Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-08-24
Court Martial Proceedings
Today Were Decidedly In
the Prisoners Favor.
LABORrs GOOD WORK.
His X cen Questioning Makes Colonel
jaurel Leave Stand with a Pale
Face and . Scared Look%Gives
" Wercier an Examination.

N40FC1cI un EAHuhhu0ttUne
Rennes, Aug. 24.-(By Associated
Press. s.)-At the opening of the Drey-
fus case today The evidence given be-
fore the court of cessation by 'Penot,
the friend of the late Colonel Sand
herr, chief of the intelligence depart
1nent was read. It was to the effect
that Sandherr said that the Dreyfus
family offered him 100000 francs to
clear Dreyfus. Demange disposed of
= this by reading a note written by
( Sandherr the same day showing that
the Dreyfus brothers only said: .We
are convinced of the innocence of our
brother and will spend our entire for
( tune to discover the truth" The tes-.
I timony of the first witness of the day,
Linotte, a former government official,
j nyas in favor of Dreyfus, as it directly
contradicted Debreuil who ieposed
/, yesterday regarding the alleged inti-
| macy of Dreyfus with the German at
tache at the house of Bodson. Col.
Maurel, president of the first Dreyfus
court-martial, was the next witness.
, AS Labori lashed him with pointed
i questions the colonel hesitated, then
(; answered in short. choppy, manner,
and when Labori finally disposed of
/ dim, the witness left the platform
with a pale face and a scared look.
The counsel drew from the colonel a
! confession that the secret Dossier was
4, communicated to the Judges of the
court martial of 1894 by du Patty de
Clam. This ayowal produced sensa-
/ tion and Maurels declaration that he
only read one of the docrhnents, which
I had no effect upon him, as his mind
y, and that of other members of the
rourt was already made up, was nulli-
sNied by his subsequent declaration that
this one document was sufficient to
4, convince him. Labori then put Sc
I, yies of searching questions to Mercier
ein reference to the communication of
ithe secret dossier for the court-martial
and his attitude in 1894. The general
refused to reply to all the questions
and there were sharp passages at arms
between the counsel and Jouaust who
upheld Mercier, while the dialogue be-
lMteH tIHtt SCucIuA lJdOOT1 DeCdill6
acrimonious. The consul became very
heated, but Mercier seldom departed
from the callous demeanor character
istic of him. The lawyer made a
Z strong point on the part Esterhazy
played. Mercier said he did not know
Esterhazy and only saw him once at
the Zola trial. .sThat is very interest
ing" exclaimed Eabori, but surely
4Mercier was present at. the Esterhazy
trial?" The general replied that he
trial?" The general replied that he
avas not there, and knew not ng
Sabout the evidence in the Ester azy
Eprosecution. what" cried La5ori,
Es'AIercier, who is chief accuser of
EDreyfus, did not even follow the pro-
Eceeding in the Esterhazy trial?" A
bAoud murmer of. surprise and indignant
Ecomment came from the audience. The
ecounsel then brought iMercier to his
Eassertion that 35,00O,O00 francs were
espent by the defenders of Dreyfus, and
Easked how he knew this, and put other
Eawkward questions which the general
yapas unable to answer. The question
as to how the bordereau arrived at the
Offices of the general staff, its date, etc,
was then introduced, which led to a
strange scene for q court of law. Ro-
get, mounting the platform to give en-
plantations, was followed by de Bois-
deqre, Gribelin, Major Lauth, and 9TH
Z er military witnesses, all holding up
their hands to signify, that they want
Fed to speak, while Labori continued
firing questions. The result was a per
feet babel, until it was stopped by
Uouaust. Labori questioned Mercier in
reference to the document in the secret
Gossier, which, it is affirmed, existed
prior to 1894, yet was not produced at
the first court-martial. The general
confessed he did not know of its eX-
istence and the same statement was
ELECTED from Gonse, who declared Sand.
herr responsible for its non-pr production
4 These replies were tantamount to a
confession that Sandherr and Henry
played with the minister of war, and
even that Gonse, the assistant chief
of the headquarters staff and the
chief of the intelligence department
was keeping back lust what he pleased
Then Labori proceeded to take up the
Pannizzardi dispatch and bring out
dhe contradictory translations and
fa!seness OF The final version.
After hearing Mercier and Chanoine
on the subject .Jouaust declared that
the court would rule the dispatch out
of evidence. Dreyfus. when called on
to answer. replied calmly to Mercier's
statement that he (Dreyfus) could
have obtained information about the
artillery promised in the bordereau
while staying at Bourges, where the
artillery trial was being held. Dreyfns
explained how he spent his time
showing that he did not inform him
self about the trials of the new gun
brakes. General Risbourg recounted
\ what Captain Lebrun-Renault said
abont Dreyfus. This brought 1he lat
ter to his feet with the declaration