The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-06-01


The Dreyfus case began on October Is,
1894, when Captain Dreyfus. an officer at
tached to the general staff of the army,
was arrested on the charge of high treason.
In September, 1854, bordereau, or mem
orandum showing that French military Sc
crets were being betrayed to a foreign
power, and which was said to have been
found at the German embassy, was taken
to the French war office. This bordereau
ran as follows:
Sir, though 1 have no news indicating
that you desire to see me, nevertheless 1
am sending to you some interesting bits
of information.
l. A note on the hydraulic break of the
100, and on the way in which this piece
behaved
2. A note on the covering troops (some
notifications will be entailed by the new
PLAN.
8. A note on modification in artillery
formations.
3. The project of the firing manual for
field artillery, March A. 1894.
The last document is extremely difficult
to procure, and | can only have it at my
disposal during a very few days. The min
lister of war has sent limited number of
copies to the several corps, and these
corps are responsible for its return, each
officer in possession of one to return Il
after the maneuyers- If then you would
like TO take out of It whatever interests
you and hold it afterward at my sposal,
l viii take it. Unless, indeed, you would
Ike me to have it copied In extenso and
then address to you the copy.
1 am just off to the maneuvers.
Finding the Author
At that time Colonel Sandherr was chief
of the intelligence department and Major
Henry next in command. An inquiry was
opened to discover the author, and Com
mandant Du Patty de Clam discovered in
it a resemblance to the handwriting of
Dreyfus.
Captain Dreyfus was son of a wealthy
manufacturer of Muhlhansen, Alsaee To-
gether with his three brothers, he elected
after the war of 1870 to remain a French
subject. die went TO Paris in 1874 and was
successfully a pupil at Chaptal college and
a. Saint-Barbe. He was then admitted in
1878 into the G1cole Polytechnique. He then
went to the School of Applied Gunnery, ana
was later appointed second lieutenant in
the Thirty-tirst regiment of artillery, in
garrison at Mans. On September II, 1887,
he was made captain in the Twenty-flIst
regiment of artillery. On April q. 1890, he
was admitted at the Ecole de Guerre, and
left in 1892 with the mention VERY good"
general staff of the army. He was mar
ried man and the father of two children.
Dreyius was arrested, tried in Camera
and sentenced to imprisonment for life ana
degradation from all military rank and
honors.
His degradation, which took place at the
Ecole Militaire, Paris, on January s. 1895,
was witnessed by three Thousand troops,
and was as complete as was known to the
practice of military law. The insignia of
rank the badges of his profession, We're
torn from his coat and cap; and even the
stripes were torn from his trousers by the
adjutant and his sword was broken in two.
While this was being done Dreyfus raised
his arms and cried:
II am innocent; 1 swear I am innocent!
Nive la Francen'
DreYfus Last Word
The vast crowd that was watching the
tragic scene answered these protestationS
with counter cries OF "A mort" and the
police had difficulty in restraining the peo-
pie from doing the prisoner violence. When
taken back to his cell the unhappy man
again swore on the heads of his wife and
children that he was innocent, and added:
I'm three years the trudl will be known"
The French government, under NJ. Dupuy,
then PREMIER proposed and the chamber
adopted the law of February 9, 1885, by
virtue of which Dreyfus was deported to
Devils Island, just off French Guiana.
Otherwise he would have gone to New
Caledonia, in the Pacific.
Late in 1885, nearly two years after the
degradation, doubt began to be expressed
regarding Dreyfus guilt. Colonel Sand
herr had been succeeded as head of the In
formation department by Lieutenant Col
onel Picquart, and soon after Picquart be-
gan his new duties he became convinced
that grave judicial error had been made.
He related himself how this conviction was
foced on him at the lola trial, on Febru-
airy II, 1898. He said
At the beginning of the month of May
1885,. the fragments of a telegram card
petit blue fell into my hands. These
fragments were gummed together and sent
back to me-this card, which was address,
ed to Commandant Esterhazy. I no longer
remember the exact terms of this card, but
everything in 1t seemed to indicate that be-
tween the person who had written it and
Commandant Esterhazy there existed sus-
picious relations. Before submitting to
my susperiors this card was obliged to get
some information about Commandant Els.
terhazy which was not favorable.
I interested myself to obtain the hand
writing of Commandant Esterhazy, and I
was struck by its resemblance to that of
the famous bordereau. 1 asked an expert
for his opioEion. He answered, 1T is the
writing of the bordereau'
Colonel Picquart revealed his discovery to
his superiors, but his zeal was not appre-
ciated, and on November 16, 1896 he was
sent on mission" to Tunis and Colonel
Henry the forger, succeeded him in the
intelligence bureau.
To Prove Innocence
Meantime others had also become con-
!. > . = . . - --
quart of boiling water over two pounds