Oxford Democrat., 1919-03-25

4 "A
/ ladder in hand made for the barrier.
In front Of it there was q cleared
space of about one hundred yards,
which had been prepared to make the
work of the guards easier in watch
ing It.
I waited In the neighborhood until I
heard the sentry pass the spot where I
was in hiding and then I hurried
across the clearing, showed my ladder
under the barbed wire and endeav-
ored to follow it. My clothing caught
in the wire, but l wrenched myself
clear and crawled to the electric bar
rier.
My plan was to place the ladder
against one of the posts, climb up to
the top and then jump. There would
be q fall of nine or ten feet, and
might possibly sprain an ankle or
break my leg. but If that was all that
stood between me and freedom l
wasn't going to stop to consider 1t.
! put my ear to the ground to listen
for the coming of the sentry. There
was not a sound. Eagerly but care
fully placed the ladder against the
post and started up. Only few feet
separated ME from liberty, and my
heart beat fast.
l had climbed perhaps three rungs
| of my ladder when I became aware
of an unlocked for difficulty.
The ladder was slipping.
Just as l took the next rung, the
ladder slipped, came in contact with
the live wire, and the current passed
through the wet sticks and into my
body. There was q blue flash, my
hold on the ladder relaxed and fell
heavily to the ground unconscious.
OF course, had not received the
full force Of the current or would
not now be here. l must have re-
mained unconscious for q few mo-
ments, but came to just In time to
hear the German guard coming, and
the thought came to me If I didn't get
that ladder concealed at once he would
see 1t even though, fortunately for me,
1t was an unusually dark night.
I pulled the ladder out Of his path
and lay down fiat on the ground not
seven feet away from his feet. He
passed so close that I could have
pushed the ladder out and trpped
him up.
It occurred to me that could have
climbed back under the barbed wire
fence and waited for the sentry to re-
turn and then felled him with blow
on the head, as he had no idea, OF
course, that there was anyone In the
vicinity. wouldn't have hesitated
to take life, because my only thought
was to get into Holland, but thought
that as long rs he didn't bother me
perhaps the safest thing to do was not
| to bother him, but to continue my ct.
forts during his periodic absence.
His beat at this point was apparent
ly fairly long and allowed me more
time to work than had hoped for.
| My mishap with the ladder had con-
vinced me that my escape in that way
was not feasible. The shock that /
had received had unnerved me and I
was afraid to risk 1t again. particu.
larly as I realized that I had Jared
more fortunately than I could hope
to again II / met with similar mis-
/ NJ
that ladder hold and gave up the idea
Of using 1t.
was now right In front Of this
electric barrier and as I studied 1t /
saw another way of getting by. II ]
couldn't get over II. what was the
matter with getting under 1T
The bottom wire was only two
inches from the ground and, Of course,
couldn't touch 1t. but my plan was
to dig underneath 1t and then crawl
through the hole in the ground.
had only my hands to dig with,
but went Mt 1t with will and fortu-
nately the ground was not very hard.
When l had dug about six inches.
making distance In all Of eight
inches from the lowest electric wire.
! came to an underground wire. l
knew enough about electricity to real
lie that this wire could not be charged,
as 1t was In contact with the ground.
hut still there was not room between
the live wire and this underground
wire for me to crawl through, and !
ether had to 60 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 a lead pencil and
there was no chance Of breaking 1t.
The jack-knife had had at the start
of my travels I had long since lost
and even II I had had something to
hammer with, the noise would have
made the method impracticable.
| went on digging. When the total
distance between the live wire and the
bottom Of the hole had dug was
thirty inches, I took hold Of the ground
wire and pulled on 1t with all my
strength.
| II wouldn't bulge. 1t was stretched
taut across the narrow ditch / had
dug-about fourteen inches wide
and all the tugging didn't serve to
loosen It.
| I was Just about to give up In de-
spair when a staple gave way In the
nearest post. That enabled me to pull
| the wire through the ground little
! and I renewed my efforts. After a
moment or two Of pulling as l had
never pulled in my life before, o
staple on the next post gave way
and my work became easier. I had
more leeway now and pulled and
pulled again until In all eight staples
had given way.
Every time a staple gave way, II
sounded In my ears like the report Of
q gun, although 1 suppose 1t didn''
really make very much noise. Never
theless, each time would put my eai
! to the ground to listen for the guard
liz i heard him I'would stop working
and lie perfectly still in the dark Ill
he had gone By.
By pulling on the wire. was nov
| able to drag II through the .srouns
enough to place Il back from tn
fence and 60 on digEtnE
i The. deeper went the harder be
came the work. because By this tim
| r.v Nncsp nalla vera hrokon and