El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-10-18
HUN OFFICERS
BADPATIENTS
Swedish Nurse Tells of Her
Experiences in Berlin
Military Hospital.
BY CHARLOTTE FEsTlIEN.

Stockholm. Sweden. Oct. Isl
was at the end Of the summer OF
1917 that I went from my home in
Sweden to see my brother who was
i'll in Berlin. where he had been en-
gagged for several years past in bus
mess. had been engaged in the
nursing profession in my own coun-
try and went to nurse my brother.
He was beyond recovery. He died a
week after I reached Berlin
At my sisterinlaw's request I re-
NAMED on in Berlin with her. and
shortly after my brothers death 1
took up work in the Emden hospital.
the largest military hospital in Ber-
lin.
was put to work in a wing where
officers recovering from wounds or
who had only been slightly wounded
were received
Hot Tempered Prussian.
Our most troublesome patient was
count Verstler. a major in the
Deaths Head Hussars, who was ad-
mitted to the hospital the day of my
arrival He was a typical Prussian.
and I can only describe him as a
beast Of a man. He was suffering
from a slight wound in the abdomen
which necessitated his being
kept quiet, and he had to have an ex-
tremely restricted diet.
Having to stay quiet and to live on
diet that he disliked made him ex-
tremely irritable. and he would fire.
quenly give vent TO his temper BY
busing the nurses in the most IN
measured language.
OrderIIeE Had To Hold Him.
Two or three times the hospital
orderlies had to be 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.
may mention that he could never
be left alone, a nurse had TO be al
ways with him in his ward night and
day. When in a laxative mood he
would pour out abuse on the British
and French, but more especially on
the British When speaking OF the
British he would frequently stop talk
ing for a moment, spit out. clench his
huge fists and shake them in the air
as II in a paroxysm Of rage. He told
me he had kept an exact account OF
the British he had killed.
4 have killed II Of them myself"
he said
Invasion That Failed.
he gave me rather remarkable
account OF a landing Of 10000 troops
in England that had been planned by
the general staff in 1916.
He said that the troops for this ex-
petition were to consist of men who
had been sentenced to long terms OF
Imprisonment or to death. II any OF
them ever got back to Germany again
they were to receive free pardon. They
were 10 be landed in England simply
for the purpose Of citing and killing
and creating terror.
7 volunteered with ten other men
TO go with this expedition" said count
Verstler. but 1t never came off.
worse luck. and It doesn't look as II
# ever will But II it does. God help
England when we get there"
! heard later that he was killed in
the British attack on Cambria
A number Of officers in my charge
knew England very well. One OF them
who was in a Westphalian regiment
made a rather interesting confession
to me. He was an extremely silent
man. he looked unhappy and
troubled; Il was evident he had some
worry on his mind, and I came to
the conclusion that the trouble was
in some way connected with a girl,
for I used to hear him in his sleep fire.
cuently mutter the name Gerry
Sometimes he would sit up in his bed
and shout out: Hello Gerty dear. IS
that your And then he would fan
back into a troubled slumber. Often
I heard him say in his sleep, "Oh,
Gerty dear. Oh. Gerty, shall 1 never
see you again2"
one afternoon he told me all about
her. He had met her at a boarding
house at Folkestone a few months be-
fore the war. The girls people. how