The record-union., 1899-08-19
LOOKS BETTER
FOR DREYFUS.
tcontinued from First Page,

General Mercier was attired in civil
ian clothes. Near them sat NJ. Ber-
tulus, the examining magistrate, who
gave such strong testimony for Drey-
fus yesterday Madame Henry, widow
of Lieutenant Colonel Henry, VINO
taxed M. Bertulus with being a Judas,
W as not present.
Concluding his examination of the
secret dossler, Colonel Picquart ex-
piained how he had acquired the con-
Viction that the bordereau was written
by Esterhazy, and how he ascertained
that the anri-Dreyfus proofs were
worthless. He began by detailing how
he first learned of the existence of Es-
terhazy, and his efforts to discover
something about him The witness
earnestly asserted that the first occa-
sion on which he saw EsterhaZy was
when he read the address of the Petit
Bleu." He said he was not acquainted
with EsterhaZy, and never had Ester
hazy watched Previous to this, the ut
most efforts had been made to prove
the contrary and to show Picquart
knew Esterhazy before the discovery OF
the Petit Blue The Colonel emphasized
showing how certain newspapers had
travestied the facts, and he created a
mild sensation by adding: Il shall
have occasion to point out other and
similar examples
The witness then rebutted the
charges against him of unnecessarily
delaying the prosecution of Esterhazy
He said his object was to AVOID arous-
ing suspicion in regard to an officer,
who, perhaps, was entirely innocent.
What a mistake" he added, would
have been averted in 1894 had they
acted in the same way in regard to
Dreyfus."
This remark caused murmurs of ap =.
proval in court.
What the witness gathered about
Esterhazy's character, he continued,
created the worse impression upon
him, but he learned nothing to connect
Esterhazy with an act of espionage.
Therefore he did not mention his sus-
picions An agent, however, was or
dered to watch EsterhaZy, who had
completely compromised himself
through his relations with an English
company of which he had agreed to
become director
That could not be permitted in the
case of a French officer" said Pic
quart Moreover, Esterhazy gambled,
led a life of debauchery and lived with
Mile Pays"
Turning to the leakage at head
quarters, the witness described the ne
gotiations of Major Lauth with Spy
Richard Cuers. at Balse, showing how
the spy promised information about
the leakage and how he (PicquarD was
induced to allow Lieutenant Colonel
Henry to accompany Major Lauth to
Basle
Picquart also described the vague
replies Of Henry when questioned on
the subject Of Esterhazy before his de-
parture, and the futility of the visit TO
Basle because of Cuers' refusal when
he saw Henry. to impart the promised
information. This incident caused the
witness to wonder whether, instead OF
trying to make Cuers speak, Henry
and Lauth had not done everything
possible to impose silence upon him.
Before the Basic incident, Colonel
Picquart had decided to speak to Cen
eral de Boisdeffre about Esterhazy.
In answer to my request" said the
witness. General de Boisedeffre wrote
me asking me to meet him at the
train on his arrival from Vichy While
driving from the railroad station TO
the Generals house, ! told him all
had done in regard to Esterhazy. /
affirm that General Boisdeffre knew
that this question was TO remain Sc
cret between us, and that l was not to
mention it except to the Minister Of
War
II knew EsterhaZy was anxious TO
enter the War Office, and I did not re-
gard his desire favorably. I communi-
Gated my impressions to my chiefs,
who approved all my steps, and the
application of Esterhazy was rejected
His insistence. however, only in
creased my uneasiness regarding him,
and resolved to obtain specimen of
his handwriting. I was Immediately
struck with the similarity of his hand
writing and that of the bordereau, and
forthwith I had the letters of Ester
hazy, which were in my possession,
photographed, and showed the photo
graphs to Major du Patty de Clam and
NJ Bertillon dhe handwriting experD,
between August 25th and September
9th"
The Colonel emphasized this point
because NJ. Bertillon affirms he saw
the photographs in May, 1896 and
made a note of them, whereas the let
ters were not written on that date.
The conflicting in the testimony OF
Picduart and Bertillon on this point
has been used to discredit the formers
evidence.
Colonel Picquart, continuing, said
De Clam, on seeing the writing, forth
with declared it was that Of Matthew
Dreyfus, the brother of Captain Drey-
fus.
The witness, continuing, said: You
know he maintained that the bordereau
is the joint work of Alfred and Matthew
Dreyfus.'
m. Bertillon said, That is the writ
ing of the bordereau
M. Bertillon tried to discover where
I had obtained the handwriting. but the
only information impaired was that it
was current and recent handwriting.
M Bertillon then suggested that it
was tracing, and ended by saying
that if il was current handwriting il