The record-union., 1899-09-03
The Evidence at the Court martial
al RannGS
Is Now Almost All Favorable to the
Prisoner.
Dreyfusards Confident That the
Accused Cannot Be Convicted
After the Evidence Which Was
Brought Out at Yesterdays
Hearing.

RENNES, Sept 2 Elation is the
only word that expresses the feelings of
the Dreyfusards after to-days session.
The tide has turned at last, they say,
and Dreyfus cannot be condemned af-
ter the evidence given this morning.
The spirits of the Dreyfusards are
quite mercurial. Every day since the
opening of the trial has seen them rise
or fall. Recently they have been fall
ing heavily, the close of morning ses-
sion generally finding them in anxious
conversation, accompanied by ominOus
shaking of their heads. To-day's buoy
ancy, therefore, is all the more note
worthy. Yesterday was a fairly good
day, but to-day's session, they claim,
put the verdict out of doubt, and the
judges must acquit Dreyfus.
Major Hartman of the Artillery occu-
pied nearly half of the session, with the
conclusion of his expert evidence to the
effect that Dreyfus. as an artillery Off
Ger, would not have displayed such
ignorance regarding guns and brakes
as was shown in the bordereau, while
the other subjects of the bordereau
were matters on which any officer
could inform himself
Major Hartmann's testimony stood
practically uncontested. as neither Gen
eral de Loye or General Mercier, who
replied, refuted any material point
therein.
NJ. Havel, a member of the Institute
then entered upon the grammatical as
pect of the bordereau. and in vigorous
but elegant language devoted himself
to showing that the construction of the
bordereau bristled with strong and in
his opinion, conclusive marks of Ester
hays handiwOrk. while the phrase
ology bore no resemblance to Dreyfus'
style
The next stage of the proceedings
was the reading of the Gonse-P -Picquart
correspondence exchanged at the time
Colonel Picquart suspected Esterhazy
and wanted General Gonse to probe the
matter TO the bottom. This brought
; M, Labori TO the front. and in a series
of questions he brought out sharply
before the Court the Vaccinations of
which Colonel Picquart was the victim
at the hands of the Major from the
moment he showed desire to thor
oughly sift the matter.
NJ. Labori for the first time got Gen
eral Gonse to admit that he ordered
the tampering with Picquart's letters
in order, as he said to ascertain Pic
quarts doings while he was chief of the
Intelligence Bureau. a little later NJ
Labori evidently disconnected General
Gonse. for the latter blurted out that
Lieutenant-Colonel Henry committed
his forgery in order TO have fresh
proofs against Dreyfus. The audience
smiled audibly at this explanation.
General Gonse then added: But it
was unnecessary. since the diplomatic
dossier contained discriminating docu-
ments, with Dreyfus' written in fun. ."
General GOnse apparently meant the
Panizzardi dispatch which has already
been ruled out of Court
NJ. Labori protested Indignantly. ex-
claiming that There are no such docu-
ments," and then asked General Gonse
to enumerate the documents to which
he alluded.
Colonel JOuaust. President Of the
Court, however. declined to put the
question, whereupon NJ. Labori said he
reserved to himself the right to submit
a formal application for these docu-
ments
Then came the leading witness of the
day, Nj. de Fond La Motto, a proba-
TONER contemporaneously with Drey-
fus, who is now a civil engineer. and
so has no reason to fear the wrath of
the military clique The witness opened
by declaring that despite the fact that
he had a brother in the garrison at
Rennes, he came to tell what he knew
in favor of Dreyfus. and he proceeded
TO make a statement. which, according
to the Dreyfusards. practically decides
the case First he recalled the fact
that a circular was sent to the proba-
TONERS on May IA. 1894 informing
them that they must not go to the man
euvers, thus showing that the man who
wrote the bordereau in August. and
said Il am going to the maneuvers,
could not be Dreyfus
The witnesses then pointed out that
none of the Ministers, who he believed
acted in good faith, were informed of
the existence of this circular which. he
declared, I consider a vital point in
the case
This circular he continued, shat
ters the prosecution, because after
May 18th, Dreyfus could not say I
am going to the maneuvers.' for then
ne knew ne would not go, while prior
to May 18th he could not have known
the five documents comprised in the
bordereau.''
NJ. La Motto then brought out an
other strong point. Alluding to the
notifications of the disposition con
corning the troops, he said the writer
of the bordereau used the term new
plan"
Now" he said. cit has been i'm
pressed upon you that on October 18th
a circular was sent out from the war
ministry containing those very words
and that, therefore, the writer of the
bordereau must have been an officer
Of the ministry. But one thing has
struck me-who sent that circular? 1t
was the Third Bureau, the chief of
which was Lieutenant Colonel Du Patty
de Clam. who had the bordereau in his
nands for the previous twenty days"
NJ. de Fond La Motto by this in
tended to show that Du Patty de Clam
purposely used the words new plan"
in the circular order, by what the wit
ness described as arguing in a vi
cious circle to back up his contention
that an officer of the ministry wrote the