Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-08-30
EUROPEAN TRAVELLING,
Difficulties Encountered by Party of WASH
ingtOnians in Getting Out of Russia.


ingtOnians in Getting Out of Russia.
Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
VIENNA, AUSTRIA. Aug. Is, 1892.
The censorship of even private correspond
ence in Russia would Cor might have prevented
your receiving my candid impressions of that
great country, unique in its character. as in
its geographic position, on the border line be-
tween oriental despoti+m and customs and the
progressive civilization of western Europe. In
spite of cholera In its southeastern provinces
and the constant rumors of its progress toward
its northwestern cities, our party of American
tourists made its intended visits in st. Peters
burg, Moscow and Warsaw and kept reasonably
well by a careful observance of sanitary and
dietetic precautions. In Moscow, especially. it
needed no outside suggestion for us to keep
eyes and ears open and the other senses closed
as far as possible. To drink no water, eat no
fruit, and but few vegetables, was no slight de-
priGation to party OF omnivorous Americans
and made us anxious to make our exit from the
regions where prudence required it. But when
we were ready TO do SO and approached the
Austrian frontier We found ii no easy matter to
get across on orr way to Vienna. A viennese
paper had published n report that our party
had visited the fair at Novgorod and that four
Of them had died of cholera
This unfounded rumor tended to make the
Austrian officials particularly rigid in the APP
plication of quarantine precautions When hay
ing at Graniza had our passports vised and paid
for third time, We changed cars (none being
allowed to cross the frontier and within mile
or two came to Szczakowa. where the quaran-
tine was to be enforced. With n concerned and
austere look the Austrian officials first locked
us all In the special cars in which We had come
from Warsaw and expelled and excluded all
others from the station to prevent the posi-
DiIlty OF their contamination; and thus we were
kept for an hour or two, our trunks and
hand baggage being in the meanwhile taken
into room by itself. Being Americans we
took the liberty of looking from our prison
cars and laughing and chatting in a way that
betokened anything but q cholera-stricken COM
pany. With such German as we could muster
by our combined efforts We accosted our jailors
a. they passed near US from time to time and
tried to gather from them the fate awaiting us.
So irresistible became our good humor that
very soon they began to show its effect on
themselves, and broad smiles chased the austere
looks from their countenances.
The next step in the program was that three
or four of us were let out ut time and con-
Quoted into n small room, where we were thor
oughly sprayed with carbolic Cor diabolic) acid
elected by means OF fire under the receptacle
in which it was contained When from our car-
windows we saw these fires kindled it looked ss
though preparation was making for q holocaust
OF our whole train. but now that we saw the
worst our suspense was relieved. After our
whole party had gone through this process of
disinfecti9n We were called upon to open our
trunks. take out the clothing they contained and
submit 1t to like spraying as we had ourselves
saceiyed. After detention Of about six hours
asd the tribulation and fumigation aforesaid we
Were permitted to enter the station restaurant
end there demonstrate by our appetites. and the
appeasing OF them, that We were the healthiest
lot of cholera patients that ever emerged from
the land Of the "autocrat OF all the Russias. ~
andIte pursue our way to Cracow in Franz
Josephs dominions.
There We received Q telegram from the pro-
prietor Of the hotel in this- city where we had
engaged quarters that all the hotels had Joined
| in compact not to receive guests coming direct
from Russia, but by sending . special agent
ahead and taking al the Russian labels from our
trunks We overcame the difficulty end are we'll
quarter6d here, nevertheless, and enjoying the
musical festival ~ much a. IL We were mot
guests from Russia, bat native and 10 tho
manner boru."