The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1899-09-08
GEN. MERCIER,s ATTITUDE MYsTI-
FIEs HIS FOLLOWERS.
Belief That the General Is Prepar-.
ing Something That Will BE Re-
vealed I'm a Few Days-serious.
Division of Opinion ON the Part:
of the Genera.s-While the Evil.
dence Was Going Against Drey-
fus They Pulled Together, but
Now That It IL Turning in His
Favor Cliques Have Become MAN.
fest.

hennes, Sept. 1.-The air of RenneB
Is filled with rumors of conspiracies
and rumors Of coups de theater, but
nothing positive can be ascertained.
Gen. Mercier's attitude during the last
few days has mystified his followers
IN the case. He is generally confident
and the feeling is that he is preparing
something, the existence of which will
be revealed in few days.
The next subject is that there is a
serious division Of opinion on the part
OF the generals. While the case was
running smoothly against Capt. Drey-
rus they all pulled together, but since
the tide began to pull in his favor, par
ticularly as was the evidence of Capt.
Freystaetter and Col. Cordier, which
proved much more damaging to the
general staff than the latter anticl-
pated, several dividing lines have be-
come manifest among the various
cliques, Gen. Roget Mai. Lauth. Capt.
Cuignet and NJ. Griebelin, the principal
keeper of the archives of the war Of
nee, form one coteric, Gen. MERCER
and Gen. Gonse form another and
Gen. Blot and Gen. Dc Boisdeffre a
third. According to one report the
first two coteries intend to throw over
Gen. De Boisdef're. whom they feel to
be faltering, and declare that he is re-
sponsible for all the errors and illegal
tiles of the court martial of 1894, thus
making him the scapegoat. Accordings'
to another report Gen. Roget, who was
not implicated in 1894. and who even
fought against Dreyfus because he in,
herited from his predecessors the re-
sponsibility for so doing and placed
cver-confidence in the accounts of the
matter furnished him by the general
staff, will cut himself loose from Cen
erals MERCER, Gonse and De Bots.
delfre.
This is n plausible hypothesis. since
Roget has assumed the role of the de-
fender of the army, thus making him
self popular with the army and with a
large section of the nation, and he
probably would not lose by separating
himself from the wrong doers of 1884
and declaring that his opinion had
been changed by the evidence given
during the present trial.
The next story is that the generals
are going to give way OH the author
ship Of the bordereau in view of the
strong evidence, and will admit that
Esterllazy wrote it. alleging, however,
that Dreyfus furnished the informa-
ton, not direct to Esterhazy, but to
third person, who acted as inter-
mcdiary without Dreyfus' knowing
Esterhazy.
In this connection it was certain
that Nine. Rastian. who was house.
keeper for Col. Schwarzkoppen, the
German military attache in 1894, and
who is understood to have acted as a
French spy, has been seen in Rennes.
and will be summoned to testify con-
corning Schwarzkoppen. -
All these rumors may be without
foundation, but in any event they are
sympomatic Of the feeling in Rennes
that something is going ON under the
surface. and that the complexion of
the trial may be altered by some coup
ut any moment.
In the matter of evidence the day
was quite Dreyfus day. only the
deposition of the last Witness Gen.
Loye, being unfavorablc. To-day's pro-
ceedings behing closed doors will set
tie the question whether Dreyfus was
in position to divulge secrets as to
artillery as promised in the bordereau.