River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-09-17

Russia; the English people were
circulating petitions against h e
war; U. S. would now take Canada.
Most pathetic of all was the Joy
with which they read that Ameri-
ca was sending money to aid the
German government and had or
dered the English out of the North
Sea.
We started for Hamburg Aug.
18th to get passports and proceed
to Paris if possible, if not, to Eng
land. Experience of previous days
had prepared us for some of the
annoyances and Inconvenience.
To leave the Getty limits" of even
the smaller villages one must have
pass from the Burgomeister, re-
newed each day. There were only
slow local trains, no extended day
time travel permitted, hours of
Wearisom delays at small villages,
all stations in the hands o f t h e
soldiery, every traveller closely in
spected, forced to answer rapid
fire questions and baggage thoro-
ughly searched for bombs, every
rail and bridge guarded by dozens
of soldiers and martial law in force.
Fear of bomb-throWers caused the
order that all travellers must stay
off platforms and keep all Win
dows closed. An American from
Berlin told of a Red Cross Nurse
who, trusting to her insignia, dis
obayed the command. She was in
stantly shot. Near the Kaiser Will
helm Canal we had to walk for
an hour and half, carrying all
hand baggage, to the next sta
ton. Finally we rode into Ham
| burg on a troop train through
shouting, singing mobs. grown mad
over the reported cap u re
of Leige, the most modern fort in
Europe, absolutely impregnable.
Little girls handed flowers to the
troops; older girls distributed cof-
fee, sandwiches and drinks. N o
attention was paid to tickets nor
to class distinctions and drunken
| toughs seized the chance to ri d e
first-class.
In Hamburg we decided to leave
the Germans their monopoly on
reaching Paris. Hopes of getting
out of Germany in any direction
died. Some Americans had spent
| two weeks and most of their money
travelling back and forth fro
Holland to Denmark in a vain eff
! fort to get out. All ship communi-
cation with England had been brok-
en- the third day of the war, the
| North Sea and English channel
were reported filled with mines,
cable communication even wi h
America destroyed, checks worth
less, and US. silver below par.
| About eight hundred Americans
and as many more Englishmen be-
| seiged the American Consulate at
all hours Of the day and nj G h t..
The only satisfaction was that the
Tennessee had sailed and would
| charter ships to take us all home,
perhaps in a week, perhaps in
months. Then economy became an
art, and ability to make ones own
meals, almost a necessity. In the
meantime the Consulate became
home, the one civilized spot o f
what seemed a barbarous world.
If our lot seemed hard we had
only to think of the English,
thrown out Of boarding houses,
out of employment, many penni-
less, hated, and sometimes mob
bed. All American passports given
out the first days Of the war had
to be reissued because the Ger
man government thought m n y
Englishmen had escaped h t
way. Some began wearing h e
American flag everywhere respect
ed and considered a boundless
treasury of gold, witness the cab
and hotel prices there and in Hol-
land.
On August 18th the Germans
granted a special train to Bu c b
Americans as chose to go to Hol-
land. Officials and citizens gave
royal sendoff Of songs and good
wishes and provided every Ameri-
can with a bundle of daily news
papers "that We might bring the
truth to America" 1t was night
train but sleep was out of the ques-
ton. At a midnight stop W e
saw on the next track lengthy
freight train carrying eight hum
dred Belgians, the total male pop
ulation of village accused of fir
ing upon German soldiers and the
Red Cross. An extra strong guard
of German giants stood watch and
fold thet all were to be s h OF at