The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-08-19


anxious to enter tho war office and did
not regard his desire favorably. The APP
plication OF Esterhazy was rejected His
insistencc, however, only Increased my
uneasness regarding him, and / resolved
to obtain specimen OF his handwriting.
was Immediately struck with the siin-
ilarity OF his handwriting and that OF the
bordereau, and forthwith ! had the LETT
tiers Of Esterhasy, which were In my pos
session. photographed and showed the
photographs to Major Du Patty do Clam
and NJ. Bertlllon, the handwriting expert,
between August IL and September g.
The colonel emphasized this point be-
cause NJ Bertillcn afnrms he saw the
photographs In May, 1885, aud made n
note OF them, whereas the letters were
not written on that date. The conflicting
testimony of picuuar, and Bertilon on this
point had been used to discredit the form
er's evidence
Colonel Picquart continuing said Fatty
dc Clam, on seeing the writing, forthwith
declared II was that of Matthew Dreyfus,
the brother of Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
The witness, continuing, said You
know he maintained that the boriereauhs
the joint work of Alfred and Mathieu
nreyfus NJ Bertilon snid That is the
writing Of the bordereau,
M Bortillon tried 10 discover where I
had obtained the handwriting, but the
only information ! impaired was that II
was current and recent handwriting.
M. Bertillcn then suggested that II
was a tracing and ended by saying that
IL It was current handwriting 1t could only
have emanated from some one whom the
Jews haze been exercising for year In
Initiating their writing Of the bordercau,
"a NJ Bertillon's request ] left the pho
tographs with him. He returned them
and said he had changed his oniniol, aud
earnestly asked TO see the original When
! saw beyond a doubt that the handwriting
OF the bordereau was Esterha2y's. and Sec
ing that the documents mentioned therein
might have been supplied by Esterha2y.
Il the words u am going to the maneu-
vers' could perfectly well apply 10 Ester
hay, and thaf Esterhaay had secretaries
his disposal to copy II document 80 Vo-
luminous as the firing manual. resolved
10 consult the secret dossier to see what
part of the treachery might be ascribed
10 Dreyfus and assure myself whether The
dossior contained anything indicating Es
tcrhazy.
II frankly admit l was stupefed on read
ing the secret dossier. ] expected TO find
matters OF gravity therein, and found in
short, nothing but n document which
might apply Just as much to Estorhaay
as TO Dreyfus, an unimportant document
mentioning 'd'Aygnon' and document
which II seemed absurd to apply to ORGY
fus, namely, the Cette canaillc dc D.
document Lastly ! recognized a report
appended. IN the handwriting of Gune.
which appeared to be at least as worthless
as the second document. That was in the
evening, stayed late alone at the Of
flee, IN order to examine the documents
thoroughly. | thought II over during the
night and the next dny | explained the
whole situation 20 General dc Boisdeffre
when ] took to his office the secret dos
sier. the fac smile of the bordereau the
petit bleu and the principal papers con
nected with my investigation OF Esterhazy.
II wonder now IL had one or two inter-
views But | still see General dc Bolsdef-
fire.. as be examined the secret dossier
with me, stop before he reached the end
and tell me TO 10 into the country, give an
account OF the affair to General Gonz aud
ask his advice.
Before starting to see General Gon;,
copied note, four pages in length. which
was made September /. containing my re-
sumo OF the Estcrhazy affair.
When | informed General Gonz of all
which had occurred. he remarked, so a
mistake has been made
After my interview with General Gonz
l did not work any longer on my inter
view. | said nothing more until the re-
turn of Gonz, September Is At that
time Esterhazy was at the great maneuy-
ers.''
Next the witness dwelt on the rumors In
September, 1886, of the project OF replac-
Ing DreyfuB by man OF straw and the
discovery Of the forged writer of the let
ter, supposed to be connected with the
same project At about the same time
the campaign for and against Dreyfus was
started by the newspapers.
Al this stage OF his deposition, Colonel
Picquart, who had been speaking for two
hale T..
He managed. however to continue Colo
mel Jouaust not showing any sign Of adj
journing court
The witness then turned to the news
paper attacks on Dreyfus, saying that tho
Information regarding the bordereau in
them convinced him that they had been
inspired by some one closely connected
with the Dreyfus affair.
They could not, he added. be attributed
TO the Dreyfus family while they con-
tanned expressions familiar to Patty de
Clam. whom II would be interesting to
hear on the subject. Witness next said
he asked permission to inquire into the
articles, but was forbidden to interfere in
any way whatever.
Describing his interview with General
COM, September is. Picquart said when
asked General Gonz for permission to
continue the investigation, insisting on
the danger of allowing the Dreyfus family
To proceed with their Investigation alone,
the general replied that II was Impossible
| In his opinion, and In the opinion OF Cen
eral De Boisdeffre and the minister OF
war to reopen the affair When | pressed
the point in order TO make General Gonz
understand that nothing could prevent Its
reopening II 1t could be proved Dreyfiis
was innocent. General Gonz replied; III
you say nothing. nobody will die
General" / replied, what you tell me
IS abomnable do not know what !
shall do. but ! won't carry this secret with
me-" fGreat sepsation.)
II at once left them" added the wit
ness. '"That Is what occurred. know
my account is disputed, but positively
! swear IT," said Picquart as he emphatical-
| ly smote the bar in front of the witness box
and he looked In the direction of the gem
| eral.
| After few minutes suspension OF the
session Colonel Picquart resumed his de-
! position, showing how, through an article
/ in the Eclair OF September 10, he was sat
ished Esterhazy had been warned OF the
| suspicious against him. In order to make
the proofs complete. witness resumed MS
Continued ON second Psgeo