The herald., 1898-09-11

NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
DY HOGABooM,l

0Y HOGABOOM.)
The Dreyfus case Is. without doubt, one
OF tho most striking episodes Of the nine
teenth century. Indeed, as purely strik-
ting episode. It Is said to be far ahead Of q
ward caucus in a south of-Market-street
district In San francisco.
The American people have. however.
found It extremely difficult to follow the
rapid course of this case. Beyond the fact
that Colonel Patty du Clam Is now supposed
to be In the soup, and that Colonel Ester
hazy Is considered something Of fog
himself. very little of the real situation is
generally comprehended. Some people here
have been in the habit Of confounding Col.
Patty du Clam with Pate de fol gras, where
as the fact II that the latter has had little
~ nothing to do with the case. Both are
csnfounded nuisances, however.
A. the case IL understood on this side,
Captain Dreyfus. who IL not an Irishman.
was accused of writing bordereau. though
II the American people had read that he
was writing baseball bat. OF, a bathtub,
they couldn't have been more surprised. 1t
was sent to Emperor Bill. or some other
royal high muckey-muck. who was sup
posed to have 1t in for France on general
principles. The bordereau stated that the
French army is composed of two-th.rds
colonies and the other third chumps. Some
how or other Bill left the thing laying
around on his escritoire. in the
back sitting room. and 1t got into
the hands of the French army au-
thorities. and the very next thing
that Captain Dreyfus knew Harper's
Weekly had picture Of him in the act Of
marching out in front Of about nineteen
thousand French colonies to have his sword
broken and the nice brass buttons cut Off
" his coat. Later on he found himself
over on little island. with broad ex-
)anse Of water all around it. and plenty of
lime on his hands to think over what an
twfui thing It Is to be a Jew and belong to
The French army at one and the same time.
1t appears that after Captain Dreyfus
vent away to the island, at the urgent So
licitation Of some officials Of the govern
ment. some Of the common people in France
rot an idea into their heads that there had
been considerable skulduggery going on in
this case. and some Of them casually men
TONED the fact that they entertained sus-
picions of that nature. The result was
that pretty quick they didn't know whether
they were afoot or horseback.
Emile lola, fresh young reporter on the
Aurore, which is a newspaper, and must
not be confused in the readers mind with
thr Aurora Boreaiis, wrote an article in
which he accused Colonel Patty du Clam
with being ~ mum as an oyster when 1t
was. as a matter Of fact, his turn to say
He also accused Colonel Mer-
c!er. the minister OF war at that time, with
having an intelligence SO weak and knock
kneed that Il wouldn't stand alone. He
accused the handwriting experts in the
case. who really appeared to be the only
ones connected with II who were not col
nNels, with being cross-eyed, and also vic
4 IT'S of . peculiar disease, which effects not
I NY the judgment of the victim, but the
: textbook as well, causing a terrible
CLING. In fact, after he got started. he
: mt seem to know where to stop. and 1t
d. :ually seemed as though he intended to
h ,use every colonel in France Of some thing
OF other before he quit. He got one year in
ST, and fine Of three thousand francs,
a d after that he wished he hadn't been
lite so frank.
During the trial Of M. lola, Prince Henry
& Orleans was seen in the court room quite
frequently. and one day he fell upon Col.
Esterhazy's neck ana kissed him Just back
Of the left ear. at the next instant crying
give rarmee." Thereupon everybody
10 49,
chap over in the corner. who yelled
yelled ''vive Zola." and was promptly
logged of to Jail to answer for his crime.
That was the very last time anybody made
any such mistake as that. II anybody In
Paris wanted to yell "Vive lola" after that
he went out behind the woodshed when no.
body was around and thought "vive Zola."
The trial Of M. lola was, on the whole.
very fair and impartial. The Judge was
30 extremely apprehensive that M. Zola's
own witnesses would go back on him at the
critical time that he refused to allow them
to testify at all, satisfying himself with the
testimony Of the other side. He permitted
M. Lahore, M. Zola's counsel, to come into
court, but kept him laboriously quiet most
Of the time, and Gid not even allow him to
present his case, for fear he might prove
Up to this stage the case Is all clear and
easy to understand, even by the people on
this side Of the big drink, where, for long
time after the case started. a bordereau
was naturally supposed to be some sort OF
= war poem. Before the mistake was dis
covered the feeling against Dreyfus in the
United States ran high. This feeling was
Intensified. too, by the prevailing misappre-
hens!on regarding the minister of war, Col.
Cavaisnac, who was popularity supposed to
be none other than our old friend Colonel
Cognac, always very popular here.
For long time, from what could be
learned here, It looked to us as if Colonel
Picquart could not possibly be more than a
pint and half. dairyman's measure, but
now that he has made a demand for the
provisional liberation Of Captain Dreyfus,
the sentiment has changed, and he is con-
uldered not less than gallon or two
A matter which has confused the people
Of this country more than anything else
in the case Is to discover reason for the
act Of Colonel Henry in cutting his own
throat. From what can be gathered 1t APP
pears that he wrote something or other
himself. but it did not appear that 1t was a
bordereau, or q war poem, and the senti-
ment here was in favor Of letting the mat
ter drop, unless 1t should have appeared
later that he wrote something for the paper
and signed 1t "vox Populi." If that was