The age-herald., 1899-07-09

had divided her devotion equally among the wounded Of both nations, heads were bow cd and doors opened Madame Cahen has related in her own words how she learnt that there were still French soldiers detain- ed as prisoners in Prussia:
 q arrived in Berlin towards the end of
 August 1Sl1, and 1 found in the hospital some fifteen patients who were in serious condition. Among them were some who had been brought from neighboring towns, especially Stettin. Those who came from that town told me that two of their com rades had been left behind in a dying con- dition. One of the two men had died the other was in grave condition. He refused to eat and drink, saying: Since l must die here l prefer to die at once.' l found, how ever, that he was able to be moved and | so l at once went to General Von Arnodl, commandant of the town, to ask for per- mission to remove the wounded man.
 "The general replied: The unfortunate
 man is in the hospital because he is ill, but
 he is under punishment; that is to say, if he were well, he would be in the fortress with his comrades.'
 What l exclaimed, ''his comrades?"
 Certainly. There are a number Of
 them,' said the general, and he showed me the list on large sheet of paper. These men,, he added, have committed acts of disobedience, and being prisoners of war, they have been condemned to terms of i'm prisonment ranging from ten to fifteen years
 | Madame Cahen asked and obtained per- | mission to see them.)
 "I arrived accompanied by Commandant | Bodiker, on a platform, and I saw soldiers, | ranged in line wearing the German uni- | form; on each side of them were Prussian | soldiers carry arms. The commandant said l to me Here are the French prisoners "How, I said, French prisoners in Prus-
 sian uniform? What misfortune!
 q turned toward these poor fellows, and
 said to them: My poor children, how hap | py I am to see you
 Greatly astounded, they replied: Oh, | Madame, you speak French
 l "They imagined that I was a German
 who was able to speak their language. But am French, I exclaimed and very | much French. 1 have come to tell you that | we have not forgotten you, and to shake | you by the hand in the name of us all. | These unhappy men then wept and as | for myself I could no longer give utter | ance to speech"
 In Stettin, Glogau, Glatz, Breslau, | throughout Silesia, in Leipsic, Magdeburg, l and Erfurt, along the banks of the Rhine, l in Dantzio, Groudenz and as far as the Polish frontier, where she arrived in the depth of winter, in fact in every fortress, | she visited and comforted the French pris- oners who regarded her in the light of I angel Among these prisoners were numer- | ous heads of families, who before the war | had been simple peasants. Their prolonged | detention, so disastrous to those dependent | on them for support, deeply afflicted Mad anne Cahen, who resolved on obtaining par | don for them. In this step the large-heart- ed lady again met with success, her efforts l being warmly seconded by the Empress | Augusta, who, having made her acquaint- 1 ance. conceived for her strong liking. ;,,4o, | Jewish Sister of Mercy was both dignified | and touching. Her imperial majesty ex- pressed her sympathy with Madame Ca- | hens work and asked to be associated with | it. She was prepared to tighten the rigor- l ous laws of war, and to appeal to the em- | peror to pardon the prisoners. As a token | of her admiration, the empress bestowed l on Madame Cahen, the Red Cross of the 1 Geneva convention, the cross which she | herself had worn. At the end of 1872. Mad | anne Cahen had been through sixty-six | German fortresses or prisons and had suc- 1 ceeded in sending every one of the prison | CTS home. One last service remained to be l performed in Germany, and with this, too, l Madame Cahen charged herself. It was | that of obtaining a. list of the dead, and of l furnishing authenticated certificates of l death to the despairing families, who day after day besieged the offices of the minis l ters of war and of foreign affairs then es- i tablished at Versailles. So great was her | activity, and so thoroughly did she arouse | the sympathy of the Prussia officials, that | within ten days she was able to send from l Berlin 60 Versailles, a list containing no | less than 59,500 names, all arranged in all
 phabetical order of men who had passed l through German hospitals and had either | left them or had been conveyed to their
 last resting places in obscure graves Such | is the splendid record of the noble Jewess
 who has passed away beloved and honored.
 Her own good deeds have preceded her be-
 fore the Throne of Mercy.
 The funeral took place on Sunday morn
 ing from Madame Cahen's residence in the
 Rue de Medicis. Paris military honors, due to the deceased as a Chevalier of the Le- , zion of Honor, were rendered by picket | of infantry. An immense number of wreaths were placed on her hearse, which
 was surrounded by children from the Jew
 ish Refuge at Neuilly. The chief mourner
 was M. Lucien Pirre Levy, brother of the l deceased. A large number of friends and
 official deputations followed including Cap ] tain de Forgemol, who represented M. de I Freycfnet. minister of war. At the Mont 1 martre desnssary. the Grand Rabbin of
 E1>sSsee, &. Hssae THhDs &ettWred one sH 1 those sssstSs!g aSdfesse. for which he Is 70
 emfnently distinguished. An address was
 also delivered by M Dussaussoy in the 1 name of the Societe des Danes Franchises.