Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-02-03
Sllaffer's Last
Flight

area made an awful lot OF smoke.
The barn was black with 1t and
many suffered from sore eyes.
"Buck Home''
Two days after I got back home"
we moved again. When the orders
came I promptly asked for my boots.
Nothing doing. I had a pair of shoes
said the Boche. 1t sure made me
thing to help matters made me even
madder. Wooden shoes or not I was
firmly decided on escaping again. but
the Boche in command was a wise
oid duck. and nipped any plans I
might have had in the bud by max
Ing me march in the front rank, right
behind him. Naturally, this posi-
tton of honor(O gave me no chance
to slip off. SO l had to march along
as best L could in my clumsy. ILL
We marched Is miles that day.
which may not sound like much, but
did you ever trS it In wooden shoes?
hightfall 1 could hardly stand up,
and what worried me more. was that
my stockings were worn so full OF
holes. that 1t was more painful to
How was [ going to get through the
next day? / could expect no help
from the Boche. for even had they
the socks they would not give them
to we prisoners, and l had to have
and biistered feet and the rough
wood of my shoes. But l was too
tried to solve the problem that night,
besides I had other troubles. l slept
in q horse trough, and had to hight
for it ahat that and the fact that 1t
was filled with hay made me very
thankful indeed. The next morning
went among my comrades and tried
to buy a pair of socks. There were
none for sale. Many had none at
all, and had been wrapping banker
chiefs or old rags around their feet
in lieu thereof for a long time. This
was news to me, but it gave me an
idea, cutting several square patches
off my blanket 1 wrapped them
around my feet and pulled the worn
sock over the whole. This helped .
lot, for not only did it help fill up
the shoe, but made soft cushion pe-
tween my foot and the shoe. Just
the same, by the end of the second
day my feet were getting worse and
I began gloomily to wonder how
many more days there were ahead of
us. / slept on the floor that night,
and considered myself lucky, for
many there were who had not roof
to cover them.
The Third Night.
The third night we stopped at
large town where many more prls-
oners had arrived. 1t was a sort CT
junction point, where some would
be sent to Germany and others to
camps in Belgium. Naturally, all
these prisoners coming down on them
at once got the thick headed Boche
officials all ratified, and as usual. We
prisoners suffered. There was no
place for us to sleep and we were
given nothing to eat Furthermore
there was a biting wind coming up
and the sky gave promise of rain. y
nice pass indeed with 1000 of us
cooped up in a small field with
guards all around, who would not
even allow us to go for water nearby.
We did not want it to drink, but to
cook some vegetables we carried.
OF course. we mad our black bread
some of us did. for we had been
given enough to last five days. That
came to one loaf. somewhat larger
than a brick. With the most careful
economy mine lasted four days;
others finished theirs In three days,
while still some other unfortunates
tired of existing on nothing but
black bread and wanted some soup,
something hot, something that would
stick to the rib. After a great deal
of kicking we got it, but we had to
cook it ourselves, for several spoon
fuls of flour, whole wheat and barley,
a little salt and oleomargine was
doled out to each man, and believe
ixril OF
mean job, for the mixup around the
tower of Babel had nothing on that
bunch as every language under the
sun was represented. After each
man got his portion he would use his
own judgment about the way he
would eat it. Wood like water was
scarce, and it was only with the
greatest difficulty that permission
could be gained to go after them, and
then when the fires were all nicely
going and it looked as IL we were
due for one warm meal at least, the
Boche came around and tramped the
fires out, fearing they would draw
some Allied bombing squadron that
way. There surely was some funda-
tion for this belief, for the sky had
cleared and both stars and moon
shown brightly; but little cared the
prisoners for possible bombs. They
were hungry and had not had warm
meal in three days, so when the Boche
guards roared out the order for "all
fires out" it was universally diso-
beyed.
The only way they were put out
was by the guards coming and tramp
ing them out. We had ours going
among the last, for It took the guard
some time to- get around to us. Vas
I said we, for not having any kitchen
utensils I dumped my share in with
some Englishman, and the mixture
was Just beginning to cook when the
Boche tramped our fires out. Being
too hungry to wait until morning and
cook it right, we ate the half-cooked
soggy mass as 1t was-and enjoyed
it too. After that we tried to sleep,
/ don't know about the others, but
it was not a bowling success for me;
for although I had three blankets
and three of us were rolled up to-
gether for warmth, the wind was so
cold and penetrating that it went
right through the blankets-and to
think there are men who rave about
the Joys of camp life and having the
milky way for a roof! This was the
first time I had slept outdoors and
believe me its the last time. because
there is too much room between tho
earth and "roof" for comfort. And
Judging. from the feel of things
someone must have left the furnace
go out. Golly. but my feet were
cold! so about 2 a. m. l wrapped my
puttees around them. That helped