Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1929-09-26


boat. So he wassone man whom we
would have To have With us.
Although there were senirles all
over the island we were sure we could
Invent snme way of autwitting them
We would hive TO stow the hnat with
a large amount OF supplies. This. our
motor expert could do while pretend
Ing TO tinker with the engine He
could hide the nmterla, away In the
mir ehamhers of the hont. Much mnre
difficult was The job of collecting all
the foad. weapons and other equip
ment This took long time. and all
the patien. maneuyerine that Is tradi
tiona Of prisoners and their schemes
of escape.
First II WIS necessary TO unief the
dneasiness Of the camp commander
lie apparently expected me To 60
breaking out of his camp breathing
fire from my nastrils. The camp doc.
tor was n German Pole. quite intell
gent. hui OF degenerated spirit. who
WAS used by the commandment 10 spy
on the prisoners lie nude the friend
Hest SORT of overfures 10 me, and
having been told that he was an In
former. made II seem MS though were
being completely tnken in by his
smooth ways.
Nearly everybody In the camp suf
fered severely from rheumatism.
was one of the few who had The good
luck to escape the maIady. But pre-
tended to gel II badly. SO buddy tliats
| was only ahle TO walk With criitehes
The commander was plensed when he
found that | wns almost helpless. For
how could q cripple attempt an es
cnpe7 The doctor pretended TO fry
his best TO cure my supposed ailnent.
but gave me d kind OF treatment that
was designed to make II worse. Ills
, handwriting was complete when
asked him 10 help me TO get word TO
my people In Germany to send my five
thousand pounds. and promised him
mart of this In return for his aid.
kept the hypothetical five thousand
pounds dangling before his nose. and
| his avarice blinded him so much that
| was able TO make u ready tool OF
| him.
NV crew for the projected flight con
| sisted OF nine men, seven 81 whom
| were North German Lloyd merchant
| ship cadets captured by the British IN
| Samoa. When war broke out they hap
pened to he at the American South
Sea port of pagopago Slipping away
| in small boat they got to German
Samoa, only to lind Il tn the hands
of the New zealanders.
did my recruiting secretly. The
nlan Of escape was kept from the 9th
or prisoners. Always to keep your Sc
crer among as few as possible Is a
good rule even among prisoners You
never know who Is Il spy. The fel
lows chose were all lively lads. ready
for anything.
One day a couple of the prisoners
said to me:
Count lets get up a show for
Christmas. play"
Show. play. theater-that was an
idea for me.
"Cerlainlg | WILL" replied. u oft.
en- got M shows In the navy. We Will
have theater here AT Moiuihl tina,
will bent the best in Berlin But you
must leave everything to me. will
direct everything
"All right" they said.
| goi permission from the comman
dant 10 produce the show. In fact, ne
waxed quite enthusiastic about Il. Not
only would ii give the prisoners some
thing To do. bur II would also provide
amusement for the jallers. Life or
the island wns mighty boresome TO oil
of Them.
In little while the prison cnmT
was humming with preparations fol
the grand spectacle was going Il
stage. This was the cnver nnnel
which nv fellows and | prepared oil
of our equipment for our escape i
deluded the guards. and also foefet
rhe prisoners whom we couldn't lak'
with ns When we wanted nuterial
always apparently innocent things, W
asked for Ii and said II wns for TN
show. When we built anything. L WI
for the show.
we even built wireless set out o
things supposed to be for our crosse
snauspielhnus. We nude hoinhs on
OF tin cans and guncotton TINT had a
ready been procured. The bombs ha
fuses that could he lighted from
cigarette, One OF my men worked o
farm in tile interior Of the slant
and rot q lot Of dynamite and hlasiin
pow,ler used In blowing up stump
we stole u couple OF pistols from III
camn arsenal We made q fnke col
trIvance which looked like n perfes
Lewis or Maxim machine gun hui
worked we'll enough and II lnnked eve
more Formidable Cadet won Inrtov
skv took odds and ends and nude
sey,nnf that nfterwarC took us MI
@a3@@@@@@3@~a@@@@9933~@@