The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-08-14
DREYFUS' SUFFERINGS.
THE sUPERHUMAN WILL THAT
TRIUMPHED OVER TORTURE.
Details Of the Punishments That
Were inflicted on Him on
Devils Island.

The first stage was the public degra-
dation. Then came the physical suffer-
ings caused by the miasma Of the trop-
les, where even Europeans enjoying all
the comforts of home cannot live longer
than two years on end. Nobody be-
lieved that the despised and heart
broken wretch could survive even SO
long. 1t seems that many actually
wished for his death, and now regret
his coming back to the land of the Nv
ing once more, and his friends main
tain that the treatment meted out to
him was intended ito put him out OF
pain" Sunstroke alone and unaideS
might have killed him. And several
times his jailers fancied it had, as they
carried his senseless body from under
the fierce rays that beat upon the earth
in the courtyard where he had fallen,
and flung him upon his bed in the sur
locating chamber inside. But gradually
he revived. The strong will power tfl-
umphed over the weakness of the LAGER
ated body, and lent it strength and en-
durance. AS he had to choose between
the fiery furnace of the little courtyard
and the thick, sitting atmosphere OF
his cell And each time the jaliers
would shake their heads, and think,
This time he is done for in real earn
est" and they would catch him by the
head and feet, carry him IN, and hing
him on his couch, wondering at the RI
gidity of his limbs, which clearly be-
spoke catalepsy or death. And thus
one attack followed the other, render
ing life terror, yet death came not.
His jailers themselves grew weak and
fell i'll and left one by one, but Captain
Dreyfus endured and lived for the SUI
preme hour of justice and retribution.
Sunstrokes were but one of an end
less series of physical sufferings Fever
was another. The fever which burns
the very marrow of ones bones and
causes the brain itself, as it were. to
melt and seethe in temporary madness
permeated the soul and racked the soli-
tary dweller. Quinine was the only
palliative, and it's efficiency depended
on it's abuse. AS it was a choice be-
tween sunstroke out of doors and suf-
location within, so it became a choice
between the maladies caused by quinine
and the blood boiling, heart gnawing
fever.
quent and one of the most dangerous.
1t threatened at last to end his torture
and his life, and his jailers did much
to aid it's work. For instance, they
suddenly stopped the supply Of pre-
serves which he was wont to receive
from Cayenne, and at the same time
abolished his rations of milk, condemn
ing him the while to live upon forms
of food which his stomach refused TO
take, and then at last the end hove
clearly in sight. Dreyfus was sinking
But the superhuman will power of the
man triumphed again, and he still lived
on while his jailers were sickening and
going home. After some months Of
this wanton aggravation of his hell up
on earth, he was again allowed to re-
ceive the preserves and milk. For it is
only just to acknowledge that this
treatment was determined upon not
merely for the purpose of inflicting
pain. The Captains friends hold that
its object was the less inhuman one to
hasten the end and obtain for the pris-
oner happy release. If SO, it proved
Intellectual, and was finally given up.
A MARVELLOUS ESCAPE.
1t is wonderful when one comes to
think of it that Dreyfus should have
supported this unending ordeal, and es-
capped madness and death. Frequent at
tacks of sunstroke, numerous bouts of
fever chronic weakness and anaemfa,
aggravated by bad food. combined to
undermine his constitution, yet still the
man survived. Nor does that list ex-
haust the series of causes that were
working to his destruction. But the
most maddening of all, from which
there was neither remedy nor respite,
We're those moral tortures which no
physician can probe and no writer can
describe In his case they constituted
the worm that died not At first the
prisoners used to receive letters from
his dearly devoted wife, sad missives,
whose very sadness was balm to his
blighted soul. Then some jealous pub
lie servant suggested that these letters
be copied, and the copies alone given
to him. And this humane proposal was
acted upon at once without any of the
red tape delays that commonly charac-
terize bureaucracy
Thenceforward he perused letters
written in the handwriting of some
copyist, and was ever after deprived of
the penstrokes of his widowed wife. of
divining here tremor in the gentle
hand that formed the word, of fancying
there a sudden influx of energy born of
hope, and Of dwelling on the spots
blurred by the tear of pity and of love
Nay. he had not even true copies to
read. His wife's letters were mutilated.
changed, tempered with till he could
no longer be sure whose words he was
perusing This may we'll seem the most
poignant stroke of all. But it was not.
There was worse conceivable, and
Dreyfus' executioners conceived and
realized 1t.
The correspondence between the lone
ly prisoner on the island of the fortunes
and his devoted but helpless wife was
wholly suppressed. Thus he was iso-
lated morally. as well as physically, and
> left alone to endure all. without even
a hope to look forward to or an object
to attain. Life became worse than use
less. Day after day dragged slowly
onward, week after week passed weari-
ly away. but these changes of times
and alterations of seasons brought no
tidngs from home. What further mis-
fortunes had visited those who We're
near and dear to him? Were they dead ?
Would they not at least survive long
enough to witness his reinstatement in
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