South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-08-19
SOUTH RENDERS
AID GIRLS HELD AS
SPIES IN GERMANY

CONTINUED FRO MPAGE ONE.
and he told US the best thing to do
would be TO go to Berlin, secure our
passports and attempt to get out of
the country. We packed up and went
TO Berlin Immediately. There we
found thousands of Americans all
flOcking TO the American minister
office for passports. 1t was Sunday
morning that we arrived there and that
morning the kaiser sent out the first
orders for mobilization. We were for
tunate in getting passports, and Mon
day at 1:13 o'clock we boarded the
train for Amsterdam, Holland.
when we left everything in Berlin
was in a turmoil. Thousands of en-
thusiastiC Germans were parading the
streets singing national airs. 1t was
an alarming situation. Our money
was practically useless as the banks
refused to change it for US. And be-
sides money was of no avail There
was not the slightest chance of tip
ping anybody that we might get a
little extra comfort. When we left
Berlin there were only three men left
at the hotel Minerva The rest had
been called to the front either as vol
unteers or as reserves in the army.
Narrowly Miss Riot.
In Munich where we were before
the war became general and the t1ght
Austria Hungary, great crowds OF
German sympathizers were even then
parading the streets. In Munich we
visited the DeutScher cafe and just l 5
minutes after we left the cafe crowd
of Germans visited the place. The
proprietor refused to allow them TO
sing die Wacht am Rhein" and the
mob became so angry that they RAID
ed the place wrecking the furnishings
and destroyed all the fixtures. The
damage TO the Deutscher cafe was
$4,000.
ION our journey from Berlin TO
Amsterdam we changed cars three
times, showed our passports thrice and
had our baggage examined IN the
middle of the rails twice. We were
however, save that there
was an unseeming amount of bruSk-
ness, but that was due TO the excite
ment attending the war. In Anster-
dam we found between 1000 and
1900 Americans stranded looking for
a way to get back to the good old y.
:. A.
"We found that there were boats
sailing from Rotterdam and went
down there on Tuesday, Aug. t, to look
after passage 1 found upon inquiry
that the Amsterdam was sailing the
following Saturday and another yes
sci "A week from that time. All pas
sage had been booked upon the first
boat To sail so il looked as If we were
doomed to stay for the second boat
l returned TO Amsterdam from Rot
terdam.
The great cry of Americans at that
place seemed to be ON to England.
1t seemed then that Holland would be
come involved in the embroglio. YES
sells plying between England and the
that usually carried in
the neighborhood Of 800 people, car
ried thousands of Americans. We
however decided 10 trust our chances
in the Dutch kingdom.
Met Girls Arrested as Spies.
1T was here that l met Miss K.
b. SchermerhOrn of New YORK city
and Miss L. B. Nickerson and their
Mrs Evans. who were ar
rested IN Germany as Russian spies.
Through the efforts OF the American
minister they had been released and
had succeeded in getting TO Amster-
dam. Miss NickersOn told me OF her
arrest, how she had been brutally
treated by the German women who
her, and how one pompous'
offcious German officer had torn her
gold handbag away from her, think
ing il was a bomb. She said that IL
was not until hours afterward that
and the Germans still believing 1t
made her open It
They were stranded likewise. so
Thursday one OF the women chartered
an automobile, although they were
very hard TO obtain, and We went
down TO Rotterdam to try 10 get pas
sage. There we found that there was
absolutely nothing doing, until the
vessel which sailed last Saturday. But
Friday morning l arose early ana
went back TO the city from which the
vessel sailed stood in line from
O'Clock in the morning until 1880 that
Suddenly I overhead the
man in front OF me celebrating as TO
whether we should wait until the
next vessel or not. I asked him what
tickets ne had. He said two engi-
neers' cabins. with just room FOR six
people. That was just what / wanted
for our own party and that OF the
girls who had been arrested as spies.
put down the money, and secured
our passage
OVerhauled by Essex.
Even then our adventures weren't
over. We had proceeded to sea for