28 chapters
6 hour read
Selected Chapters
28 chapters
MY ESCAPE FROM GERMANY
MY ESCAPE FROM GERMANY
Transcriber’s Note: in web browsers, and in some e-readers, you will be able to click the map image for a larger version. Map illustrating the Route of Author’s Escape. The Dotted Line shows the Route taken. MY ESCAPE FROM GERMANY BY ERIC A. KEITH NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1919 Copyright, 1920, by The Century Co. Published, January, 1920...
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
There is an element of chance and risk about an attempt to escape from an enemy’s country which is bound to appeal to any one with a trace of sporting instinct. Viewed as a sport, though its devotees are naturally few and hope to become fewer, it has a technique of its own, and it may be better, rather than interrupt the course of my narrative, to say here something about this. As always, appropriate equipment makes for ease. But its lack, since a prisoner of war cannot place an order for an ide
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE
CHAPTER I THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE
The date was April 7, 1916. The fat German warder backed out of my cell, a satisfied smile on his face; the door swung to, the great key clicked in the lock, and I was alone. Prison once more! And only a bare three miles away was the frontier for which I had striven so hard—the ditch and the barbed wire that separated Germany, and all that that word means, from Holland, the Hook, the London boat, and freedom. The game was lost. That was the kernel of the situation as it presented itself to me, s
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II RUHLEBEN: THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS
CHAPTER II RUHLEBEN: THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS
Ruhleben! A ride in a trolley car of fifty minutes to the east, and one would have been in the center of Berlin. Toward the west the town of Spandau was plainly visible. Shall we ever forget its sky-line—the forest of chimneys, the tall, ugly outlines of the tower of the town hall, the squat “Julius” tower, the supposed “war treasury” of the Germans where untold millions of marks of gold were alleged to be lying! Before the war the camp had been a trotting race-course, a model of its kind in the
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III THE SANATORIUM
CHAPTER III THE SANATORIUM
Toward the end of November an old Scotsman, a member of my barracks (No. 5), was returned to camp from the sanatorium in Charlottenburg. I questioned him about the place. It appeared that no desperate illness was necessary to get there, as long as one was willing to pay for oneself instead of coming down upon the British Government funds ordinarily provided for that purpose. This institution was a private medical establishment known as Weiler’s Sanatorium. The camp administration, by now in our
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV PLANNING THE DETAILS
CHAPTER IV PLANNING THE DETAILS
The outlines of my plan of escape had been conceived almost a year before in Ruhleben, and had remained unaltered. Generally speaking, the chances of success were so small that I was convinced it could be achieved only by the elimination of every unnecessary risk, and with a considerable amount of good fortune thrown in to make up for the unavoidable balance on the wrong side. It must be remembered that we civilians were interned right in the center of Germany. There were three neutral countries
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V A GLIMPSE OF FREEDOM
CHAPTER V A GLIMPSE OF FREEDOM
Contrary to my expectations, I hardly felt any excitement during my last day at the “Linden Allee.” My mental attitude was rather a disinterested one, as if I were watching somebody else’s escape. When I got into bed at the usual time, I immediately fell asleep, having first made up my mind to wake at 3:30 A.M. I awoke an hour sooner, and went to sleep again. It was close on four o’clock when I opened my eyes for the second time. Getting up noiselessly, I carried the Gladstone and a big hand-bag
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI IN HIDING
CHAPTER VI IN HIDING
It was a sunny, warm day, and there was no difficulty about finding one’s bearings. In the market-place a sign “To Wesel” directed me up a narrow street of humble dwellings on my left. Just outside the town a number of roads met. Without looking at the directions on a mile-stone, I surveyed the country before me for suggestions as to my next move. The most important thing was to get to cover as quickly as possible, and to withdraw from the sight of man. Never mind about striking the right route
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII FAILURE
CHAPTER VII FAILURE
My water-bottle wanted filling. A spring bubbling up by the roadside gave me the opportunity. That was a mile or so down the road. I had got again into the swinging stride of the night before, and the few miles to the village of Vehlen were soon covered. A sudden turn of the road near it brought me opposite a building looking like a flour-mill. An electric light was blazing at its corner. On the other side of the road its rays were reflected by the oily ripples on a large pond, the farther side
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII A NEW HOPE
CHAPTER VIII A NEW HOPE
I awoke, much refreshed, just before the clock from the church steeple chimed six. For some time I lay quiet, groping my way back into reality. When the recollection of my last-night’s disaster drifted back into my brain, I felt almost physically sick with disappointment and rage, until awakening determination came to my help. “No use repining. Is there no way to repair the damage? Hullo! it’s Sunday to-day. Sunday! A village jail can’t be so awfully strong! I’ll be moved to-day, though. Will th
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX BREAKING PRISON
CHAPTER IX BREAKING PRISON
Before I made a move I was going to wait until the probability of a surprise visit should have passed. Such a visit I expected at about eleven o’clock, for at that time the Amtmann would probably go home from wherever he was drinking beer, and on his way would have a look at me. To give my jailers an extra hour to surprise me in, was again only ordinary precaution. Once in the loft, I was going to take off as many tiles as I must to get through the roof into the garden, from there into the stree
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X CAUGHT AGAIN!
CHAPTER X CAUGHT AGAIN!
“Halt!” The command came like a thunderclap and shook me from head to foot. Yet I did not believe that it could mean anything but a Dutch sentry. I stopped and tried to locate the man, who, from the sound of his voice, must be very close. I could not see him. “Come here, and hold up your hands!” I did so and stepped forward. “Here, here!” The voice was almost at my elbow. Then I saw the white patch of a face above a bush. He came up to me, putting his pistol muzzle in my stomach. “Who are you?”
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI UNDER ESCORT
CHAPTER XI UNDER ESCORT
On the fourth morning, when it seemed to me I had spent about a year in Vreden prison, the warder informed me that my escort had arrived. I had plenty of time to get over the excitement produced by this piece of news, for I was not called for until four o’clock, which caused me to miss my evening bowl of skilly, a dire calamity. The soldier was waiting in the gateway. Walking down the passage toward him, I had to pass by a big burly N.C.O. of the German Army, who had a tremendous sword attached
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII THE STADTVOGTEI AND “SOLITARY”
CHAPTER XII THE STADTVOGTEI AND “SOLITARY”
In its original meaning Stadtvogtei denotes the official residence of the Stadtvogt . This was an official appointed in feudal times by the overlord of the territory, as keeper of one of his castles, around which an early settlement of farmers and a few artisans had grown into a medieval town or Stadt . Later on, as a fit successor of the old Stadtvogtei, a prison arose in its place, which was modernized from time to time, until in 1916 a new modern building stood where once victims had vanished
19 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII CLASSES AND MASSES IN THE STADTVOGTEI
CHAPTER XIII CLASSES AND MASSES IN THE STADTVOGTEI
The prisoners interned in the Stadtvogtei were divided into two classes, the aristocrats, or rather the plutocrats, and the rest, thus repeating faithfully the state of affairs in the outer world. To the former belonged all the British without exception, a few occasional Frenchmen and Belgians, a number of Russians of education and means, temporarily some German socialists—they would be disgusted if they read this—and one or two German undesirables, adventurers and high-class pickpockets, who ha
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV PRISON LIFE AND OFFICIALS
CHAPTER XIV PRISON LIFE AND OFFICIALS
Not long before I arrived in prison, a change had taken place in its official personnel. Formerly, the internment side and the military side had been under different commanders. What I heard from my friends about the character of the man in charge of the interned, previous to my coming, caused me to congratulate myself upon my good luck in not having to encounter him. He had been an out-and-out bully. He was transferred to Ruhleben camp later on, where he went under the name of “Stadtvogtei Bill
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV A FRESH ATTEMPT
CHAPTER XV A FRESH ATTEMPT
The failure of our attempt had a stimulating effect upon us. Wallace, always ready to do anything at any time and under any circumstances, the more romantic and adventurous the better, nosed around on his own hook. C. and L. said little, but would have required no persuasion to do things which a person like me would have called foolhardy. I, myself, had been only too well aware of the many flaws in our previous plan to take its failure to heart. The biggest of these flaws was our intended proced
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI FROM BERLIN TO HALTERN
CHAPTER XVI FROM BERLIN TO HALTERN
The night was bitterly cold. The extraordinarily mild weather of the last weeks had changed at the most inopportune moment. A few hard flakes of snow were now and again driven into our faces by a searching wind. We were without shelter, without food for the walking part of our enterprise, without adequate clothes. In Wallace’s case a year and a half, in mine seven months, of prison life had not improved the condition of our health. We were decidedly too soft to stand a number of days of cold wea
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII WESTWARD HO!
CHAPTER XVII WESTWARD HO!
Until we got out into the open country I was to walk in front, carrying the portmanteau, which was a little too bulky a load for a man of smaller stature than mine. Wallace was to follow twenty or thirty paces in the rear, but not to lose sight of me. Into the town and the market-place it was plain sailing. Without looking at the sign “To Wesel,” the existence of which I had forgotten, I turned into the right lane, recognizing it from its general aspect. Nevertheless, the darkness made the groun
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII THE GAME IS UP
CHAPTER XVIII THE GAME IS UP
The farmhouse door was opened by a girl of about sixteen, who turned back into the kitchen to call her mother, a woman whom incessant toil seemed to have aged beyond her years. “May I speak to your husband?” I asked politely. “He’s not at home.” “Do you expect him soon?” “No; he’s away,”—hesitating—“at Haltern.” “Well, it’s this way. I am with a friend. We came from Bremen yesterday, and we’re on our way to Cologne for a holiday. We’ve relatives living at Klein Recken, and thought of spending a
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX FOOTING THE BILL
CHAPTER XIX FOOTING THE BILL
The lieutenant at the station, by his orders to us and the soldiers, had given us the cue for our behavior. Obviously, we must try to impress the warder with our standing as “military prisoners,” in order to be as comfortable as circumstances permitted. We proceeded to do this with great ingenuousness. Long arguments and counter-arguments secured us the use of an oil lamp until eight o’clock at night. We went in force to obtain a second blanket, the warder leading the procession. Our cell was ve
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX RUHLEBEN AGAIN
CHAPTER XX RUHLEBEN AGAIN
We arrived in Ruhleben shortly before noon, and were kept waiting for a long time just inside the gates, for the good of our souls. But then, the under dogs are always kept waiting somewhere for the good of their souls. So that was all right. When our names had been called a number of times, and some supposedly witty remarks had been made by a sergeant, whose reputation in camp was no better than it should be, we were marched off to our barracks (No. 14), a wooden one, and the last one toward th
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXI THE DAY
CHAPTER XXI THE DAY
On the 16th of September, 1917, our man was on guard at Post No. 2 from 7 till 9 P.M. and again four hours later. He had instructions to expect something between 8 and 9 o’clock, or, failing that, during his next shift. The latter part of his instructions had been an afterthought. It was part and parcel of our plan to catch the train from the Lehrter Bahnhof in Berlin at 11:47 P.M. It would have inconvenienced us very considerably if we had had to delay our departure. If everything went satisfac
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXII ORDER OF MARCH
CHAPTER XXII ORDER OF MARCH
My two companions had entrusted themselves to my leadership for the tramp to the frontier. My first business was to pilot them out of town from the right side, if possible, and, what was more difficult, by the most favorable road. I thought it, under the circumstances, about as hard a task as could be set me, at the very beginning. If so slight an undertaking as ours may be spoken of in military terms, I should compare it to a rearguard action and the successful withdrawal from touch with the en
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIII THE ROAD THROUGH THE NIGHT
CHAPTER XXIII THE ROAD THROUGH THE NIGHT
We woke up in full daylight, which revealed the scantiness of our cover. By merely raising our heads we could see people and vehicles pass along the roads, and the sound of voices and the creaking of wheels were at intervals very distinct all day. That it is very much more difficult to see into a thicket than from it, was a consolation with which we reassured ourselves repeatedly. I do not think the others felt any more nervous than did I, who thought we were safe as long as we kept our recumben
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIV CROSSING THE EMS
CHAPTER XXIV CROSSING THE EMS
It was still dark when I opened my eyes. A steady sound was all around me, and close at hand a more definite one: Tap-tap-tap-tap. I was only half awake. I stretched out my hand and put it into a pool of water which had formed on the oilsilk covering us. It was raining heaven’s hardest. Half an hour of disjointed thinking brought me to the conclusion that we had better do something. As yet the overcoats underneath the oilsilks were hardly wet. The first gray light of dawn was beginning to filter
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXV THE LAST LAP
CHAPTER XXV THE LAST LAP
Half an hour later we were awake again, shivering and with chattering teeth. The wind was rising and rustling in the canopy of leaves over our heads. It was dark and bitterly cold. “I’m going to do something,” I announced. “We may have rain. I’ll build a shelter.” The oak saplings offered an ideal material for an arbor, although the clasp-knife did not bite readily through their tough fibers. Jointly we interlaced the crowns of six or seven stout saplings, growing in a circle, and twisted long b
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVI FREE AT LAST
CHAPTER XXVI FREE AT LAST
We had only gone a few steps when a man came running after us. His Dutch and our German made conversation possible. Kent was rather good at understanding and imparting his meaning. “Orlog gefangenen?” the man asked. “Yah, yah!” “Roosland?” “Nay, nay; Engelsch!” “Engelsch?” He gripped our hands and shook them warmly. Then we had to accompany him back to his cottage. He ushered us into the room where Kent had seen the “big dish, full of potatoes.” His wife, in picturesque undress, fired a volley o
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter