Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 150, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 June 1916 — RISKS HER LIFE TO SEE HUSBAND [ARTICLE]

RISKS HER LIFE TO SEE HUSBAND

Belgian Woman Braves German Electric Fence to Escape to Holland. MANY KILLED BY DEADLY WIRE Poacher Leads Woman Through Hidden Tunnel at Night—Complaining Cry Tells of Cat and Dog Victims of Current.

London—A Belgian Journalist named Egbert Hans, until recently serving with the Belgian army, narrates the following story of the electric cable which the Germans have fixed along the Dutch frontier to prevent the Belgians from escaping into Holland:

“During the first few days only dogs and cats were struck, and one could hear their howls and cries a minute before they died. The first human victim was a young Belgian who had heard King Albert’s call and wanted to go through Holland to join the Belgian army. The second victim weJbeard of was a poacher who brought letters Into Holland. He knew every inch of the country, as they all do, and thought he could defy the electric cables.

“One morning very early I found a young woman sitting on one of the Dutch ‘steps’ in Sluis. She looked worn out, but her face wore that happy expression which told me at once that she was one of those who had crossed. A few hours later I met her arm in arm with a young man whom I knew was an escaped Belgian soldier. I met them again and again, and the young woman told me the name of her town, how things were going there, and how she had got into polland. "Clara Vermel was the young worn-

an’s name. She was an Inhabitant of Oostkerke. In the beginning of the war her husband had been called to the colors. She heard from him three times, then his letters ceased, and for months she had lived alone, hoping that her husband was still alive. Face Death for Husband. “One day Clara Vermel was brooding over her misfortunes when the door opened and in walked ‘Limping Victor,’ a cripple who was employed by the Germans to do errands, and had often to go to Holland. “ ‘Clara,’ he said, ‘I have seen Robert. He is at Sluis, just over the border. But don’t ask any more. I risk too much already.’ “She heard the door bang and was again alone. Robert alive! Robert at Sluis, only a few miles away? Then she fell on her knees before the Holy Virgin in the corner and prayed. “Then a shadow crept over her face. Sluis is in Holland! The electric cables! ■ They meant death for those who came near them. “But she would go. She would face death for him. Her father tried to dissuade her, but finally gave in. " ’There is only one man, Clara r ’ he said, ‘who can help you if you really want to go to Sluis, and that man is Flor, the poacher. He knows every inch of soil for. miles round and miles into Holland. Let us go and see him, or rather you go alone; that would be safer. You know where he lives.’ “ ‘So you want to get to Sluis to see your husband, who was a soldier?’ said Flor, when Clara called at his hut. ‘But do you know what it means, yqung woman? Do you know how many' have been killed by that devilish wire?’ Crawls Through Tunnel.

“It was about midnight when the poacher and Clara left the hut. ‘“This is the time that the guard is changed, and those old landsturms are always late,’' he had said, cautioning her not to make any noise. “Near the little River Mendel running half a mile distant the poacher knew a kind of tunnel. This tunnel had been made many years ago to deliver water to a factory, standing just across the border, near Sluis. " ‘The cable is only a few yards distant from us,’ whispered the poacher to Clara. ‘We must keep to the right, as we will soon turn with the path and leave the cable. A cat rushed past. Clara was frightened. A few seconds after the poacher stopped her. ‘Listen; that cat has been killed,’ and she heard the ‘complaining cry* which always followed contact with the wire by man or animal. “The poacher had now found the bridge he was looking for. ‘Now about a hundred yards further,’ he said. He searched the grass and the rushes near the water until his toot sunk deep into a hole. Soon he found the opening. ‘Come,’ he said.

“The tunnel was not high enough to stand in, so they had to crawl. Clara thought it would never come to an end. She had never been in such darkness. She banged her head, hurt her feet, but thought only of her husband. At last she heard the poacher say: ‘Here we are! This Is Holland. But be quiet for another hour, for I want to gtf back. You follow this Utile. river about five minutes. Yon will then come on a road which will bring you into Sluis after twenty minutes’ walk. And your soldier will be sleeping under one of the roofs there.’ ”