The German officers in command at Brussels made it impossible for Miss Cavell to see counsel before the trial, and a number of able lawyers who were solicited to undertake her defense declined to do so because of their fear of the Germans.
| © Underwood and Underwood, N. Y. | |
| NURSE EDITH CAVELL | CAPTAIN CHARLES A. FRYATT |
| A victim of German savagery. An English lady whose life had been devoted to works of mercy, was shot after summary trial, at Brussels on October 11, 1915, for helping British and Belgian fugitives. | The martyred British Merchant-Marine Captain, who was executed by the Germans because his ship attempted to sink a German submarine which attacked her. |
Sentence was imposed upon her at five o’clock on the afternoon of October 11th. In accordance with its terms, she was taken from her cell and placed against a blank wall at two o’clock the following morning—the darkness of the hour vying with the blackness of the deed. Mr. Gahan, the English clergyman connected with the prison, was permitted to see her a short time before her murder. He gave her Holy Communion at ten o’clock on the night of October 11th. To him she declared she was happy in her contemplation of death; that she had no regret for what she had done; and that she was glad to die for her country.
Brand Whitlock, American Minister to Belgium, and Hugh Gibson, Secretary of the Legation, did all that was humanly possible to avert the crime, but without avail. They were told that, “the Emperor himself could not intervene.”
Defending the murder, Dr. Alfred Zimmermann, German Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, callously disposed of the matter thus:
“I see from the English and American press that the shooting of an Englishwoman and the condemnation of several other women in Brussels for treason has caused a sensation, and capital against us is being made out of the fact. It is undoubtedly a terrible thing that the woman has been executed; but consider what would happen to a state, particularly in war, if it left crimes aimed at the safety of its armies to go unpunished because committed by women. No criminal code in the world—least of all the laws of war—makes such a distinction; and the feminine sex has but one preference, according to legal usages, namely, that women in a delicate condition may not be executed. Otherwise man and woman are equal before the law, and only the degree of guilt makes a difference in the sentence for the crime and its consequences.”
In reply to Dr. Zimmermann, statesmen throughout the civilized world declared that it was not merely a political mistake, not merely a national blunder, to kill Miss Cavell, but that it was a crime unjustified by the facts. These statements were entirely outside of the humanitarian aspect of the case; outside of the promptings of manhood to show clemency toward a woman whose actions had been inspired by the loftiest sympathies and emotions.
Monuments to Edith Cavell were reared in widely scattered communities. A mountain was named in her honor. Her murder multiplied enlistments and fed the fires of patriotism throughout the Allied countries. In the end, Germany lost heavily. The Teutons aimed to strike terror into the hearts of men and women. They only succeeded in arousing a righteous anger that ultimately destroyed the Imperial government.
Another instance equally flagrant of the utter callousness of the men who at that time ruled Germany, was the murder of Captain Fryatt, a gallant British seaman, who had dared to attack the pirates of the under-seas.