The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-08-26
rapidity, precluding all idea Of doctor
ing or tracing.
AMUSED THE AUDIENCE.


Ihere was a general movement Of curt
osfty when NJ. Bertillon, the we'll known
anthropometer Cor specialist in the meas
urement of the human body, was called.
and the interest deepened when the CHIEF
OF the Identification department advanced
to the witness bar. M. 8ertilIon prefaced
MS evidence by saying his explanations
would be understood only by a very lin
lted number, and therefore he asked the
court to permit him to refer to documents
which he had brought, in order to make
his evidence more intelligible. Gaueh-
ter.)
M. Bertillon proceeded to demonstrate
technically how he reached the conviction
of Dreyfus' guilt, recitin;, the facts pub
hshed April q. He said he proposed to
prove to the court:
"Flrst-That the bordereau was a doc
tered document
Second-That it could only have been
manufactured by the prisoner.
Third-That it had been written in a
free hand by means of a key word placed
beneath tracing paper in such way as
to be quite visible"
The witness, continuing, declared Drey-
fus did not have recourse to initiating Es-
terhazy's free handwriting, because it re-
quired too long to study, and he used the
tracing process because it is easier to
learn and more likely to be successful
M. Bertillon compared words of the
bordereau with words in the documents
of comparison. Leaning on the judges
bench, he placed the entire bordereau
over q graphic canvas and proceeded to
show that, by doing so, Dreyfus succeeded
in formulating the principal rules which
served to guide him in making his joining
marks, remarking that any copyist pos
S6SSinQ a fn
to replace the entire bordereau.
my theory continued the witness,
was, in 1894, considered by the ministry of
war to be favorable to the prisoner If
the defense accepted it, the long mag
isterial investigation would have to be
recommended, and So" here the witness
raised his voice and struck the table
with his fist, when the word grille
(card perforated, used in ciphers) was
used at the court-martial, the prisoner s
face contracted. When I spoke of the
fabrication of the bordereau, he exclaim-
ed: oh, the wretch. lie saw me write,
then
ST did not hear the remark, but when
it was repeated to me it was q revela-
ton, for, if innocent, the word fabrica-
ton would have delighted instead of
frightened him.
Dreyfus listened impassively to his IT,
rade
The audience again became animated
when NJ. Bertillon announced that he
would give a practical demonstration of
how the bordereau was fabricated by
means of key word.
The witness, seated at table, began
to copy the bordereau on g sheet of pa
per, similar in character to the famous
document. After a quarter of an hour,
Col. Jouaust suggested that it was not
| necessary to finish the demonstration, and
| NJ. Bertillon rose and showed the judges
the result of his labor, remarking:
'I was in bad position"
The audience concluded from this re-
mark that the experiment had not sue
ceeded, and the expression of the judges
faces seemed to bear cut this opinion.
The court adjourned for the day at 11:4
u. IN.
| At the close of the proceedings quite
a crowd of people surrounded NJ. Labori,
anxious to know his opinion of NJ. Ber-
tillon's imitation bordereau. The lawyer
answered that, so far as he could judge