The record-union., 1899-08-19


''At NJ. Bertillon's request / left the
photographs with him. When he re-
turned them. he said he adhered to his
opinion and earnestly asked to see the
original. When / saw beyond doubt
that the handwriting of the bordereau
was Esterhazy's. and seeing that docu-
ments mentioned therein might nave
been supplied by Esterhazy, that the
words I am going to the maneuvers'
could perfectly well apply to Ester
hazy, and that Esterhazy had secret
advices at his disposal to copy docu-
ment so voluminous as the Firing
Manual I resolved to consult the Sc
cret dossier to see what part of the
treachery might be ascribed to Drey-
fus, and to assure myself whether the
dossier contained anything duplicating
Esterhazy.
Il frankly admit I was stupefied on
reading the secret dossier L expected
to find matters of gravity therein, and
found in short but document which
might apply just as much to Esterhazy
as to Dreyfus, an unimportant docu-
ment mentioning dAvignon and doc
ument which it seemed absurd to apply
10 LUIS, Ildu1Gly. lilO SClbO OeAl1C1iAN
de D document.
Lastly, l recognized a report ap-
pended in the handwriting of Gonz,
which appeared to be at least as worth
less as the second document 1t was
then evening. l had stayed late alone
in the office in order to examine the
document thoroughly. l thought it over
during the night, and the next day l
explained the whole situation to Gen
eral de Boisdeffre. | took to his office
the secret dossier. the fac simile of the
bordereau, the petit bleu and the prin-
cipal papers connected with my inves-
tigation of Esterhazy
Il wonder now if l had one or two
interviews But l still see General
Boisdeffre as he examined the dossier
with me, stop before he reached the
end and tell me to go into the country,
give an account of the affair to Gen
eral Gonz and ask his advice.
Before starting to see General Gonz
1 copied a note, four pages in length,
which 1 made September 1st, contain
ing my resume of the Esterhazy affair.
When L informed General Gonz of all
which had occurred. he remarked, so
mistake has been made
After my interview with General
Gonz 1 did not work any longer on my
initiative. l said nothing more until
the return Of General Gonz September
18th. At that time Esterhazy was at
the great maneuver."
Next the witness dwelt on the ru-
mors in September. 1896, of the project
of replacing Dreyfus by a man of straw
and the discovery of the forged Wey-
Ter letter supposed to be connected with
the same project. About the same time
the campaign for and against Dreyfus
was started by the newspapers.
AT this stage of his deposition Colo
mel PicQuart, who had been speaking
for two and a half hours, was visibly
distressed. He had occasional attacks
of coughing, but managed to continue,
Colonel Jouaust not showing any in
clination to suspend the session of the
court in order to give him needed rest
The witness then turned to the news
paper attacks on Dreyfus, saying that
the information regarding the border
eau contained in them Convinced him
that it had been inspected by some one
closely connected with the DreyfuS af-
fair. They could not" he added, ''be
attributed to the Dreyfus family, while
they contained expressions familiar to
Du Patty de Clam. whom it would be
interesting TO hear on the subject
Witness next said he asked permis
sion to inquire into the sources Of the
articles, but was forbidden to interfere
in any way whatever
Describing his interview with General
Gonz September 1st, Picquart said:
When 1 asked General Gonz for per-
mission to continue the investigation,
insisting on the danger of allowing the
Dreyfus family to proceed with the in
vestigation alone, the General replied
that it was impossible in his opinion
and in the opinion of General Boisdeffre
and the Minister of War to reopen the
affair When l pressed on the point
in order to make General Gonz under
stand that nothing could prevent its
opening, if it could be believed Drey-
fus was innocent, General GonZ re-
piled: If you say nothing nobody will
know
General 1 replied, what you tell
me is abominable. I do not know what
shall do, but won't carry this Sc
cret with me- (Great sensation.) I
ness. THAT is what occurred I know
my account is disputed, but l positively
swear it," said Picquart as he emphat-
ically smote the bar in front of the
witness box and looked in the direction
of the Generals.
The Colonel next described his inten
tions with regard to Esterhazy, which
Generals Gonz and De Boisdeffre had
forbidden him to carry out. He attach
ed particular Importance to this point,
as it contained a clew to subsequent
occurrences. Later witness said that
while De Clam evidently acted wrong
ly in Disgusting himself with a false
beard and blue spectacles perhaps he
was authorized to do so.
After a few minutes suspension of
the session, Colonel Picquart resumed
his deposition, showing how, through
an article in the "Eclair" September
18th, he was satisfied Esterhazy had
been warned Of the suspicious against
him. In order to make the proofs
complete witness continued his inves-
LEGATIONS with the utmost discretion.
Shortly before Henry perpetrated the
forgery an agent named Guenee, Hen
rvs right-hand man, prepared a report
declaring that Castelin, Revisonist
Deputy for Laon Division of Aisne.
was about to play the hand of the
Dreyfus family by unmasking in the
Chamber of Deputies the prisoner ac-
completes, thus having the affair re-