The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-08-11
STORY OLE TIE possIER.


STORY OF THE DossIER.
From the New York Times.
The secret dossier is so called to distin-
guish it from the regular or legal file of
documents connected with the case. The
presence of such secret file was first made
known by Gen de Pellieux at the first Zola
trial, who described it as "le secret doSsier
judiciaire." 1t was then believed that the
file contained documents whose exposure
would cause rupture of peaceful relations
between France and Germany. This point
has been insisted on from time to time by
the conspirators of the general staff.
When Lieut.. Col Georges Picquart sue
ceeded Col. Sandherr as chief of the Secret
Intelligence bureau, he examined the secret
dossier, which was in the archives under
his care, and found that it contained only
four documents. These were the letters that
had passed between Schwarzkoppen and his
colleague of the Italian embassy PaniZ-
zardi. One of the letters was the famous
zee canaille de D." document, which, at
the Dreyfus courtmartial, in 1894, was read
so as to refer to the prisoner by the substi-
ton of his name for the initial D. In its
judgment rendered June last the Cour de
Cessation established this fact, and also
pointed out that Gen. Mercier was implicat-
ed in the illegality.
Capt Cuignet, who examined the secret
dossier few months ago and testified to
its particulars before the Cour de Cassa-
ton, said that he found 400 pieces. 1t was
evident also that since the file had been
formed there had not only been additions
made to it, but that subtractions had also
foI
lows 1. Pieces to be relied on. q Pieces
that are forgeries. g. Pieces wanting
In the first division comes, of course. the
Schwarzkoppen-P anizzardi correspond
ence, which it has been proved does not re-
fer to Dreyfus, and certain messages that
passed between Paris embassies and Berlin
and Rome, that were intercepted by the
French government and to which various
interpretations have been given. There is
one in cipher which Picuart CONSTITUTES as
follows:
'You doubt? My proof is that my infor-
mant C1sterhazy) is an officer. have seen
his brevet. True, only regimental officer;
but assure you he brings his information,
| every bit of 1t, straight from the Intelli-
gence bureau. I cannot communicate di-
rectly with Henry"
Sandherr did not agree with Picquart's
translation of the cipher. Cuignet and Cav
aignac made one which came nearer to i'm
plicating Dreyfus.
This is one example concerning which
nothing can be certain in the absence of
the authentic key. To this division of the
dossier also belong commentaries written
by Du Patty de Clam.
First among the forged documents comes
the famous Henry forgery of November,
1895, which contains the name "Dreyfus''
in full. Then there the Kaiser Wilhelm
letters addressed to Won Munster, and some
even to Dreyfus himself, concerning which
Rochefort made such fuss in December
1897. In one of these remarkable epistles
the kaiser is made to inquire after Mime.
Dreyfus and the children!' And there are
others, which, it is said, quite as clearly
indicate the stupidity of the forgers.
Among the absent documents is one which
would clearly establish the innocence of
Dreyfus. In the envelope that should con-
tain 1t is version which an appended foot
note says was obtained orally from Du
Patty de Clam. 1t reads as follows:
Capt. Dreyfus is arrested. The minister
of war has proofs of his relation with Ger
The original, in cipher, was sent Nov. 2.
1884, by Panzzardi to the Italian Headuuar-
ters Staff in Rome. It's true translation is
positively known to be:
If the captain has had no relations with
you, perhaps it would be well to charge our
ambassador to make public an official de-
NAL, in order to avoid the comments of the
press"
Various renderings were made of this dis
patch before the original was taken from
the archives. None of them were deemed
satisfactory by the bureau. According to
Mercier, no use was made of any of the
versions at the time of the first Dreyfus
courtmartial. Yet LIE Figaro recently de-
clared that the garbled version of Du Patty
de Clam was actually read out to the
judges.
This will give an idea of what the Rennes
courtmartial is now examining behind closed
doors. Various reasons have been given for
this secrecy.