Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-05-07
"OutWiHing the Hun"
By Lieutenant Pat O'Brien

gian would become increasingly diff
I ncult, he pointed out. and would
bring inevitable disaster in the event
that l was called upon to speak,
Huyliger said l would be given
| sufficient money to bribe the Ger
man guards at the Dutch frontier and
he assured me that everything would
work out according to schedule.
Yours is not the first case.
O'Brien, we have handled success
fully" he declared. only three
weeks ago l heard from an English
merchant who had escaped from a
German detention camp and came to
| me for assistance and whom 1 had
been able to get through the lines.
His message telling ME of his safe
arrival in Rotterdam came to me in
an indirect way, of course: but the
fact that the plans we had made
carried through without mishap
makes me feel that we ought to Le
able to do as much for you
told Huyliger 1 was ready to fol-
low his instructions and would do
| anything he suggested.
Il want to rejoin my squadron as
| soon as L possibly cam" 1 told him,
but l realize that it will take a
49, N0'A ANHe He1i VI lllll6 lOE NOu 10
make the necessary arrangements,
and l will be as patient as 1 can"
Role of Spanish Sailor
The first thing to do, Huyliger told
me, was to prepare a passport. He
had a blank one and it was a COM
paratively simple matter to fill in
the spaces, using a genuine passport
which Huyliger possessed as a sam
pie of the handwriting of the pass
port clerk.
My occupation was entered as that
of a sailor. My birthplace We gave
as Spain, and we put my age at 80.
AS a matter of fact. at that time 1
could easily have passed for 50, but
We figured that with proper food and
decent place to sleep at night,
could soon regain my normal appear
ance, and the passport would have to
serve me, perhaps, for several weeks
to come.
Filling in the blank spaces on the
passport was. as 1 have said, a COM
paratively easy matter, but that did
not begin to fill the bill. Every
genuine passport bore an official
| rubber stamp. something like an
elaborate postmark, and l was at a
loss to know how to get over that
difficulty.
Fortunately, however. Huyliger
had half of a rubber stamp. which
had evidently been thrown away by
the Germans. and he planned to con-
struct the other half out of the cork
from a wine bottle. He was very
skilful with a penknife and. although
he spoiled a score or more of corks
before he succeeded in getting any
thing like the result he was after,
the finished article was far better
than our most sanguine expectations,
Indeed. after we had pared It over
here and there and removed what
ever imperfections our repeated test
disclosed, we had a stamp which
made an impression so closely re-
sembling the original that without
,magnifying glass. we were sure, it
would have been impossible to tell
that 1t was a counterfeit.
Photographed Fer Passport
Huyliger procured a camera and
took a photograph of me to paste on
the passport in the place provided
for that purpose, and We then had
passport which was entirely salts
factory to both of us and would, we
hoped. prove equally so to our
friends, the Huns.
1t had taken two days to fix up
the passport. In the meanwhile Huy-
Tiger informed me that he had
changed his plans about the convent
and that, instead. he would take me
to an empty house, where I could
remain in safety until he told me it
was advisable for me to proceed to
the frontier.
This was quite agreeable to me, as
/ had had some misgivings as to the
kind of priest I would make, and
il seemed to me to be safer to re-
main aloof from everyone in de-
serted house than to have to mingle
with people or come in contact with
them, even with the best of dis
guises.
That night I accompanied Huyliger
to a fashionable section of the city.
where the house in which I was to
be concealed was located.
This house turned out to he a four
story structure of brick. Huyliger
told me that it had been occupied by
a wealthy Belgian before the war,
but since 1914 it had been uninhab-
tied save for the occasional Nabita-
tion of some refugee whom Huyliger
was befriending.
Huyliger had a key and let me in.
but he did not enter the house with
me. stating that he would visit me.
in the morning.
(To BE Contlnued)