The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-11
Experts Will Go Over ali the
Evidence against the I'M
prisoned Captain.
Many Dark Secrets Probably Locked Up in the
Archives Of the Frepcb intelligence
Department.
Copyrighted, 1885, by the Associated Press.

Copyrighted, 1898, by the Associated Press
PARIS, Sept. Interpretation was
disappointed to-day. The Ministerial
Council was to have held special sit
ting with the object Of hearing the
War Minister'S account of the Dreyfus
case and the newly discovered delin-
quencies of the staff officers. But Gen
eral Zurlinden, finding he had not yet
the ground upon which to form a
sound opinion, asked for an adjourn
ment He is a serious honorable
minded, worthy colleague Of the con-
scientious Brisson, and was chosen to
Investigate the Dreyfus affair as War
Minister because he is not biased and is
weighted with a sense of the RESPONSE
bility involved in the matter. Being q
Protestant and of Bourgeois breeding,
he does not share the ultra Catholic,
anti-Jewish feeling noticeable at the
War Office. Having been a prisoner Of
war in Germany in 1870 and being an
Alsacian, he is warmly patriotic and
would sympathize with the military
judges of Dreyfus should he find evil
dence of guilt. General Zurlinden was
to have given a verdict to-day. If
against reopening the case he would
have retired to leave the Government
a free hand.
Judging from the disappointment
when news was received that the coun-
ell had adjourned, the Dreyfus case is in
a good channel. The Minister of JUS
tice has named six accomplished, ex-
perienced, keen jurists to examine the
secret papers and everything connected
DraVfnS rQOnPnin
will entirely depend upon this commit
tee. Not one of the six is q Jew, but
one of them, M. Crepot, has been a stu
dent all his life of Jewish history. An
other member of the committee, M. Lo-
pellettier, has found relaxation from
legal toll in Greek literature. All six
are men of unblemished character and
in the habit of Sitting evidence. The
six will set to work directly the War
Minister gives his opinion.
The country being now violently
anti-Semitic, and Dreyfus being a Jew
the Government will have to act with
a willy creep, rather than walk forward
The late Lieutenant Colonel Henry S
confession brought public opinion
around to revision, but the hostility
to Dreyfus is not abated. The people
feel that a mist of iniquity is involved
in the affair, and they will attempt to
understand that the general staff is
no better than when it rendered the
military disasters of 1870 inevitable
The resignation of General Boisdere
as chief Of the general staff is stand
ing puzzle, and it arouses suspicious
that only a public trial can quiet. The
people ask, WAS Dreyfus an accom-
plice Of Esterhazy? Were they both
able to hold rods in pickle for their
rTrfA n,~sn r-e.D so1 10
son why the trial was strangely con-
Quoted and Dreyfus delegated to the
solitude of Devils Island?"
The darkest conjectures are seem
ingly justified by the circumstances
connected with Colonel Henry's sui
eide, which, the Jews remark, was ac-
complished on the day the Scientists
Congress broke up. That event utterly
discredits the Intelligence Department
of the War Office, and. indeed, dis
credits the whole general staff
No more grewsome event has ever
shocked human sentiment and con-
science, and though it happened within
sight Of Paris, 1t is shrouded in mys-
terry. Colonel Henry's is the secon6
suicide connected with the Dreyfus af
fair. The first suicide was that of LIZ
Mercier Pickard, an intelligence agen
of the general staff of Colone
pNA" Oh SHhOPPCn, Lie
attache here, and of the Italian EN-
bassy. He was found suspended from
lamp hook in ceiling. Was he muir.
dered? Was he suicide? The sus
picious facts of his death were hushet
up by the late Government and M. Lee
pine, the former project Of police
The reported suicide of Major Coun
Esterhazy was a canard. He knows
where too many skeletons are concealed
not to feel safe. He will die a nat
ural death, but fresh revelations MAY
lead to others following Colonel Henry
The fairies, as in the Greek tragedies
seem to enter into this drama. Thu
fall of General Boisdeffre brings tn,
drama home to the imperial court O.
Russia, where, as brilliant aristo
cratic military attache, he was a grea
favorite. He was admitted to the In
innate festivities of the imperial fam
lily and was favorite Waiting partne,
of the Empress Dowager in her dane
ing days. The French republic sen
him and special Embassy to the lat,
Cars funeral and to the present Car,
coronation. Great sums Of money
were allowed him to cut dash. Final