The Gettysburg Compiler
May 11, 1946

Byron Cease, Wife And Daughter Given Suspended Terms in 
P. O. W. Escape Case

Harrisburg, May 7 -Byron I. Cease, his wife, and their 18 year old daughter, Pearl, of Orrtanna, were given suspended sentences of a year and a day yesterday in Federal District Court after they pleaded guilty to charges of harboring a German prisoner of war.

Judge Albert L. Watson placed the parents on probation for one year, and the daughter for two years, for complicity in the escape of the prisoner from an Adams county work camp.

During the hearing in the case Judge Watson read two lengthy letters he said the girl sent to one of the German prisoners. As he read the letters the girl sobbed. Her father took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped her eyes. Counsel for the Cease family, Attorney Spencer G. Hall, of Harrisburg, told this story to the court:

Exchange Notes

German prisoners occupied a camp near Orrtanna and were assigned to work in a canning factory where Pearl and her mother were employed during the canning season. Prisoners were not permitted to fraternize with other persons in the factory but one of the Germans wrote a note in English to Pearl, smuggling it to her, telling her he wanted to meet her.

Other notes followed and finally the German told the girl he was going to escape to be with her. She warned him against the attempt and asked him to go back to Germany and then return to this country for her.

Last January the German escaped from the camp with another Nazi. They went to the Cease farm together. The parents warned them to go away because they did not want to become involved. Pearl and her mother gave them their meals, however, and the father took them to and abandoned house a few miles away where they took refuge. He said he wanted to get them off his property.

A day or two later FBI agents and army men recaptured the prisoners and the Cease family was taken into custody.

Judge Watson said that since the war was over when the escape was made a period of imprisonment would serve no good purpose in view of the good reputation borne by the family in Adams county.