The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-08-18
JUST LIKE DREVFUS'
Case Of Captain BeIIegrade
of France
OVER A CENTURY AGO
But a Revolution Gave Him a
Chance for Revenge.

New York, Aug. IA special to the
World from London says:
Yes there is nothing new under the sun
Except in Africa.)
Mans memory is short; the memory of
a nation shorter. Few Of those wro read
of Dreyfus know that his case Is but a
replica of another tragic episode which
convulsed fair France 120 years ago.
The unfolding of that forgotten story
and the drawing of the parallel is the OBJ
feet of the present monograph. BY the
singular and assisting courtesy of Mr.. G.
K. Fortescue, the keeper Of the printed
books of the British museum. the writer
has been enabled to consult the works of
Michelet, LIE Bas, Briez. NJ. lie Marechal
Due de Lauzun, Giguet, Lacretelle. Mou-
Chef, Robert ct Cougney, Droz Mazers
de Latude, Bascoul, Sepet, ETC., and to
complete the unique history of Captain
Antoine Dubois de BELGRADE, the fore
runner of Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
To accomplish this has been a matter
Of extraordinary difficulty for varied rea-
sons, chief among which is the fact that
biographers appear to have been afraid of
saying all they knew about this Captain
De Bellegrade. One historian records one
portion of the tragedy, another another
portion but none has dared to write
the whole of his romantic story. There
fore the present writer Graves indulgence
of his readers while he attempts to patch
together his voluminous notes in con-
secutive, readable narrative.
France. stained during many ages by
the wicked weakness Of her kings and
the insolent disposition Of venal ministers
was Kidding for fall. Louis XIV. Louis
XIV, the Du Barry and the Pompadour
lay in dishonorable graves, and Louis
XVI shared the crown with the beautiful
Marie Antoinette.
This king and queen wished to be loved
by their people. They strove to win es-
TEEN, but the sins of their fathers were
visited upon them, and their characters,
though in many ways admirable, were
lutionary tide. They were but ciphe-s.
Corrupt ministers ruled the land and fat
tened on the long enduring nation. Tax
es were arbitrary and enormous, and no
For malcontents and reformers of every
kind the whip, the wheel, the gibbet, the
lettre de cachet, Bicetre, Vincennes, the
Bastile grinned and waited. France was
an autocracy. and her ministers were the
autocrats. None dared hope to say them
nay and save their skins, for their pow
ers were without limit or qualification.
France was Kidding for a fall.
One of the most notable figures 81 this
time was Antoine Dubois de Bellegrade,
a paladin of that Du Guesclin type which
France alone produces.
From a brief soldierly autobiography,
published at L'Imprimerie Lemarie, we
learn that he was born at AngoIl eme on
March /, 1T4O. Little is said of MS Daren-
tage or of his early education. bat On
Feb. %, 1755, he entered the royal tOdy
guard, being then only in his fifteenth
year. The frey spirit of this boy seems
to have grown dissatisfied with merely or
namental militarism as bis body grew in
manhood. He burned for fame, for
wars alarms, md longed ID flash his
maiden sword upon the tented field in the
eenth birthday, in March 1853, he obtained
leave to Join the regular army, with
which he made the campaigns of 1919 to
1872
He was attached to the regiment Of
Wurenser, with the rank oil cornet Of hrs-
sars ;an1 the crowned four years Of ac-
tive 50 rivce by signal prconf Of courage
In tire affair Of RJd3'erht. where with a
t:3op of barely G'y n"n. ne ostained
tn, attack of for thousand of the enemy
durin< three hours untIl endorsements
reached him, receiving in ehtabttle no
fewer than seventeen sabre cuts and
three gunshot wounds. For this brilliant
exploit he gained the supreme honor of
the Knighthood of the Grand Cross of
st. Louis from his sovereign, the favor of
his chiefs, the admiration of his equals
and the devotion of his troops, who VOW
ed to follow the daring youth to devildom
IL he should please to give them the
route.
No sooner were his wounds skinned over
but he pressed to the front again. France
always had a war on hand 30 years ago,
either against Britain, her hereditary en-
envy; or against Prussia and her CONT
mental neighbors; and coronet de Belle
grade had little opportunity for iileness.
Even when he snatched a holiday to
visit his ancestral home the fighting spir-
1t did not leave him, for in September.
1866. we find him defending the point OF
honor in a duel with the Oh avaIie- de
Saint Sauvant on the Place de Saint IT,
ere at Angouleme. Here De Bellcgrlde
ives woundede very seriously in the right
hand. but he changed his sword so adrC't-
ly to the left that he drove his Opponent
of the ground. NJ Guimbertean. member
Of the council Of five hundred, who was
an eyewitness Of the ARRAY. tes;iies to
De Bellegrade's indomitable bravery and
courtesy in a letter dated. Paris, S. Ven
demaire. an Q7e2l.
In 1861 the young coronet was kicking
up his heels at the lenten carnival Of
Avignon.
a few years later II de Sartiae. minis