Condon globe. (Condon, Gilliam Co., Or.) 189?-1919, 1899-08-31
.BERTILLON SYSTEM
introduced to Demonstrate
the Guilt of Dreyfus.
THE PERFORMANCE FELL FLAT
sci Will Gall ON Germany for
the Documents.

Rennes, Aug. 28.--After NJ. BERTH.
lon, the handwriting expert, who is al
the head Of the aBtltrop0meiric depart
inent Of tho prefecture Of police OF
Paris, had concluded the first install.
Inent OF his so-called demonstration Of
the guilt of Captain Dieyfus, a prom
iuent Dreyfusard referred to him as
the fin dc steele Cagiiostro. The Drey-
fusards refuse to regard him as any
thing but the prince OF quacks. They
cover his remarks with Iidiculc and
protest that the admission Of his fan
;astic theories as evidence before the
courtmartial Is u disgrace to France.
&c est une hontc." was the remark
heard on all sides when the session
closed, aud the audience, mainly made
up OF Dreyfusards, was being pressed
outside by the gendarmes. who clear
the courtroom as soon as the court ad.
journs,
Nevertheless, even the DreyfusaTds
do not deceive themselves rs to the
effect OF NJ. Bertillon's testimony or
Demonstration may have upon the
judges. who. they fear, will DO gulled
by what the Dreyfusards consider spur
ious. All the judges have passed
through the Ecole Polytechnique. the
highest school OF science in France,
and they are thus percuiarly interest
cd in such evidence" as that OF Ber-
tillon. Moreover, with the aid Of the
innumerahle diagrams and specimens
OF writing which he submits TO them,
they may be able to follow his reason
ing intelligently, which is more than
any member OF the audience could do
today. II the judges accept Bertillon's
premises that Dreyfus, as an expert
spy, did not write in ordinary hand
writing, but in close imitation, even
contriving to give letters the appear
ance Of having been traced, in order to
be able to iepudiate them as forgery
II detected--then the structure built
upon this groundwork may be scien-
titically correct. Even Drcyfus, when
shown BeItillon's demonstration, ad.
mitted the ingenuity and plausibility
Of the system. though he naturally de-
clared that it was built on false basis.
A remarkable feature OF Bertillon's
deposition WAS the heat and excitement
he put into what was expected TO be
a calm, dispassionate exposition Of his
theory. He thundered. shouted and
waved his arms as though engaged In
some terrible dispute. Once he literal
ly shrieked. and numbers Of the usua
audience who had been unable to fol.
low him and were taking air in the
courtyard, rushed back INTO the hall,
breathelssly inquiring what had hap
pened, imagining that he was fulminat-
ing some dreadful denunciation of the
accused. Their excitement was turned
INTO hilmity when they found that he
was momentarily impressing upon the
judges tho significance Of the exact
space. measured in centimstres. be.
tween two words in the borderau.
The Echo de Paris announced today
that the counsel of Dreyfus had OBJ
tanned possession OF certain documents
mentioned in the borderau, in Ester.
hazy's writing, which they would pro-
duoe in court next week as coup de
theatre. The press correspondent in.
quired rs to this in competent Drey.
iusaId quarters this afternoon. He
was assured that the statement was
ERRONEOUS. but was also told that the
defense intended, in the event of Cap
tain Dreyfus being re.condemned, to
ask the German government to COM
municate these documents proving his
innocence, and that they had reason to
believe such request would be granted.