Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-12-09

any one to see. but which he declared
was unquestionably in the handwriting
of Dreyfus. and proved the mans guilt.
tUpon the minister's unsupported word
has to the discriminating character of the
/ second mysterious document, the court
martial then returned the verdict of
! guilty. The so-called memorandum.
/ however has remained the only tangi-
| BILE evidence against Dreyfus, and un-
/ less that We're strong enough to con-
Wet him, the world must conclude thnt
the prisoner of Devils island is q terri
| bly, wronged man. For the utter abb
surdity of convicting any one on the
strength of the second mysterious
document, which the prisoner. his
| counsel and even the Judges never saw
| and which was merely Vnuched for by
an official who was not an expert In
penmanship. must be apparent to all.
Since the imprisonment OF Captain
| Dreyfus, his friends have taken pains
| to submit the memorandum, together
| with specimens of Dreyfus's undoubt-
| ed handwriting, to twelve acknowl-
| edged experts in penmanship IN Eng
land, the United states, France, Swit-
zerland, Belgium and Germany, and
| the impressive fact has recently been
| brought out that all the experts who
examined the documents agree that
Captain Dreyfus never wrote the men,
orandum Their testimony Is SO
weighty that no verdict against ORGY
fus could ever he secured In an Eng
lish or American civil court on such
evidence against their opinions. Nav-
ing so disposed of the memorandum.
the friends of Dreyfus have challenged
those who now possess the mysterious
second document, which the minister
of war kept so closely guarded, for al
legged diplomatic reasons, to submit
that also to other experts, that they
may compare it with the genuine
l. a unit inc Af anti NT,
But this challenge has not been ac-
ceptcd.
Such being the situation, is It sur
prlsing that the ranks of the Dreyfus-
lies have increased to immense proper
lions, and that even the vice president
of the French senate has publicly es-
poused the prisoners cause? The the
Dry upon which the ex-captains
friends explain his pursuit and convic-
ton is that he was n victim to anti
Semltism in the French army ORGY
fus is Jew, the feeling against Jews
is strong, and, some one being needed
to pay the penalty of betraying mill
tary secrets, which were undoubtedly
betrayed-he was made the victim of
conspiracy which succeeded in
shielding the real culprit. His friends
now prove that the one newspaper
which from first to last had the latest
and exclusive news about the Dreyfus
case, was the Libre Parole, the organ
of anti-Semitism in Paris. The theory
appears plausible; at least, in view of
the results of the expert examination
of the memorandum, and the well
known persecution of Jews in Europe,
1t offers "A working hypothesis for the
ex-captain's friends.
Foreigners will agree that nothing
less than re-tIial of the case can, UNI
der the circumstances, satisfy Justice
But at this point the peculiaritles of
the French law are encountered. Drey-
fuss friends have fastened ON Count |
Ferdinand Watson Esterha2y as the
guilty man, and, as recent dispatches |
tell us, the batteries of the Figaro |
have already been opened upon him, |
and the alleged similarity between the |
counts handwriting ana that of the
memorandum are pointed out. But |
when another person Is charged with |
the crime, as in this case, that person
must be tried, rather than the prisoner
already under sentence, so that Drey-
fuss vlndication and freedom depend
upon the condemnation of EsterhaZy |
simply to prove his own innocence,
without proving another guilty, is not
enough And this trial of the other |
man can be had only on the initiative.
IN military courts, of the minister of
war or the governor Of Paris. Now
neither of these officials is likely to
bring Esterhazy to trial unless the
evidence against him is fairly strong.
The effort of the ,Dreyfusites, there
fore, is to blacken sEsterhazy enough
TO compel the government to arrest
and try him In such n campaign
much bitterness must be engendered
In society. and a terrific upheaval in
pubic sentiment be caused.