The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-08-06
Prosecution Cannot Possibly Con-
vict Captain Dreyfus.
SHIFT BURDEN OF PROOF
ALL TESTIMONY MUST BE FUR
NISHED BY GOVERNMENT.
The Entire Case Hinges Upon the
Bordereau, and Esterhazy Has Al
ready Confessed That He Wrote
It-Nothing to Do But Declare the
Accused Man Innocent.

spondent Of the Tribune discussing the
questions on which the coming Dreyfus
court-martial will hinge. says:
lone OF the consequences of the judg
ment delivered by the court of cessation
on JI.ne 5, has been 10 shift the burden
of proof from the prisoner TO the prose-
cution. All the court-martial of 1884, it
was incumbent upon Captain Dreyfus TO
prove that he was innocent of the charges
brought against him. This was in ac-
cordance with French law, which places
the burden of proof upon the accused.
But at the Rennes court-martial Captain
Dreyfus will appear as an officer who has
been illegally condemned and viii not
be obliged to prove his innocence. 1t viii
be for the prosecution to prove that he Is
The issue relegated by the court of
cessation to the Rennes court-martial for
trial Is narrowed down TO the single ques-
ton whether or no. Captain DTeyIus COM
municated 10 foreign power the precise
documents enumerated in the bordereau.
The bordereau is the memorandum with
out date or signature written on very
peculiar water-marked tissue paper.
which. upon the evidence OF the iate
Colonel Henry. the forger. was discovered
torn in slips In the waste paper basket
of Colonel Won Schwartzkoppen. then mil
ttary attache at the German embassy IN
Paris. and. after being put together by
Colonel Henry. formed the basis of the
original charges against Captain Dreyfus-
There is nothing in the bordereau TO
show that Captain Dreyfus had been fol-
lowing reasonable practices. or to con-
meet nun in any manner with it, beyond
an alleged similarity between the hand
writing of Dreyfus and that Of the author
OF the bordereau. The court Of cessation
has decided that the bordereau was writ
ten by Esterhazy. and not by Dreyfus.
The Alleged Confession.
THE court of cessation has already
passed judgment upon all the other evil
dence adduced against Dreyfus in 1894.
including the confession of guilt alleged
TO have been made by Dreytus in Janu-
airy. 1922 To Captain lie Brun-Renaud and
10 Sergeant Depert. well the famous
secret dossier. with its forgeries and Grim
inally manipulated documents All that
Is legally left standing after the elimina-
ton by the court of cessation of the ir-
regularitieS that Initiated the conviction
OF 1884, is the bordereau which the court
OF cessation on June 3 declared was not
written by Dreyfus.
The functions Of the RenneS court
martial are now limited to hearing evil
dence and deciding upon the subject of
the alleged communication by Captain
DreNfus TO a foreign power of the docu-
mentS enumerated in the bordereau now
known to have been written by Ester
hay, as he himself has confessed. ORGY
fus was unacqEarnted with 9Esterhazy
when tine bordereau was written and il
may be safe TO predict that ii will be
practically impossible for the prosecution
TO prove at the forthcoming trial at
Rennes that Captain Dreyfus handed over
10 foreign power the documents in ques-
ton.
These documents are five in number
First. a description of the hydraulic brake /
VI me Hetu gun Known IN the French !
wee as the ~ court, and notes upon the /
construction of its carriage The 100 /
court is the heaviest gun used by the |
french Held artillery. Its gun carriage |
is lngeniously contrived so as 10 travel I
over ploughed fields and across country /
The proJectiles were formerly loaded with |
melinite. but dynamite is now used for |
o ms purpose. and recent experiments |
made near Mention with dynamite shells
treo from the ~ court guns are said
10 have pulverized several thousand cubic
metres OF solid rock.
Some of the Documents.
Second memorandum concerning the
'uoupeS de couverture troops in case of
Inobllization 10 he thrown toward the
ionuer so as to cover the actual mObili-
@auon) with definitions according to the
latest plan.
Third; a note describing the changes
adopted in the artillery formation. This |
refers to the distribution of batteries al |
The commencement Of mobilization among
the divisions of the army corps.
fourtn, a paper on the Madagascar |
campaign.
Fifth a draft of the manual of field
artillery dated March H. 1894
In the report of President Ballot Beau
repre-, the conclusions of which were
adopted by the court Of cessation. a por
ton of the record Of the court-ma rial Of
1884 is cited. from which it appears mar
on NOV; 2, 1874. Commandant d Ormesch-
vile tthe officer who framed the indict-
ment upon which Dreyfus was convicted.
showed Dreyfus the original of the bor-
dereau. DreyfuS resolutely denied eyer
AdHlhg seen the document before and eX-
pialnel IN detail why il was materially
Impossible that he could have written II
W men questioned about each of the five
documents enumera ted in the bordereau ,
the answers of Dreyfus were as follows: I
Dreyfus' Plea of Innocence.
u. Never at any period of my career
nave had IN my possession any docu-
ment relating to the hydraulic brake or {
the carriage of the l2J-court. The last /
time that I saw the I2O gun was while I
10 Z
repos. L have never seen the piece fired ,
Since Jan. /, 1884. until July OF the
same year l was employed at the second .
bureau During the entire period l never {
had any work to do in relation to the I
couyerture- have never had in my pos
session any document upon this question
). On regard to the note relating TO
a modification in the artillery fOrmationO
in the month of June / only knew but
the suppression Of two regiments of ar
tillery pontOneers and the creation of
twenry-eght new batteries. As to the
campaign formations of the artillery | O
was ignorant of them then and | am Il
still ignorant of them. today. Moreover :
according TO one of the questions in an j..
Tor artillery did not reach the staff until /
the month of June b
Others Might Have Done It.
- Never at any time have l read or n
had in my hands any document about the :
Madagascar campaign.
IS. Never at any time have I had this r
manual of field artillery FIRE in my pos
publication
Maitre Mornard. at the hearing before
the court of cessation on June / 1890 u
submitted evidence showing that any one b
Of some 800 officers of the French army I,
might had he felt so inclined have Oh n
tanned the information contained i'm the -
five documents mentioned in the horde y
reau. Captain Dreyfus was an artillery Il
officer. and il was highly improbable that u
he could have made such a technical Fl
blunder as 10 refer to the hydro-Dneu v
matte brake of the 'i20-court' as the ir
pneumatic brake. as stated in the borde- ! A.
reau. ~
Moreover. it has been conclusiyeIv a
shown by Maitre Mornard that as long OF
ago as August. 1893. circulars had been |
issued at Chalons and elsewhere for the
use Of officers during the maneuVers Civ
ing descriptions, with Autographs of four
Of the five subjects referred to in the G
bordereau; and as 10 the note about the ii
Madagascar campaign ii is notorious that in
the plans of that campaign were dis 81
cussed in council at no less than four a..
different ministries and that over 500 diff N'
ferent individuals in Paris were fully cog W
infant of its details. m
Persecution Will Fail.
IF the prosecution succeeds in proving
hat Captain Dreyfus handed over to a Pr