THE MARTYRDOM OF NURSE CAVELL.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 127, 31 December 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE MARTYRDOM OF NURSE CAVELL.

Ao act 01 war, save ou-y uie s Ufcing 01 me juuMiiiiiiia, urouseu »ucu universal nori'oi' auu inuiguauou us ino exeuuiioa —uiuruei' jo >4io correct wvru — oi *>mse JMiitn Lavtu, at musseis, by uie Ueriuaiw, tor aiuuig i'renin, Wnisn, auu soldieia to esc»«K>. Vvo give m .>nei me oiory 01 uus outrage. in a garuen at iNorw.cu 14 wouitw ago th« ii««b caiiio to a middle agtd iauy auu ner muuier tuat war uau uroxen out oetweeu ueriuauy am iwiglauu. iue niiuUie-agea iauy was Jins E-uun caveii, wuose nauie wis ihcu kuowu oniy to a unticou 1 imbcr oi augiisn-speaKing land, me piobubiuties are mat centuries toiler Hit War lias uecuiue a laint and dim memory die name wnl be cner sii "i -as luvu loiget tlie old wars ot France and hiiglauu and renienioer Joau ol Aivj loiget Monmouth s Usin'ua against james tue Second and remember Alice Lisle and iicr murderer, Judge Jeffreys; torget the long agony ol tue Crimea and remember noicuce Nightingale. , . . jwlith Cavell, like Joan of Arc, carnea lanie by the manner ot Her death. By her lue, like Florence iMghtingale, she earned the gratitude 01 every humane man and woman. By her sentence and execution she procured tor her murderer the hate ot history. That murderer was baron von Uissmg. jNow, tins quiet Englishwoman, who asked nothing better ot life than freedom to do her work unostentatiously, was spending her holiday at home when the news ot war came to her. Her work lay in Brussels, capital pf the lirst country swept by the war. And as her .work was nursing and the training of nurses she knew that she would be wanted at once. "There are two sides to war—the glory and the miscry," 6he wrote in an English paper, the "Nursing Mirror," after sh© had returned to Brussels early that sanv August. "We begin to see both. We shall see the latter more clearly as time coes on." OCT TO TUE WAR CENTRE.

Knowing some of the practical facte of that under-side of war, and realising fully the kind of task that would fall upon her, Miss Cavell showed no hesitation. ''My duty is out there," she said as she sat in that English garden, amid tho scent of the stocks and oldfashioned beds of pinks. So she turned away from these pleasant scenes, broko off her holiday abruptly, and went back to do her duty. As we know, Edith Cavell never saw an English garden again. From the middle of August of last year, iwhen the Germans entered Brussels, she saw few English faces except those 01 wounded men. And from August 5 ttus year, wnen she was arresteu, until her cruel death, sibe was entirely alone simong her enemies, save for the bricl, grudged visit of an English clergyman on the last night of all. .Before we picture the scene or her trial and execution we must try and realise what manner ol woman this was (writes W.T.H., in the Sunday "Herald"). A fragile, spare gentlewoman, below the average height. She is not young, for her dark hair is greying round tho temples; and there are those line; about the eyes which tell that many of life's severer lessons have been already learned. The brow is high, the eyebrows sharp and firm.. The mouth is strong and almost masculine; but yeu have only to glance at the tender greyblue eyes to know that you are in the presence of a womanly woman. The mouth fias capacity for rule. The eyes carry asurance of a great tenderness and pity. And it was not the partial judgment of a friend that saw in that clean, straight forehead the sure imprint of a noble soul. A frail body to carry so large a spirit ! And the voice was modest and unpretentious like it. Miss Cavell spoKO in a low, clear contralto. You could not imagine 6ueh a voice raised in loud contentions Whatever happened, such a voice could never lose its dignity. Whatever the murderers could kill, they could not destroy the impression of inferiority which all vulgar creatures felt in such a presence. klWi ttOKK IJM LOiNDON. But it was only the svek and dying ivlio Knew tiie lull potency 01 tuanu Cavell s voice. Old men m .tUitoii, draggled .women in Whitechapel Bead, anu children wnoni she had iwlowod <.u wretched homes after their dis"luu'ge from hospital, knew the healing poavr 01 her voice. Most of all, her enemies knew it. For she had watched at tne bcdiside of many German soldiers since tiie war began. Trained by her hands, German nurses had gone back to thenown country to nurse the Bick. If von Biss-ing himself had been wounded, Edith Cavell would have nursed him with the same care as if he had been an Englishman. None who knew her can doubt it. That is a nurse's glory. This is von Bissing's shame. It is nine years since Miss Cavell went to Brussels. Her lite before that had been like many other Englishwomen's of her class. She was born in a country rectory at Swardestou, five miles from Norwich. Here her father was rector for over 50 years. The rectory is close to the church, with a private entrance, to the churchyard trom the garden. Old elms overlook the church, whoso grey, scruat tower is older than the deeds of Joan of Arc. In such surroundings' Edith Cavell drank in, perhaps half-unconsciously, those traditions of service and discipline, of loyalty, and devotion, which bore fruit in her martyrdom. No one would willingly give up such a homo for life in a great town. But Editli Cavell decided that nursing was her vocation. She becamo a nurse at the London Hospital. She went later to Belgium, and went back there at the beginning of the war, before Brussels was in the hands of the Hun.

After the German occupation >lits Cavell placed her nursing institution, where many Germans had been already tended at the service of the new authorities. She remained in control of it, and won the admiration of all who came in contact with her work. Brussels was filled with spies, as she stated in the article already quoted; but there seemed no reason to apprehend any interruption of her work, even under the obtuse bureaucracy of von Bissing 'j hirelings. "Miss Cavell was trapped into bctraving the fact that she was helping Englishmen and Belgians to escape from Belgium by her own kindness or heart. She was the victim of the cleverest agent provocateur Germany has in her employ." This statement, was made to a AVcekIv Dispatch representative by a neutral woman who has been in Belgium several times sinco the beginning of the war, and who knew Miss Cavell. "Belgium is 'sown' with these agents provocateurs and spies." she said. "They speak English perfectly, so perfectly, indeed, that one could hardly believe in meeting them that they are not English, and the man who trapped Miss Cavell into trying to help him dresses like an Englishman, talks like tt University graduate, and is at con-

versant with everyth'ng in London as it he uad just crusseu me Cuannel. "L knew about tiuii; because 1 had nty una experience wnu turn, iie called at my hotet oue aay, ana una me lit! wisneu to see me on an important personal matter ana tiiat He was m hopes 1 migut be able to render li.m a great serv.ve. "l bupposed, of course, that he was JMigiiou. ne v»as uuduuinediy in great meuuii ait-wess, so i wuat i cou.a uo tor mm. 'juauaiu, 1 am tutu you nave sometimes been able to am to return to tueir own country, ana i>eigiun soiuiers to escape trom uere, ne saw, in a sort ol swige wuisper. • on course, 1 assured h.m 1 had never none any wing ot me sort, una would not Kuutv now to manage it, bin i was very sympathetic witu h.m in my innocence. "iuis was ttie man who won Miss Ca\eiis sympathy ana conudence. -uiss taveit nau oeen uuuer suspicion, ana sue nau even been warueu, uui mere \>as no ueiniite proot agatusi net. "oo vue cleverest oi tne spies was toiu oh to catcu ner. lou may no sure ne huu to be very suotle ana that it tooK weeks lor h.m io win her continence, tone beieved h.m an JEmgusniiiau, ic.i sorry lor huu, ana huuhy agreed io help h'Ut. Ann that, oi course, was her unuoing. &lie was a woman ot great shrewdness and discernment, but tno wub aiso very kindhearted. lilL CilAUUfe. Miss Cuvell was arrested ou August o, tut it was not uuin August <ii mat »>ir. wnitiock, the American iVimisiei in llrusseis, uearu oi tne matter, rie ,wuieaiate<y wrote l o i>aron von uc-i LaucKen, heaU' oi tne Political department oi tue Uovernor-Ueneral, iiarou von ilissing but got no reply uutil September Vi, after lie haa sent another letter on Septeuibr 10. I hie repiy statea that the charge was one ot enabling british and J; rench soldiers and Belgians or military age to escape the country. Permission was refused to Mr. de Leral, the Legal Counsellor to tne Legation, to see Miss Cavell and arrange tor her detente. The court-martial (of 35 prisoners in all) took place on October < and 8, but it was not until the Dth (Saturday) that Mr. de Lcval heard oi this from an outsid© source. On the Sunday he learned that the death sentence had been pressed for in the case of Miss Cavell.

When it was learned (again from an outside source, although the promise had been made to inform th Legation) that the death sentence had been passed on Monday afternoon, the 11th. instant, a plea of clemency was addressed to both Baron von Bissjig and Baron von der Lancken, and strong personal appeals were made to the latter by Mr. Hugh Gibson, Secretary to the American Legation and by the Marquis de Villalobar, the Spanish Minister in Brussels.

Baron von Lan;ken fs:st deniti llio report that the death sentence had been passed. He remained unmoved for some time to all the appeals, but finally saw the Military Governor, who declined to consider any representation, or plea, for clemency. Baron von der Lancken declared that even the Kaiser could not intervene, but despite this Mr. Gibson and the Marquis de Villalobar pleaded earnestly unt : l after midnight. But the German authorities remained utterly unmoved. THE EXECUTION. From details of the execution gathered from unofficial sources a ghastly story has been pieced together of now Miss Co veil died. Xne execution ground was a garden or yard in Brussels surrounded by a wall. A Herman firing party, of six men and an officer, was drawn up in the garden and awaited the victim. She was led by soldiers from a house near by, blindfolded w-th a black scarf. Up to this minute the woman, though deadly white, had stepped out bravely to meet her fate. But before the rifle party her strength at last gave out, and she tottered and fell to the ground 30 yards or moro from the spot against the wall where sue was to have been shot. The officer in charge of the execution walked to her; sue lay prone on the ground motionless. The officer then drew » large service pistol from his belt, took steady aim from his knee, and shot the woman through the "head as she lav on the floor. The firing party looked on. The officer quietly returned his pistol to its case, and 1 then ordered the soldiers to carry the body to the house, where charge was taken of it by a Belgii.a woman acting under the instructions ol the Spanish Minister who had undertaken the responsibility for the bod/ pending arrangements for the burial. In this last moment the woman did not accuse. She died with the name of her country on her lips, and, more than that, forgiving her torturers. A LAST INTERVIEW. Rev, H. Stirling T. Gahan (British chaplain at Brussels) had a final interview with Nurse Cavell. He says!:—"On Monday evening, October 11, I was admitted, by special passport from the German authorities, to the prison of St. Gilles, where Miss Edith C'avou had been confined for ten weeks. The final sentence had been gnen early that afternoon. . r "To my astonishment and reliei 1 found my friend perfectly calm and resigned. But this could not lessen the tenderness and intensity of feeling on either part during that last interview of almost an hour. "Her hist words to me were upon a matter concerning herself personally, but the solemn asservcration which accompanied) them was made expressedly in the light of God and eternity. She then added that she wished all her friends to know that she willingly gave her life for her country, and said: '1 have no fear of shrinking; 1 have seen death so often that it is not strange or fearful to me.' ~,.,* •' She further said: '1 thank God tor this ten weeks' quiet before the end. Life has always been hurried and full of difficulty, this time of rest has been a great mercy. They have all been very kind to me here. But this I would sav. standing as 1 do in view of God and eternity, 1 realise that patriotism is not enough. 1 must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.' " We partook of the Holy Communion together, and she received the' Gospel message of consolation with all her heart. At the close of the little service 1 began to repeat the words 'Abide With Me,' and she joined softly in the end. .. " We sut quietly talking until it was time for me to go. She gave me parting messages for relations and friends. She spoke of her soul's needs at tho moment, and she received the assurance of God's Word as only the Christian can do. , , . "Then 1 said 'Good-bye,' and sho smiled and said, 'We shall meet gain. "The German military chaplain was with her at the end, and afterward gave her Christian burial. "He told me: 'She was brave and bright to the last. She professed her Christian faith and that she wa9 glad to die for her country. "SHE DIED LIKE A HEROINES