The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-18
nnEYFus, owN STORY.
INST as He Wrote 1t While He Was
Awaiting Trial.

Awaiting Trial.
,r,o paris Figaro of May 27 published
los written by Dreyfus while awaiting
rial. He says:
mn saturday. Oct. 10. received. a let
erecting me to be on Monday the
,.'b at a. M. at the war Office for the
,sra1 inspection. I reach the Office on
.,e Monday. I am ushered into the room
- the head Of the general staff. There l
go Mai. Du Patty de Clam and other per-
Inc in civil dress whom did not know.
am told to seat myself at a table, and
Mai Du Patty de Clam sits beside me,
licking savagely at me. begin already
he nuzzled The major then invites me
,,ritA letter from his dictation. 1 am
s1ora and more puzzled. Suddenly he says
- me. Your hand shakes" Not at al"
nv my fingers are cold" 1 continue
rritiug more and more amazed. Scarcely
,sye finished when he rises, falls on me,
and in a laundering voice says: In the
me of the law l arrest you. You are
1,,,sad of high treason" My blood PUSHES
,n,, mead. At the same time two men in
ggian dress fall on me and search me. l
,s,,rne mad and haggard AN officer Is
-,t arrested like that" l eXclatm; give
at least an mixing of the infamy which
,.,n aUege me to have committed. am
innocent; / am the victim of an Internal
rlot "'rhe proofs. are overwhelming,
was the reply. THE President Of the re-
,,Ij.c and the cabinet are Informed of
l'onr arrest" My reason gave way. 1 was
sYgstioned ard know not what L an
swered. ,,a.
r1arrv and a detective. I raved, and re-
.-.r,ber nothing except that / was ac-
used of treason. In prison | was kept in
solitary confinement, treated like a prls-
amer left to myself. During the seven
t4en days which followed underwent
e,sral iuterrogations in my cell by the
t,,7,cial officer. He came toward evening
ith his clerk. hatred in his eyes, insult
an his lips, when my tortured brain was
~ me last extremity. What 1 heard in
hose sad and gloomy days. My heart
I'M thrills. 1 did not know half the time
What I answered. was always told: VT
* all M with you. Providence alone can
evtricate you" But in my feverish brain
invented story after story TO explain
riddle which, simpleton that l was,
could not guess.
constantly asked for proofs of the
,.o,sation. but these were refused me.
Is NOT a criminal first shown the weapon
Of his crime, and asked whether he ldehtl-
fss if? The weapon of my alleged crime
was letter Why was it not shown to
me? The judicial officer and his clerk
made me say all they chose l had no
consciousness, nor did / believe it necessary
n defend myself against such an accusa-
ton. One evening, on asking 70 be at
least told, the clerk replied: Suppose
vour watch was found in a pocket where
Il had no business TO be-" The judicial
officer nodded assent. l then understood
tbat Documents of mine had been stolen.
NV Imagination went went TO work. L
remembered a long correspondents whAch
have been stolen from the second bureau
with Captain IIadamard respecting the
,rsnaratton at the War School, "Other
documents I said to myself, will also
have been stolen from the Second Bureau"
7 remembered a closet locked with only
one KEY. and with no secret paddock. on
these data l constructed a fresh story
became mad with Indignation and grief
one day, when 1 said to the judicial OH
Ger: How can you believe that l, an
Asat.an, to whom the Germans refuse all
passports can be traitorT he replied,
TT was the better to conceal your game.
on another evening the judicial otflcer
said: They are on the track of your ac-
completes. Arrests are imminent, and you
will be sent accordingly before the civil
or the military jurisdiction" l became
literally mad, and saw myself entangied
i'm an ineXtricable plot. Another evening
the judicial officer said to me: Your ar
rest is secret, yet il Is known in all Ger
man conclaves and they tremble and are
throwing you over" The night winch tol-
lowed was the most fearful OF all. was
near killing myself. had hours of frenzy
In the middle of the night, in feversh
moment, prepared TO hang myself TO the
window bars, but my conscience was
awake and said: 'If thou diest every
body win believe thee TO be guilty. Thou
must. live, whatever happens to explain
10 the world that thou art innocent.
My brain sometimes refuses TO compre-
bend so arbitrary an arrest. What? A
man can thus be arrested, his honor ruin
ed, his name and family dishonored, and
he can be driven mad simply because an
expert declares his writing to resemble
that of an infamous letter, though thus
man has an irreproachable past and caa-
not have been tempted through poverty.
Nobody has seen him or caught him IN
the act yet he is arrested, and to make
him entirely lose his reason there is flung
In mis- face: Overwhelming charges rest
on you" During the whole investigation
OF the judicial officer he is told: 1T is all
up with you; nothing can save YOU.
Finally after that officer has been Kept
in solitary confinement for months, after
everything has been searched, the over
whelming charges disappear, and yester-
day, when the government commlssary
informed me that should be sent before
a courtmartial, he said TO me: THE pre-
symptoms are sufficiently established to
justify your being tried" Thus the over
whelming charges of the first day and the
1T is all up of the Following days be-
came after two months, only presump-
tons. Well l here declare il emphatical-
~ a monstrous infamy. Indeseribable
baseness has been committed against me.
have had to deal, not with invesuga-
tons, but with executioners.