The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-08-22
WISHED FOR HIS DEATH RANK OF HAWAII IT'D
WHY DREYFUs WAS TREATED 50
BRUTALLY.
The story That the Partisan Journals
Aurore and Figaro Have Recently
Told in Full.

The significance Of the treatment to
which Dreyfus has been subjected is
made known in the Paris "Aurore" i'm
which Clemenceau describes the suffer-
ings Of the famous prisoner as follows:
Even if he had been guilty of the
crime of which he was accused the pun
ishment ought not to be more than five
years deportation. But Dreyfus would
not even hear of legal protest; he ne
led the justice of the charges against
him in every detail, and refused to ask
for clemency for fear that this might
be interpreted as an admission of guilt.
Life in the climate to which he was
sent is in itself damnable. The French
officials never stay more than two years
at a time. 1t was hoped that Dreyfus
would die in two or three years at the
most. When the atmosphere in his hut
became intolerable, he would go into
the narrow space between the hut and
the stoCkade. The heat was here still
worse, and often he tainted. Then his
iailers hoped that he had died. They
threw him upon his pallet, ready for
the inquest. But he always revived.
though his continual fever, the excess
sive use of quinine and his many faint
ing fits caused excessive weakness in an
otherwise robust body. To reduce his
chances of life, the preserves he ordered
from Cayenne were taken from him and
Food which he could not eat was given
him instead. But he would not die.
'To all this must be added the tor
lures Of the mind. The letters his rela-
tions wrote were never given to him in
the original. He was not even permit
ted to see the handwriting. Copies,
mutilated and altered, alone were given
to him. At last the entire correspond
ence was withheld, and he was told that
his family had abandoned him. A few
books were left to him; but if he wrote
down ever so trivial a thought, the pa
per was torn to shreds before his eyes.
At last he copied chapter after chapter
as the minimum of brain work neces-
sary to keep him from becoming in
sane"
The death of Dreyfus was so neces-
sary to the conspirators, it is further
said, that Patty du Clam informed the
minister of colonial affairs that an az
tempt would be made to liberate Drey-
fus. Then followed, at a time when his
friends were already active in their en-
deaVor to procure a revision of his sem
tence. an increase in his punishment,
He was placed in irons. He was put up
on bread and water. 1t was then that
the famous stockade was built which
Louis Hanet, member of the French
Institute, describes graphically as fol-
lows in the Figaro:
Between the DON WHICH served as MS
hut and the stOckade, the distance was
only 40 centimeters [1S 1-3 feetl. l beg
every reader to note this carefully.
Fancy yourself walking in a narrow
groove, touching the wall on each side,
in a climate like that of Guiana. This
lasted a year At last when the pris-
oner was too frequently in danger Of
asphyXiation. the doctor demanded a
change. Then only the box was raised
a little to enable the hot tropical sun
to reach the prisoner. No wonder that
Nine Dreyfus was not allowed to visit
her husband. She would have describ-
ed these things. Somebody would have
been found to ask questions in Parlia-
ment.'
No wonder that the authorities pro-
vded a coffin and the materials needed
for embalming the unfortunate pris-
oner 1t should be remembered that all
this is true to the letter. NJ. Lebon, the
then colonial minister does not deny it.
| His only excuse is the rumOr that an
attempt would be made from America
to liberate the prsoner.-Llterary Di-
/ geSt.