The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-11-07
BY BRAND

law or decree defining and declaring
the offense for which Miss Cavell had
already been tried, condemned and put
In the statement OF Won Kissing on
the situation" which / have trans
lated in full there was a reference to
spytng-espionage. 1t was the first
been referred to publicly and officially
as spying; but it was as the spy
CayelI' that they always referred TO
her thereafter. But Miss Cavell was
not charged with spying; she was not
convicted or sentenced to death for
spying. There was no evidence and no
claim that she had been q spy. She
was charged with having violated that
paragraph Of the German military
penal code which punished with death
those who conducted troops to the
enemy (Dem feinde mannschaften zu-
fuhrt), and II was on this charge that
she was convicted. The German mill
tary mind. whose thoughts seem to
be In sequences inaccessible to our
mentality, calls this treason" and the
nomenclature does not seem the less
astonishing when they qualify it by
calling 1t treason in time of war"
But as a matter Of fact and as a
matter OF law, even this charge did
not apply n was not sustained. Miss
CaYell a not conducted any troops
to the enemy; she had aided, in vari-
Gus charitable and human ways, sol
diers in individual cases and boys who
had as yet performed no military SER
vice and never worn a uniform, TO es-
cape out of Belgium and to cross the
frontier into Holland, where, as a neu-
trail country, the soldiers would be, or
should be, interned until the end of
the war and the young men have the
status OF citizens OF any other nation.
There was indeed no proof that any
OF these soldiers or the Belgian boys
had Joined the enemy, singly or as
troops except, 1t is said, in the case
OF N LAD who wrote and mailed a
postal card to thank Miss Cavell for
the aid she had rendered him aud
saying that he had got to England
and Joined the English army. This
card, it was said, was found by the
German secret police and proved one
or the clues that led to Miss CavelPs
arrest.
But even SO. these mon were not con-
Quoted by Miss Cavell either to the
enemy or even to the Dutch frontier;
the charge was, and she did not deny
II, that she had given them asylum
and had aided them either by gifts Of
money, OF food and clothes or by hos
pitality care when they were sick,
These are not mere lawyers quib-
bles; they would afford sufficient rea-
son in any English or American court
for dismissing the charge on the ground
or variance. And the Germans them
selves recognized this fatal variance,
tor on that very day. Oct. IL, after
they mad executed a judgment which
even their own laws would not sus-
tain, there was. as nave said, a proc
lamation announcing a new decree of
the governor general, a decree which
sought to cure the defect by defining
the offense of which they had already
convicted their frail victim, and pun
ishing with death those who aided or
harbored fugitive soldiers. whoever q. |
e, a person who has wished to aid an
enemy of Germany In concealing his
presence, whether by giving him iodg-
ing. by clothing him or by giving hin
nourishment, is liable to the same pun |
lshment Cdeath)." Such was the new
gated an hour or two after Miss Ca
vel mad been shot, to cure a defect
in the process that had condemned her. |
Mr.. Gahan's Work.
Our rector, Mr.. Gahan, whose SER
vices and sacrifices during all those
sad and brutal times were consoling
to SO many, was the last representa-
tive of her own people to see Miss
Cavell. He had gone from the lega-
ton to the prison Of st. Giles, and
his wife was among the waiting wom- !
en- on that night at the legation. Mr..
Gahan wa with Miss Cavell all that
evening, and when they would not let
hin be with her at the very last, IL is |
the one ameliorating circumstance of
that monstrous tragedy that the Ger
chaplain was kind.
When Mr.. Gahan arrived at the
prison that night Miss Cavell was "
ing on the narrow cot in her cell: she
arose, drew on "A dressing gown, folded
Il about her thin form and received
MIN calmly, She had never expected
such an end to the trial, but she was
brave and was not afraid TO die. The
judgment had been read to her that
afternoon there In her cell. she had
written letters to her mother In Eng
land and TO certain OF her friends. and
intrusted them to the German authors
ties.
She did not complain of her trial.
she had ayowed all, she said-and il is
one Of the saddest, bitterest ironies Of
the whole tragedy that she Seems not
to have known that all she had avowed
was not sufficient, even under German
law. to justify the Judgment passed
upon her. The German chaplain had
kind and she was willing for him
to he with her at the last, II Mr.. Gahan
could not be. Life had not been ali
glad to die for her country. Lie had
been hurried, and she was grateful for
those weeks OF rest in prison.
Patriotism Is not enough" she said.
Il must have no hatred and no bitter
ness toward any one"
She received the sacrament, she had
no hatred for n one, and she had
no regrets.
Those, as far as we know, we're her