The record-union., 1899-08-26

technically how he reached the convic-
ton of Dreyfus' guilt, reciting the facts
published April 21st. He said he pro-
posed to prove to the court:
First, that the bordereau was a doc
tered document.
Second, that it could only have been
manufactured by the prisoner.
Third, that it had been written in a
| free hand by means of a keyWord
placed beneath tracing paper in such
way as to be quite visible.
The witness, continuing, declared
Dreyfus did not have recourse TO imi-
| tating EsterhaZy's free handwriting,
because it required too long to study,
and he used the tracing process because
it is easier to learn and more likely to
| be successful.
| With the view of frustrating his
meaning, M. Bertillon handed round
photographs of the bordereau, etc.
| During the course of the demonstra-
| tion the specialist advanced to the
judges benches, and with his fingers,
pointed out illustrations of his theory.
NJ Demange and Labori, the judges
and others gathered in a group around
the anthropometer.
| Dreyfus appeared to be stupefed by
the comparatively incomprehensible
! jargon, and many of the audience left
| the court.
| Suddenly the wonderment of those
remaining in the hall was riveted by
| the cryptographic remark, enunciated
by M. Bertillon in loud tones: I'VE
clearly have before US a fabricated doc
ument. The one word always rests on
| the other with a diverge of 10 milli-
metres and 225 millimetres. That is
a phenomenon which is unnatural.
M. Labori watched the specialist for
a few moments, and then returned to
his seat, holding up both hands and ex-
claiming, 1T is most extraordinary.
M. Bertillon continued his explana-
tions, and caused such whirl in the
brains of his hearers that Colonel Jou-
aust finally remarked:
1--WE must have a few minutes rest.
/ When the session was resumed M.
Bertillon made further demonstrations.
| He compared words in the bordereau
| with words in the documents of COM
parison Leaning on the judges bench,
! he placed the entire bordereau over a
| graphic canvas, and proceeded to show
| that by doing so Dreyfus succeeded IN
| formulating the principal rules Whlch
| served to guide him in making his join
ing marks, remarking that any copylst
| who possessed a key to these rules
could learn to replace the entire bor-
dereau.
The witness, continuing, proceeded to
demonstrate the practicability of this.
! when persons are accused" The said,
.it is not sufficient to meet the charge
with denals, but it is necessary to
prove that they have not done what
they are charged with. In this case
the handwriting was disguised. There
is, therefore, presumptive proof that
the prisoner is guilty"
After this, M. Bertillon pointed out
| that five questions in the bordereau
/ were traced in the same manner, and
added: II had reached this point in
my experiments, when I was summoned
| to the Cherche Midi prison by Major
d'Ormes Cheville The Major explained
that he wished my personal opinion on
cryptographic methods, sympathetic
inks, ETC., which might help the family
of Dreyfus in corresponding with him.
The request was partly due to the fact
that a number of letters addressed to
the prisoner by his family had been re-
ceived by the officials.
During the course of the interval
Major d'Ormes Cheville produced one
of these letters. 1 had hardly cast my
eyes on it when / was astounded to no.
tice the same kind of negative o.