Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1919-01-28

for her and would have been power
less to have assisted her.
| Whenever we passed q Belgian
home or other building which had
been wrecked by bombs by our airmen
our guards made US stop moment
or two while they passed sneering
remarks among themselves.
One Of the most interesting souve,
Mrs I have Of my Imprisonment at
Courtrai is a photograph Of a group
of us taken in the prison courtyard.
The picture was made by one of the
guards, who sold copies Of 1t to those
of us who were able to pay his
price-one mark apiece.
As we faced the camera I suppose
we all tried to look our happiest, but
the majority Of us, am afraid, were
too sick at heart to raise a smile,
even for this occasion. One of our
Hun guards is shown in the picture
seated at the table. I am standing
directly behind him, attired in my fly
ing tunic, which they allowed me to
wear all the time I was in prison, as
Is the usual custom with prisoners Of
war. Three Of the British officers
shown in the picture, In the fore
ground, are clad in shorts"
Through all my subsequent adven-
lures I was able to retain print Of
this interesting picture, and although
when I gaze at 1t now it only serves
to increase my qualification at my ulti-
mate escape, it fills me with regret to
think that my fellow prisoners were
not 80 fortunate. All of them by this
time are undoubtedly eating their
hearts up in the prison camps Of in
terror Germany. Poor fellowsl
Despite the scanty fare and the re-
strictiOns we were under in this prison,
we did manage on one occasion to ar
range q regular banquet The plan
ming which was necessary helped to
pass the time.
At this time there were eight Of US.
We decided that the principal thing
we needed to make the affair sue
cess was potatoes, and conceived a
plan to get them. Every other after
noon they took US for walk in the
country, and it occurred to me that
1t would be q comparatively simple
matter for US to pretend to be tired
and sit down when we came to the
first potato patch.
It worked out nicely. When we
came to the first potato patch that
afternoon, we told our guards that we
wanted to rest a bit and we were
allowed to sit down. In the course
of the next five minutes each Of US
managed to get potato or two. Be-
ing Irish, I got six.
When we got back to the prison, I
managed to steal handkerchief full
Of sugar, which, with some apples that
we were allowed to purchase, we cas-
lily converted into sort Of jam.
We now had potatoes and jam, but
no bread. It happened that the Hun
who had charge Of the potatoes was
great musician. It was not very
difficult to prevail upon him to play
us some music, and while he went out
to get his either went into the bread
pantry and stole loaf Of bread.
Most Of US had saved some butter
from the day before, and we used it
to fry our potatoes. BY bribing one
of the guards, he bought some eggs for
US. They cost 25 cents apiece, but we
were determined to make this banquet
a success, no matter what 1t cost.
The cooking was done by the prison
cook, whom, Of course, we had to
bribe.
When the meal was ready to serve
It consisted of scrambled eggs, fried
potatoes, bread and jam, and pitcher
of beer which we were allowed to buy.
That was the Goth of August. Had
I known that 1t vas to be the last
real meal that was to eat for many
weeks, I might have enjoyed 1t even
more than I did, but 1t was certainly
very good.
We had cooked enough for eight, but
while we were still eating, another
Joined US. He was an English officer
who had just been brought in on a
stretcher. For seven days, he told US,
he had lain in q shell hole, wounded,
and he was almost famished, and we
were mighty glad to share our ban
quet with him.
We called on each man for speech,
and one might have thought that we
were at irst-class club meeting. A
few days after that our party was
broken up and some Of the men, sup
pose, shall never see again.
One of the souvenirs Of my adven-
ture Is check given me during this
banquet" by Lieut.. James Henry
Dickson of the Tenth Royal Irish Fu-
sileers, fellow prisoner. 1t was for
20 francs and was made payable to
the order of "Mr. Pat O'Brien, End
Lieut." Poor Jim forgot to scratch
out the London" and substitute
"Courtrai" on the date line, but Its
value as q souvenir Is just as great.
When he gave it to me he had no idea
that I would have an opportunity 80
soon afterward to cash 1t In person,
although I am quite sure that what
ever financial reverses may be des-
tined to meet, my want will never be
great enough to induce me to realize
on that check.
There was one subject that was
talked about in this prison whenever
conversation Jagged. and I suppose 1t
is the same in other prisons too. What
were the chances of escape
Every man seemed to have differ
ent idea and one way, suppose, was
about as impractcable as another.
None of US ever expected to get a
chance to put our ideas into execution,
but 1t was interesting speculation, and
anyway one can never tell what op-
portunities might present themselves.
One suggestion was that we disguise
ourselves as women. "OBrien would
stand q better chance disguised as q
horse" declared another. referring to
| the fact that my height q am six feet
| two inches) would make me more con-
| spicuous as q woman than as a man.
Another suggested that we steal a