The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-08-20

portant business. but he received
9 only Colonel Plcquart. His general 9
3 condition continued satisfactory. .
ssssssssssssssssssssssssss
quest to leave him in ignorance OF what
was going on"
General de Boisdeffre. whose evidence
was attentively followed. especially by the
members of the court martial, then re-
|, lated Incidents of his interviews with Pic
! quart now he sent Picquart to see Gen
eral Gonse and Gopse's subsequent letter to
the witness advising a continuance OF the
| Investigation of EsterhaZy Colonel Pic
] quart persisted in trying to hurry matters
and was neglccting his other duties. The
| witness proposed to the minister OF war
to send him, NOT in disgrace, on mission
| to Tonking, but the minister of war, the
general asserted, found another mission fof
! him. Everything, the general added, went
| quietly for a time, until NJ. Scheurer-
Kestner interviewed. This was followed by
the denunciation of Esterhazy by Matthew
| Dreyft. and the inquiry into EsteleEiys
proceedings.
| "At that time" the witness said, II
was convinced of the guilt OF Dreyfus, and
| this conviction is as strong today as ever.
| ] regard 1t as an abominahle crime to
! have endeavored to have substituted for
| him a man OF straw, however disreputable
| he may have been. My conviction is the
same as at the commencement of the af-
fair. Esterhazy, 1t is true, at certain
and well chosen moment, confessed 10 nav
| ing written the bordereau, but he has made
many other statements. He Is always tell
| ing lies. What is certain is that he could
! never have delivered the documents emu
merated In the bordereau."
4 Then the witness briefly referred 10 the
trial and acquittal of Esterhazy and the
latters threats to proclaim himself tool
of the general staff. after which the sem
eral alluded to the Henry forgery ard Nj.
| Caviagnac's conviction against Colonel
Henry.
AS soon a everything was ended" said
| the witness. 81 rendered my resignation,
| but was asked to withdraw it. 1 was told
every one could make a mistake; but |
replied that while every one was liable to
| err, every one had not the misfortune, as
| / had to assert to jury, that document
was genuine when in reality it was forged;
that every one ought to stand by ones
word, and that when man happenA. TO
| experience such a misfortune there was
nothing left for him but to go away, and
from that moment l have held aloof."
| Replying to the court General De Bois-
deffre admitted that the leakage at the
military headquarters continued after the
condemnation OF Dreyfus. 1t never ceased
for year, but in 1895 a paper was dis
covered proving the communication to
foreign government Of document relating
| the distribution of the artillery and show
ing that a foreign government was per-
fectly acquainted with the changes made.
| Answering a question put by a member
OF the court martial relative TO the tes
| timony of General Mercier the former
minister of war; and NJ. Casimir Perier,
| formerly president of the French republic,
| the witness replied that he certainly had
an interview with General MERCER early
III January, during the course OF which
Mercier remarked in regard TO the repre-
! sentation of foreign ambassador TO the
4 president of the republic. 1T is not going
/ to happen this time either You can
sleep in peace. The incident has been set
| tied"
De Bosdeffre declared he was no less
certain of what had been said in regard
| to the confession to Captain LIE Brun-
Renault The general was also perfectly
/ certain the incident at the Elysee did not
occur January D, 1895. Ii was he said
the 9th or 9TH.
What is certain" added General Bos-
deffre. lis that when 1t occurred l re-
manned personally at the ministry of war"
NJ. De Mango referred to General Ro-
I gets deposition TO the effect that Dreyfus
was certainly intelligent, but that his
would not have wished to see him on the
I headquarters stau ana asked the Witness
OF the matter.
Il can only express the same opinion as
General Roget said the witness.
| NJ. De Mange-Was not Esterhazy with
j your knowledge assisted at the court CT
inquiry by Major du Patty de Clam who
gave him advice?
I Boisdeirre-I am absolutely not aware
of it.
I Colonel Jouaust put the usual questions
to the prisoner, who replied:
Il have nothing to say to General De
Boisdeifre'
General Gonse followed General DE
Boisdeflre. He maintained that the lris-
oner was guilty. He declared he Henry
forgery was known at least a week betore
Henry's confession. He admitted thai
Henry, when he first produced the formed
documents. insisted that 1t must no. be
shown to Picquart. General Gunse ADMIT
ted that while he was struck with Tho sim
ilarty OF Esterhazy's handwriting and that
OF the bordereau he nevertheless ttrtade
tlcquart 10 Investigate the matter.
When Dreyfus was asked the regular
question he said II will reply direct to
the secretary of the ministry of war. who
said he saw me in the Offices after serv-
ice hours. AS regards General Gonse |
am surprised that the general officer re-
peats dinner table gossip. There Is known
to be lnsurmountable difficulty in intro
ducing any one into the ministry of war
ana it is absolutely impossible for an Of
hcer to bring any one into the ministry"
To this the general replied; mo doubt
it is difficult"
Colonel Jouaust-No doubt 1t is diff
cult, but 1t is not impossible. The min
istry can be entered easily enough at GER
tain hours Dreyfus was In position to
knew that (Sensatidn.)
The prisoner--I will reply to Secretary
Ferret. who has told a lie. What | have
TO say to General Gonse Is that every time
a friend came TO see me at the ministry,
even when a French officer. was Obliged
to descend TO the floor below and eleven
members of the chamber of deputies who
called on me could not enter the ministry
II Is consequently absolutely impossible
under ordinary circumstances for subsl-
tern to bring any one into the ministry.
General Gonse declared that permits
could be easily obtained.
At this pcint Colonel Picquart re-en-
tered the witness box in order to reply to
allegations as to the way he performed
his duties. He denied a number of Gen.
eral Gcnse's statements regarding the ar
rests which the witness ordered Pcquart
also described the extraordinary methods
Of investigation employed In the intelli
4 IL. t.- H. 10