I Pleaded in Vain for Nurse Edith Cavell, by Brand Whitlock | 11-19 October 1915 | Episode 92
Published on 11 October 1915
A famous American diplomat tells of the dramatic last appeals for mercy made to the Germans on behalf of that brave nurse, Edith Cavell, accused of smuggling British and Belgian soldiers across the frontier, who was to be shot less than twelve hours after she was condemned.
As is known, these pleas were ignored, and a crime was committed which sent a wave of horror throughout the English speaking peoples.
Miss CavelI's last thoughts were embodied in the famous words: "Patriotism is not enough."
Though lying on a sick bed, Mr Brand Whitlock, U.S. Minister in Belgium in 1915, left no stone unturned to save Nurse Cavell, and where the representative of the greatest neutral power failed, no one could have succeeded.