The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 5, 1897, Page 18

18 THE SAN FRANCISCO C ALL, SUNDAY. DECEMBER H, 1897 STORY OF THE MAN CONDEMNED exing ter- L’affaire Dresfus has been a perp! mystery, in the solution of which national sympathy bas been invoked. Now tha French reopened this cclebrated case the outcome will be awaited with universal impatience, since it is no exaggeration to say that no court-maru.al proceeding of modern times ever excited so much international in- tere is three years since Dreyfus was con- d imprisonment for lifs on um for lepers off to the coast of Irench Guiana—amid the ap- | ations of the French people. vas convicted of an enormity than ch (here is none greater in the estima- tion of a military nation. The accusation laid against him and confirmed by the military that he bad betrayed the country by car- rying on a trafic in military secrets, to which bis position Department gave him access. So positive and popular was the belief in his guilt that his life was demanded as | a forfeit, both in the Assembly and the streets. Such was the personnel of the military | court by wh tenced, such ity of its members, that no su ained as 10 the regularity ts del 1 he wes convicte and sen- i on was and ju verations, although the in- was conducted behind closed the details of the trial were v withheld from the public. ior nd ticed the people that the charge of treachery was sustained by de- e verdict was echoed by public The fortitude of the condemned military his courageous demeanor utand after the trial, his fervid protestations of 1nmocen awakened neither sympathy nor the sadness of doubi in the heart of a Pa hts above all things in " the spectacle of the buman downfall. Now is different. The soberness of COLONEL abla efforts of a atesman, for a love of tice and irreproacha! character, have contributed to the tireless industry of Mrs. Dreyfus in moaifying the public time and the indefati, distingnished an prejudices which supported the judgment | of the court-martial and in procuring ev dence that may secure a reversal of the verdict and the restoration of the exile of Devils Island to position and hono From such # remote point of view it is extremely difficuit to measure with any degree of precision the credibility and weight of the evidence—largely hypo- thetical at that—in a case so complicated and so manifestly involved with the poliey and those secrets of Government it isdesired especially to conceal. Government has | tribunal was | as attache of the War | s the characier and integ- | | ties of Dreyfus, no vestige of testimony woman. Hispromotioninthearmy, which he entered at an early age, was rapid, ow- ing, it has been charged, to the patronace of ex-President Grevy's <on-in-law Wil- son, Before the davs of the Limouzin scandal and Grevy’s overtnrow, Esterhazy was the favorite orderly of the Presiden- tial palace. Thence he wac passed on to the headquarters staff. He never had any -resources beyond bis salary, al- | tuough his life bas been largely that of a | pleasure-seeking military fopin the salons of the foreign colony, where Lis decorative extravagances made him a conspicuous | figure. He is not an attractive person- | and poses as the embodiment of mil- punctiliousness and fierceness. Captain Alfred Dreyfus is an Alsatian native, of a very wealthy and reputable family. His wife is also rich and highly connected with prominent families of France. The captain was devoted to his family, and had an apundance of means with whieh to maintain his household and gratiiy his soc:al indulgences. The theory as to his motive in commitung treason are exceedingly flimsy. Atone time it was assumed that he mneeded money to meet the extravagant demands woman for whom he had conceived a sion he concealed from his family; t upon discovering he was the victim | blackmail scheme, by which a syndi- | cate of journalists were *profiting, he re- tu-ed to be bled any longer, anda they, in revenge, conspired to destroy him in the manner in which his ruin was sccom- plished. This scandal seems to have been a pure fiction. Then he was said to have been actuated by a malign enmity against France as a motive, and to have entered the service designedly a3 a spy of the German Gov- ernment. This scems to have been a shameless and unreasoning assuription, unsupported by a single fact or the merest shred of evidence. In truth, wnen ailis | said, both as to the associates and necess | appears 1o explain the motive of such a crime. It is cbvions, after a study of this extra- ordinary affair through the lights of the ESTERHAZY. | controversy agitating the Parig’an pre: |t allowance should be made for the secret manner in which the military court conducted its irquiry and reache | a conclusion, although ihe cffense was one concrrned with pesce operations. Bott Governments, French and German, have as auxiliar es 1o the war | ureaus systems of military espionage, conducted under unscruru ous and desperate Were the operations of these secret agents known peace b tweeis the powers wouid | be imperiled, 1f not ended. Whatever | the cieckmate one Government threatens to win with these tricky pawns the other | affects to be ignorant of the movement | while interposinz, so that no cause for I mutual offense and the possible rupture DEVILS However, through the dense fog of Parisian invective, vituperative editorial haired and supposititious proof, one fact looms up plainly, like a mountain-top above & mist. FLat is doubt, of which Captain Drey- fas has never enjoyed the benefit in an open trial. This fact alone, this majestic doubt, for 8 apparently casts its shadow on the pabid utterances of his fiercest assailants of the press, including the incorrigibie Rocbefort, entitles bim to the tardy re- @cnsideration his case is recziving, Moreover, the burden of new testimony, explic.t and circumstantial, now coming to light, points to Colonel Esterhazy as the real criminal, and day by day the ex- eulpation of Dreyfus begins to assume the form of certainty. Coionel KEsterbazy is tbe illegitimate sou of an. Austrian Count and a French e | ISLAND. of dinlomatic relations may get belore the public. No doubt the military court in the Dreyfus case had to deliberate in the dark rather than expose by public trial the methods unavoidably employed in suarding the secrets of the French War Department while striving to gain posses- sion of those of Germany. ,Hence. the mystery 8s to the real character and com- petence of the evidence adduced against Dreyfus. Lwo facis, however, stand out promi- nently in the discussion—one that. the stoff of the major-general was overzealous in locating aud prosecuting the supposed offender; the other that the document on which the prosecution almost wholly rested its case was a forgery. When the Inttec assertion i3 maintained the cor- roberative proofs, so far as thev have be- come known, are readily explained as worthless, maxim . | |t fragment of the photographic copy of this | m: | | | | | «f the depariment suspicion was finall It appears that for some time vaiuable papers had been disappearing from the tiles of the War Department, but in spite of tha vigilance of the officials no clew was obtained :o the identity of the of- fender until the chief of the Bureau of Statistics and Information submitted to he major-general a note which a secret agent of the Government found among a lot of waste-paper scraps in the refuse of the German embassy. It had been tora into four parts and then thrown into the waste-paper basket, thence finding way into the garbage can, whence the Government detective is suppo-ed to have tished it. In passing it should be mentioned that the material on which it was written was unlike the paper invariably used by Cap- Dreyius for his correspondence. A in another men of the The memor- memorandum 1s reproduced column, tozether with a spe writing of Captain Dreyfus. andum read as follow Witl to see v news te @ you dicate that you wish canwhile, Monsieur, several interesting docume of information. 1. A note on the hyaraulic cannon brake of th and how it behaved &t the m uvers. A note on the troovs of cover. (S:veral modifications will be 7 ade by the new plan). 3. A note on the modification of the artil- | lery formations, 4. A note relative to Madagascar. The plan of the field artillery, al. (14th March, 1894) This last document is exiremely d: procure, and I can at my disposa few Tue of War has sent a certain number to the corps, and the corps are responsible for them. Each officer having on must return it aiter the maneuvers. So then you muy, il you like, extract from it whatever is of iuterest, and hold the docu- ment subject to my order, unless you desi tha: I meke a ¢ py in extenso and send fixing I'am about to start for the maneuvers. This memorandum had no signature, After comparing the chiro; phy of the memorandum with the individual filings centered on Captain Drey Gener: Boisdefire, chief of the major-general staff, 1s said to haveebeen placed in pos- session of facts that more than confirmed the belief of himself, Bertilion and Gen- eral Mercier that the artiilery captain at- tached to the iourth bureau of the depart- ment was the culprit. Whatever may have been thie nature or specifications of these corroborative charges they have not been made public. Then a plan essentially Frenchy in its conception and deductions was adopted to test the correctness of the presumption that Dreyfus was the guilty man. The captain was summoned by General Bois- deffre to appear at his office at 9 o’clock, October 16,1894 Dreyfus arrived promptly as ordered, but instead of meeting the chief of staff he found himself in the pres- ence of Commandant Mercier du Paty de 1S, s | Clam, attache of the third bureau of the War Department, who had been detailed to carry on ihe inquiry precedent to the filing of indictment. The commandant, pretending that he suffered from an abscess on the right hand, bad it wrapped up in linen bandages. “I am very happy to see you, my dear comrade,” was his affable saluta- tion. “If you don’t mind we will go out together atter a while. you see, I am not able to write with this disabled hand. Would you kindly act as my secretary and frame for me a letier 1 have to send to General Boisdeffre on the subject of some documents which I wish to get from him?”’ “Very cheerfully,” said Dreyfus, and seated himself at the desk to take the commandant's dictation. The latter, with the photographic copy ot the recov- ered memorandum, began to dictate as follows: *‘Having the gravest concern for the immediate return of the documents which I allowed to go to you prior to my departure for the maneuvers, I beg of you to hand them over to the bearer, who is a trusiwortby person. I will remind you that they are: 1. Anote on the hydraulie cannon brake and how it behaved at the maneuvers, 2. A note on the troops. 3. A note on tle modifications of the artil- tery practice. (Several modifications will be made by the new plan.) 4. Anote relative to Madagasear, At this point Dreyius, according to the testimony of the commandant, began to shudder convulsively, and rose brusquely to his feet. As a further proof of the terror supposed to have seizad him the court-martial took cognizance ot the biurred ending of the word Madagascar. “Why don’t you write?'’ asked the com- mandant. Tnhe captain attempted to resume his THE SWORD-BREAKING CER Meantime I | have a communication to write, and, as | 1ONY—PUBLIC DISGRACE seat, but was so agitated that he threw | 00 cold. i The commandant continued to dictate | the remainder of the memorandum, the | | captain, he relates, insisting the while | | at there was something the matter with | him h made it impossible to write | any more { The commandant then arcse, opened | the door of a closet and out stepped the | chief of the secret service and Com- | | mandant Henry of the statistical bureau. | Ine chief advanced, placed his hund on | the shoulder of the ¢oomed captain, and | ‘Ia the name of the law lurre:xl | were sai you. “'What for?”’ demanded Dreyfus. *What is the charge against me?” | “You know very well,” said Command- | | ant Mercier. “Your emotion in writing | the let er 1 have just dictated is sufficient proof.” “I swear that I do not understand you,” protested the captain, “Come along! It is useless to discuss the matter in the presence of the evi- dence. Your treason is discovered." Such is the authentic narrative of the most important oral evidence offered at the court-mariial, siace grave doubt had existed as to the genuineness of the memorandum. Even then it was only | by one majority that Dreyius was con- victed. - On the 5th of the succeeding January, in the court of the French Military School at Paris, Dreyfus was publicly degraded as a traitor to his country. This cere- wony, if such it can be called, constitutes | a punishment more severe in the public | reprobatior and contempt it implies, and | with which it is attended, than any in- flicted on the worst criminal. Outside the school ti'e Place Fontenoy and streets were densely crowded with a mob clamoring for the liie of the officer. As 9 ¢'ciock sounded General Darras raised his sword, and 1o the beat of drams Dreyfus issued from a door at a corner of the court, in the center of a squad of | | soldiers. His step was firm. His features, far from revealing any feeling of de- pression, or of the guilty consciousness of @ man overwhelmed with a sense of his | disgrace, rather conveyed the impression | that he Lad all he could do to master his anger and indiznation. He was conducied to the center of the court, and the clerk of the military tri- bune came forward to read his sentence of life imprisonment on Devils Isiand. The generai then pronounced the formula of everlosting degradation, and the ad- jutant approached 10 :trip the lace irom his uniform. At this moment, when Dreyius indignantiy raised his right arm, | it was thought that he intended to revolt | and assail the adjutant. Instead, with finger pointed heaven- ward, he exciaimed, ive la France! You degrade an innocent man.” The adjutant then finished his duty, | tearing the buttons from the uniform of | | the captain, afterward breaking the dis- | General de Boisdeffre. bonored sword of the condemned man across his knees and throwing the frag- ments (o the ground. Then began the sinister promenade around the court. Dreyfus preserved be- fore the aligned troups the same haughty and disdainful. the grilied gate the crowd, although kept back at quite a distance on the Place Fontenoy, recognized the condemned and utiered a fierce siout for nis head. the formal d egradation been attempted in the presence of the people Dreyius at that time would bave been torn to o demeanor, with his countenance upraised S A TRAITOR TO FRANCE As the escort reached Had eces. As Dreyfus, on his way to the prison | wagon, passed the group of press repre- sentatives he doffed his cap and ex- "OF CAPTAIN DREYFUS. claimed, “Gentlemen, you may proclaim its | down the pen, exclaiming that his fingers | o France and tie world that I am inno- cent.” His words were greeted with groans as he was hurricd into the van. At this juncture it is alleged that the condemned man gave uiterance to a con- fession, the making which is entirely out of joint with his persistent protesta- tions and conduct since the morning of arrest. It was reportcd that just as he was about to step into the van he exclaimel to the gendarme at hiselbow: *“Ah, well, if I have delivered any documents to the Ger- mans it was for the purpose of obtaining others from them of more importance.” | This quotation is the one most frequently | uced by the radical pressin their defense of the justice of the sentence. It has not the siightest weight, since the assertion | that Dreyfus gave utterance to it, made | by a policeman infected with the hatred of the mob, is 1n no manner corroborated. Moreover, it is absurd to think that Drey- fus would have made such an admission to one of the tribe of keepers of the peace at street crossings, a stranger to him. No time was lest in hurrying him to his miserable asylum at the equator. *‘Secu- off the coast of French Guiana, named Roya!, St. Joseph and Devil. The two former, nearest the continent, are reserved for incorrigible convicts; the latter had been used for the isolation of lepers until Captain Dreyfus wassentenced. The leper colony was then removed to Masonic leights, from the habitable point of Dev- ils 1sland, which faces Royal Island. The grounds were cleaned and the buildings | the lepers had occupled were burned to make way for new ones erected for the ac- commodation of the exile and his guard. Owing to reefs and precipitous shore lines Devils Island can be approached oniy by a narrow, dangerous passage at Prison Point, which is overlooked by the norih promontory of Royal Isiand, not to ex- ceed 250 yards distant. There a sentinel is stationed night and day. Some time ago the London newspapers gave currency to a romantic fiction pur- porting to relate the dramatic rescue of Dieyfus irom Devils Island by the aar- ing captain of an English schooner. The c.reulation of this tale excited France greatly, and as a consequence the Gov- ernment provided, at an outlay of 60,000 francs, for the construction of an enor- mous iron cage to surround the quarters of the exile, in which it was decreed he should be confined till death. All Paris and France seemed to be grati- fied at the outcome of the court-martial. Tue unfortunate artillery captain had been made a vicarious sacrifice to the pre- judice against the Hebrew race. The al- most forgotten peculsations of the Rouvier period, the commissary thefis and abuses of the Franco-German war, the discredit- able operations of the Tonquin statesmen of Jules Ferry's entourage, Remach’s crafly avariciousness, the shady trans- actions of the Panama canal clique, in fact every offense committed against the state and scciety with which the name ot a French Hebrew could be identified, were invoked as evidence that Dreyfas, being of Jewish ancesiry, must bave been wicked, dishonorable, corrupt and indefensible. For weeks the remains of his immolation were picked over by the crows of the socialistic press, while those editors repre- senting the middle and moderate factions of the Assembly gave tacit approval to the spectacle by silence. Ipr tume, however, a reaction began to set in. The relatives and friends of the unfertunate man were active, particularly his wile. Tihe German Emperor had not been ap- pealed to in vain during the trial. Heis said 10 have given personal assurance to Casimir-Perier, then President, of the guiltlessness of Dreyfus. Either because of political pressure or from conviction of the justness of the senience the President approved the decree of the court-martial, The protest of the Emperor is said to have been a part of the record oi the trial when Oasimir-Perier resigned. This per- emptory action is explicable only on one hypothesis. His retention of office under the circuwmstances would have been an affront certain to be de2ply resented by the Emperor. It will be remembered that the motive assigned for his withdrawal from ti.e Presidency was irivial and pusile | statement: up is composed ot three islands | lanimous. He was aceredited cessor of the assassinated Carnot. I3 subsequent explanation as correct, since such a course must have been inspired by laudable and patriotic feelings. rom the outside seemed to awaken some doubt as to the sufficiency of the proof against Dreyfus, and then authorities began to defe..d the court-martial. Major cier issued the following General Mer- authoritat: 1have had in my hands the glari of the guilt of Captain Dreyfus. I & to the president of the court-martial the crushing proofs communicated to me, and without delay the arrest of Captain Dreyfus was ordered. There have been written on this g proofs them that Dreyfus offered secret documenis to the Italian Government, This is a mistake. Iam not permitted to say more. WhatI wish 10 repeat is that the culpability of t is absolutely certain aud that he had civ accompli The military editor of the Figaro, to whom this categorical declaration was made, added that the major-general had abundant proof from the most credible source of the relations of Dreyfns for three years with ‘‘the agent of a foreign Govern- ment”’—meaning Germany. Great stress is laid on the effect pro- duced on the court-martial by another document, the secret of the possession of which could be divulged only at the peril of grave diplomatic comyiications. As the story runs the military atiaches of the | Germany embassy in Paris addressed to | their colleagues at the Itahan embassy, in the month of September, 1594, just | prier to the arrest of Capiain Dreyfus, a | letter in cipher. Between the point of de- parture and destination this civher letter | | fell into the hands of the French bureau | of secret information and was photo- Egranhm]. The bureau possessed the key experienced no difficuity in transcribing the contents. September 20 Colonel sand- hew, chief of the statistical section, sub- to General Mercier. the foreign service of espionage in Paris and contained this phrase: | “Decidedly this animal of a Dreyfus hes become too exceting.’” Here is what a general officer, who was acquainted with the entire proceedin s, quoted as having stated with reference to the most important document among all that were placed before the conrt-martial: | This document oune day found itself in the hands of the Minister of War. I am not at liberty to tell how itgot there. What Iam willing to state is that Ge 1 Mercier, who was Minister of Warat this time, was call subject a great many faise statemenis, among | | that what is officer | fan | to the German military cryptogram and | promutings of fear for his life as the suc- | questioned. altogether more reasonable to adopt the | case. After awhile the pressure of criticism | the military | the results ot | 0 hdum intended to in bmitted | | tablish CAPTAIN DREYFUS. mitted the transcription and photograph | The letter treated of | upon by the German Minister, M. de Muunster, | who demanded the restitution of the paper | with | reputation for probity and skill is un- A few exhibits from their aualyses accompany this review of the Below are extrac's fiom their ver- dicts: Mons. Crepieux-Jamin, the French ex- pert, says: 1. There can be no question. that the docu- ments of comparison (Drey(us’ signed letters) were not written by the author o: the memo- randum. 2. It is probeble ) the muthor of the ste the person who wrote the documents submitted for com- parison. Paul Moriaud’s testimony is: 1. Dreyius did not write the memorandum. that 2. The memorandum was written by a round-handed forger of the writing of Dreyius, M. Ames says: As far as T have carried out the comparisons of the writings submitied to me, I am satisfied bown as tie memorandum is the rosult of an effort tending to imitate or cour feit the writing of Captain Dreyfus and & not the disguised writing of the latter. M. Cavalho says: The memorendum was not written by Cap- tain Dreyius. It was the eftort of some one who has given a great deal of effort to writing it,and who endeavored to imitate certain par- ticulor characteristics that dominate the authentic writing of Captain Dreyfus. The testimony of Gustave Bridier is: There are as many points of scriptural dif- ference between the document in question (the memorandum) and the documents sub- ted for comparison (the letters of Dreyfus) as there would be in enabling a_person to es- the perfect dissimilarity beiween & dead man and a live one. The writer of one is not the writer of the other. M. Hoctes says: The graphic elements of the two writi can only coinclde in the imagination, caus First—The word “addressc” of the second e of the memorandum develops a subtense of an ste of 4 circie of seven dogrees only. Second—The subtense of the word vad- A dresse” of the twenly-eighth line bears an arc of u cirele of nine degrees. Third—While the subtense (cord of the arc) {in the signature of A, Dreyfus shows seven- teen degrees. R. M. de Marieffe says: My examination convinces me that these different writings have not a commeon origin because of these facts: in the anonymous writing arities plainly chrricteristic; for they sre produced by natu- movements of the pen; iustinctive and These peculiarities are not writing of Captain Dre It will be further observed that the Drey- tters contain marked characteristics not discoverabie in the anonymous memorandum. The writings are from two different hands, and Captain Dreyfus did not pen the memo- randum very constant ral unconselous. found in the Still the irreconcilable press jeered and accused the Dreyfus family with having secured the co-operation of the Rothschilds which contained this overwhelming proof against Dreyfus. In the event of refusal the assurance was given that Emperor William would consider such nction as a provocation for 1he severanco of diplomatic relations. 1f General Mercier refused to return the docu- ment it meant war. He complied with the de- mand, but before returning the document bad it pbotographed, and it was this photographic evidence which had sdet weight with the court-martial as to render comviction in- evitable. Finally General Mercier was persuaded to make public a photograph of this all- important memorandum, and this it scarcely requires an expert to decide is a forgery. M. Bernard Lozare was engaged to exploit the entire case and eventually with the assistance of eight graphologists. representing four aifferent nations, whose issued a brochure exposing the forgery, | THE PRISON-HOUSE BUILT FOR DREYFUS. From Le Jowrnal Illustre. in creating an enormous corruption fund to bribe the press and secure a revision of the case. A member of theacademy, who is.vice-president of the Senate, M. Scheu- rer- Kestner, whose name is the synonym of inteprity and purity of motive, came into possession of facts that satisfied hi Dreyius was either the viciim of an g qacious conspiracy or of a judicial errdfy. For a year or more this patient old scifn- tist hasdug and probed ana labored, until now he seems to have fortified himselt with such information as has compelled the Government to accede to his demand that the artillery captain te given a new and fair trial on the merits of the evi- dence exhumed in support of his inno- cence. His firm aititude preserved through storms of abuse and defamation bas forced & division of opinion. Zola,