Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1899-11-20
DREYFUS. AS HE u.s.
Personal Traits of The Martyr II
French Injustice.
Unpopular Before His Captivity Be-
clause OF DisaEEeeable PecHI-
inrltics, Yet. Morally
Good.


fus personally. Let us, for once, be
frank about him and look fairly at him,
rid of the covering of sentiment and
pity with which it has been natural that
he should have been shrouded all this
time.
When the world first saw him,
through the eyes of many able CORE
spondents, as he walked to the platform
of the Lycee at Rennes his appearance
shocked the eyes and minds of every
one.
That a man at the age of 80 should
look older than many men of 70, with his
chalky face, wasted frame and thin
white hair. was so pitiful proof of all
he had suffered that nothing but sheer
compassion controlled every pen which
wrote about him.
His voice, when he first used it, was
so nearly the shrek of bird or the
cutlery of wounded animal that it tore
the hearts of all who heard it.
But remember that days and weeks
have gone by and we have seen Capt.
Dreyfus six or seven hours day and
have heard him speak score of times,
so that we have become accustomed to
his face and voice and manner, and are
able to look upon him as a man of flesh
rather than as at first symbol of suf-
fering such as Git seems to many) has
come to but one historic figure in the
past, and that one not wholly human.
Now, when we hear newcomer after
newcomer declare that they are sorry
they have seen him and that they have
destroyed the ecstasy of their pity for
him by studying his appearance, we
can calmly consider the criticism they
pass upon him.
He is not and never could have been q
good-looking man. His face is a sharp
one. 1t comes, hatchet-like, to point
at the nose. 1t has little beadlike eyes
that are far too close together for what
we would call frank and open coun-
tenance.
In a word, it is a shrewd face, and
seems to belong to a man who should
have been able to keep himself out of
such a mess as he has fallen into. Per-
haps, since he has had this misfortune,
his face may belle his character.
The note or tone of his voice has
greatly changed, and we are now able to
say that he speaks with n full, round,
manly tone, such as strong-char-
actered, vigorous persons should al
ways sound. That first note of his was
the rending of years of silence, the over
coming Of years of disuse, or rut, SO to
speak, in his throat.
Out of the trial has come the patent
proof that Capt. Dreyfus was never the
archangel of sweetness and light which
the popular imagination has made Kim.
There has not been said against him
n single word which affects his moral
character or entities him to so much as
sip of the cup of bitterness which he
has been made to drain.
He is simply shown TO have been UNI
popular, and, for the first time, we begin
to see why il was that if circumstances
required a victim among the men on
the general staff, where Capt. Dreyfus
was serving, it should have been he
who was led to the altar.
He was exceedingly vain and boast
full, and SO curious to find out what
everybody else was doing and what was
in every cupboard and envelope that it
is easy to sec how unpopularity first fos
tened on him, and then suspicion
strhngled him. ..
lie was forever Dragging of how easy
it was for him to learn what the others
toiled and struggled to master; he
ceasrlcssly boosted of his wealth to poor
devils WHO had nothing but the meagcr
pay which the French dole out to their
soldiers; he dinncd into their ears &C.
'criptionsof his luxurious surroundings
at home and of his affairs With class
Of women with whom his poorer tol-
leagues had not means to associate,
though they may have had the wish
London Cable in Philadelphia Press.