NURSE CAVELL'S FATE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3215, 27 October 1915, Page 21

NURSE CAVELL'S FATE.

GERMAN EXPLANATION. AMSTERDAM, Otober 24. An inspired German telegram makes the following new allegations in the Cawell case: “In view of the incorrect and exaggerated foreign comments, it may he stated that after a long trial it was proved that Nurse Cavell and others had for months been engaged in assisting Bel-

giaiis to enlist in hostile armies, and In assisting British and French deserter's to escape from Belgium. The Governor (von Bissing) repeatedly warned them that severe punishment would be inevitable. The sentences were pronounced at a public sitting in accordance with the law. The accused admitted their guilt. Nurse Cavell was the principal agent in a plot for enlisting Belgians. “Regarding the assertion that she unselfishly attended the wounded, the fact was that her nursing fees were so high that they were within the reach of the wealthy only. German women have already been executed in France. The British may do well to remember Lord Kitchener’s cruelties to women and children in the Boer war.’’ INDIGNATION IN BRITAIN. LONDON, October 24. Many references to Miss Cavell’s heroism were made in the pulpits to-day. throughout Britain. A great recruiting meeting in Trafalgar square resolved that the country would not return its sword to the scabbard until Nurse Cavell’s murder has been avenged. Streams of recruits flowed on to the platform. Sir J. A. Simon (Attorney-general), in the course of an interview, said; “Nursa Cavell’s trial has no parallel in Britain’s treatment of persons accused of military offences. No woman spy has been shot in England. What struck Englishmen as un credible was the calculated indifference with which the American and Spanish Ministers’ inquiries were treated. If tha excuse suggested is that war time calls for severe measures, our own experience shows that it is possible to combine regard for the rights of the accused with respect for humane considerations.”