Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-08-29
GIRL MAKES LIGHT
Of GERMAN ARREST
Miss Mary Axe, Capital Wis.,
itor, Relates Her Expert
ences in War Zone.
HELD FOR A TIME AS SPY
IN GOTTA, BUT RELEASED
Does Not Blame Captors, as Condi-
lions Abroad Are Mixed-Came
Home in Storage.

sian spy, was the unusual eAPei iohSo
of Miss Mary AXE of Idaho. niece OF
, W. S. AXE, 5221s Sd street northwest.
who recently arrived in this country
from abroad and who is spending sew
eral months in Washington. Miss AXE,
in company with three other young
women, was In the midst Of CONT
mental tour when the war, or rather
series of wars, broke out, and. after
considerable difficulty. finally reached
England and thence America.
The members of the party fortunately
were able to release themselves and
leave Gotha before being actually in
generated, but were taken to police
headquarters in the town and narrowly
missed a very unpleasant experience.
Nor did the young women greatly
blame the German officials, considering
the circumstances and the state of the
country, Miss AXE told a reporter for
The Star yesterday. but at the time 1t
was rather disquieting to be escorted
through the streets by armed men and
followed by a crowd.
Following tour of various Italian
cities, Miss AXE and her party had
reached Vienna when they first heard
of the conflict.
vienna was surprisingly calm, al
though tremendously interested" said
Miss Axe, land the extra papers. which
in Austria and Germany are distributed
free to the inhabitants. were read with
us for them. though. at the rate OFF,
cents apiece. Great crowds were in
the streets, and often Joined in the
Austrian national anthem. We decided
to push forward to Berlin. and were
fortunate enough to get on the last
train to cross into Germany.
THE train was filled with soldiers, each
with his name and regiment on a metal
tag for Identification in case of death.
We talked with some of the cavalrymen,
and although they said they were not
permitted to say anything concerning
their feelings toward the kaiser, one
trooper told me that the heir apparent.
recently assassinated, had. in the opinion
Of many, brought on the war
War Again Met.
In Berlin the war caught US again, or
rather a new war did. We saw both
sides of it in a way-the great crowd
that stood outside the palace for more
than six hours on the night of mobiliza-
ton, cheering aud calling for the kaiser,
and the indescribably pitiful farewells Of
the reservists and regulars as they part
ed from wives and children. The women
were so brave and seemed to try to make
parting as easy as possible for the men.
The spirit of the reservists was fine; al
though called to the colors. they did not
make that an excuse to stop work, but
labored at their appointed tasks up till
the last possible moment.
One of our party had in Gotha
cousin Of a good deal Of local prominence
| and we decided to leave Berlin for that
town and, later, go on to Amsterdam.
We reached the town early in the morn
ing and. although We had sent word of
our coming. it had never been received.
and the cousin did not meet our train.
We were walking down the platform car
rying our numerous grips, for there were
no porters, when suddenly we were halt
ed by an official and were surrounded by
file OF armed soldiers.
You are Russians said one of the
men, and although we assured them that
we were Americans, they would not at
first believe US. 1t seems that earlier in
the morning four Russian spies In the
garb Of nuns had been caught debarking
from a train from that country and
shot, and as we thought at first no one
had seen that we had gotten of of the
Berlin train. Finally one soldier admitted
that he had seen us leave those coaches
and things looked brighter.
I'VE were escorted through the
streets, however, to hotel where the
authorities had established sort of
headquarters. and there closely ques-
toned. We told whom we were seek
ing and gave his address, and they
took US to the house, and there. as 1t
| CHANGED, no one was at home who
| knew us or had heard of our intended
visit. Tho householder himself. how
! ever. came in time to get US released.
Doesn't Blame Captors.
| IT must frankly admit that do not
| blame our captors, both for the reason
| of the spy episode and because reserv-
lists had also been caught trying to
| leave Germany in women's garb. The
town was under martial law. the coun-
try was at war and they could take
no chances.
| 1--WE were advised by our host to
hurry to Amsterdam, and therefore we
| left Gotha at l am. When we finally
4 reached that city we had been travel
| ing nearly all of three days and three
! nights, with but one nights sleep and
only two meals, and had had to change
| cars six times in one day.
Shortly after leaving Gotha in
coach crowded almost to suffocation,"
continued Miss AXE. I'VE were again
| accused of being spies. this time by
the conductor. young Englishman,
| a Cambridge student, who spoke such
perfect German that no one would
guess his nationality. got us off that
the Dutch frontier that was not only
strongly guarded. but which had
placed on it a great amount of gun
powder, and on crossing this bridge all
| windows were ordered closed by the
troops, with the threat that If any
window were opened it would be fired
into. We were told that the Dutch
intended blowing up this highway in
case of an invasion, and the order for
closed windows was to prevent any
spy from blowing 1t up prematureiy
by throwing bomb from the train.