
afely bstked from the room / be-
neyed would have followed right
behind him, but by that time the
king had me by the hand and was
congratulating me, and he spoke SO
very cordially and democratically
that he put me at my ease at once.
He then asked me how 1 felt and
whether I was in a condition to con-
verse. and when told him was. he
said he would be very much pleased
10 hear my story in detail.
-'Were you treated any worse by the
Germans. leftenantr he asked, "on
account OF being an American7 I've
heard that the Germans had threat
ened to shoot Americans serving in
the British army IL they captured
them. chasing them as murderers,
because America was q neutral coun-
try and Americans had no right to
mix in the war. Did you find that to
be the caser'
told him that had henrd similar
reports, but that did not notice any
appreciable difference in my treat
ment from that accorded Byitshers.
The king declared that he believed
my escape was due to my pluck and
will power and that II was one Of the
most remarkable escapes he had ever
heard Of. which thought was quite
. compliment. coming ~ 1t did from
the king Of England.
II hope that all the Americans will
give ~ good an account Of themselves
~ you have, leftenant,- he said, ~and
I feel quite sure they willx fnlly
appreciate al the service rendered NJ
By Americans before the States en-
tered the war;
Al this moment 7 asked him X