The San Francisco call., 1899-08-19

nothing but a document which might ap-
plv lust as much to EsterhaZy as TO Drey-
fuS an unimportant document mentioning
the d'AVignon note and a document Whlch
il seemed absurd to apply to Dreyius'
namely, the 'Cette canallle D doc-
lastly. I recognized report appended,
in the handwriting of Gonse Wmch ap-
peared to be at least as worthless as the
second document. 1t was then evening.
| had stayed late alone at the office IN
order to examine the document tnoroush,
w. | thought it over during the nlght, ana
the next day l explained the whole sltua-
ton to General de Boisedeffre. took TO
his Office the secret dOSSier. the FAC Slmlle
of the bordereau, the petit bleu ana the
principal papers connected with my in
Vestigation of EsterhaZy. ! wonder now
if l had one or two interviews. but l
still see General Boisedeffre as lie exam
ined the. dossier with me, stop before ne
reached the end and tell me to go INTO
the country, give an account OF the al
fair to General Gonse and ask his ad-
vice. Before starting to see General Gonse
| copied a note. four pages in length,
which | made September l. containing my
resume OF the ESterhazy aftair, " VI llen bod
informed General G0nse of all when hau
occurred he remarked, so mistake
AFTER nv interview with General Gonse
| did not work any longer on my own III
itiatiVe. | said nothing more untll tne
return of General Gonse, September 10:
At that time Esterhazy was at the great
Next the witness dwelt on the rumors IN
September. 1896, of the project OF rePidtco stCo
ing Dreyfus by man OF straw ana tne
discovery of the forged Weyler letter
supposed to be connected with the same
project About the same time the cam
paign for and against Dreyfus was start
ed bV the newspapers.
At this stage OF his deposition Colonel
Picquart who had been speaking Tor TWO
and a half hours. was visibly distressed.
He had occasional attacks OF coughing,
but managed to continue, Colonel Jouaust
not showing any disposition TO suspend
the session of the court in order TO give
him needed rest.
to the newspaper attacks on DreYfuS,
saying that the information regarding the
bordereau contained in them convinced
him that it had been Inspected py some
one closely connected with the Dreyfus
affair. .,.
"They could not" he added, be attrib-
uted to the Dreyfus family. Whlle ne, paeS pnty
de Clam. whom it would be interesting 10
hear on the subject. Witness next sald
he asked permission to inquire into the
sources of the articles, but was forDlddel
to interfere in any way Whatever.
Describing his interview with General
Gonse September /, Picquart said: When
| asked General Gonse for permission to
continue the investigation. insisting on
the danger of allowing the Dreyfus family
to proceed with the investigation alone,
the general replied that 1t was lmpossSipIe
in his opinion and in the opinion of Cen
eral Boisedeffre and the Minister OF " ar
to reopen the affair. When pressed on
the point. in order to make General Gonse
understand that nothing could prevent its
reopening if it could be believed Dreyfus
was innocent, General Gonse replied: If
you say nothing nobody will know
- General l replied, what you tell me-
is abominable. | do not know what shall
do, but | won't carry this secret with me.
Great sensation.) l at once left the
ROOM
count is disputed, but | positively swear
il" said PiCquart as he emphaticallS
smote the bar in front of the witness box
and looked in the direction of the gen
erals.
The colonel next described his inten-
tions with regard to Esterhazy, which
Generals Gonse and De Boisdefre had
forbidden him to carry out. he attacEeG
particular Importance to this point, as it
contained a clew to subsequent occur
rences. Later witness said that while DE
Clam evidently acted wrongly IN dis,
glising himself with a false beard and
blue spectacles, perhaps he was author
lied to do so.
After a few minutes suspension of the
session Colonel Picquart resumed his dep
osition showing how, through an article
in the Eclair, September 10, he was salts
fled Esterhazy had been warned of the
suspicious against him.
In order to make the proofs complete
witness continued his Investigations with
the utmost discretion. In his opinion the
only event of. Importance in the Dreyfus
affair since the discovery of the bordereau
was the Henry forgery, perperated OctC-
Der 81, 1896. He added that it must have
been handed Immediately to General
Gonse Shortly before Henry perpetrated
the forgery an agent named Guenee,
Henry'S right-hand man, prepared 4 re-
port declaring that Castelin, Republican
Revisionst Deputy for Laon Division Of
Aisne, was about to play the hand of the
Dreyfus family by unmasking in the
Chamber of Deputies the prisoners ac-
complices thus having the affair re-
opened. Colonel Picquart incidentally
complained bitterly that while he was
still chief of the Intelligence Department
Henrys tool, Guenee, should be allowed
to make reports against the witness. who
had then established a connection betweer, t,
the reports of Guenee. the false deposition
of Henry, who had testified that he had
seen the witness seated in Maitre Leblois'
office with the document containing the
words "Cette canaille de D." Each
new scheme was a development Of the one
preceding.
ton was his recital of the intrigues
against him and the pressure exercised
by Henry, with the view of fixing on the
witness the blame for communicating in
formation to the newspapers. Then turn
ing TO the commission on which he was
dispatched. Picquart described the irrita-
ton he felt when he saw he was being
removed because he was no longer wante ed
He explained that if this disgrace had
been frankly avowed it would have been
much less painful to him. The colonel
also said that during his absence his cor
respondence was tampered with.
Dealing with his mission in Tunis. which
Picquart said ought to have been intrust-
ed to a commissary of police the witness
declared it was then that Henry, abandon
ing his underhand intrigues, began a
campaign of open persecution. Henry
wrote to the witness, accusing him of
communicating Information to the press
with disclosing the contents Of secret doc
uments and with attempting to Suborn Of
ficers in connection with the petit blell.
1t was then Picquart learned of the ex-
istence of the forged secret documents di-
rected against himself and foresaw his
own ruin If the Dreyfus affair was re-
opened, and to safeguard himself he in
trusted to a lawyer friend certain letter
from General Gonse, at the same time ac-
quainting the lawyer with what he knew
of Esterhazy and instructing the lawyer
how he should intervene if the occasion