NURSE CAVELL'S FATE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20810, 28 February 1931, Page 8 (Supplement)

NURSE CAVELL'S FATE.

AMERICAN LEGATION BLAMED. That the shooting of Nurse Edith Cavell might have been avoided had it not been for the tardy intervention of American diplomatic officials, is the startling assertion made by Baron von der Lancken, the chief of the German political department in Brussels during the occupation of Belgium. The, baron, who is quoted by the Paris edition of the Chicago Tribune, complains that he was given the title of assassin of Miss Cavell after he had tried to lodgo an appeal against the death sentence being carried out and had failed. " The guilt for asking for my intervention only at a moment when it was too late to take any effective steps for the pardon of Miss Cavell," the baron says, " falls upon the American Legation, particularly Mr. Heigh Gibson, then Secretary of the Legation. " The American Legation had already learned that the death sentence had been proposed against Miss Cavell. It was for Mr. Gibson, \V'ho knew about the danger threatening Miss Cavell, to call for my intervention at the right time. Instead, he contented himself with getting information from one of my officials, who was unaware of the facts. " If Mr. Gibson had come to me at once on October 10 or during the early hours of October 11, there would have been a chance of effective intervention through one of the political channels at my disposal."-