The Washington herald., 1914-09-08
REFUGEES Shout
| ON ARRIVAL HERE
More Than 4,500 Give Way
to Feelings as Statue Of Lib
erty Hoves Into Sight,
TWO SHIPS REACH PORT
All Have Thrilling Stories to Relate
Concerning Experiences in
European War Zone.
TWO SHIPS REACH PORT

New York, Sept. L-shouting themselves
| hoarse at the sight Of the Statue of Lib
erty, more than 400 American refugees
arrived here today on the liners Rotter-
dam and BergensfJord.
The Rotterdam, which carried s,572 pas
sengers, the largest number OF refugees
brought from the war zone in one ship,
was twice stopped by British cruisers en-
route to the United States. and the Ber-
| gensfjord. with LILO refugees, reported
being halted by a British warship last
night outside the harbOT.
Practically every one of the refugees
| who were in Germany when war broke
out. or who had TO pass through that
country to get to the seaports, Indignantly
denied the charges that Germans were
mistTeatlng American and other foreign
tourists.
Among the passengers on the Rotter-
dam were Nine. Schumann-H -Heink and
Nine. Johanna Gadski. the operatic stars,
On the BeFgensfjord were William C. Cur
tain, OF the firm of johnson & Higgins,
insurance brokers, Philadelphia, and
Frank T. Patterson, of the United States
Steel Corporation. The Rotterdam's pas
senger list carried the names OF Russians
Germans, English, French, and Austrians,
and several clashes among the persons of
different nationalties were averted only
through the vigilance of Capt. Slender
and his crew. At the start Of the voyage
the captain posted a notice that none Of
the passengers was to carry on conVersa-
tons concerning the war under penalty Of
being sllenced by force II necessary
Finally Get Into Arguments.
During the early part Of the voyage
most of the passengers from the bel
igerent nations observed the rule, but
during the last few days they got into
arguments. The Rotterdam's crew sep
arated the quarreling factions. Threats
that a repetition Of the quarreis might
result in the offenders being placed in
irons cooled their ardor for debates.
All of the passengers had thrilling
stories to relate concerning their own
experiences in the war zone. Judson
Kimball and wife were unwilling wit
nesses TO the battle fought at Luneville.
They saw more than 100 men killed in
the vicinity Of the chateau where they
took shelter.
Rimball and his wife motoring from
Paris to Berlin. were halted by Germf ms
at Stuttgart. Their automobile vas
by German troops. They
hired a wagon and got as far as Bla-
mont, a town near Luneville They spent
the night on a bench in front OF a hotel
The next day they were taken in by
Baron Turkheim and his wife, who had
a chateau near Luneville.
They had hardly taken quarters in the
chateau when the French and German
skirmish forces clashed. The Kimballs
the fighting from the chateau
II lasted for twelve days, Kimbal de-
claTed. During the battle the French
used four aeropIanes.
'On the twelfth day the French began
10 fall back" said KimbaIl
Miss Evelyn Mack, another Rotterdam
passenger who travelled through Germany
after the outbreak OF war. on her way to
said:
1T was 'hoch der Americans every
where we went in Germany" she said !
The Germans seemed to like US. They
showed us every courtesy"
Nine. SChumann-Hei was singing in |
/ Parsifal performance at Bayreuth when
news Of the outbreak of the war was I
received
In three minutes the twenty young |
men singers had left to enlist. and in |
ess than ten minutes there were about !
90 people left OF the 1900 audience" de- /
,lared the singer.
Curtin and his wife were in Petrograd |
when war broke out
we left there August on a train of .
orty cars" said Curtin. The cars were
and all Of us suffered great
discomfort. At Rickimarcki, which we
cached on the Sd. We hired a special
rain. II cost us several thousand dol
ars, but it was worth it, There were
eighteen Americans in our party. and
We were without food for thirty hours
N stretch. We finally reached Sweden
n safety''