KING ALBERT.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 May 1920, Page 10

KING ALBERT.

HOW HIS LIFE WAS SAVED. A remarkable story of how a peasant girl saved King Albert's life and prevented some of the chief buildings of Brussels, which were mined by .the Germans, from being' blown up after the armistice, is told by Alderman A. T. Barber, ex-Mayor of' Windsor, who lias returned from Belgium. Mile. Angelica Vcrcammen, of St. Giles, Tennonde, was in a train on the way to Antwerp, says Mr. Barber, and overheard a conversation between a German officer and a nurse. The officer asked if Angelica understood German, so she said, "No, I do not." Xot satisfied, the German ordered her out of the carriage, but she went into the next compartment. The handle of the heating apparatus was broken, and she peered through a tiny hole and' saw the officer take a plan of Brussels from his valise and explain what, buildings were mined. Angelica told her story to the guard, and the officer and the nurse were arrested at Antwerp. When Angelica pointed out to the officials the secret pocket in the valise in which the German had concealed the plan, he drew a revolver to shoot, her, but ii Belgian disarmed him. Documents proved the German's intention of blowing up the palace on February 19, 1019, when King Albert met the French and Allied representatives. The officer and the nurse were shot at Liege. King Albert sent for Angelica and decorated her with the Croix do Guerre, the Order of Leopold 11., and the Croix de la Rcine Elizabeth, and offered her a position in a Government office. He also "commended her for having done more good work for them than any single person at the front." In the peace fete in August Termonde Angelica rode on a horse led by two Belgian soldiers.