Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-09-29
WHAT 4 SWEDISH WOMAN
HEARD IN HUN HOSPITAL
Wounded Count Told of Plan 10
Land 10000 Germans
in England.
WERE TO LOOT AND BURN
Crown Princess Finds Officers and
Nurses in Embarrassing Position
Departed Without Saying Il Word.
Reply of Bavarian to Empress.
ny CHARLOTTE FI;STMEN.
4

then i'll in Berlin. where he had been
engaged for several years past in bust
ness.
had been engaged in the nursing
profession in my own country. and
went TO nurse my brother. He was
suffering from an internal complaint.
and was beyond recovery. He died
week after l reached Berlin.
AT my sistcr-jn- laws request. ] re-
manned on in Berlin with her, and
shortly after my brothers death took
up work in the Linden Hospital. the
largest military hospital in Berlin.
| was put TO work in wing where
officers recovering from wounds or who
had only been slightly woundcr were
received l may mention that / had
been educated in Germany. had suisse
Guently lived in Berlin for some years
with my brother. and could speak Ger
man fucntly.
There were twenty beds in this wing.
Each bed was in a small private ward.
There were ten nurses in the wing.
and as none OF these cases was serious,
j did not find my work particularly
hard.
Our most troublesome patient was
Count Nerstler. a major in the Deaths
Head Hussars. who was admitted to
the hospital the day Of my arrival l
and another nurse looked after him.
He was a typical Prussian, and l can
only describe him as beast Of a man.
He was suffering from ~ slight wound
in the abdomen. which ncccssitatcd his
being kept quiet. and he had TO have
an extremely restricted diet.
Having TO stay quiet and TO live on
diet that he dislikcd made him cN-
tremely irritable. and he would fire.
Qucntly give vent TO his temper by
abusing the nurses in the most UNI
measured language.
dcrlics had TO bc summoned to hold
him down in bed when he wanted to
get up, which we had received strict
orders not TO allow him To do. On one
occasion when nurse put his bowl
OF milk and rice, which he had to have
AT Z o'clock, on the table beside his
il across the room.
But i, was not his temper or his
bad lansuaGe that made me take
talked in his quiet moments that made
me regard him with feelings Of rcpuS
nance.
may mention that he could never
be left alone. a nurse had TO be always
with him in his ward night and day.
AT time he was morosc and silent. but
at other times he would talk "a great
deal. When III laxative mood he
would pour out abuse on the British
and French. but more especially on
British nc would frequently stop talk
. ing for moment, spit out. clcnch his
huge fists and shak. them In the air
as II in a paroxysm OF range. lie told
inc he had kept an exact account of
the British he had killed.
Il have Killed fourteen of them my
SELF he said.
PLANNED LANDING or
TROOPS IN ENGLAND
lie gave me rather Il remarkable ac-
count OF landing OF 10000 troops in
England that mad been planned by the
general STAFF IN 1915.
lie said that the troops for this OK
petition were TO consist o! men who
had been sentenced TO long terms OF
Imprisonment or to death. If any of
them ever got back TO Germany again
they were To receive free pardon. They
were TO be landed in England simply
for the purpose OF loctlnS and killing
and creating terror.
i volunteered with ten other men
70 so with this expedition" said Count
luck. and II doesn't look AS ii it ever
Will But II i! docs God help Eng
land when We get There
He only stayed about three weeks in
the hospital. and WAS very glad when
he left heard later on that he was
killed iii the British attack on Cambria.
knew England very W"l. one o: them,
who Was in a WcStnhal!an regiment.
made rather Interesting confession
He was an extremely silent man: he
looked unhappy ana troubled: it was
evident he had sono worry on his mind,
trouble Was i'll some way connected
with q girl, for ] used 10 hear him in
MS steep frequently muttcr the name
Gerry" sometimes he would sit up in
his bed ana shout out: Hello Gcrty
dear is that YOU q. Md then he would
fall back into troubled slumbcr. Of
Ton ] heard him say in his sleep. oh!
Gerty dear. on. Gerry, shall! never see
you again"
Vel, though, there isn't much
doubt that Goriy. whoever she may be-
IS troubling you. one afternoon he told
me all about her. He had met her at
a BOARDING nous" at Foik"stomc a few
months before tn" war. The girls peo-
PIE, however. Tor various reasons.
strongly objected to her marrying this
German officer. To cut i long story
short. they got married secretly.
After they were married the officer
returned 10 Germany meaning TO put
his affairs there in order sell a small
in Westphalla and then to return and
settle down with his wife III England.
for she did not wish TO live in Ger
many He "as just about To return
to England when the war broke out
and h; Was compelled 10 join his regi-
ment
armies mat We're heinS sent to tn"
eastern 'front.'" he said. but Luden-
dorh decided to send al the West
lowed 10 exchange into another regi-
ment. I have hated fighting against
the British but | could not help IL.
often / wished that ] could get killed.
but ] simply couldn't. have only
been twice slightly wounded"
Captain Klein. Of the German air
service. was patient at the Emicn
for a week or so. IT was Captain IS lem
who led the second daylight raid on
London i'm July last year. lie also
knew England "ell. and had several
friends there, but he had no compunc-
ton about taking part in air raids on
England He told nurse when he was
leading the daylight raid on London
he fc" over hrus" III the eastern
counties who're he had once stayed as
guest
II could have given those people," he
sai6 with laugh, "a startling re-
. ninder that | was in the nciEhbcrhood
!. again but bad no bombs to waste
for such 81 purpose"
Captain Klein WAS decorated with
tn. Iron Cross by the Kaiser after the
July raid lie was Killed lately in
France.
Sometimes tn" German Empress and
the crown DFlnGCsG would bc