The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-10-22
ON The FRENCH FRONTIER.
The English Bicyclist and the Drey.
fus Case.
(Pall Nam Gazette.

4
| The place was custom house on the
row of the Rennes verdict The Eng
/ 1ishman had come TO claim a. refundfng
of the money he had deposited when
/ he took his bicycles into France. The
papers were in order. the identity of
the machines verified and while the
chief went for the key of his strong
! box the Englishman invited speech up
on the 'affaire.
'Ah, mais, c'est une drole d'affaire;
on ne saura jamais la verite. remarked
the man in a draggled uniform. One
thing only was clear-that foreign
money had done it.
II love Jews no more than you" OBJ
served the Englishman who felt the
anti-Judaism that charged the air;
but if there had been a cosmopolitan
syndicate l should have heard of it in
England"
Then how, sir, do you explain the
rage OF the foreigners, which would be
laughable were it not so odious? The
foreign Journalists have earned their
money we'll" CThe man had read his
"Ah, bien, sur" exclaimed the five in
derisive chorus.
And why should they discuss French
| affairs if they were not paid for it?'
1t was vain for the Englishman to
submit that when people have had
proof of prisoners innocence they are
apt to feel indignant at his conviction
against all the rules of evidence and
equity. He was speaking to anti
DreyfuSards and readers of the Petit
journal; moreover, he was one against
five. 1t was manifestly safer to play
the Indifferent spectator and TO talk of
the great exhibition. There was a pro-
poSal among certain foreign hotheads,
he said. to boycott the exhibition; nay,
more, to eschew French silks and
French wines. France, remarked one,
would suffer less from that than the
foreigners themselves. She was rich
enough to do without them.
True, but apparently the Parisians
think otherwise, for in the morning
papers they speak of postponing the ex-
hibition for a year" This spiked their
gun. With EXPLANATIONS of dismay and
incredulity one reached for his Petit
Journal and ran his finger down it's
columns, the others pressing on him,
chin on shoulder. Their chief, return
ing with his key, recalled them to bust
ness. Monsieur will sign his receipt
for 81 francs so confines, and then take
the money. All. but it was not mon
sieur who had signed the original docu-
ment? 1t was madame? Tenez, VOLTA
un impaSsei" The receipt and the
document must be signed by the same
hand.
Madame was far away, in another
country, in fact, and could not come
tomorrow, nor, indeed. until next year
if even then. Could not her husband
sign on her behalf?
No, the regulations were positive up
on the point Either madame must
sign or the deposit be forfeited. Then
upon the EngIishman, fresh from the
study of the Henrys and the Du Patys
and the Merciers of official France,
there flashed an inspiration. Might he
not forge madame's signature? 1t was
like guiding light to the lost mariner.
But can you do it well?" asked the
chief, eagerly.
ITO a marvel. have studied the art
for years.
Give him slip Of paper and a new
pen and let him show us. And you,
NJ" (this to the officer who had wit
messed the original signature) tell me
if it resembles madames autograph
Ali Does madame write as large as
that?"
"C'est juste," pronounced M 'T
remember we'll the dash and the two
dots underneath The chief chuckIed
in anticipatory glee, and stood over the
artist while he executed his forgery on
the original document. And while the
Englishman pocketed his money he felt
that somehow a bond of sympathy had
united the party, and that he had risen
many degrees in their estimation, If not
IN hi