The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-08-19

proofs were worthless. He began by de-
failing how he first learned of the exist
| ence of Esterhazy, and his efforts to dis
cover something about him
| The witness earnestly asserted that the
| first occasion on which he saw Ester
! hazy's name was when he read the ad-
| dress to the petit bleu. He said he was
not acquainted with Esterhazy and never
| had EsterhaZy watched. Previous to
| this, efforts had been made to prove the
contrary, and to show Picquart knew
Esterha@y before the discovery of the
petit bleu.
The colonel emphasized this point with
| the View, as explained, of showing how
certain newspapers had travestied the
facts, and he created a mild sensation by
adding:
Il shall have occasion to point out
! ether similar examples"
The witness then rebutted the charges
| against him of unnecessarily delaying the
prosecution of Esterhazy. He said his
| object was to avoid arousing suspicion in
regard to an officer, who. perhaps, was
entirely innocent.
"What 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
81 frankly admit that I was stupef1ed
on reading the secret dossier,'' continued
| Col Picquart.
Il expected to find matters of gravity
therein, and found, in short, nothing but
! a document which might apply just as
much to Esterhazy as to Dreyfus, an un-
| important document mentioning D'AVig
non, and a document which 1t seemed abb
surd to apply to Dreyfus, namely, the
'cette canaille de D. document"
PERFIDY OF GONsE.
Describing his interview with Gen.
! Gonse, I'icquart said:
when 1 asked Gen. Gonse for permis-
tiGn to continue the investigation the gen.
eral replied that it was impossible in
his opinion, and in the opinion of Gen.
| de Boisdeffre and the minister of war, to
reopen the affair. When I pressed the
point, in order to make Gen. Gonse un-
| derstand that nothing could prevent its
recpening if it could be believed Drey-
| fus was innocent, Gen. Gonse replied:
If you say nothing, nobody will
know
General I replied. what you tell
me is abominable. I do not know what
1 shall do, but 1 won't carry this secret
with me-
81 at once left the room,'' added the
witness. THAT is what occurred.
know my account is disputed but 1 posi-
lively swear it. Cor. Picquart emphat-
ica1ly smOte the bar in front OF the wit
ness box and looked in the direction of
the generals.
The colonel next described his inten-
tions with regard to Esterhazy, which
Gems. Gonse and de Boisdeffre had for
hidden him to carry out. He attached
particular Importance to the point, as it
| contained a clue to subsequent occur
rences. Later witness said that while Du
Patty de Clam evidently acted wrongly in
Disgusting himself with a false beard and
blue spectacles, perhaps he was author
lied to do so.
After a few minutes suspension of the
session, Col Picquart resumed his depo-
siticn, showing how, through an article
III the Eclair of Sept. 1, he was satisfied
Esterhazy had been warned of the suspi-
| cons against him.
! In order to make the proofs COM
plete, witness continued his investiga-
tions with the utmost discretion. In his
opinion, the only event of Importance in
the Dreyfus affair since the discovery of
! the bordereau was the Henry forgery,
! perpetrated Oct. 81, 1896.
PERSECUTION OF PICQUART.
The next feature Of Picquart's deposit
! ton was his recital of the intrigues
! against him, and the pressure exercised
! by Henry with the view of fixing on the
! witness the blame for communicating
| information to the newspapers. Then,
/ turning to the distant Tunis mission upon
! scribed the irritation he felt when he
| saw he was being removed because he
was no longer wanted as head of the in
| telligence department. He explained that
! if this disgrace had been frankly avowed
| it would have been less painful to him.
The colonel also said that during his alb
serce his correspondence was tampered
with.
When Picquart's furlough was due
| Gen. lie Clerc, commanding in Tunis,
was ordered to send PicQuart to the
! frontier Of Tripeli LIE Clerc commented
to the witness on this abnormal order, and
| Picquart confided to the general the
proba BILE reasons for it and his belief in
the innocence of Dreyfus. lie Clerc there
| upon ordered Picquart not to go beyond
Cables. In the meanwhile, the campaign
in Paris continued. Esterhazy appeared
among the witnesses and accusers Pic
quart here created a sensation by in
cidentally remarking that the judges in
! 1894 were shamefully deceived in having
the document containing the words "cette
caraille de D" communicated to them
Witness bitterly recited the details of
the various Vaccinations with the view
of discriminating him, instigated by Hen
ry, EsterhaZy and Du Patty de Clam.
JOuaust, president of the court, having
asked for explanations on certain points
Picquart said:
''If 1 tell you all this, gentlemen, 1t is
to show what must have been the mental
attitude towards me of the members of
the coUrt-martial which tried Esterhazy'
(Murmurs Of assent)
When he resumed his deposition, the
witness said he regretted he had not been
given the opportunity to contradict his
accusers at that court-martial
Il have almost finished my task" add
ed PicQuart, 'but I ask permission to
refer to the way the bordereau came to
the war office. 1 have doubts in regard
to the person who brought the border
eau. Two quite different persons could
certainly have delivered the bordereau
in 1894 But, If an intelligent person had
delivered 1t, he would certainly have in
sisted on the value of its contents"
CONFORMATION A FARCE
Gen. Roget and Gen. Mercier having
intimated desire to speak, Col. Jouaust
asked Dreyfus if he had anything to saw.
and the prisoner replied in the negative.
Gen. Roget then mounted the platform
and asked Col Picquart for explanations
regarding the Quenelli affair
Gen. Roget's questioning was evidently
with the view of elicting the confession
from Col. Picquart that in the Queneli
case he communicated to the judges un-
known to the defense as he now accuses
the general staff with doing in the Drew
fus case. The general concluded with
angrily repelling various statements of
PicQuart in regard to his connection with
the press and a dialogue apparently
wholly unconnected with the present trial
followed
/ Gen. Mercier promptly replaced Gen.
Roget.
Col Picquart," Mercier said. "has
stated that 1 ordered him to convey docu-
ments to Col. Maurel. I never handed
any packet to Col. Picquart for Col,
Maurel. l never mentioned secret doom,