nded, and that the death sentence
had never before been inflicted for the crime of which she was accused.
He also wrote a note to the Baron which is as follows:

"My dear Baron:

"I am too ill to present my request to you in person, but I appeal
to your generosity of heart to support it and save this unfortunate
woman from death. Have pity on her.

"BRAND WHITLOCK."

All through the day the American Legation sent message after message to
the German authorities asking for information. They received none. At
6:20 in the evening they were told by a subordinate that the sentence
had not been given--only to learn later that it had indeed been
declared, and that Miss Cavell would face a firing squad at two o'clock
the following morning. Mr. Whitlock then urged Baron Von der Lancken to
appeal to Gen. Von Bissing to mitigate the sentence, and at eleven in
the evening he was told that Von Bissing refused to do anything to save
Miss Cavell's life.

At the same time that the Governor denied this appeal, Edith Cavell was
allowed to see a British chaplain. She told him that she was not in the
least afraid of death and willingly gave her life for her country. Her
words resembled those of Florence Nightingale that have been quoted
elsewhere in this book. Death, she said, was well known to her, and she
had seen it so often that it was not strange or fearful to her.

Early in the morning with her eyes bandaged Miss Cavell was led out to
face the rifles of the Huns. She wore an English flag over her bosom.
Only Germans were witnesses of the execution, but the German chaplain
who attended said that she died like a heroine.

When her death became known, the entire civilized world was shocked and
horrified. In England this murder did more to stimulate recruiting than
anything else up to that time. All day long lines of men waited to sign
the papers of enlistment, and in Miss Cavell's home town every eligible
man was sworn into the army.

A bitter denunciation of the German act was made by Sir Edward Grey.
The Germans themselves had only a poor excuse for what they had done.
In brief the case against the German authorities is as follows: they
had not previously inflicted the death penalty for the offense of which
Miss Cavell was accused; they had kept her in solitary confinement and
prevented her from consulting an advocate up to the time of her trial;
she was tried with great haste and with great secrecy, and af