The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-25

ed on the very first evening that Ester
hazy, dressed as civilian, entered the
smoking room in company with Col
onels SchwartzkOppen and POnizzardi,
and there found the Russian officers in
conversation with Captain Dreyfus,
who wore his uniform.
1t is supposed that Esterhazy effect
lively consummated his bargain and
got his money; certainly DreyfuS, on
his part, fulfilled his instructions, and
thus had his share in effecting the
great project Of the Franco-Russian al
lance
1t was late in 1894 that a discarded
document was found which revealed
to the French etat-majeur that there
was a traitor in the intelligence bu-
reau. This document was the famous
bcrdereau. It had been written by ES-
terhazy. A much greater similarity eX-
lists in the handwritingS of Frenchmen
than in those of English or Americans,
and DenmanshiD in France is not al
ways a orima facie piece Of evidence.
ESterhaZy, who was employed in the
intelligence bureau, was one of the first
to see the document. Taking it in his
hand he meditated over it for time.
THAT is in the hands of Captain
Dreyfus, he finally announced with
the utmost GOODNESS.
Previous to this event General de
and to some extent mysterious. He
had been making an inspection on the
southeast frontier. and after a hard
days riding, stopped at farm house
for refreshments. He drank a bowl
of milk and half an hour after fell
dead from his saddle. Some limited that
he had been poisoned, and rightly or
wrongly, this theory gained credence
throughout France
Dreyfus alone had enjoyed De Miri-
bells trust Besides, he was Jew; he
was reserved and taciturn: he took no
part IN the sportive life of the other
officers: outside of office hours he was
never seen. All this caused some ami
mostly against him. EsterhaZy's hand
writing was not very dissimiiar from
his The rumor that Captain Dreyfus
was the traitor spread through the war
Office. He was arrested and tried in
the iniquitouS manner that all know.
Esterhazy deposed to seeing him in
consultation with foreign military rep
resentatives at Beifort. Dreyfus adj
mitted the fact, and explained the
whole circumstances of the commission
he had from General de Miribel. Cen
eral Boisdeffre thereupon stood up and
gave Dreyfus the lie. His view was
that De Miribel could have intrusted
Dreyfus with no such mission without
Bcisdeffres knowledge, since he (Bois-
deffre) was De Miribel's second in
command. and afterwards his success
sor. The story told by Dreyfus was
consequently false. He had by his own
confession communicated secrets to the
Russian government. If he had no
scruple in doing this he could have
had no scruple in selling information
TO the German and Italian govern
ments To announce publicly that
Dreyfus had traitoriously conveyed in
formation to the Russian officers might
cause embarrassment, might even en-
danger the highly priced alliance.
Therefore, with the wisdom character
istic of a French tribunal, Germany
was substituted for Russia, and the
real developments of the Dreyfus trial
were kept secret.
The rest of the facts are too well
known to justify repetition here. Colo
mel Henry forged his famous letter as
superabundance of proof. Dreyfus was
condemned. publicly degraded. and sent
to moral and mental torture on a
lonely and unhealthy isle. His name
was given over to such popular exc
Grafton that number of persons
called Dreyfus sought legal permission
to change their name TO something less
odious to the public ear. In reality,
Alfred Dreyfus probably rendered a
more eminent public service to his
country than any other living French
man of his station in life.