of Europe, some with money in abundance, some with just enough
for a brief journey, capitalists, teachers, students, all were
caught in the sudden flurry of the war, their letters of credit
useless, transportation difficult or impossible to obtain, all
exposed to inconveniences, some to indignities, some of them on
the flimsiest pretence seized and searched as spies, the great
mass of them thrown into a state of panic that added greatly to
the unpleasantness of the situation in which they found
themselves.

While these conditions of panic gradually adjusted themselves,
the status of the tourists continued difficult and annoying. The
railroads were seized for the transportation of troops, leaving
many Americans helplessly held in far interior parts, frequently
without money or credit. One example of the difficulties
encountered will serve as an instance which might be repeated a
hundred fold.

Seven hundred Americans from Geneva were made by Swiss troops to
leave a train. Many who refused were forced off at the point or
guns. This compulsory removal took place at some distance from a
station near the border, according to Mrs. Edward Collins, of New
York, who with her three daughters was on the train. With 200
others they reached Paris and were taken aboard a French troop
train. Most of the arrivals were women; the men were left behind
because of lack of space. One hundred women refused to take the
train without their husbands; scores struck back for Geneva;
others on foot, carrying articles of baggage, started in the
direction of Paris, hoping to get trains somewhere. Just why
Swiss troops thus occupied themselves is not explained; but in