MISCELLANEOUS. ESCAPE FROM PRISON.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXV, Issue 8202, 27 July 1915, Page 6

MISCELLANEOUS.

ESCAPE FROM PRISON.

WONDEiU'TiL EXPLOIT OF THREE

ENGLISHMEN

A WALK THROUGH GERMANY

AMSTERDAM, July 25. Geoffrey Pykc, a war correspondent, reports that lie and Edwards ana Falk, two civilians, escaped from the Ruhleben detention camp, and after an arduous trump, reached the Dutch frontier, where they were arrested on suspu-ion of being smugglers, hut were rejoasod. AMSTERDAM, July .26. Pvke relates that he penetrated to Berlin in September last. After his arrest he was kept in a small cell for 16 weeks, until his mind and spirit almost gave way. The police doctor refused to - examine*"" him when ■he ; was suffering from blood-poisoning, due to diet. Be was arcenvcU'ds removed to Ruhleben,

- where 300' men slept in one hayloft. -Pyke here, nearly died from pneumonia. He did not receive medical attention, aud suffered from repeated illnesses between February and June. "Falk, who was a- Nigerian official, suggested the escape. They spent three months perfecting their plans, which, out,.of respect for the camp commandant's feelings, are not revealed. They escaped in broad daylight on the afternoon of «Tuly 9, passing through the cordon of sentries and four barbed fences. They spent the night at an adjoining sandpit, entered Berlin next morning, and obtained their first good meal for

months.' They purchased an outfit for a walking tour in the Hartz Mountains, took train to Belefeld, and. tramped the rest of the way across country at night time by the aid of a luminous compass, passing through fields, barbed wire, and dense forests. They were drenched to the skin every day, owing to the heavy rains. They stole turnips, beetroot, and potatoes from the fields, and on one occasion walked through a powder factory unchallenged by sleepy Landsturm men on guard. When within .50 miles of the fron-

tier they found themselves in the centre of a body of cavalry, and lost themselves on the night of the 22nd in a peat bog. While hiding next day, within a mile of the frontier, an armed guard surprised them. The guard turned out to bo a Dutch frontier e;uard, who took them for smugglers.