The record-union., 1899-08-31
Testimony in the COurt-Martial of
the Prisoner at RenneS
Proving More Damaging to the General
Staff Than Was Anticipated.
A Serious Division Said to Exist in
the Court Since the Tide of Evi-
dence Began to Turn in Favor
of the Accused.

RENNES, Aug. 30.-The air of
Rennes this evening is filled with ru-
mors of conspiracies and predictions of
coups de theatre; but nothing precise
can be ascertained. General Mercier's
attitude during the last few days has
mystitied his followers in the case. He
Is extremely clever and the general feel
ing is that he is preparing something,
the existence of which will be revealed
in few days
1t is now accepted as beyond ques-
ton that there is a serious division of
opinion on the part of the Generals.
While the case was running smoothly
against Captain Dreyfus, they all
pulled together, but since the tide of
evidence began to turn in his favor,
as was notably the case during the
testimony of Captain Freystaetter and
Colonel Cordier, which proved much
more damaging to the general staff
than the latter anticipated, dividing
lines have become manifest between the
various cliques. General Roget, Major
Lauth, Captain Cufgnet and M. Crib
elm, the principal keeper of the ar
chives of the War Office, form one
coterie; General Mercier and General
Gonse form another, and General Bill
lot and General de Boisdeffre third.
According to one report, the first two
coteries intend to throw over General
de Boisdeffre, whom they feel to be
faltering, and declare that he is re-
sponsible for all the errors and illegal
tiles Of the court-martial of 1894, thus
making him the scapegoat. Accord
ing TO another report, General Roget,
who was not implicated in 1894 and
who even fought against Dreyfus be-
cause he inherited from his predeces-
sors the responsibility for so doing and
placed over-confidence in the accuracy
in the matter furnished him by the
general staff, will cut himself loose
from Generals Mercier, Gonse and De
Boisdeffre.
This is a plausible hypothesis, since
Roget has assumed throughout the role
of the defender OF the army, thus max
ing himself popular with the army axsd
with a large section of the nation. and
he probably would not lose by separat-
ing himself from the wrong -doers of
1894 and declaring that his opinion
had been changed by the evidence Civ
en- during the present trial
Yet another story is that the Cen
erals are going to give way to the
authorship of the bordereau, in view
of the strong evidence, and will admit
that Esterhazy wrote it, alleging, how
ever, that Dreyfus furnished the in
formation. not direct to Esterhazy, but
TO third person, who acted as inter-
mediary without Dreyfus knowing Es-
terhazy.
In this connection, it was asserted
this afternoon that Madame Rastian,
who was housekeeper for Colonel
Schwarzkoppen, the German military
attache, in 1894, and who is understood
TO have acted as a French spy, has
been seen in Rennes, and Will be sum-
moned as witness concerning
Schwarzkoppen' espionage system
These rumors may be without foun-
dation, but in any event they are
symptomatic of the feeling in Rennes
that something is going on under the
surface, and that the complexion of the
trial may be altered by some coup at
any moment.
In the matter of evidence to-day was
quite a Dreyfus day, only the deposit
tion of the last witness, General De-
loye, being unfavorable The testi-
mony of NJ. Picot, a member of the in
stitute is little likely, however, to serve
the cause of the accused materially, if
at all, because his introduction of
Colonel Schneider, the Austrian mill
tary attache, as a champion of Drey-
fus, was rather calculated to arouse
resentment and adversely to influence
the Judges, especially as it was fol
lowed by General Roget's tactful pro-
test against Colonel Schneiders COM
plimentary illusions to French officers.
To-morrow's proceedings behind
closed doors will deal with the ques-
tion whether Captain Dreyfus was in
position to divulge the information
regarding the artillery which was
promised in the bordereau. The ses-
sion will be very important and is
bound to have a tremendous influence
upon the Judges one way or the other,
because they are all artillery officers,
and viii be able to appreciate such evil
dence better than the cryptographic in
tricacies that have been laid before
them by the handwriting experts
The Dreyfusards express confidence
that their artillery witnesses, Major
Hartman and Major Ducros will ef-
fectively satisfy the Judges that Drey-
fus was ignorant of the matters men,
toned in the bordereau, or as an ar
tillery officer would not have been
guilty of stating the errors which it
contained.
The court room continues crowded,
and quite a number of ladies now sue
ceed in obtaining admission. Town
loafers are making a regular business
of forming a queque outside the en-
trance to the public park and court
room as early as , or 3 o'clock in, the
morning, and selling places at from 3
to francs, according to the position.
The ordinary public arrive at or in
the morning, and must purchase these
places, because only a limited number
can secure standing room.
The local papers publish the state
ment that M. Charles de Freycinet, on
4eaving the court room yesterday, after
making his deposition, remarked to a
friend: Il am leaving an atmosphere
of acquittal"
THE TESTIMONY IN DETAIL.
RENNES, Aug 30.-At the opening
of the third session of the fourth week
of the second trial of Captain Dreyfus,
M. Paul Meyer, member of the insti-
tute and director Of the school of an