Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-09-09

I'm three years the truth will be known
his torture. however. was not Yet over.
lie was obliged to pass along before ms
comrades in arms and the men who had
Deen under his command. And as he
marched the crowd shouted execrations at
MIN, and his repeated cry, Il am inno-
cent!' seemed TO make their wrath only
the more intense. Finally the march was
finished, and the prisoner was marched
back to his cell. The entire ceremony last
ed just ten minutes, but to most of those
who witnessed it each minute seemed to
be an hour.
In letter to his counsel, Maitre De-
mango. which he wrote soon afterward,
Dreyfus said:
Innocent, ] have faced the most awful
martyrdom which can be inflicted on a
soldier. l have felt all around me the
scorn of crowd: have suffered the most
much happier should have been in the
tomb. All would be ended. l should be at
rest; all my sufferings forgotten"
Sent to Devils Island.
The French government, under NJ Du-
puy. then premier proposed and the cham
Der adopted the law of February 9, 1885. by
virtue Of which Dreyfus was deported to
Devils island just OF French Guiana.
Otherwise he would have gone 10 New
Caledonia, in the Pacific.
Thus closed the first part of the drama
ana nothing more was heard OF Dreyfus
until late in the summer of 1896. Colonel
Sandherr had been succeeded head of
the information department by Lieutenant
Colonel Picquart, and soon after Picquart
began his new duties he became convinced
that grave judicial error had been made.
He related himself how this conviction was
forced on him at the Zola trial. on Febru-
ary IL, 1895. He said:
'At the beginning of the month of May.
1886, the fragments of a telegram card
lpetit bleul fell into my hands. These
fragments | gummed together ! found the
card was addressed to Commandant Ester
hazy. no longer remember the exact tie ms
of this card. but everything in it seemed
tgastf
had written it and Commandant EsterhaZy
there existed suspicious relations. Before
submitting the card to my superiors.
was obliged TO get some Information about
Commandant Esterhazy, which was not ia
vorable.
Il Interested myself to obtain the hand
writing Of Commandant Esterhazy, and !
was struck by its resemblance to that of
the famous bordereau. l asked an expert
for his opinion. He answered. 1t is the
writing of the bordereau.'
Colonel Picquart revealed his discovery
10 his superiors, Generals Boideffre and
Gonse, but hts zeal was not appreciated,
and on November l6. 1896. he was sent on a
dangerous mission" to Tunis, and Colonel
Henry, the forger, succeeded him in the in
telligence bureau.
First Move for Revision.
About this same time q newspaper
which became later rabid anti-revision-
list organ-announced that the condemna-
tion of Dreyfus had not been obtained on
the exhibition TO the court-mai tial of secret
evidence, withheld from the accused and
MS counsel This was the first heard of
the secret dossier.
Dreyfus friends eagerly seized at this
opportunity TO demand revision of the case.
Inc introdustion of the secret evidence was
declared Illegal. constituting q new fact
and necessitating revision of the sentence
by higher court"
In the summer of 1897 Senator scheurer-
hestner, having learned about Picquart' s
discovery concerning the authorship of the
pordereau, began an active campaign in
Dreytus, favor. and on November 5, of the
same year, Matthew Dreyfus, brother of
the prisoner, denounced Esterhazy to Gen.
eral Bliiot, the new minister of war, as
the real culprit.
In reply Comte Esterhazy requested an
inquiry, ard on December 81, Commandant
havary reported in favor of not prosecut-
ing EsterhaZy. In view, however. of the
public clamor, Esterhazy was tried by
coIrt-martial and acquitted on January Ii,
had been recalled from Algeria in Novem-
Der to attena the Esterhazy court-martial
THa.s vas sfl -, these charges being pre-.
TERED against him: First, that Picquart
had himself forged the petit bleu in order
10 ruin Esterhazy; second, that he had, be-
tore he left the general staff, communicat-
eo Dreyfus secret dossier to his counsel;
third, that he had abstracted certain doc
urnents from the secret dossier.
But the acquittal of Esterhazy and the
prosecution of Picquart did not stop the
public clamor, and on June l3 it broke Out
again with increased violence by the n,Ih.
lication OF Emile Zola's famous letter OF
aceusation against the chiefs of the army
he charged that General de Boisdeffre
General Gonse and even the minister OF
famous bordereau, but said the staff
knowing that Esterhazy's condemnation
would lead to revision of the Dreyfus
He concluded as follows:
Zola's Famous Accusation.
having been the diabolical worker of judicial error
unconsionsbly ready to believe and OF ther
having defended his nefarious doinEs for the las
three years by the most absurd and culpsble mach
nations accuse General Mercier of being the ac
compoe, at least, through weak intelligence in ht
greatest iniquity of the century. Genera
Bilot OF having in his hands the certain proofs o
the innocence of Dreyfus, and Of having suppressed
them. thus rendering himself guilty of Treason
against humanity and justice, FOR political
eno IN order to save the compromised staff / accuse
General de BOisde1re and General GOnse of ben:
the aeeomplices In the same crime. the througl
feneious animosity, doubtless, the other, perhaps
through the esprit de corps which makes the
once that sacred and unRssailabIe ark. accus
Seneral de Pellierx and COmmandant Ravary OF hav
ing made fRgitious Investigation, whereby mear
an inquiry of the most moRstrous partially whereo
We have, in the report the last mentioned an i'm
perishsble monument of candid audacity sccus
the three experts in handwriting the men Belhomme
Varinard and Couard Of having drawn up false an,
irauoulent reports, unless a medical examination
shall prove them to be victims of a disease of sigh
OF ot Judgment. accuse the officers of the war min
70 LEAD public opinion astrsy. Finally, l accuse tn
nrst court-mRrtisl Of having condemned a man on
document Kept secret, and the second court
martial of having covered this, illegality by order
and OF committing in its turn the judicial crime
knowingly Acquittng a guilty person.
The Trial of Nj. ZoIa,
The French government was forced t,
prosecute the novelist for these unqualified
accusations. and then began the long Zolt
trial, which. while it lasted, convulset
France and her colonies, the people gener
ally taking sides with the government an,
the army against ZOla and the friends O
Dreytus. Serious riots occurred in Paris
Zolas life being constantly threatened an,
several Hebrew stores wrecked. After
stormy trial, without a precedent for II
disgraceful scenes. Zola was sentenced I,
one years Imprisonment and a fine of 800
francs. On the novelist's appeal this yer
diet was annulled. but he was put on tria
q second time last May, was again con
demned to Imprisonment, and on July is
1898, he fled TO England TO avoid arrest
VI. De Beaurepaire Resigns.
The criminal chamber of the court @
cessation, under the presidency of N
Loew. began the work of revision on Octo
ber 2S. 1898. and early in January, 1899,
was rumored that the court had decide
to grant Dreyfus a trial
On January NJ. Quesnay de Beaure
paire. one OF the judges, resigned, charg
ing NJ. Loew with partially toward tn
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