The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-09-02

| HOlShafra
DisbeIieved.
PARIS, Sept 1.-The Drevfus oaeo
presents no new feature, but there is
a plentiful supply of rumors. The frs+
OF these is that Dreyfus is dead. no Ie+-
ter having been received from him fo.
some weeks Another report is that
Gen Boisdeffre, who has lust resigned
the position of chief Of the general.
stan, has committed suicide. Both tho
rumors are undoubtedly without foun-
dation.
Col Patty du Clam is on a vacation
trip in Switzerland, and there is M
confirmation of the statement of La
Patrie that he has been arrested for
completely in the Henry forgery.
Gen. Gonz, assistant chief of the gem
eraI staff, who rendered his resignation
yesterday to M Cavaignac. minister OF
war, has been persuaded to withdraw
1t, as his retirement under the age
limit will occur next month.
HENRY'S PROBABLE MOTIVE.
Speculation is keenest over the mo-
tlVes for Col Henry's suicide. Looking
10 the view the who'e nation has adopt
ed regarding the guilt of Dreyfus. 1t is
argued that Henry may have supposed
he was acting in the country's interest.
even In forging the letter which would
satisfy the nation Of the justice of the
sentence without producing any Of the
real evidence, which would be unde-
sirahle on the highest political grounds. +
Henry seems to be regarded as a
martyr to misguided patriotism. The !
developments about the time Of the
Dreyfus trial, and the anti-Semitic ex- /
citement, to a blunt mind like Lieut., {
Col. Henry's would be taken as a justi- I
flcatiOn for any means for killing off
any of the Semites.
There are hints of the discovery Of
a general conspiracy to hunt Jewish
officers out of the French army. Drey-
fus, a man of naughty demeanor, but
of vast strategic knowledge, would nat
urally be selected as a victim of the
Vaccinations.
HINTS AT CONNIVANCE.
The carelessness of the authorities
In allowing Henry to have a razor and
in not watching him is generally inter-
preted as connivance, and, perhaps, as
persuasion, since officers under arrests
and likely to be condemned should. ac-
cording to military regulations, be con-
stantly watched, while Henry was left
for hours alone and allowed to lock
the door on the inside If there were
persuasion it is not likely to have been
s difficult Had Henry been expelled
!, from the army, both himself and wife
. would have lost all pension rights. AS
o 1T is, the widow becomes entitled to a
: handsome pension. This seems q more
Y likely motive than the explanation
$ based upon the alleged incoharent let
ter he left behind that he had lost his
! reason.
s The governments position is most
: unhappy Notices Of interpretations IN
, the chamber Of deputies multiply.
: President Faure is censured for leav-
ing Paris at such a critical moment
Great efforts are being made to get
the signature of a majority of the dep
uties, which is a necessary preliminary
to convocation of the chamber.
The movement In favor of a revision
: of the Dreyfus case is growing by leaps
and bounds. Considering recent events,
! Maj. Count Walsin Esterhazy retains
ali amazingly cool attitude. In the
course Of an interview yesterday he
expressed astOnishment that Lieut. Col
Henry was allowed to have a razor.
. Henry's death, he said, was regrettable,
, because doubtless, he had other rev.
. citations to make"
Count Esterhazy intends to appeal
against his enforced retirement from
active service in the army.
r THE DREYFUs CASE.
The Dreyfus case, which has shaken
| n fn
e and which has been given all its orig
inal Importance by the developments
: of the past few days, started in a war
D of persecution against the Jewish race,
and resulted in the conviction of Drey-
fus and Zola and their sentence to inn
9 prisonment. The first act was the trial
of Dreyfus for bertaying secrets of the
French army to the Germans When
/ these secrets continued to leak out
= Comte Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy
was charged, as an officer of the French
/ army, with betraying the information.
His resignation was requested in No.
vember, 1897 Late in 1897 Emile Zola
wrote letters to the Figaro in which he
declared that Dreyfus was innocent
and denounced the anti-Semitic perse-
cution that was being carried on His
=
one years Imprisonment and a fine OF
: 5000 francs on Feb. 8, 1898.
The conviction of Dreyfus about
whose trial the questions have been
raised that have dragged other men
into the affair, was a secret one. In
1894 he was charged with having sold
plans to the German government and
the French secret service watched
, every move he made for some time.
| They obtained the sweeping of the
office and all papers that they could
lay hands on, and the government
finally claimed to have secured letter
which contained proof of his guilt. He
was sentenced to life Imprisonment on
Dec. %, 1894, and has since been confin-
/ ed on a solitary island, living in a cage
and guarded by armed soldiers.
I:efore he was exiled he was obliged
to suffer the worst degradation that
could fall to a French military officer.
He was taken into an open square in
full uniform, and there in the sight OF
the crowd assembled was stripped of
every mark of office. His many friends
have protested as loudly as they dared
, that he is exiled not on account of his
. own crimes, but because he knows too
much about those of Others.