Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-08-22
COL. JOUAUST WAS KISSED.
Continued from First Page.

Picquart, and the officers were not so
| negligent and careless as he has as
| serted"
Witness maintained this also dis
posed of Picquart's assertion that Hen
ry was in the habit of working at home
! in the presence of servants. AS mat
ter of fact, he added. the officers were
very reserved before their families.
Continuing, witness proceeded to
speak of Picquart's orders to destroy all
evidence of the Petit Bleu having been
| torn and to determine the office origin
by afflxing a postmark, etc.
The Spy Cuers,'' said Lauth, EN-
| tered into relations with the ministry
! of war with the avowed purpose of-Te-
venging himself on his government. lie
refused to accept payment beyond his
fare to Basic. Cuers was evidently an
agent provocateur, who had been sent
| to us. But we were never able to get
ANYTHING of the slightest value from
! him. 1t has been said" added Lauth,
that we bullied him to prevent his
speaking. | wish the person who
! made the statement to come here and
repeat it. The truth is we bullied
| him, not to prevent his speaking, but
| because he refused to say anything
| which was not known, and that means
the same thing" Uaughter.)
Maj. Lauth's extremely long depo-
sition was listened to
IN PROFOUND SILENCE.
He protested at Picquart's allegations
against him in the course of the Tavern
Ter inquiry when PicQuart represented
I,auth as the instigator and perhaps,
also the writer of the Henry forgery.
| Il declare" said Lauth. Chat, If by
inspiring or writing it, l had share
in anyway whatever in the preparation
of the Henry forgery, | should have
| avowed it the day Henry committed
| suicide. | am not even now afraid
of the razor, nor the rope of Lemercier-
| Picard. nor even Of a broken glass ON
elette."
After controverting further state
ments of Picquart, Major Lauth, in con-
| cluson, declared that Henry, who
knew nobody on the newspapers held
quite aloof from the press campaign
organized in response to the action
taken by the friends of Dreyfus.''
After a short adjournment the court
reassembled and the judges questioned
| Major Lauth. They asked his opinion
of the Schneider letter of November 80,
1897. Witness replied that it was
authentic and emanated from agent
pierre"
Replying to NJ. Demange, witness
said he never saw the photograph GER
tain newspapers asserted he took, repre-
senting Picquart and Schwartzkoppen
| strolling arm in arm at Carlsbad.
81 suppose it was I who took it,"
| the witness said Ironically
NJ. Demange-"I do not accuse you
At the instance of M. Demange, Col.
Picquart again described the altera-
tons of the Petit Bleu and declared that
| the last time he saw #, the day before
| he started on his mission, the Petit
Bleu was still
IN THE SAME CONDITION
as when Major Lauth handed it to him
| in November, 1897. When Picquart
saw it in the possession of Gen. Pei
lieux. former minister of war, it
seemed to him that the handwriting
had been somewhat modified, and at the
Tavernier inquiry he noticed that al
terations of quite a serious character
had been made. Ruled lines had been
erased. Moreover, experiments show
ed the address had been written in ink
made of gall nuts, while superimposed
word was written in ink made of log
wood.
Replying to the president Of the
| court, Major Lauth said that when he
photographed the Petit Bleu he did not
notice any sign OF erasure.
Picquart said the plate taken by
Major Lauth bore no traces of erasure.
The photograph alone had been tam
pered with.
Col. Jouaust-Was there an expert
examination?
Picquart-Yes. 1t was a searching
| inquiry Besides the dossier in the
Tabernier inquiry can be referred TO.
Capt Junck followed. He said he
was a probationer simultaneously with
Dreyfus, but in another department of
| the war Office. He saw the prisoner a
great deal and detailed conversations
in which, he alleged, Dreyfus spoke of
great sums he had lost in gambling and