The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-09-12
The Dreyfus Mystery
ATLANTA Constitutional

great interest in the Dreyfus case, Z
presents to a greac many a sort of mys-
terry. Has this man been % terribly
wronged because he is a Jew? The
European prejudice against Jews Is
well understood, but This prejudice, a.
its worst, cannot explain the treatment
Of Dreyfus. Therefor, there Is a mys-
terry in the case. The. Constitution has
already suggested a solution Of this
mystery, but il is brought out more
clearly by the National Review, of Lon
don, which, from the first, has taken
an extraordinary interest in the case,
and which has employed its resources
to get at the bottom facts in the affair.
The editor Of the Review asserts
that the members Of the French head
quarters staff have for years past en-
gagged in the business Of selling con-
fdential information to the foreign
military attaches in Paris, in order to
increase their small salaries and enable
them TO keep up appearances in keep
ing with their official positions In
this business Esterhazey acted as brok-
er and go-between. He had a retain
ing fee from the. attache, and in addi-
ton, received special pay for any inn
portant document that he might secure
To be successful he was compelled to
share his spoilS with the members of
the staff who had access to the coveted
documents.
ALI went we'll until che day Ester
haZey left upon the table of Major Won
Schwartzkoppen' the paper known as
tho hnrIaroa,, r-1i1l a1z-:4zl -.--1-
Of a list of documents which the SUBJ
sidiZed French officers were ready to
furnish. This bordereau the German
attache never saw 1t was delivered
while he was absent, and was stolen
from his table by a French spy, carried
to the French war Office, where it hap
pened to be seen by an outsider before
the guilty parties could destroy it. But
. the fact that this bordereau fell
under the inspection Of a person who
was not privy to the traffic which had
been going IN, there would have been
no Dreyfus case in 1894.
But the presence Of the outsider in
the war office at the moment when the
bordereau vas returned made it abso-
lutely necessary for the t%rafickers to
find a scapegoat. Their dilemma may
be imagined. 1t was absolutely neces-
sary to the safety of all to save Ester
hazey, and, accordingly, the Dreyfus
crime was concocted and carried out.
He was selected as the scapegoat be-
LUIS he was a Jew with few Or no
friends on the general staff. When
Dreyfus was selected as a victim, Es-
terhazey, crazed with anxiety, went to
the German embassy, produced a pistol
and demanded that Major Schwartz
koppen should testify that the Jew was
the guilty party. The reply of the ma
jor was to kick the rascal from the
embassy.
In selecting Dreyfus as the victim Of
their awful conspiracy the French off
GERS depended largely OF the sympathy
and support of the anti-Semites IL the
French capital. The event justified
their expectation. AS soon as the
name of Dreyfus was suggested the
began to fill the air with
their bowls. Had Esterhazey been ar
his conviction would have drag
ge1 down all those engaged in selling
tue secrets of their country.
Having disposed Of Dreyfus, the traf-
fc was resumed, and the ''leaka ges"
from the van office were greater after
the victim was sent 20 DEVILS island
than even before. II was known that
Esterhazey, when he vas engaged IN
his nefarious business, received no less
than SIC, 600 from foreign governments.
The rascal has since admitted writing
the bOrdereau. but says he did so at
the reQuest of his chiefs in order to
make a legal case against Dreyfus. AS
a matter of fact, every document emu
merated in the bordereau was actually
delivered, and is today in the posses
sion of either the German or the Ital-
ian war office.
The French staff has always known
who the guilty party vas. AS to Mer-
cier, The National Review says he SIM
ply allowed himself to be ~terroriZed by
the gang, and became che of the worst
of the criminals in his efforts to con-
vict Dreyfus. The first trial was held
behind closed doors, because it was
known that the German attache would
not stand by and permit an innocent
man to be condemned for delivering
documents which he had received from
another person.
Such, briefly stated, is the origin OF
the Dreyfus case. In no other civilized
country in the world at this day and
time could such a revolving crime have
been committed.