The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1899-07-21
TRAGEDY, PATHOS AND DESPAIR.
Letters Written by the Eyiled French
Captain, Dreyfus, to His Wife.


Letters Written by the Eyi lied French
Captain, Dreyfus. to His Wife.
Harper & Brothers are preparing
to publish number of letters writ
ten by Captain Dreyfus to his wife
during his prisOnment in France
and his confinement on Devils Is
land. The letters are sublime in
pathOs, and contain many striking
passages. Emile ZOla, III speaking
Of them says: "rney are admirable.
| do not know of any pages of
higher conception or more eloquent
They have attained the sublime in
sorrow, aid afterwards will endure
like an imperishable monument
when our own writings, perhaps,
shall have passed into oblivion. For
they are the sob itself of all human
suffering. The man who wrote
these letters can not be guilty. Read
them; read them some evening, with
your family gathered around your
heartnstone. You will be dissolved
in tears"
One of the letters, dated December
5, 1894, imme dlately after the arrest
of Dr. ytus, aud before he had hard
ly realized the danger that menaced
him, reads as follows:
81 am waiting with Impotence for a
letter from you. You are my hope; you
are my consolation; were it not for you
life would be burden. At the bare
thought that they could accuse me of a
| crime 50 frightful, so monstrous, my
whole being trembles; my body revolts
against it. TO have worked al my life
| for one thing alone, to avenge my
country, to struggle for her against the
infamous ravisher who has snatched
from us our dear Alsace, and then to be
accused of treason against that country
no, my loved one, my mind refuses to
comprehend it! Do you remember my
telling you how, when | was in Mul-
| house, ten years ago, in September, L
| heard German band under our win
dows cele brating the anniversary of
| Seday? NY grief was such that Wept
| / bit the sheets of my bed with rage,
and | swore an oath to concentrate all
my strength, all my intelligence, to the
service of my country against those who
thus offered insult to the grief of Alsace.
mo, no, | will not speak of it, for |
shall go mad, and | must preserve all
my reason. Moreover my life has
henceforth but one aim; to find the
wretch who has betrayed his country;
to find the traitor for whom no punish
ment could be too severe, Oh, dear
France, thou that | love with all my
soul, with all my heart! Thou to whom
l have concentrated all my strength, all
my intelligence, how could one accuse
me Of crime so horrible! l will not
write upon this subject my darling, fol
spasms take me by the throat. No man
has ever borne the martyrdom that L en-
dure No phsical suffering can be com
pared to the mental agony that | feel
when my thoughts turn to this accuse.
ton. If | had not my honor to defend
l assure you that would prefer death
at least, death would be forgetfulness
Write to me soon. My love to all.
"ALFRED."
The letter written after his tria
reads as follows.
81 suffer much, but l pity you still
more than myself | know how mucf
you love me. Your heart must bleed
On my side, my adored one, my though
, has always been of you, night and day
"To be innocent, to have lived a life
without stain, and to see ones sci
, condemned for the most monstrOus
crime that a soldier can commit.
seems to me at times that | am the vic
tim of an awful nightmare.
at is for you alone that | have resis
ted until to-day; it is for you alone, m,
adored one. that have borne my Ions
{ agony. Will my strength hold out t
the end? | can not tell. No one bu
, you can give me courage. 1t is onl,
a from your love that can draw it.
"Above all else, no matter what ma,
become of me, search for the truth
move earth and heaven to discover it
sink in the effort, il need be, all on
= fortune, to rehabilitate my name, whicI
now is dragged through the mud. n
matter what may be the cost, W
must wash out the unmerited STAIN"
The following is taken from let
, ter in the same strain written fey
q days later:
IL do not sleep, and it is to you that
q return. Am then marked by a fats
seal that must drink this cup of Bit
terness? At this moment | am calm
My soul is strong, and it rises in the ;
II leuce of the night How happy W
a were, my darling! Life smiled on u,
fortune, love adorable children, unite
q family-everything! Then came thi
a thunderbolt, fearful, terrible. Buy,
= pray of you, playthings for the chi
: d-en for their New Years day; tie
u them that their father sends them.
q must not be that their poor souls, ju
entering upon life, should suff'
( through our pain.
q "Oh, my darling, had not you no
A gladly would | die! Your love holds n
back IL is your love only that max
4. me strong enough to bear the hatred
u a nation.
4. "And the people are right TO hate m
D. they have been told that / am a traitC
n All, traitor, the horrible word!
m breaks my heart.
/, 81 -" . traitor! Is 10 possible tn
'" they accuse me and condemn me for
crime so monstrous!
Dt "CTy aloud my innocence: cry IL wi
y all the strength Of your lungs; cry