The San Francisco call., 1899-08-15
MORE THRILLING GROWS
GREAT. DREYFUS DRAMA
MANY SENSATIONS AT
THE RENNES COURT MARTIAL
Former Ministers of War Of France Trying Hard
to Cause Dreyfus to Be Again Found
Guilty Of Treason

| had made similar representa- tions to NJ
| de Freycinet and got the same reply from
! both that neither was very conversant
with the affair.
| General Billot dwelt at length upon the
action taken by NJ Scheurer- -Kestner, to
whom he recommended prudence.
NJ. Scheurer-keStner finally commun1-
Gated to General BllOt his conviction of
the innocence of Dreyfus, but the general
found the evidence insufficient. and asked
him to investigate the matter further.
The general dealt with the role OF
Colonel Picquart, whom, he said, he holds
in the highest esteem.
"and gave me valuable information about
the organization of a neighborlng army
and it's artillery. This information showed
the necessity of continuing the reforms in
our artillery commenced by that great in
itiator, General Mercier.
Il. who am neither an engineer nor an
expert in handwriting" added General
Billot, saw in that direction the grand
work he had accomplished"
| After this General BillOt referred to
| Colonel Picquart's proposition to entrap
! Esterhazy, whom he suspected, but Cen
! eral Billot forbade this. He added that
! Colonel Picquarts action was without
! authorization.
General Billot referred to the eminent
services Colonel Picquart had rendered to
/ the army, leading to his being intrusted
! with a confidential mission to the East
| and afterward to TuniS. He energetlcally
protested against the allegation that he
| had desired to send Colonel Picquart to a
| place from which he would never return
/ He explained his devotion to the country
and army, and said his anxiety respecting
! the secrets of the national defense otteii
/ entailed exceptional measures, like reslg-
| nation and going to distant points whence
| it was possible to return with superior
rank and where heroism certainly wiped
out everything except treason. Goensa-
! tion)
! Colonel Picquart, General Billot explained
what he had done in connection with Es-
/ terhaZy. He then renewed his protests
/ against the attack the defenders or Drey-
/ fus made upon him during the trial OF NJ.
! Zola, and concluded by expressing re-
gret that while in power he was obhged
/ to devote most of his time to the Dreyfus
affair. which time, he added, ought TO
have been given to the guardianship of
N Demange invited General BiIlot to
] explain the statements of MN. Barthou
and Poincaire, former Ministers, that the
general was once so doubtful of the guilt
/ of Dreyfus that he did not sleep for sew
| eral nights.
! General Billot acknowledged the state
! mentS were true.
Answering questions of counsel. the gen.
eral said Colonel PiCquarts revelations
produced doubts in his mind. but, he
added. all the same his conviction OF the
t guilt of Dreyfus remained unchanged.
There was a great sensation when NJ.
Demange mentioned the opinion, eX-
pressed by NJ Barthou that General Bill
| lot had been forewarned in regard TO the
! forgery of Lieutenant Colonel Henry: Inc
J
! forgery was among the factors arousnS
! his doubts.
! immensely surprised and deeply anected
! bV the revelation of the forgery. He said:
! 81 never could have believed superior
| officer could be guilty of forgery.
| War. was the next witness called. teply-
| ing to the president of the court, ne said
! he was the first Cabinet Minister to as
| sumo responsibility to Dreyfus. He had
! closely followed the inquiry of the Court
ciate himself with the reSpqnslpllty OF
! those in 1894 VINO protected the honor or
the army against treason. 1seInsatlon,g
| the principal points upon which he based
! his conviction was the confession 10 Cap.
! tain Lebrun- Renaud in support OF
which contention he quoted a passage
! from an alleged letter or Dreytus. put
which, in reality was part OF OF WaT GeneTai 9
! Colonel Du Paty's de CLAIMS report of the
! alleged confession
| Of mistakes in human testimony and SAID
! they ought to be taken into account When
condemning felloW-man: Bu5' ' ne as
! serted. he was convinced OF the SulIt OF
| DrevfuS because his accusers were so en-
! tireiy in agreement as to their testimony
/ The witness also said he found addi-
! tional proofs of the prisoners guilt in the
! technical character of the bordereau, and
! he thought the bOrdereau alone estab-
| enanated from the bureau of the general
! staff and from an officer who was, able
|
| According. to NJ. Cavaignac, even in his
| attempts to hue his crime, the accused
! had allowed words to escape MIN Which
! inisnlIta bly established his guilt.
Everything, according TO this witness,
condemned Dreyfus, and he claimed that
in spite of the prisoners denials it was
established that he had been everywhere
if was necessary to procure the intorma-
tion in question. 1t was established, the
witness asserted, that the prisoner had
copied plans of the proposed concentra-
zion of the army. Witnesses, he claimed,
would testify in support of this assertion:
NJ Cavaignac discussed the denlals or
Dreyfus and said his excuses of lapse or
claimed, was aware of the changes in the
bridge corps belonging to the artlliery
and also the details OF concentrat1on.
Why then, the witness asked, had ne de-
MED this knowledge =.
II was impossible, according to Nj.
Cavaignac to credit that Esterhazy was
a traitor, even admitting that the border
eai1 was written by him. ESterhaZy, ne
insisted could only have acted as the IN
termediary of an accomp1ce. Inc IN,
treason was really committed, and ne tM.
CaVatgnac) had not based his conVlcti0n
of the culpabilty of Dreyfus solely on the
handwriting of the bordereau.
In the secret dOSSier, he said, there were
many elements for conviction. and he pro-
posed to discuss all the allegations made
| bv foreigners with the view OF eXculpat-
ing DreVfus For instance, he said there
would be official denials which would
leave plenty of room for the truth TO es-
cape. BESIDES. it was quite posslDle tme @
accused was guilty of treason without
having direct relations with agents OF a
foreign Government, and a certain EN-
bassador had admitted that his military
sttache had spied under the immunity
GO g g g g g q