The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-26
TOO SLOW FOR THE AUDIENCE.
1T DIDN'T LIKE BERTILLON's Ex-
PERT TESTIMONY.

TheatricaI--HiS Demonstration of
DreyfUs' Guilt Was Ineligible to
None Save the Judges.
Rennes, Aug. 25.-After NJ. Bertillon, the
handwriting expert. who is at the head of
of the anthropometric department of the
| prefecture of police of Paris, had conclud-
ed the first installment of his so-called
demonstration of the guilt of Capt. Drey-
fus, a prominent Dreyfusard referred TO
him as "the fln-de-siecle cagIiesro."
The Dreyfusards refuse to regard him as
anything but the prince of quacks. They
| cover his remarks with rdieule and pro-
test that the admission of his fantastic
theories as evidence before the courtmar-
| tial is disgrace to France. "C'est une
| honte" was the remark heard on all sides
| when the session closed, and the audience
mainly made up of Dreyfusards, was be-
| ing pressed outside by the gendarmes, who
clear the court room, as soon as the court
adjourns.
Nevertheless, even the Dreyfusards do
not deceive themselves as TO the effect
| of M. Bertillon's testimony, or demon
straton" may have upon the judges who,
| they fear win be gulled by what the
| Dreyfusards consider spurious All the
| judges have passed through the Ecole
! Polytecnaue, the highest school of sci
ence of France, and they are thus pecu-
| harly interested in such evidence as NJ
! Bertillons. Moreover, with the aid of the
| innumerable diagrams and specimens of
writing which he submits to them, they
may be able TO follow his reasoning intelli-
the audience could do to-day. If the judges
| accept Bertillons premises-that Dreyfus,
as an expert spy did not write ordinary
| handwriting, but in close imitation, even
| contrving to give the letters the appear
ance of having been traced in order 10
| be able to repudiate them as a forgery ie
| detected-then the structure built upon
this groundwork may be scientifically corr
| rect
Even Dreyfus, when shown Bertillon's
demonstrations, admitted the ingenuity
and plausbility of the system, though ne
naturally declared that 1t was built upon
a false basis.
A remarkable feature of NJ Bertillon' S
deposition was the heat and excitement
he put into what was expected to be a
ries. He thundered, shouted and waved
his arms, as though engaged in some ter
rible dispute. Once he literally shreked
and numbers of the usual audience, who
had been unable to follow him and were
taking the air in the courtyard, rushed
back to the hall. breath.essly inquirlng
what had happened and imagining that he
was engaed in some dreadful denunctation
of the accused
Their excitement was turned into hilar-
| ity when they found that he was merely
| impressing upon the judges the signifi-
| canoe of the exact space, measures IN
centimers between two words in the bor-
| dereau. The military witnesses all Of
| whom sit in a bunch, leaving Col Pic
| quart and NJ Bertulus severely isolated
| followed NJ. Bertllon's statements with
| grave and wise expression of countenance
! upon which never a suspicion of a smile
| appeared. as though they understood ev-
cry word. Evidently they had received
| mot d'ordre to preserve this attitude,
for. without seeing the diagrams, they
| could not have understood any better than
did the general public.
The Echo de Paris announced to-day
| that the counsel of Dreyfus had obtained
| possession of certain documents mentioned
| in the borGereau in Esterhazy's writing,
which would be produced in court next
| week as a coup de theatre The corre-
| spondent of the Associated Press inquired
as to this in competent Dreyfusard quar-
ters this afternoon. He was assured that
| the statement was erroneous, but was also
| tod that the defense intended, in the
| event of Capt. Dreyfus being recondemned
| to ask the German government 10 COM
| municate, the documents proving his In
| nocence, and that ii had reason to believe
that such a request would be granted.
Proceedings In Detail.
Following are the proceedings in detail:
At the opening of the session consid-
cradle comment was caused by the re-
| quest of NJ Gribelin, the principal archi-
! vest of the headquarters staff for per-
| mission 10 absent himself for twenty
four hours, owing to a summons of the
| minister OF war, Gen. Marquis de Gallifet,
| who desired to see him in Paris. 1t was
| suggested that the minister Of war wished
to refresh NJ. Gribelns memory, which
has been so strongly anu-Dreyfus.
Then followed The reading Of a medical
! certificate signed by two doctors, whose
| names were not familiar TO the audience
| setting forth that Col. Du Patty de Clam
| is too i'll to leave bis bed and appear
| at Rennes, at which the audience was
| not surprised. Madame Du Patty de Clam
| also wrote the government commissary Of
fering a written, supplementary deposition
from her husband NJ. Labori after Sc
curing the names Of the doctors who sign
ed the certificate, asked the court to ap-
| point two weli-known physicians to re-
| port officially on De Patty de CLAIMS con-
| dition. Col Jouaust, however, declared
| il was useless to 90 SO, as the condition
| Of the invalid was wen known.
| Rowland Strong, correspondent OF the
| New York r mes and member OF the
staff OF the Observer Of London. was tho
first witness called. He described At
| .ength interviews which he had with Is
| FfFfgr fhs4
| Comte 1900 for certain documents and q
confession that he wrote tho bordereau as
| published April u. Replying 20 the court
| Mt Strong said that Estcrhazy. white
admitting the authorship Of the bordereau
said the documents enumerated in IL had
been betrayed by Dreyfus TO Germany.
NJ Heur, Well. former officer OF the
| headquarters staff, was then called. but
| he was absent and his deposition was read
| The facts an the case were published April
| -. " Wells statement. Va substance
was that Es,erhazy told him in 1894 that
N.HHt q J. "