Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1899-07-11
FORGER AND SCAMP.
Dreyfus' D!shOnored ACCuser Led
His Wife a Life Of Bit
t6rneSS,

One day about two months ago
| French officer and the New York World
| correspondent stood just outside the Pal
ais de Justice Paris, in which Col. Pic
quart was having a hearing before the
court of cessation.
4 rather tall lady dressed in black,
came up the great flight Of stairs toward
them.
Here she is again, poor woman said
the officer
Who is the lady|
Mime. Ia Comtesse Walsin-Ester-
hazy.'
The two men bowed low as the wife
of the celebrated outlaw reached the
| landing She cast a sorrowful glance at
| the uniform Of the officer. 1t was the
same uniform as her husbands but here
untarnished and clothing a man who had
q right to stand erect among gentlemen.
Al. that look! All the despair of IA
human being to whom life can hereafter
bring nothing but mere bitterness was
in the long glance with which the wife
of the scoundrel envelOped the officer
that had lived we'll To her he was the
vision OF. what might have been and was
not.
She passed on; and from his compan-
ion, who once had been in the same regi-
ment with Esterhazy and had known the
countess for years, the correspondent
learned her story.
Soldier of Fortunes Wife.
when Esterhazy returned from his
service in the Papal guards" said the
officer, The was the ideal soldier of for
tune-bold to recklessness, just brusque
enough to be military, with a very Win
ming, worldly ease of manner and speech.
He was very dark, had conqueror's
twist to his mustache, and wore the uni
form splendidly.
His fine appearance, as well as his
fippant, snappy cynicism, wrought havoc
among young women and girls. Why,
the rogue could have married anyone OF
twenty.
He was cool, scheming cuss, thoIgh;
he chose g young woman whom, as he
confessed and proved soon after, he loved
less than another, but who brought him
the money he craved for.
You saw her a while agO-a shadow
Of what she was; still you couldn't fail
to see how beautiful she must have been.
L remember the Countess Esterhazy
in the first period OF her married life.
She was a highstrung creature, whose
evident romantic nature had been caught
by the dashing lieutenantS ways. When
she found that she had been cheated
she kept her sorrow from the world.
The first insight she had into the
real character of the fellow must have
| come to her when within three months
of the wedding, if I remember well, he
| went from the countess to compromise
| hopelessly the foolish girl whom he had
| bOasted attracted him more than his
| wife. This girl belonged to a good fami-
| lily, but after her adventure with Ester
| hazy she went from bad to worse and
has now quite disappeared, the Lord
| knows where.
''Soon after this first fragrant breach of
| faith it became commonly known that
| most Of the young countess money was
being dissipated by Esterhazy in desper-
ate gambling and low orgies.
The young woman was suffering ter
ribly. We could all see the change in
her. The beautiful lily we had known
was dropping. Some Of the officers of
the same regiment even made bold to
| speak to Esterhazy about it and in the
number some chaps spoke their mind
| his deviliSh laugh, and inquired whether
| we were so infatuated with his wife that
| we thought we had rights to protect her
| from her husband.
No Humiliation Spared.
What the whole civilized world only
| found out few months agO-namely,
that Esterhazy was a spy, traitor. for
ger, liar, blackmailer. thief and general
reprobate-his wife must have known all
along.
She knew, for instance, after what
| violent. degrading scenes she had been
| made to sign away the last of her for
| tune, which she struggled to retain for
| the education Of her children.
''She must have known, too, how her
| husband had embezzled the funds in
trusted to him by his cousin Fernand
| Esterhazy.
Think of whai lis woman who gave
| herself to this scamp, with such beauti-
| full illusions must have suffered
| Her hero, the dashing lieutenant to
| whom she had intrusted her life, she
surely despised as soon as she learned
| to know him.
! And yet she is now working day and
| night to save him.
4 imagine that she is the sort Of wom-
an who gives herself but once, and never
recalls the gift. Perhaps she loves him
in. spite of all his crimes. Perhaps she
is sustained by the last illusion that she
may win him back, save him, make of
him q presentable father for those boys
of theirs who are growing
! This conversation took place two or
three months ago. During the few weeks
that have elapsed, the poor countess has
suffered more than ever before, for in
that time Esterhazy has confessed to
enough crimes to revolt all human con-
| ceptiOn of wickedneSs.
Poor. poor woman. as the officer said
that day The divorce which has just
| been granted her shows that even her
| last dream of bringing back father to
| her children has been abandoned.
| The boys must ever after be ashamed
Of their name, for the history Of France
| will register it with eXecration.
|