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FOUR
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, ISIS
VERNONIA EAGLE, VERNONIA, OREGON
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THE FLOWER SHOW
With the announcement this week by the Gar­
den club of Vernonia, their classifications of floral
exhibits for the annual flower show, which is to
be held this year in the Legion hall August 31, Ver-
nonians will recognize that a tradition is being
established here which is reacting as a benefit to
the community.
Made up mostly of members who were intense­
ly interested in the growing of flowers for their
own pleasure and to add to the beauty of their
homes, this organization has extended its activities
to the beautification of the community—and their
method can only be by example.
It is not and never will be within their power
to dictate to any resident concerning the improve­
ment of the place in which he or she lives, but
with each member of the Garden club improving
her own home—and these homes of the members
are located in all sections of this community—the
example thus set will spread to their next-door
neighbors and thus keep going until the whole of
Vernonia will be a beauty spot of green lawns, at­
tractive shrubs and flowers.
This flower show, which will have been the
second held by the club in two years, has rules
which prohibit no one from displaying flowers,
only segregating amateur growers and dealers, with
all encouraged to display blooms in order to make
the show the best possible.
The Vernonia Eagle and other business houses
were the recipients this week of bouquets of
flowers from members of the Garden club, who
started three weeks ago to give bouquets to every
business establishment here. This is but a part of
the work of the members of the club to encourage
the growing of flowers in this community and thus
improve the town.
NEED CLEAN UP DAY
Hundreds of visitors will be in our city Oct­
ober 3, attending the met ting of the Lower Colum­
bia Associated Chambers of Commerce. Tours will
be conducted through the city, to the big mill and
to the new golf course. Let all cooperate with the
local Chamber of Commerce by making their pre­
mises as attractive as possible, so that the city will
be presented at its best.
A clean up day should be sponsored soon, to
dispose of the rubbish which has gathered during
the past year. In the present campaign for improv­
ing the sanitary conditions of Vernonia, a general
clean up plays an important part, and especially
this time of the year, the waste and rubbish on dif­
ferent premises is a great fire hazard.
' • ount. 'set s get up a show tor
Christmas. u play.”
Show, play, thealer—that was an
idea for me.
"t'ertuhil.v I will,” 1 replied. “I
often got up shows lu the navy. We
will have ¡i theater iiere ut Motullil
that will beat the best th Berlin.
But you must leave everything to
tue. 1 will direct everything.”
•'All right," they said.
yl got p- emission from the com­
mandant to produce the allow. lu
fait, lie waved quite enthusiastic
about It. Xot only would It give I
the prl oners something to du, but
It would also provide amusement
for the Jailers Idle on the Island
was mighty boresome to all of
them.
In a little while the prison camp
was humming with preparations
for the gri nd spectacle 1 was going
1» stage. ’I'lils was the cover un­
der which my fellows am' 1 pre­
pared all of our equlpmmt for
our escape. It deluded lie-* guards,
and also tooled the prisoners whom
we couldn't take with us. When
we wanted material, always ap­
parently Innocent things, we asked
for it and sold It was for the show.
When we built anything. It was for
the show.
We even built n wireless set out
of things supposed to lie for our
grosses slmuspielhaus. We made
bombs out of tin cans and guncot­
ton that Imd already been procured.
The bombs Imd fuses that could be
lighted from a cigarette. One of
my men worked on n farm In the
interior of the island, and got a
lot of dynamite and blasting pow­
der u ■ d in blowing up stumps. We
stole a couple of pistols from the
camp arsenal. We made a fake
contrivance which looked like a
perfect Lewis or Maxim machine
gun. Imt It worked well enough and
it looked even more formidable.
Cadet von Zartowsky took oddsand
ends mid made n sextant that after­
ward took us fifty nautical miles
oil out course, pretty fair, consider
lug llie circumstances.
We Imd no great trouble In
hiding away it ciiL idenible supply
of food in Hie air chambers of the
motor b it <>f course, I not only
talked i t elaborate plans for the
supposed theatrical events that I
was itlrecthi". hut 1 also Imd the
prisoners prepare a lot ot bona-ti<Ie
stage props, more even lliun could
be used. These were made up by
the rest of the fellows who were
not In our plot
Most of the ac­
tual material reeded for our es
cape and subsequent raiding cruise
had to be fixed up stealtlrly by the
boys who were to make the dash
for freedom with me.
Of all the people 1 met in New
Zealand, there was but one for
Whom I bad a complete contempt.
Be was a fellow named Hansen, a
German by birth aud a naturalized
New Zealander. in spite of Ids
naturalization, he had been in­
terned He happened to notice that
tiie motor expert, while supposedly
working on the engine of the Pearl,
the colonel's boat, hud carried
something suspicious aboard. Aux
lous to curry favor with the com
nmndant, he reported that we were
acting suspiciously. The coinman
dunt was contemptuous of a rat
like that in the first place, and then
ha vns utterly Infatuated with our
theater. He said that whatever we
were doing could only be in prep­
aration for our show. Neverthe­
less. he tried to investigate, but
found nothing to confirm what the
squealer had told him.
After weeks of hard labor, we
were ready. At night we cut the
wires connecting the island with
the mainland and set a barracks
afire. That created the diversion
we needed. Everybody, guards and
all. flocked to put the blaze out. 1
was among the foremost, and at­
tracted all attention to myself. 1
seemed to have a passion for fight­
ing fires. My boys were with me.
When the excitement was at its
highest we stole away singly and
boarded the motor boat. The en­
gine purred, and we were away
In the darkness.
We were safe from pursuit for
nwhlle. anyway. There was no
other boat at the Island, and Mo-
tttlhl could not communicate with
the mainland. It was only when
the wires were repaired or when
the mainland was due to get Its
next report that the chase after us
could begin When our escape did
become known on the mainland on
the night of I leeember 13, 1917,
every kind of craft available went
out to look for us. Private owners
iv i . i . .1« ...... r....... u. i.......
took up scouting formula sport
..Boats chaiwd one another and.shot
at one gm'lher. and one steamer
went on the rocks, Finally, a false
rumor spread tliat we hurl capsized
and drowned, 'and the weary pur­
suers were glad to accept It as
true and return home.
We had our dltlieultles In finding
our way In the night through the
Taurakl gulf on which Auckland
lies, but ut an hour or so past
midnight we saw sweeping shafts
of light
Tire authorities at
Auckland were looking for us
with a searchlight, a ridiculous pro
cedure, but one calculated to Im
press the population. We steered
by the searchlight beams now, and
picked our way along easily enough
Of course. It would take a sep­
arate volume to record all of the
details of our work of preparation
and our fieul escape. 1 am only
giving yon s description of the high
spins. But, by the way. 1 almost
forgot to fell you how we were
dressed. We all Imd New Zealand
uniforms. Mine was the most In
terestlng of the lot and provided
material for Australian humorists
and cartoonists for many weeks
As the commander ot a man o'-war.
even of a twelve-foot wooden one.
with the tinwarllke name ot Pearl.
I absolutely hud to have a sword
One of my boys, just an hour be-
fore our escape, slipped into the
“You’XQ escaped prisoners, eh?
Our coys are doing their bit in
France, and at home they can’t
even guard prisoners.”
The Moa was a fine cruft but as
flat as a match box. Intended for
coastwise trade, she had no keel
and drew only three feet of water,
but she bail huge masts. A storm
blew up, and we scudiled before
the wind. The Moe's cuptuln
rushed up bristling with excite­
ment. His boat, he protested, was
not adapted for sailing on the high
see, much less through a storm.
We were risking our Ilves, he ex­
postulated. We should take down
sail.
“We are sailing for our lives, by
Joe,” I responded, and kept all can­
vas up.
The skipper stayed on deck nil
night and poured out oil to quiet
the waves.
We went on our
watches undisturbed. Ordinarily, we
would have been . somewhat wor­
ried, but the storm was taking us
along swiftly—away from pursuit.
The waves began to break over our
stern, mid the Moil bobbed up nnd
down. She had a deekload of lum­
per Overboard with it. We started
to work mid were ably assisted by
a breaker that crashed over us and
In an Instant swept most of thq
lumber lute the sea We were tow
Ing the motor bout we had taken
from the commandant at Motullil
wardrobe of the prison camp com­ A wave swamped her, and she tore
mandant. Not only did he take loose from the towline and sank
Colonel Turner’s best dress uni­
We steered to the Kermadec. is
form. blit lie also swiped bls sword
lands, mi unluhabited group where
and scabbard.
(lie
New Zealand government keeps
We lay off an Isolated bay of
Red Mercury island, northwest of a cache of provisions for castaway
the Bay of Plenty, for two days, sailors. Curtis Island, one of the
during which we Imd a couple of group, came In sight on December
narrow escapes from searching 21. It appeared 111 u cloud of smoke,
boats. A government cutter had al­ a land of volcanoes and geysers.
most sighted us when she damaged Presently we spied the sheet-iron
her propeller on the rocks and Imd shed where the provisions were
Klrcheiss nnd four men
to limp buck home. The third day stored
we put out to sea, and as we landed on the lnferno-llke const and
bounced about on the waves I In due time returned, their bout
loaded deep with provisions. The
swore in the cadets as regular mid
shipmen of the Imperial navy and New Zealand government was kind
promoted Vice Corporal von Egidy enough Io provide many useful
to the rank of naval Junior lieu­ tilings for shipwrecked sailors and
tenant. As commander of a war sometimes for escaped prisoners of
vessel, even though she was only war. There were tools, oars, sails,
the colonel's motor boat, I Imd tlie fishing tackle, blankets, bacon, but
authority to do this. Then each ter laid, canned beef—In short,
We had intended to
helped the other cut bls hair short everything.
leave our prisoners on Curtis Is­
in naval fashion.
Two sailing vessels came by. We land. but that den of sterfin and
decided to seize them both, sink sulphur fumes seemed unlit for any­
one, and keep the other. We went one. So we decided to take them
after the first one, hub a sudden ashore with a supply of provisions,
puff of wind carried her along al mid send a wireless message to
a great rate, and we could not summon aid for them.
“Smoke to the north, behind Is­
catch her. This was very unfor­
tunate, for she reported our cap­ land." sang the lookout
ture of the second boat, which she
Two men wcie still on the Island.
witnessed. Bombs poised, machine I pent hastily for them. The Mon
gun pointing, and German flag
raised, we swiftly approached the
Moa. She hove to. My hoys and 1
clambered on deck. With Colonel
Turner’s sword In my hand, I or­
dered the captain and crew herded
below. the_captaln, nn excellent old
In the election of H. E. McGraw to an import­
ant office in state Legion circles, the Grand Voi-
ture rewards a Legionnaire who has faithfully
served his post since the local organization receiv­
ed its charter.
A good soldier, citizen, and Legionnaire, Ellis,
as he is known to his friends, has received the
whole hearted support fiom his post and the Co­
lumbia county voiture, and with hard work and
captalizing his wonderful personality, it is predict­
ed by friends that before many years, H. E. Mc­
Graw will be department commander of the Ame­
rican Legion.
PUBLICITY AND LONGVIEW
Longview stages another celebration, and at
their first annual Rolleo, October 9, 10, drew
crowds estimated at over 20,000.
Students wishing for a complete course in
publicity could well afford to »tudy for a few
weeks at the publicity bureau under Chairman Ab­
bott, and would probably derive greater results
than from a university. Longview lets the world
know, does things big, and gets results.
Your Car No Worry
mania, was one of the best fellows
I have ever met. He, too, felt him­
self a prisoner here on tills lonely
island mid soon liecame our third
man at cards, which we played to
while away the hours during the
long evenings.
A drawbridge that had been
smashed by a hurricane was being
repaired, mid we prisoners had ac­
cess to the waterside for a while.
In the yard stood a row of empty
tar burrels.
One of the barrels
fell over, and I happened to no­
tice that It was picked up by a
small coastwise schooner tliut often
lay nt dock further down the shore.
1 threw In another barrel. It flout­
ed.
The boat picked It. up. My
pTnn was made. ‘ 1 could arrange
one of those barrels so that I could
float In it I would pick the time
when the little schooner was at
shore. Then 1 would get into the
barrel mid roll myself off the dock.
The boat ffould pick the barrel up.
It might seem a bit heavy, but they
would think It had tar tn It The
barrel once aboard, Its ltd would
open and a man armed with a
knife would step out, like a Jack­
in the-box. Thus I would have a
boat. I would pick up Klrcheiss,
wlio
would be
waiting, and
we would go sailing and perbaps
get to some neutrul island.
Major I.eeming bad been so kind
to me that I did not want to ern-
baiTiiss him by escaping under his
command. He, expecting an addi­
tion to tils family, was to take a
furlough. I would do my jall-break-
ing while lie was away. But soon
after Major I.eeming went on bls
furlough Klrcheiss and I were or­
dered back to the prison camp at
Motullil. Of course, there was a
new commandunt ut Motullil now,
a Major Schofield.
Most of the
prisoners there received us with en­
thusiasm.
Even the treacherous Polish doc­
tor brought me a bottle of cham­
pagne, Imping that 1 would not
locution our former business trans­
action In which he was to get a per­
centage of that $25,000.
Presently several fellows came
to me mid asked If 1 did not think
something could be undertaken.
They hud already contrived to get
a few pistols and build a folding
canvas boat.
We could not very
well go to sea in that But If we
could contrive to station our­
selves at some other part of the
island, we could wait until a sail­
ing ship came along, put out In our
flimsy little craft, and attack her.
We consulted with the former gov­
ernor of German Samoa, Doctor
Schultz-Ewarth by name, who was
a prisoner nt Motulhl.
He with
his personal servant, a giant fel­
low, formerly a German baker, was
allowed to wander where he pleased
on the Island. It was his man who
hit upon the dea of hiding In 'tbs
Interior of the Island by building
a cave In the side of a dry river
bed tliat he had discovered, the
cave to be disguised that search­
ers would not notice it. We could
easily get out of the camp and
Into other parts of the Island, and.
at the same time, give tlie Impres­
sion that we had escaped over a
cliff to the shore and been picked
up by n boat. We could keep to
our retreat until the search had
died down, nnd then we could watch
for a passing snllslilp nnd attack
Please turn to page 5
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health experts are continuously stressing the import­
ance of giving children pasteurized milk.
Perhaps you have never thought of it but at every health
clinic or gathering the milk question, which is of the utmost im­
To Own a Car In Good
Condition Leads To
Many Happy Hours
can be assured of dependable performance.
No
worries, your car is ready to take you to the trails.
Our machine and repair shop is equipped to
handle work of any nature on your car—
And we do the work
after your car is turned over to us for repairs.
Automobile accessories and supplies—To get the
proper attention for your car let us service it for
you.
portance, usually ends with recommendations to parents to use
pasteurized milk or cream, on account of safeguarding the
health of especially the children.
Nehalem Valley
Ice &
Creamery Co.
A Home Industry
Manufacturing
Delicious Nehalia
Ice Cream
Ice
Pasteurized
Vernonia Brazing &
Machine Works
Ed. Salmonten, Mvr.
Milk & Cream
Phone 471
Pasteurized Milk to Pre­
serve Children’s Health.
Phone
Nehalem Valley Ice & Creamery Company
EXPRESSES FAITH IN VERNONIA
Satisfied and convinced that Vernonia is one
of the best towns in the state, and has a bright
future ahead, Charles T. Early expresses his faith
not in words, but achievement, and a year or more
ago constructed the most attractive filling station
and will next week open to the public his new
large fireproof brick garage and auto agency.
Considering the Columbia river highway dan­
gerous, thousands of pleasure seekers who have
in the past spent their week ends at Seaside andi
other beaches along the coast have forsaken this
trip in favor of safer highways, and are urging
and using their influence for a shorter route to the
beach, trailing through Banks, Buxton, Manning.
Vernonia, and Mist, making a super shorter high­
way to Oregon’s most popular summer resorts.
Then too, with the completion of the West
Side Pacific highway extension which leaves Ver­
nonia only 17 miles from Raimer and the east ap­
proach of the Longview bridge, Mr. Early believes
that hundreds of cars will pass through this city
daily, many on their way to Washington cities and
the Canadian border over Apiary cutoff and others
taking the shorter route to the beach via Mist.
raised sail mid ran before the wind.
The steamer was tn sight now. She
sailed toward us. We changed our
course.
She, too, changed her
course. The skipper of the Moa
recognized her as the New Zeulmid
government's cable steamer tris, an
auxiliary c t ter. She had cannon,
and we had none. Our goose wus
cooked.
We still tried helplessly to run
uway. She gained on us, and sig
A
naled us to stop. We kept on
flush, a distant roar, a hissing In
the air, a splash lu front of us
She fas firlug on us.
“Heave to,” 1 commanded, and
we were prisoners once again.
The Iris was manned by a non
descript crowd that put pistols to
our bucks ns we came aboard, ami
seurclied us to the soles of our
shoes. Then these gentry robbed
us of our personal possessions
They were wildly Jubilant over
their victory. 1 gathered from them
tliat the ship that had escaped us
iiuvlug brought the news of out
capture of the Moa to Auckland
the authorities there had surmised
that we must he bended for the
cache of supplies at Curtis Island
When we arrived at Auckland, the
New Zealanders had their own lit
tie victory to celebrate. Sight
seers lu all sorts of boats came
out to lime a l<><>k ns the Iris with
the Moa In tow steamed Into bar
bor, the victor of the Buttle of the
Kermadecs.
We were Jailed nt Mount Eden
the local prison ot Aucklund, as n
punishment for our flight. For a
calaboose. It was not bad.
Aftei
twenty one days there, we were ills
triliuted among various prison
cmu(>s.
Klrcheiss mid I went to
Elver island near Lyttelton on the
south Island of New Zealand. Even
the yard of our prison In Fort Jer-
vols was a veritable cage. It was
screened not only around, hut also
across the top with lines of
barbed wire. The commander of
the camp, Major I.eeming of Tas­
Has It Ever Occurred to You That
letting our mechanics recondition your car you
GRAND CHEM’NOT McGRAW
iaTTgrowlfe/M
Harry Kearns, Manager
FINNEY OF THE FORCE