Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-08-28
Testimony Given in the
Dreyfus Case Today.
ACTIONS OF BERTlLLON
Caused Amusement in the Court Room
The Captain Who Testified in
Favor of the Prisoner is Now OS-
lraciZed by His Fellow Officers.

court martial opened this morning Gem
eral Mercier was present as usual in the
front row of witnesses seats. thus dein-
itely setting at rest the reports that he
had fled to avoid arrest.
The first witness today was NJ. Paray-
laval, the dr,aughtsman, whose evidence
was interrupted on Saturday by adjourn
ment of court.
General MERCER did not seem very
cheerful today and hardly said a word
to General Gonze during the whole morn
Ing, but during a brief suspension of the
court setting he and Generals Come and
| Roget walked up and down the court
yard of the Lycee, engaged in conversa-
ton. Gener Deboisdeffere was not
present today. He has been absent the
past few sessions and it is rumored here
that he is DESTROYS of leaving the sinking
ship of the general staff.
The center of interest in the court yard
was Captain Freystmeter, of the Marine
infantry, who testified SO favorably to
Dreyfus Saturday, and who seemingly
gave the lie to Colonel Maurel, president
! of the court martial of 1894, in the most
important feature of the latter's evil
dence. The captain held a veritable re-
ception Of friends who pressed aroun
him and shook hands. The friends, how
ever, were all civilians. Not a single
uniformed officer spoke to him, which is
the first fruit Of f%rankness and a clear
indication of the determination of the
military clique to ostracise him.
After two witnesses testified and ar
gued against M. Bertillon's system it
was the opinion of the sympathizers with
Dreyfus that if the statements of witt
nesses were correct they had simply pull
verified M. Bertillon. The latter wished
to reply, but the court declined to allow
the specialist to go over the evidence
again, taking the ground that the evil
dence would never end if every expert did
the same. An amusing scene followed
Bertillon pleaded that he had d personal
statement to make and mounted the plat
form, but had hardly uttered half a dozen
words when Colonel Jouaust saw he was
merely r~egrinding the evidence and to
the great satisfaction of the audience
! curtly told the specialist to leave the
platform, which discounted him.
4SSoIOuclc . lcSllllIOIy dSdlIlSI DIey-
fus followed. Then C%haravay, an expert
who previously declared Dreyfus the au-
thor of the bordereau, was called. His
testimony proved of greatest interest, as
he confessed he had made an error and
was now convinced Esterhazy, not Drey-
fus, wrote the bordereau. The an
nouncement made a deep impression or
the court and was greeted with general
murmurs of satisfaction.
The next witness, Pellier, also testified
favorably to the prisoner.
Cordier, another expert, then deposed
that as a result of an examination, he
had become convinced the bordereau
was not written by Esterhazy, but could
not say it was written by Dreyfus, be-
cause he had not seen the prisoners
writing. The witness kept the court in
a continual roar of laughter by the ex-
traordinary modulations of his voice.
misplaced emphasis and gestures.
The final witness, V%arinaud, maintain
ed the declaration made before the court
of cessation that the bordereau was not
written by Esterhazy.
Colonel Jouaust announced that De-
freycinet, who resigned the ministry OF
war May 6 of his year, succeeded by
Krantz, who in turn succeeded by Cen
eral Demarquis de Gallifet on the down.
fall of the Dupuy ministry. would be
among the witnesses tomorrow, and the
session closed with a request that a ro-
gatory commission be sent Colonel Paty
du Clam, whose illness prevents attend
ance, TO which Colonel Jouaust agreed
This step does not satisfy the Defense
but it acquiesced on a commission TAX
ing du Patty de CLAIMS testimony on the
principle that half a loaf 10 better than