Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1899-09-15
Tie Dreyfus Verdict.

budJ bub are eAJeuudLluR circumstances.
On Thursday the judges had refused L
hear the evidence of Col. Schwartzkop
pen and Col. Panizzardi, the German ant
Italian attaches in Paris in 1894, although
it was known that these officers would de
clare that they had never received military
secrets from Dreyfus or held reasonable
intercourse with him. This action of the
court foreshadowed a conviction, and for
this reason the verdict was not surprise,
though 1t came as a stunning blow to the
friends of Dreyfus and to all friends OF
justice. An appeal was at once entered
for a revision Of the courts findings.
The feeling in this country, and appar-
emily in every civilized country of the
world outside of France, is that the verdict
is an outrage on justice and that the whole
case against Dreyfus was founded and
built upon conspiracy, fraud, perjury and
forgery. During the whole course of the
trial there seems to have been no evidence
adduced against Dreyfus which would be
admitted as proof in an American court.
The lord chief justice of England is said to
have remarked that In an English court
the evidence would not hold prisoner for
trial.
The view of the facts in the case gener-
ally held in this country is that the whole
general staff of the French army had be-
come hopelessly corrupt, so much had come
to the surface that exposure was bound to
follow, Dreyfus, the detested Jew, was
chosen as the scapegoat, and the whole
sin was sworn upon him. The judges de.
clare in their verdict that Dreyfus wrote
the famous bordereau, list of military
notes and documents which he could fur
nish to Germany, but the wretched Ester
hazy, now in hiding in England, has re-
peatedy declared that he himself wrote
the bordereau, and that he did it because,
while there was "morsl" proof of the guilt
of Dreyfus, more tangible evidence against
him was required and he therefore wrote
the bordereau to be imputed to Dreyfus.
1t is impossible not TO believe that the
members of the court martial, themselves
officers Of the army, were anxious to pro-
tect and uphold the army, and that they
were influenced by this fact in making up
their verdict. The sentiment of the French
populace is strongly against Dreyfus, and
the mass of the people rejoice in the YER
dict, not so much because they believe in
the guilt of Dreyfus, apparently, as for
the reason that it satisfies their feeling of
bitterness and detestation against the Jews
as a class.
Scene when the Verdict Was Given I'm
The Rennss Court Martial.
The judges retired at 3:15 Saturday af-
ternoon to consider the verdict and were
in consultation an hour and half The
scene in the Lycee when the judges ap-
peared to deliver their judgment was an
exciting one. The ringing of a bell an
nounced the entry of the judges; an Off
Ger ordered "CarTy arms and "Pre-
sent arms" the rattle of rifles followed
and then Col. Jouaust marched in, saluted
and laid bis KEPT on the table. The other
judges did likewise, the gendarmes shouted
order and the silence of death fell on the
audience who were waiting with tn cir
hearts in their mouth for the announce
ment of Dreyfus's fate.
Col. Jouaust then began reading the
judgment which opened with the question
referred to the judges by the court of cas-
sation, "Was Dreyfus guilty of entering a
machination TO send secret documents TO
foreign power?" He then gave the an-
swer, that the court, by a majority of to
2, found Deyfus guilty.
The pent-up feelings of the audience we're
expressed In long, deep-drawn "Oh,"
when Col. Jouaust reached the word
guilty" The word was pronounced un-
der his breath. Owing to the threat of
vigorous punishment for uttering any cry
there was no outburst, but the faces of the
majority of the spectators reflected an ex-
preston of anguished surprise. M. De
mango, counsel for Dreyfus, fell back in
chair as though horror struck.
Col. Jouaust read the judgment without
tremor and was apparently unmoved. He
concluded by saying the court would re-
main sitting until the room was cleared
He asked the audience to go out quietly
and not to raise a shout of any sort. The
gendarmes then closed around the audience
and pressed them outside. Not a cry or a
word was raised by any one. Everything
passed off with complete calm. As the
people emerged, the gendarmes kept them
moving away from the court. The small
crowd of people outside cheered for the
army, but the gendarmes did not interfere
and there was not the slightest disorder
The judgment was read to Dreyfus in an
adjoining little room by the clerk of the
court, NJ Coupois. Dreyfus listered inn
passively. He did not give the slightest
sign of emotion, did not utter word aud
marched back to prison like an automaton.
A brother of DreYfus carried the news to
the prisoners wife.
Owsng to the extreme precautions which
had been taken against an outbreak both
Rennes and Paris remained quiet on Sun
day.
1t is not yet known to what prison Drey-
fus will be sent. II was at first held, or
supposed, that the five years of imprison-
ment which he has already suffered would
count for one-half this sentence, and it was
also said that, that Imprisonment having
been in solitary confinement, it would
count for the whole term of ten years. An
early pardon by the French president was
predicted.
The judges signed on Monday formal