Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-02-12
TENSION RELIEVED
BY ARRIVAL OF
GERARD PARTY
Safely Reach Zurich Where
Ambassador Tells of Being
Held Prisoner
PRESSURE PLACED ON HIM
Kaiser Tried Hard to Get Him
to Sign Treaty Pro-
tocol
PRESSURE PLACED ON HIM

Zurich, Switzerland, Sunday, Feb.
IL, 10 p. m. via Paris. Feb. IL, 4.45
a. m.-Most of the members of Am
bassador Gerard's large party gave a.
genuine sigh of relief this afternoon
when the Swiss border was reached,
for the strain of the last few days had
told more or less on the majority of
the travellers.
Ambassador Gerard met cordially
the horde of newspapermen which
crowded about him on his arrival at
Zurich, clamoring for interviews for
papers all over the civilized world, but
be kept rigidly to his determination
not to speak tor publication until af-
ter he has reported to President Will
son in Washington.
The strain of the situation for the
Americans in Berlin had been height
ened toward the end by the efforts of
the German authorities to induce Mr..
Gerard to open negotiations for an
amendment to the Prussian- American
treaty of 1899. AT the same time the
German newspapers were flooded with
reports of the seizure of German ships
by America and with stories of diff
cultieS and indignitieS encountered by
Count Won Bernstorff. Ambassador
Gerard was refused permission to
communicated in cipher with Wash
| ington and the authorities ignored all
denials of the stories printed in the
4 off ri oil
message received through the Spanish
embassy made it clear that the stories
were false. Prior to this, Ambassa-
dor Gerard's telephone wires were cut,
his mail and telegraphic privileges
stopped so that he could not even in
struct the American consuls-and he
was, in his own words a prisoner.
Petty Friction
| The combined result was uncer-
tainty and petty friction which was
only increased when the foreign and
military authorities shifted the re-
sponsibility for the delay in Gerard s
departure from one to another. No
American, least of all Ambassador
Gerard, could obtain any definite in
formation. 1t was pointed out to the
officials violation of the measures
were only applicable to actual war and
the admirable self-restraint and po-
liteness of the German people with the
resultant good effect. was being jeo-
pardized. Delay followed delay and
one excuse was made after another
until Friday night when the foreign
office suddenly announced it's willing
ness to permit Mr.. Gerard to depart
on the following day. The names of
correspondents and of other persons
were added to the list but even then
petty delays and uncertainties follow
ed until shortly before the train was
boarded.
Mr.. Gerard's farewells were said in
a friendly though formal manner.
Many Germans were in the throng at
the station which consisted partly of
Americans who had not received per-
mission to depart on the embassy train
and mtst await the police routine be-
fore being allowed to leave. The fact
that it was not generally known that
Mr.. Gerard was departing reduced the
demonstrations at the South German
stations to minimum of curious
crowds,
The older women and the children
were assigned to the sleeping cars
on the train. The younger persons
rode in the day coaches and made the
trip of twenty hours to the border
with no serious discomforts. The
party was accompanied by two repre-
sentatives of the foreign office and
guarded carefully by men from the
secret service. The customs inspec-
ton and other examinations at the
border were relaxed to a mere formal
| ity.