GERMAN OFFICER'S ESCAPE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 147, 18 February 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

GERMAN OFFICER'S ESCAPE.

CAPTURE AFTER TOURING THE WORLD. An interesting story concerning the escape of a captured German officer and his efforts to get back to his own country may now be told. After many adventures he had succeeded in getting right round the world only to be captured in the North Sea when practically in sight of Germany. The man, whose name :s Etigeii Wahler, was an officer in the 152 nd Prussian Regiment. He was taken a prisoner by the Russians at Tannenbcrg in the early days of the war, and was put into a concentration camp. He made two attempts to escape from two different camps, and was captured on each occasion, but succeeded in gett : ng away the third time. After a long walk he met an old Jew. to whom he gave 3000 roubles fir a railway ticket through Siberia to Mukden. From Mukden he got to Pekin, where he remained for several months. Wahler next pioceded to Yokohama, and subsequently travelled as a first-class passenger from that port to San Francisco. Crossing North America by rail, he finally landed at New York, where he was befriended by German Americans, who fitted lr.m out a< an A.8., and he "signed on" with false papers on a Norwegian sailing vessel bound for Europe. When the slip reached the North Sea she was stopped by a British vessel, and abler was detected by a vigilant official, who ordered the slip into port. The officer had kept a dairy and the following are two of many interesting entries: — (1) "June —To-day the cat had kittens on board ship." (2) "July— To-day the steward is ill. and I am 'waiting.' I wonder do the lady passengers know they are being served by a German aristocrat?" Wahler was the possessor of the Iron Cross.