MISS CAVELL'S END.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 December 1915, Page 12

MISS CAVELL'S END.

"SHE DIED LIKE A HEROINE." FULL STORY OF GERMANY'S CROWNING INFAMY. Not even the sinking of the Lusitania, vith its hundreds of innocent lives sacrificed, stirred such horror throughout the world as the execution of Nurse Cavell, a horror which was heightened ty the heroic courage of that noble wonan. The cabled summaries told all tiat was essential in revealing the call«us brutality of the German command it Belgium, and Nurse Cavell's heroism, bat everyone will wish to know all that led to this infamy, and the account which wi give here, taken from the latest English papers to hand, shows clearly the nature of Miss Cavell's offence—in offence which was shining virtue in ill but the German military sense—and the cynical duplicity of her "executioners. Miss Cavell, who had devoted her life to relieving the sufferings of others, was the head of a rursing establishment in Brussels. She was arrested on August 5, and accused of hiding British and French soldiers at her house, and helping them and young Belgians to cross the frontier. At her trial on October 7 and 8 she frankly admitted that she had hidden the soldiers because she thought they would be shot by the Germans. She waß found guilty, and sentence of death was passed on October 11. At 2 o'clock in the morning she was executed, despite the endeavours of the American Minister and his staff, and the Spanish Minister to save her life. At first it was supposed to be possible to bring a charge of espionage against her, but the charge was so clumsily manufactured that it was necessary to find some other count in order to give her trial an appearance of regularity. Accordingly, German spies were ordered to dig up more information, and it was discovered that she had harboured British and Belgian and French soldiers and hSd helped them to reach Holland. Her real crime was that she was an Englishwoman, and that was why the Germans were anxious to have her " shot. AMERICA!* OFFICIAL'S REPORT. The following extracts frjm the official report of Mr. Hugh Gibson, of the American Legation, to Mr. Whitlock, the American attache, s'how how desperate were the efforts to save the devoted woman's life:— Brussels, Oct. 12, 1915 V Sir, —Upon learning early yesterday morning through unofficial sources that the trial of Miss Edith Cavell had been finished on Saturday afternoon and that the prosecuting attorney had asked for a sentence of death against her, telQ-. phonic enquiry was immediately made | at the Politisohe Abteiluiig as to the

that he had been to confer personally with the Military Governor, who said that he had acted in the case of Miss Cavell only after mature deliberation; that the circumstances in her case were of such a character that he considered the infliction of the death penalty imperative, and that in view of the circumstances of this case he must decline to accept your plea for clemency or any representation in regard to the matter Even after Baron von der Lancken's very positive and definite statement that there was no hope, and that under the circumstances "even the Emperor himself could not intervene," we continued to appeal to every sentiment to secure delay, and the Spanish Minister even led Baron von der Lancken aside in order to say very forcibly a number of things which he would have felt hesitancy in saying in the presence of the younger officers and of Mr, de Leva], a Belgian subject. His Excellency talked very earnestly with Baron von der Lancken for about a quarter of an hour. During this time Mr. de Leva] and 1 presented to the younger officers every argument we could think of. I reminded them of our untiring efforts on behalf of German subjects at the outbreak of the war and during the siege of Antwerp. 1 pointed out that while our services had been rendered gladly and without any thought of future iavours, they should certainly entitle you to some consideration for the only request of this sort you had made since the beginning of the war. Unfortunately our efforts were unavailing. We persevered until it was only too clear that there was no hope of securing any consideration for the cas"HUGH GIBSON. REPORT OF M. de LEVAL. The following is an extract from the statement of M. de Leval, legal advisei to the American Legation:— I informed Mr. Kirschen (Belgian Advocate) of my intention to be present at the trial, so as to watch the case, He immediately dissuaded me from taking such attitude, which he said would i cause a great prejudice to the prisoner, because the German judges would resent it and feel it almost as an affront if I was appearing to exercise a kind of supervision 011 the trial. He thought if the Germans would admit my presence, which was very doubtful, it would in any case cause prejudice to Miss Cavell. Mr. Kirschen assured me over and over again that the Military Court of Brussels was always perfectly fair, and that there was not the slightest danger of any miscarriage of justice. He promised that he would keep me posted on all the developments which the case would take, and would report to me the exact charges that were brought against " iViiss Cavell, and the facts concerning her that would be disclosed at the trial, , so as to allow me to judge by myself ; about the merits of the case. lie insistt ed that, of course, he would do all that ; was humanly possible to defend Miss . Cavell to the best of his ability. Three days before the trial took , place, Mr. Kirschen wrote me a few | lines, saying that the trial would be I (October 7). The him on October Legation the made bewas

f Court would not go to the extreme j limit. 9 Anyhow, after I had found out these ; facts' (viz., on Sunday evening), I called e at the Political Division of the German d Government in Belgium, and asked whetlier, now that the trial had taken place, ■. permission would be granted to me to o see Miss Cavell in goal, as surely there y was no longer any object in refusing r this permission. The German official, 3 Mr. Conrad, said he would make the t necessary enquiry at the Court and let r me know later on. I also asked him r that permission be granted to Mr. [. Gahan, the English clergyman, to. see 0 Miss Cavell. r At the same time we prepared at the e Legation, to be ready for every eventur ality, a petition for pardon, addressed i- to the Governor-General in Belgium, and e a transmitting note addressed to Baron a von Lancken. OFFICIAL DUPLICITY, t On Monday morning at 11 I called e upon Mr. Conrad on the telephone from e the Legation (as I had already done e previously on several occasions when r making enquiries about the ease) asking n what the Military Court had decided r about Mr. Gahan and myself seeing Miss 2 Cavell. He replied that Mr. Gahan could 1 not see her, but that she could see y any of the three Protestant clergymen d 'attached to the prison; and that I could . not see her till the judgment was prot nounced and signed, but that this would e probably only take place in a day or e two. I asked the German official to in--3 form the Legation immediately after e the passing of said judgment, so that e I might.see Miss Cavell at once, thinking, of course, that the Legation might, according to your intentions, take immediate steps for Miss Cavell's pardon if the judgment really was a sentence of death. e Very surprised to still receive no news 1 from Mr Kirschen, I then called at his house at 12.30 and was informed that he 1 would not be there till about the end of the afternoon. I then called at 12.40 '• at the house of another lawyer interest- ■' ed in the case of a fellow-prisoner, and " found that he was also out. In the r > afternoon, however, the latter lawyer ■ called at my house, saying that in the * morning he had heard from the German '' Commandantur that judgment would be passed only the next morning, viz., Tues!j day morning. He Baid he feared that the Court would be very severe for all 18 the prisoners. , Shortly after this lawyer left me, and . while I was preparing a note about the case, at 8 p.m., I was privately and reliably informed that the judgment had ' been delivered at 5 o'clock in the aftern noon, that Miss Cavell had been sentenced to death, and that she would be shot at 2 o'clock the next morning. I told mySnformer that I was extremely sury prised at this, because the Legation has f received no information yet, neither u' from German authorities nor from Mr. L Kirschen, but that the matter was too serious to run the smallest chance, and that, therefore, I would proceed immed- ' iately to the Legation to confer with k your Excellency and take all possible lv step 9 to save Miss Cavell's life. Ie According to your Excellency's deie cision Mr. Gibson and myself went, with , r the Spanish Minister, to see Baron von „ Lancken and the report of our interie view and of*our efforts to save Miss Cavell is given to you by Mr. Gibson. J. This morning, Mr. Gahan, the English , r clergyman, called to see me and told me that he had seen Miss Cavell in her cell „ yesterday night at 10 o'clock, that he had given her the Holy Communion and ■shad found'' her admirably strong and I asked Mr. Gahan whether she any remarks about anything the legal side of her case, and the confession which she made trial and in Court was in perfectly free and sincere, that she told him she knew what she had done, the law, of course, she she was happy to "G. .DE LEVAL." the British October the found

5 pistol from his belt, took steady aim from his knee, and shot the woman 6 through the head as she lay 011 the floor. 1 The firing party looked on. The officer 1 quietly returned the pistol to its case, and then ordered the soldiers to carry ! , the body to the house, where charge was > taken of it by a Belgian woman acting 2 under the instructions of tlic Spanish ? Minister, who had undertaken the re--1 sponsibility for "the body pending ar--3 rangements for the burial. t In this last moment the woman did 1 not accuse. She died with the name of • her country on her lips, and, more than ' that, forgiving her torturers.