Evening star., 1914-08-19
Much Suffering in Evidence,
Declares Former Chief of
U. S. Secret Service.
ESTIMATES THERE ARE
10000 NOW MAROONED
Says Consular Service Rose to Emer.
gency-Liner Laconia Dis
guised for Trip Over.

John E. Wilkie of Chicago, former chief
Of the secret service and supervising
agent of customs of the Treasury. was
at the White House and State Depart
ment yesterday. having reached New
York from abroad Monday on the steam
ship Laconia. He talked with State De-
partment officials about relief for num-
Der OF friends who are marooned abroad
and cannot get home. and also about
matters of business nature To Star
reporter at the White House Mr.. Wilkie
talked Interestingly of the experiences
of Americans abroad from the beginning
of the European war.
Undoubtedly there will be a great deal
of suffering and mental anguish on the
part of Americans who are marooned on
the continent and who are cut off from
all communication with their friends at
home" said Mr.. Wilkia The number
of these embarrassed Americans is i'm
possible to ascertain with exactness. but
the estimates by American consular Off
ces and steamship agents indicated that
there were about 40.G13 Americans on the
continent at the time Austria declared
war on Servia. Events moved so quickly
following that declaration that only a
comparatively few of these We're able to
take advantage of the crippled trans
portation facilities available to the public
each of the European governments hav-
ing commandeered the railway and water
transportation for mobilization of troops
1t is therefore believed that approx
mately 10000 will form the army which
will have to be fed and financed by AS
sistant Secretary Breckenridge, who is in
immediate charge of the relief measures
instituted by the administration. There
hundreds nf jnSfono0c n 70
sonal suffering. particularly on the part
of women travelling alone. Deprived OF
their baggage, and with letters of credit
and money orders which would not be
accepted either for food. lodging or trans
portation, they wandered about the streets
seeking interpreters who might direct
them to friendly consul.
Consular Service Gave Aid.
Our consular service, with restricted
resources, rose to the emergency and
while unable to give complete relief in
every instance. was able to make tempo.
rary arrangements for at least shelter
and food. AS an instance of the relief
measures which were adopted, our con-
sui at Antwerp, Henry w. Diederich
divided his household food supplies with
a number Of American girl students and
others who had called upon Mrs. Dieder-
ich in their extremities. He did this In
spite of the fact that local merchants had
already begun to curtail their sales be-
cause Of failing supplies
"In London the panic was acute for
the period covered by the five bank holi-
days. and as the declaration of war by
England came in the midst Of this holi-
day period the public. both English and
American, found it impossible to take
normal view Of the situation, result
ing in the doing of extraordinary things
in an effort to obtain money, transporta-
ton and food. Ship sailings which had
been announced for weeks. with passen-
ger lists filled to the limit. were can
celed, one after the other, without notice
and, in many instances, passengers were
driven from the ships upon which they
to this uncertainty were the alarming
reports Of the activities Of German cruis-
ers along the westbound steamship lanes,
and color was given to these reports
by the dispatches from America de-
scribing the experiences of the Lusitania,
which had taken refuge in Halifax. One
result OF this condition was to cause the
cancellation Of individual tickets by pas
sengers who had transportation but were
afraid to use it. One who walked through
Trafalgar square and Cockspur street. in
London. during any one Of the bank holi-
days saw pathetic incidents which were
particularly appealing and for which no.
body was able to offer remedy. There
also were amusing incidents. There was
one party of twenty seven Americans