The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1915-12-08
WAR NURSE SHOT
WHILE IN FAINT.
Story OF How Miss CaveIl
Met Her Death.
SOLDIERS OF FIRING SQUAD
Demanded the Right To End
Life Ut British Nurse
Immediately.
ONLY ONE BULLET DID WORK
The New York World says:

|
spy by the German IN Belgium,
has reached this city T.. ough Fred
erick Schwed. wealth young bro
ker. vino, having made y lot of mon
ey last spring in war stocks. went
abroad to see at first hand what war
was really like.
Through persons he knew in Der
| lin. who had intimate knowledge OF
the killing of the English woman.
Mr.. Sch we'd was told of the details
of her death ard what Germany at
large thought of the killing.
This much may be- summarized
from Mr.. Schwed's experience.
| Miss Cavell was killed while lying
On the ground in a faint.
All of official Germany deplores
her execution--not on moral
grounds, but because it was stu
pid thing.
Schwed returned to this country
on the Holland-Amerioan liner Ryn-
dam on Wednesday, a fellow passen-
ger with Brand Whitlock, the Amer
lean Minister to Belgium. He got
to know the Minister we'll, and when
Mr.. Whitlock. arriving here, refused
to talk for publication, MIR. Schwed
followed his example. There are
many things of which he is cogni-
zant that he will not discuss until
after the Minister has made his re-
port to Washington. But yesterday
he told some happenings as he had
learned of them from sources with
which Mr.. Whitlock was not con-
nected.
The most important thing the
young broker talked about was the
/ case of Miss Cavell.
"A good bit of my time abroad
spent in Berlin Mr.. Schwed said.
81 speak German fluently. and I me.
a great number of influential men
both in and out of the army and the
Foreign Office.
| Miss Cavell was executed while T
was in Germany, and heard grea'
lot of talk about her end, Those
who told me were in positions high
enough to know all the facts, and
this is the story as got 1t:
Usually in firing squad OF Ger
man soldiers told off to kill per-
son there are ten men. Two of the
rifles are loaded with blank cart
ridges. But in this case thirty sol
diers were assigned to do the kill
ing. Twenty OF the rifles were load
ed with blank cartridges. the men
were told. in order to lessen the in
dividual responsibility.
when the guards, went TO Miss
Cavell's cell on the morning of her
execution they found her in very
weak. almost helpless condition. She
hadn't taken anything to eat or
drink within twenty-four hours.
They led her to the courtyard. where
she was TO sit upon chair, but be-
,
ed and fell upon the paving.
Now the German soldier. | take II
Cor at least this is the way the mat
ter was put up to mel, is just an or
binary human being. the same &C
any one else. Those assigned TO ex-
ecute this woman far rather would
have been out in the trenches doing
some actual fighting. even with bay
onets.
80. when they saw Miss Cavell
fall to the ground unconscious, the
common soldiers the privates. sur
rounded their officers aud begged
that they be allowed to shoot the
woman right away. II they mus
shoot her at all. The officers were
all for allowing her to revive aud
then placing her In her chair and |
carrying out the execution in the
regular formal manner. But the
men said no. This was little be-
yond normal human endurance.
"The officers were obliged 10 ca !
pitulate. and tell the men that they
could 20 ahead and fire al Miss
cavell while she lay senseless upon
the ground. The routine was car
ried through hurriedly. The sol
diers got their orders - ready.
"aim fret 4
There was great volley. but
when Miss cavell's body wss exam \
ined II was found that Il had been
penetrated by only one single bullet
from the Ten loaded rides. This had
gone through the head. All the 9TH
Or shoss had mtssed."
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