Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-08-18
THE DREYFVS MYSTERY.

was charged and convicted of selling GER
tain French army secrets to the German
government. Among the secrets were the
construction Of certain arms, the compo-
sition Of explosives and the plans in con-
temptation for the mobilization of the
French army in the event of sudden out
break Of hostitities. The documents which
Dreyfus was accused of furnishing the
Germans are referred to specifically in
the memorandum, or ''bordereau,' of
which we hear 50 much. 1t is now pretty
we'll known by those who are fully cog
infant Of the whole matter, that this
bordereau was forged by Colonel Ester
hazy, and that he and Lieutenant Colonel
Henry We're the real traitors, and that
they sold at various times to the military
attaches Of foreign governments more
than 160 documents Of considerable value.
A recent number Of the London Times
contains a statement which throws all
necessary light upon the matter, for the
truthfulness and accuracy of which the
Times vouches, which says in substance
that the fact of the treason becoming
known or suspected, it became necessary
to discover the traitor. To divert sus-
Henry conspired to fix the guilt upon
Dreyfus. This was all the more easy to
do because of his comparative o%bscurity,
his lack Of 20 werful friends, and. above
all, the fact that he was a Jew. He was
the only Jewish officer connected with
the general staff. and the head of the
bureau Of military information, whose
duty it was to ferret the traitor, was a
notorious Jew -hater.
Esterhazy confesses to having forged
the ~bordereau. which enumerates docu-
ments which he had himself sold to a
German attache. Henry confessed that
he forged the letter which was supposed
to supply the necessary link connecting
Dreyfus with the authorship of the Dor
dereau. Self-confessed a forger, Henry
died by his own hand within a few hours
after his comlnittal to the military prison
at Vincennes by order of the minister.
Esterhazy writes from his retreat in Lon
don to Carriere, who is conducting the
trial of Dreyfus. and among other things
says: Il entered into relations with
Schwarzkoppen, the German military at
tache, in 1894. S~chwarzkoppen told me
he had in his service at the French min
istry of war a captain of artillery" It
has been since learned that man was
Colonel Henry. though Dreyfus was held
as the culprit. Esterhazy continues: Il
wrote the bordereau, and took it mysaIf
to the German embassy" And still, in
the face of these confessions of Ester.
hazy and Henry. an innocent man is for
the second time on trial as the guilty one.
10 most persons the greatest of the
mystery which has so long surrounded
the Dreyfus case has probably been the
absence of any apparent a~ssignable mo-
tive for the long persecution to which
- - Ia Dtcu SllDIGctpn
why should this man, not conspicuous
by birth or rank, a stranger to all politi.
cal intrigue or party acknowledgements. de-
voted, apparently, to the pursuit of hi.
profession and the performance Of his
duties as a captain of artillery. without
known enemies, as far as known. WHY
should he have been singled out to be tho
victim OF the most remarkable conspiracy
the world has ever Witnessed? Why i,
is asked, should all this be doneq Tho
answer mas Deen given above-partly. if
not all. There may be other reasons not
stated. Inc very weakness of the man.
ms lack OF friends of influence, and his
reilglon, combined to strengthen his ac-
rusers, he eal MISUNDERSTANDING and
Henry.
but ahothef ana more powerful reason
may be at the bottom of this confirmed
persecution. Dreyfus, the once convicted
the friendless, the Jew, may make as
good a Morgan as the anarchists, the
royalists. the B~onapartists and all the
other anti-republicans behind whom they
can shield their Vaccinations and in