The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-21
He Is Said to Have Sold Military se-
Srets and Committed Other OHenses
Against the Government.
OREYFUS'S GREATEST ENEMY
AND RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CAP
TAIN'S EXILE TO DEVILS ISLE.
letters on Which Esterhazy's Trial
VIII Probably BE Based-BlOw at
American Pork and Products.

PARIS, Dec. 20-It is understood that the
preliminary inquiry into the charges made
against Count Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy
has resulted in his commital for trial by
rourt-martial.
1t has been repeatedly charged that Count
Esterhazy was responsible for sending AL
fred Dreyfus to the Isle of the Devil, the
count, it is said, having written the letters
that resulted in the degradation and exile
Of the French captain on the charge of trea-
son. If Count Esterhazy is court-martialed,
as the Paris dispatch intimates, the credit
will be due to M. Scheurer-K estner, vice
president of the French Senate, who has
expressed his firm conviction of Dreyfus's
innocence and declared that the conviction
was judicial error. M. Scheurer- Kestner
is a chemist, and was born at Mulhouse, in
1888. He was elected to the National AS
sembly in 1871, and in 1876 was elected life
senator. He has published several works on
chemistry. In a recent letter to General
Billot, the French minister of war, he de-
clared that rich and titled officer, we'll
known in Paris society, had been requested
to resign. in consequence of the continued
leaking Of military secrets since Captain
Dreyfuss Imprisonment. Furthermore, he
declared that this officer was the author of
the unsigned letter which led to the con-
demnation of Captain Dreyfus. The matter
was discussed in the Senate, and though
NJ. Scheurer- Kestner was defeated on a
vote, the Ministry was forced to investigate
the charges. and also, the authenticity of
certain letters published in the Paris Figaro.
1t is supposed the court-D1artial is the out
come of this inquiry.
The full name of Count Esterhazy is
Marie Charles Ferdinand Walsin- Esterhazy.
He was bern on Dec is, 1877, and his father
was the head of the younger branch of the
famous EsterhaZy family. During the lat
ter part of the empire Esterhazy served in
regiment OF Papal zouaves, and after the
declaration of war between France and
Prussia, he, according to one report, en-
tered a French line regiment, and, as an
other version has it, being an Austrian, en-
tered the foreign legion. ESterhazy appears
to have conducted himself in a brilliant
manner, for he was soon promoted to the
rank of second lieutenant and in 1878 was
lieutenant: He reached the rank or captain
in the following year, and in 1892 was pro-
NOTED to the rank of commandant, CORE
spending with the rank of major in other
armies. Early during the present year Es-
terhaZy, who is a chevalier of the Legion
of Honor, retired from the army and went
to Italy in had health. But from the fact
that court-martial has Jeen ordered to in
quire into his case his name must still be
borne upon the French army lists.
Outside of any connection which Esterha-
~ may or may not have had with the Drey
fus scandals. he Is said to have admitted
the authorship of letters recently published
in the Figaro. which alone would seem to
be sufficient for his trial by. court-martial.
In one of these letters, after expressing
his intention to enter the Turkish service,
he is represented as saying: II shall not
leave without playing a trick, of my own
on these amiable Frenchmen." Other ex-
pressions attributed to him in these letters
are as follows: Our cowardly and ignorant
great chiefs viii only more people Germ rssf
things or crimes as that could avenge me.
Frenchmen are not worthy of the
cartridges intended to Kill them In one
of his letters, as published by the Figaro,
Esterhazy depicts 4, drum of festivity' in
the shape of the pillage of Paris by hum
dred thousand drunken soldiers.
Il am quite at the mercy of this dro-
lesse.'' Esterhazy is said to have written,
referring to a certain actress, IF / make
the slightest mistake towards her. i wish
/ was in Siam and could make her follow
me : there ,. one of my ~, carbines going or
When Essterhazy was first interviewed re-
garding the publication of these letters in
Figaro he was at first very indignant and
declared they were forged by the friends
OF Dreyfus who, he said. had taken words
and sentences from his letters and had
pieced them together by a process with
which he was acquainted. Esterhazy also
asserted that he had been warned some
would be made. On Wednesday last; how
ever, Esterhazy is said to have acknowl-
edged the authenticity Of the letters pub
of one, in which he is said to have ex-
pressed the following sentiments: IF to-
night l were told that 1 should be killed
tomorrow as a captain of uhlans while
sabring Frenchmen, l should certainly be
perfectly happy. l would not harm dog:
Frenchmen killed with pleasure"
The wife of Esterhazy,. who is understood
to have been separated from him for some
time, wrote a letter to the Figaro during
the week upbraiding the paper for laying
bare the recesses and human weakness of
her husbands private life. regardless of
the fact that IL may break a wifes and
a mothers heart" In conclusion the wife
eern alone; but confident that my husbands
honor will emerge intact will forgive and
forget ALL
Albert Dreyfus the alleged victim of Es-
terhaZys trickery. is confined on the Isle
du Diable, one of the Salvation group, off
the coast OF French Guiana. The island
There are only two structures on the island,
one of which is used by the prisoner and
the other by his guards. No one is allowed
to land on the island. but from other isd-
ands. either Isle St Joseph where the bulk
OF the cOnvictS confined, or Isle Roy
alei where the marines who constitute the
garrison are chartered, the prisoner on the
intermediate rock can be seen. the more
readily that he is allowed to wear white
clothes. The length and breadth of the ISL
and is his exercise ground during certain
hours. His time is mostly his own, and
he spends much of il in reading. He is al
lowed to have books and Magazines but
no newspapers ever reach him. He wears
beard now and his figure is bent and list
less. His health is said to be as good as
could be expected in. a climate of tropical
rains and torrid sun. Dreyfus admits that
appearances were against him, but MAIN
taips that he is the victim of CHASTITY ju-
diciai error. He never ceases to declare
that the time is bound to come when his
innocence will be clearly established. Every
precauuon is taken 10 guard against his
escape or rescue. His guard consists of
six men under a sergeant. The men are on
duty two at a time for four-hour stretches.
from dawn to dark. At dark one man en-
tiers a sort of cage in the priSOnariS hOliaa