The record-union., 1899-08-30


Referring next to what he styled the
huge undertaking of Richard Cuers'
La Joux & Co." the Colonel declared
the. object was nothing less than re-
cruiting German spies for the service
of the French Government. He SAID
the organization would have been OF
the greatest utility in the event of war
and said regrets were frequent during
the past at lack of spies. Cuers, ne
| pointed out, spoke French admirably,
and therefore it could not be main
tanned that only German was spoken
at the interview at Basic, between
| Cuers, Henry and Lauth.
| One of Cuers' special services, con-
| tinued the witness, was furnishing Ger
many with false information He there
| fore was sometimes obliged to say ne
! had succeeded in subOrning a French
! officer, and in this way Cuers was
! induced to declare he had obtained the
| collaboration of an officer on the head
| quarters staff Proof of this could be
| found at headquarters in the dossier OF
! false documents delivered to Germany.
! Colonel Jouaust called the witness to
| order and the remark was withdrawn,
witness, declaring, amidst peals or
! laughter: cit escaped me, Monsieur LIE
! Presidente. I withdraw the specta-
cles.'
Cordier then described the events
prior to the arrest of Dreyfus, and
showed that only a single real leakage
namely the plans of the fortress, had
| occurred at the time of his arrest. The
! document known as "Cette Canaflle de
! D." he explained was contemporane-
| Gus with this leakage
cit has been said'' continued the
witness, that I made a mistake on this
point and confounded the document
with another containing the initial
alone I should like very much to see
! the document, in order to assure my
self that it had not been tampered
with It is not, however, of any I'M
| portance, except to show that General
Roget's evidence concerning me is false
from beginning to end" (Sensationo
General Roget asked leave to speak
but Colonel Cordier continued showing
how the leakage Of plans of fortresses
was facilitated by the carelessneSS Oh
the headquarters staff, and maintaining
that the leakage was still occurring
| when the witness left the War Office
Reverting to the maner in which
the suspicious against Dreyfus crystal
lied. the Colonel described the efforts
to pry into the prisoners life, and said
the information at first received was
very bad and constituted strong proof
against the prisoner. Later, however,
it assumed quite a different aspect 1t
was admitted that before his marriage,
! Drevfus was not 'unimpeachable NOR
ally nor was he entitled to wear
wreath of orange blossoms" Oaugh-
ter)
But" continued Colonel Cordier.
"after his marriage, Dreyfus was quite
different
The witness also said that while
Dreyfus boasted of his conquests he
(Cordierl was of the opinion that those
who boasted the most accomplished the
least. Oaughter)
Dreyfus he continued, Dragged
great DEAL and probably now repeuted
having done so. Dreyfus' inquisitive-
ness, according to witness, was prob
ably explained by his knowledge that
he would not remain long on the head
quarters staff, and he desired to OBJ
tain information which might be use
full to him in after life.
The Colonel then paid a tribute to
the memory of Colonel Sandherr, who
examined the immense mass of docu-
ments relating to espionage, and un-
earthed the "Cette Canaille de D.
document. which seemed to the witness
to date back to antiquity.
In 1894 the witness regarded as in
sufficient the sole proof against Drey-
fus, namely, the bordereau. He did not
believe the prisoner was guilty, but the
fact that the Judges were unanimous
in convicting him changed the witness
mind. His doubts, however, returned
! when he saw that the date Of the bor-
dereau received in September had been
fixed as May Colonel Picquart's in
vestigation and the infamous campaign
against Picquart increased the suspic-
ions of the witness.
In 1894 declared Colonel Cordier,
emphatically, 1 had been reassured by
the unanimity of the Judges, and I was
absolutely convinced of the guilt of
| Dreyfus. Now I am absolutely con-
vinced of his innocence" Great sensa-
tion.)
Next the witness discussed the attack
on himself. He said he was astonished
at being accused of being soured be-
cause he was not given charge of the
Intelligence Department in succession
to Colonel Sandherr, "as every one
knew I wished to quit the service sim
ultaneously with my friend Sandherr."
Replying to the President, Cordier
declared that the approaches Of the
Dreyfus family to Colonel Sandherr
were not attempts at corruption, and
that Dreyfus' brothers remark: "Cur
fortune is at your disposal" was only
the expression of the family's evident
desire to save an innocent member of
it,
Witness we'll remembered hearing
that Esterhazy and Henry were in the
Intelligence Department together about
the year 1873 but he believed Esterhazv
had not since been employed there, and
if he had any relations with the De-
partment they must have been clandes-
tine.
Replying to Colonel Jouaust's request
to state what he knew regarding
Henrys relations with Picquart, Cor
dier said good fellowship prevailed in
the department until the appearance of
Henry who had been forced on Sand
herr Henry had close relations with
the Supreme Chief and his colleague
suspected he might report wnat he
heard in the office divisions and what
occurred in the department Some
supported Sandherr and others support
ed Henry. Among the latter was Girl
belin. 1t was then, While the division
was rampant. that the witness handed
over his department to Colonel Pic