Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1899-08-31
BERIllLON SYSTEM
introduced to Demonstrate
the Guilt of Dreyfus.
TIE PERFORMANCE FELL FLAT
40 Last Resort. the Prisoners Coun-
sci VIII Call on Germany for
the Documents.


Ion, the handwriting expert, who is mt
the head of the anthropometric depa,t.
ment of the prefecture of police of
Paris, had concluded the first install
ment OF his SO called demonstration of
the guilt of Captain Dieyfus, a prom
lnent Dreyiusard referred to him as
the nm de steele Cagliostro. The Drey-
lusards refuse to regard him as any
thing hut the prince OF quacks. They
cover his remarks with ridicule and
protest that the admission of his fam
tastic theories AS evidence before the
courtmartial is "a disgrace to France.
70 est une hontc." was tho remark
heard on all sides when the session
closed, aud the audience, mainly made
up OF Dteyfusards, was being pressed
outside by the gendarmcs, who clear
the courtroom rs soon as the court adj
journs.
Nevertheless, even the Dreyfusards
do not deceive themselves rs to the
effect OF NJ. Bertillon's testimony or
demonstration" may have upon the
Judges. who, they fear, will he gulled
by what the Dreyfusards consider spur.
ions. All the judges have passed
through the Eco.e Polytechniquc. the
highest school Of science in France
and they are thus percula,ly interest
ed in such evidence" AS that OF Der.
tilon. Moreover, with the aid of the
innume,ablo diagrams and specimens
of writing which he submits to them
they may be able to follow his reason
ing lnteligcntlv, which is more than
any member OF the audience could do
today. Ii the judges accept BettiIlon's
premises that Drevfus, as an expert
spy, did not write in ordinary hand
writing, but in close imitation, even
contriving to give letters the appear
ance of having been traced, in order to
be able to repudiate them as forgery
ii detected--then the structure built
upon this groundwork may be scen-
tically correct. Even Dreyius, when
shown Dcitillon's demonstration, adj
"ittnA TIA" ingenuity AMI r!auV
of the system, though he naturally de-
clared that it was built on false basis.
a remarkable feature of Bertilion'5
deposition was the heat and excitement
he put into what was expected 10 bo
"A calm, dispassionate exposition of his
theory. He thundered, shouted and
waved his arms as though engaged III
some terrible dispute. Once he literal
" -hrieked. and numbers of the usua
audience who had been unable to fol.
low him and were taking all in the
courtyard, rushed back INTO the hail,
breath. inquiiing what had hap
pened, imagining that he was illuminate
ing some dreadful denunciation OF the
accused. Then excitement was turned
into hilaitv when they found that he
was nome ;nrily imposing upon the
Judges the significance of the exact
space, measured in centimetres, be
tween two wods in the boiderau.
The Echo de Paris announced today
that the counsel Of Dreyfus had OBJ
tanned possession of certain documents
mentioned in the borderau, in Ester.
hazv's writing, which they would pro-
duce in court next week as coup DC
theatre. The press correspondent in
oujred as to this in competent Drey-
fusard quarters this afternoon. lie
was assured that the statement was
ERRONEOUS, but was also told that the
defense intended in the event OF Cap
tain Dreyfus being re-condemnod, to
ask the German government to COM
municate these documents proving his
innocence, and that they had reason to
believe such request would be granted.