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FIND NO TRACE OF PRISONERS WHO FLED CAMPPrisoners at the camp caused a minor ‘'strike” on Wednesday and were, placed on a “bread and water” diet. Quantities of food were taken to the Gettysburg Ice and Storage for preservation during the disturbance.Captain Laurence Thomas, camp commander, declined to comment or make a statement j this afternoon other than “everything Is under control now and all the men are back at work.”T\'hen asked if the prisoners had been placed on a “bread 1 ’ and Water diet Captain Thomas said: Now. you are putting me on the spot. All I can say is that everything is under control now and all the men are back at work.”The nature of the disturbance was not disclosed.Thomas Kostaniak, 27, and Axel Ostermaier, 22, who once fought for Hitler, were captured, removed to this country and then transferred J to a war prisoners’ camp at the i outskirts of Gettysburg are still at j large alter escaping from the camp! -stockade sometime after last Mon-! day morning.The object of a two-state manhunt under the direction of the j Federal Bureau of Investigation, as- 1 sisted by State and local police, the j two fugitives have eluded capture, j No tangible clues as to their where- j abouts have been uncovered or re-! ported. |iEscape Detection 1'iAs . mysteriously ... as_. they have i disappeared the two former German 11 Army infantry sergeants have man- | aged to escape detection despite the fact that they are unable to speak English and are wearing blue denims, shirt and pants, with the initials P W painted on the back of the shirts and the seat of tlje pants, unless they have been outfitted with other civilian attire.Believed to be without money, or with a very small amount, the two yotung fugitives apparently are subsisting on the land. They may resort to stealing food although most police believe that they would not have much difficulty surviving j on the fruit crop if they are withinthe area of orchards. Other garden vegetables are also available to them. \,Discount Rnmcr jNot a single trace as to the direction they took after leaping the wire fence surrounding their camp has been found. No one has reported that they actually saw the prisoners after they fled the stockade.t sCamp officials had previously reported that the two men were in ; their bed at midnight Sunday, when . a check of the prisoners was made by : camp guards, ,A report that gained wide cir- , culation in town today was to the effect that the prisoners had been shot and killed and that this Information is being withheld by the police.The rumor was discounted by the } FBI office in Philadelphia from! where the search is being directed j by Jolm F. Sears, special agent. The FBI told The Gettysburg Times at noon today that there were no new developments in the case, and thatthe hunt was being relentlessly con-«ducted over a wide area.No New DevelopmentsThe FBI would not reveal the nature. if any, of any new clues received during the past 24 hours.Meanwhile, at the local camp, it was officially reported fcliat guards had been increased about the stockade as well as-on the trucks that carry the prisoners to and from canning plants in the county, where they are employed.State police this morning investigated without success a report tele- : phoned them Wednesday by Robert j Deardorff of Orrtanna that a neighbor. Mrs. Clarence Mickley. had been asked for food by a youthful stranger dressed in bine whose speech could not be understood. He j walked off along the road leading ;
Newspaper Details
Gettysburg Star and Sentinel
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, US
Sat, Jul 08, 1944
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Gettysburg C.
PA, USA 22 Apr 2021
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