El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-10-22

before trial and in court was in his
opinion. perfectly free and sincere. Mr..
Gahan said she told him she was per
fectly well and knew what she had
done, that according to the law, OF
course, she was guilty, and admitted
her guilt, but that she was happy to die
for her countr--"
official Did Not Keen Faith.
Secretary GibsOn'S report said that
Conrad. an official OF the German civil
branch, gave positive assurances on the
18th that the American legation would
he fully informed OF the developments
in the case, and continues:
Despite these assurances, we made
repeated inquiries in the course Of the
day. the last one being at 6-3O D.. III.
Mr.. Conrad then stated that sentence
had not been pronounced and specifi-
cally renewed his previous assurances
that he would not fail to inform us as
soon as there was any news
Spanish Minister Aids Appeal.
at $50. IL was learned from an out
side source that sentence had been
passed in the course of the afternoon,
before the last converse ton with Mr.
Conrad, and that execution would take
place during the night
Secretary Gibson thereupou sought
the Spanish minister. with the American
minister's note for clemency, and, with
Mr. Deiavan. they went to Won Der
LaucEen's quarters Finding the gov
crnor and his staff absent. they teIe-
phoncd to them. asking them to return
on a matter of utmost urgency The
governor. with his staff, returned
shortly after 10 o'clock.
Why Believe Unofficial Report.
Secretary Gibsons report TO minister
Whitiock continues:
The circumstances OF the case were
explained TO him and your note was
presented. he read il aloud i'm our
presence He expressed disbelief i'm the
report that sentence had actually been
passed and manifested some surprise
that we had given credence TO any re-
port not emanatinS from official
sources He was quite iusistent on
knowing the eNact source of our iufor-
nation. but this 7 did not feel at liberty
TO communicate TO him
Baron Won Der Lancken stated that
il was quite improbable that sentence
had been pronounced and even If so, il
would not be executed In SO short
time, and that in any event is would be
quite impossible TO take any action be
fore morning
Found Facts A. Presented.
1T was, of course, pointed out to him
that even if the facts were as We be-
Geved them 10 DE. action would be use
less unless taken at once We urged
him TO ascertain the facts immediatelE-
This. after some hesitancy. he agreed
to do He telephOned to the presiding
judge OF the courtmartiaL and re-
turned TO say that the facts were IS we
had presented them and that it was in
tended to carry out the sentence before
morning
Diplomats Make strnnss Plea.
We then presented. as earnestly as
POSSIBLE. our plea for delay So far as
am able TO judge. We neglected TO
present no phase OF the matter when
might have had ANY effect, lmpressinS
the horror of executing a woman, no
matter what her offence. and pointed
out that the death sentence had hereto
fore been imposed only for actual cases
of espionage and that Miss Navelle was
not e-en accused by the German author
tiles OF anything so serious
Exert Every Pressure.
& further called attention to the fall-
ure to comply with Mr.. Conrads prom
Use TO inform the legation Of sentence
urged that iuasmuch as the offences
charged against Miss Cavelle were long
since accomplished and as she had been
in prison for some weeks delay IN car
ryiuE out the sentence could entail no
damage TO the German cause even
went so far as to point out the 1eartul
effect of a summary execution OF this
sort upon public opinion both here and
abroad. and, although I had no author
itv for doing so. called attention TO the
possibility that ii might bring about
reprisals-'
MiiItnry Governor Ratified Sentence.
NIr. Gibson's report continues
The Spanish minister forcibly sup
ported all our representations and
made an earnest plea for clemency-
Baron Won Der Lancken stated that the
military governor was the supreme 1u-
thorftv i'm matters o fthis sort and that
an appcal from his decision could be
carried only to the emperor
After some discussion he agreed TO
call the military governor and learn
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