The Cordova daily times., 1918-08-24

hear the German guard coming, and the thought came to me If I didn't get that lnddrr concealed nt once he would SC" II even though. fortunately for me. it was an unusually dark night
 l pulled the ladder out of his path and lay down fiat on th" ground not seven feet away from his feet. He passed so close that I could have pushed the ladder out and ripped him up.
 II occurred to me that could have climbed back under the hnrhrd wire fence and waited for the sentry to re- turn and then f"ll"d him with blow on tn" head, as he had no idea, of course, that there was anyone in the vicinity. l wouldn't have hcSitated to take life. b"cauS" my only thought was to get Into Holland. but 1 thought that ns long nS h" didn't bother me perhaps tn" safest thing to do was not to bother him, but to continue my ef- forts during his periodic absence
 Ills beat at thls point was apparent ly fairly long and allowed me more time to work than I had hoped for.
 My mishap with the ladder had con vinced me that my escape in that way was not feasible. The shock that l had received had unnerved me and was afraid to risk 1t again. partcu. larly as I realized that I had fared more fortunately than I could hope to again if l met with n similar mis- hap. There was no way of making that ladder hold and gave up the idea of using It.
 was now right in front of this electric barrier and as I studied It saw another way of getting by. If 1 couldn't get over It, what was the matter with getting under It?
 The bottom wire was only two inches from the ground and. of course, l couldn't touch It. but my plan was to dig underneath 1t and then crawl through the hole In the ground.
 I had only my hands to dig with, but went at 1t with will and fortu- nately the ground was not very hard.
 When I had dug about six inches. making n distance in all of eight inches from the lowest electric wire. came to an underground wire. I knew enough about electricity to real iZe that this wire could not be charged. as it was In contact with the ground. but still there was not room between the live wire and this underground wire for me to crawl through. and I ether had to go back or dig deep enough under this wire to crawl under 1t or else pull 1t up.
 This underground wire was about as big around as lead pencil and there was no chance of breaking It. The jack knife had had at the start of my travels I had long since lost and even If had had something to hammer with, the noise would have made the method impractlcable.
 l went on digging. When the total distance between the live wire and the bottom of the hole I had dug was thirty inches, took hold of the ground wire and pulled on 1t with all my strength.
 It wouldn't budge. It was stretched taut across the narrow ditch l had duC-nbout fourteen inches wide and all the tugging didn't serve to loosen 1t.
 I was just about to give up in de Spuir when n staple gave way In the nearest post. That enabled me to pull the wire through the ground little and renewed my efforts. After moment or two of pulling as l had never pulled in my life before. staple on the next post gave way, and my work became easier. I had more leeway now and pulled and had given way.
 Every time staple gave way. 1t sounded in my ears like the report of a gun, although I suppose It didn't really make very much noise. Never theless. each time I would put my ear to the ground to listen for the guard If I heard him l would stop working and He perfectly still in the dark till he had gone hy.
 By pulling on the wire. I was now able to drag It through the ground enough to place It back from the fence and go on digging.
 The deeper went the harder be- came the work. because by this time my finger nails were broken and was nervous-afraid every moment that l would touch the charged wire.
 kept at 1t. however, with my mind constantly on the hole I was digging and the liberty which was almost with in my reach.
 Finally I figured that I had enough space to crawl through and still leave couple of inches between my back and the live wire.
 Before l went under that wire no- ticed that the lace which the Belgian woman had given me ns a souvenir made my pocket bulge, and lest 1t might be the innocent means of cleo trocuting me by touching the live wire. I took 1t out, rolled IL up and threw 1t over the barrier first.
 Then l lay down on my stomach ana crawled or rather writhed under the