The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-11-14
BY BRAND

ing a last cigaret and waiting for the
old butler to come In and annpunce
my motor. He came at last, but in
stead OIL the formula there was a whis-
nered consultation with the master OF
the house, then / was beckoned to,
and we left the room and went to the
dim salon where a man was waiting
for me; he had q white, drawn ace
another had been condemned. was 20
be shot that night; could / do any
thing?
The name of the condemned man,
Louis Brill. suggested nothing TO me
other than one more vague form among
that host of wraiths whom German
squads had hurried into the darkness
and the silence, but In the first of the
confused explanations the name of
EDITH Careil was mentioned. Then
had the story. :
The Case of Louis Brill.
There was a young Belgian, the son
OF a retired officer in the Belgian
army. he bore an honored Belgian
name, OF which he had proved himself
So unworthy as 10 sell himself as a
spy to the Germans, It was he, so
people sad, who had betrayed Miss
Cavell. One morning his body was
found lying in the street, a bullet in
his heart, Over the deed there hung
the mystery OF a profound and i'm
penetrable silence. The Germans were
piqued because the assassins were not
az once discovered. and there were
threats OF ftning the city 500, 900 marks
u Justice was not Immediately done
But no Belgian could be fofnd. If
seemed, who knew anything about the
HitaiF, ana no one, in speaking of n
seemed to evince the horror and regret
that such a deed should excite. though
mere was, IN the gossips of the town,
u UNIVERSAL sympathy for the old off
GER, the rather of the recTeant youth
who had brought such shame mon Ills
house. "P'" no
Louis Brill was a waiter in a restaur-
aft, IN Brussels and he had beer fried
ana condemned to death that yery day
LOT haylng shot down hat recreant
eui! o. tite fetired army officer, who was
sald 10 have betrayed Miss Cayell. The
bWarming spies and the secret agents,
WIN lheNorable patience, had prowled
the mysterious underworld of brussels
until they had found the man who shot
the traitor down in the street, and now
ne too, was TO die. I cannot pretend to
hno" me whole story; it will be told
some day, l suppose with many an
other like 1t. when the history of those
dark times IS all revealed. Perhaps 1t
was but an element Of the romantfcism
IN winch, since wal itself is so wholly
an expression of romanticism, all
stories of war must be invested, that
linked the dark event to the immortal
name OF the English nurse. There
were those who said that Brill did not
shoot him to avenge Miss Cavel, but TO
avenge himself and his comrades when
the recreant Belgian had offered to
guide parties of young Belgians who
wished to leave the country and Turing
them thus into his trap had led them
TO the Holland border, there miserably
to betrsy. them to the Germans. He
may in this way have learned Of the
group with which Mis- Cavell was as
ISOLATED; | do not know; but it was for
his PREACHERS In one or the other in
stances that Brill dogged him, patient
ly, remorselessly. tracking him down
from his own door into the street, Brill
shot him down and left his body lying
there on the sidewalk.
From that hour from having been
the hunter Brill became the hunted,
and for weeks eluded German spies and
German ''politsel." until he, too, was
at last tracked down and captured.
The man who came to me that night
wished to know how to present the
"recours en- grace (petition for par
dom that Brill's mother had signed;
and | could tell him to whom to present
1t at any rate, 1t had no effect, Of
course and Brill was shot the next
HlOfItttkb dS We NtIC thtJi ilbu ny lhG
usual proclamation.
In the letter that Miss Cavell wrote
to her nurses there is a reference to
the evil of gossip which is Of immense
significance; not only were happiness
and regulations destroyed by idle
words. she says, but life itself sacri-
feed. 1t Is not for me or anyone to
penetrate the sacred precincts of the
soul OF Edith CaveIl in that sol
hour, but the references may have
been in part at least due to the fact
that she found herself condemned TO
death because OF some unrestrained and
hndiscreet tongues that had betrayed
her.
1T is no small prudence to keep
silence in an evil time" she wrote in
her o OF the Iuitation-the most
pathetic, perhaps, of all the lines she
wrote, and the nearest expression to
anything like reproach that she ever
Anger.
For us at the American legation
there was a sequel a week later. l had
had Gihson's. and Leval's reports
sent over to the American embassy at
London and there they were turned
over by our ambassador to the foreign
office, and given out to the press for
publication, They were published far
anu anu ~ consequence nv iNpL
terdamsche Courant and the othet
Dutch newspapers were not allowed on
sale in Brussels that next day, The
closing OF the frontier to newspapers
was an invariable sign. well known in
Brussels. that the Germans were not
satisfied with the state Of things, and
we soon heard that the authorities were
very angry and had ever minated that
the encouragement might have to
send all the diplomats away in conse-