The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1918-10-05

AS soon as the window was closed
the noise of the train naturally sub
sided and it's speed seemed to dimin~
ish, and my plan appealed to ma
stronger than ever.
knew the guard in front Of me-
didn't understand a word of English
and so, in a quiet tone of voice, con-
fided to the English officer who sat
next me what had planned to do.
"For Gods sake, Pat, chuck itl" he
urged. Don't be lunatic! This rail-
road Is double-tracked and rock-baH-
lasted and the other track is on your
side. You stand every chance in ths
world Of knocking your brains oue
against the rails, or hitting bridge or
whistling post. and If you escape
those you will probably be hit BY am
other train ON the other track. You
haven't one chance in a thousand t0
make til"
There was a good deal Of logic in
what he said, but figured that once I
was in that reprisal camp I might
never have even one chance in a thou
sand to escape, and the idea of re-
naming q prisoner of war indefinitely
went against my grain. 1 resolved to
take my chance now at the risk OF
breaking my neck.
The car was full Of smoke. I looked
across at the guard. He was rather am
old man, going home on leave. and he
seemed to be dreaming Of what was I'm
store for him rather than paying anH
particular attention to me. Once in q
while I 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 irritated by the smoke and
then opened the window again. This
time the guard looked up and showed
his disapproval, but did not say any
thing.
It was then 4 o'clock in the morn
ing and would soon be light. I knew 7
had to do it right then, or never, as
there would be no chance to escape in
the daytime.
I had on a trench coat that had
used as a flying coat and wore my
knapsack. which I had constructed
out of a gas bag brought into Courtrai
by a British prisoner. In this I had
two pieces of bread, piece of sau-
sage and pair Of flying mittens. All
of them had to go with me through the
window.
The train was now going at a rate OF
between thirty and thirty-flve miles an
hour, and again 1t seemed to admonish
me as IL ratified along over the ties.
You're fool IL you do-you're fool
II you don't. You're fool IL you don't
you're fool If you do. You're fool
If you don't"
I waited no longer. Standing upon
the bench as II 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,
I pulled myself up, showed my feet and
legs out Of the window and let 60.
There was a prayer on my lips as Z
went out, and expected bullet be-
tween my shoulders, but it was all
over In an instant.
landed on my left side and face
burying my face in the rock ballast.
cutting 1t open and closing my left
eye. skinning my hands and shins and
straining my ankle. For few mo-
ments I was completely knocked out.
and IL they shot at me through tho
window, in the first moments after my
escape, I 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 it
was going and In the confusion which
must have followed my escape, they
probably didn't stop within half Of q
mile from the spot where lay.
came to within few minutes and
when I examined myself and found mo-.
bones broken, I 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 Al
possible before daylight came. sim be-
ing dazed, forgot all about the barbe6
wire fence along the right Of way and
ran full tilt into 1t. Right there ! lost
one Of my two precious pieces Of bread.
which fell out Of my knapsack, but Z
could not stop to look for It then.
The one thing that was uppermcst In
my mind was that for the moment Z
was free, and 1t was up to me now to
r,nu 10 kha 80