The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-07-29
THE TORTURES OF
CAPTAIN DREYFUS

Paris Gomesporience of the London Times
M Decrais colonial minister. after a
preliminary examination OF the prison re-
ports on Captain Dreyfl1s, has superseded
NJ Deniel commandment of the lies du
Salut: NJ. Lafontan, director OF TIE Maroai
(Cayenne) penitentiary, being appointed in
his place This dismissal will not surprise
these who remember one of N. Deniel's
monthly reports on Dreyfus. which was
published last spring by the Gsulois out of
rivalry with the disclosures of the Figaro.
The report was obviously intended to pref
u6iee Dreyfus. but it gave a poor idea OF
M. Deniel's humanity Still less can it
cause surprise after the grave al.egations
made yesterday by NJ. Clemenceau. allie
cations which are made more serious by
the following letter from NJ. Louis Hayet,
the eminent professor in the Figaro:
81 have just come from Rennes. l G1ave
there learned facts respecting the treat
nent undergone by Captain Dreyfus which
the public ough to know. Ait the very be-
ginning. his arrival from France in Gull
ana dS5), the condemned man was not i'm
mediately landed. He was left at the bot
tom OF the hold in a temperature Of IS de-
grees (113 Fahr) for four days. and quite
near the end, while the change of jurisdic-
ton was being discussed QS99). he was put
for a month on bread and water.
Let US pass rapidly over these details,
for there is worse. 1t is known that in 1896,
Colonel Picquart having appraised General
Billot that Dreyfus was innocent, the cabin
whore he lived was surrounded with pali-
SADIE. This is known to be a serious breach
of the law, the sentence having been that
of transportation to fortress. 1t is known
that by thus shutting out the horizon from
the unfortunate man his tortures deprived
him of the view of the sea.
''There is something more Which French
men should know You imagine. perhaps,
that the enclosure formed by the palisade
was a spacious court. in which the captive
could promenade in the open air, and
whence his view embraced by day the blue
sky and by night all the multitude of con-
stelations. I for my part thought so.
frequently pictured to myself that Dreyfus
when the comparative GOODNESS of evening
arrived breathed the sea air while gazing
L
these are more brilliant, and that all are
seen there, those of our zone and those
of the Antipodes, 1t seemed to me that
man sentenced to Imprisonment for life, un-
worthy of any pity'-for this was stated
who heard no more the sound of the human
voice, and who had just been deprived even
of the sight of the waves, would, at least,
find refuge in the contemplation OF the CO.
lestial luminaries imagined him feastins
his eyes on their light and bringing peace
to his mind by launching it into the depths
of time and space
81 was mistaken, for the sky had also
been cut off from him. Between the cabin
and the palisade there was a space of forty
centimetres (hfteen inches). l beg you and
1 beg every reader not to read this figure
careessly. Measure forty centimetres from
a wall. Walk quite close to the wall, and
imagine that there is another wall quite
close to you on the other side. Turn your
head up as if to see a ceiling, and picture
to yourself the morsel of sky which would
be perceived through the opening. The
palsade intercepted the air and the light.
This state Of things lasted a year. The
prisoner was then subject to attacks of
suffoca ton, and the doctor required some
thing to be done. Do not fancy that the
palisade was widened. The cabin was
raised SO that a little air, little of the
torrid air Of Guiana could at least enter.
As after all. the petiest had not been
condemned to death, his life was measured
out in drops. 1t is now easy to understand
why Nine. Dreyfus. in defiance OF the law.
was debarred from Joining her husband.
She would have written home to France,
and questions would have been asked in
parliament.
Captain Dreyfus has come back without
resentment. It is out of respect for his
magnanimity that do not name the man
responsible. But the story is not finished.
The cabin was not yet raised, and Dreyfus
was literally being suffocated. He had.
moreover, violent attacks of fever when,
in order to please certain journalists, he
was put in irons every night for two
months. He wishes, and has several times
asked. that he may not be talked about in
the press, but for my part I thought 1 had
no right to be- silent. 1 write to journal
which has no political bias and to which
France owes the disclosure of the inquiry.
I think it needless to add any comment"
A member of the preyrus family, ques-
toned by the Libertes says:
''All this is correct, but the truth is still
more atrocious Irons were used with "A
barbarity recalling the tortures of the In
QUESTION. Thus, every morning the sores
caused on the prisoners feet by the iron
ring were dressed, and every evening the
irons were again put on"
HER QUERY RAISED Laugh
From the Philadelphia Inquirer.
She was a bright and winsome little
La ssia of fiua