Barely had the excitement settled from the previous escape when a second attempt was discovered. Around 8:30pm on Wednesday, August 22, 1917, a sentry making his rounds at the stockade guardhouse found a man in civilian clothes walking away from the guardhouse. The sentry became suspicious of the man, but at the same moment, realized two other prisoners had dropped out of the window at the rear of the guardhouse. The other man broke into a run. Relying on his training, the sentry let the running man go and held the other two men at bayonet point, which prevented further prisoners from dropping out of the window. 

The stockade guardhouse was located near the War Prison Barracks stockade's main gate, but outside the double-layer barbed wire fences that made up the outer perimeter (see picture below). This guardhouse was different from the guardhouse that still exists today on Barnhardt Circle in the original fort. 

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Prisoners Wegner, Hartwig, and Auer from escape #1 were guests in this guardhouse because of their escape attempt the previous week. Also in this guardhouse was a quiet and mysterious man named Arnold Henkel. 

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According to the newspaper report, Henkel used a hack saw to cut the bars on the bathroom window. The prisoners ran water and sang to drown out the sound of the sawing. It was not known how they got the hacksaws.​ The first person to drop out the window was Henkel. It was said that Wegner, Hartwig, and Auer also were a part of this attempt, which makes sense, although their names were never officially released because they technically did not go missing, thanks to the sentry guard. 

The Chattanooga News, May 23, 1918

Not much is known about Henkel. He claimed to be an officer in the engineers of the German army, but other reports say that even the Germans doubted this, as he kept to himself, did not say much, and did not eat with the other officers. He had a history of other escapes prior to Fort Oglethorpe, including the famous prison break with Lt. Hans Berg from Fort McPherson, Atlanta, the previous October. 

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Two days later, Henkel turned up in Cedar Grove, which is about 22 miles south of the fort in the picturesque lands of McLemore Cove, Walker County. As reported in the Times, farmer W. J. Turner had read about the escape in the news. When a stranger appeared at his door inquiring about something to eat, Turner suspected this might be the escapee. He invited Henkel in and said have a seat, while he went into the kitchen to check on dinner preparations, at which time he got his pistol. Henkel became suspicious that his cover was blown and got up, attempting to leave quickly, but upon trying to exit the front door, Turner fired twice striking Henkel once in the right arm. Henkel immediately surrendered to Turner and admitted he was the escaped prisoner from the news. Turner transported the man back to Fort Oglethorpe where he was returned to the guardhouse. Col. Andrus, commandant of the War Prison Barracks, went to the guardhouse and saw that Henkel was wounded and ordered him taken to the post hospital for treatment. 

Chattanooga Daily Times

August 25, 1917

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