The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-08-26
WAS A CIRCUS WITNESS
His Wheels RevoIved So Fast That tn,
Court Could Not Follow Him-Tries
to Prove the Guilt of Dreyfus-
Another Handwriting Ex-
pert Testifes.

almost illegible, whereas Dreyfus, even
When writing rapidly, always wrote
most legibly.
The witness asked Gen. Gonse if an
envelope accompanied the bordereau.
as he, NJ. Colbert, wished to see what
the writer's careful caligraphy was like,
explaining that the address of a. letter.
was always in a hrmer hand than its
contents. Gen. Gonse refused the re-
quest, on the ground that the witness
must not know the name of the adj
dressee. The general also decided not
to allow the bordereau to be photo
graphed, alleging that If the war office.
photographers were allowed to photo
graph 1t all Paris would be acquainted
with the bordereau the next day.
(Laughter) Thereupon the witness re-
marked: Gen. Gonse. this is a very
interesting confession" .
M. Colbert then suggested that the
work be entrusted 20 the prefecture OF
police, where Mr.. Bertillon is the pho
tographer. Until then. the witness also
said, he had never heaRd of M. Bertil-
ion as handwriting expert, saying he
became an expert for this special occa-
| sion, when he was called in the war of
nee. (Laughter.) Gen. Gonse, it APP
peared from the testimony, was greatly
enraged when he learned Of the result
Of M. Gobert's examination of the bor-
dereau and visited the expert repeat
edly. The latter always insisted upon.
learning the name of the suspect
1t was not proper" said NJ Colbert,
for me to accuse any one without be-
ing perfectly cosnizant of the facts, es-
pecially in circumstances of so grave
nature" (Sensation.) 81 would not
accuse any one anonymously for to do
SO would be contrary to the law
Amidst laughter in court, the witness
daG 4lNa1 l-.Nrv- o..
an official report on Dreyfus, from
which Dreyfus name had been re-
moved, ". Colbert had the malicious
satisfaction of telling Gen. Gonse the
name of the officer they wanted to ar
rest. 1t was after M. Colbert had re-
fused to incriminate Dreyfus that M.
BaPtilon was entrusted with the ex-
animation Of the bordereau, and, after
few hours study, M. Bertillon posi-
lively attributed the bordereau to
Dreyfus. From that time forward, NJ
Colbert beard no more of the Dreyfus~
case. He was not asked to submit a
report, put described to the then min
lister of justice, NJ. Guerin, the circum~
stances in the case. M. Guerin, con-
tinued the witness, intinated that these
were soldiers affairs, which did not
concern him as chief Of the civil ju-
dietary.
Col. Jouaust asked NJ. Colbert for a. !
more definite criticism Of the boYderealI
and the witness replied that he noticed
certain similarities between the hand,
writing of the bordereau and that Of
Dreyfus. But. he added, there wera
many important differences which
proved to him that Dreyfus was not the
author OF the bordereau. and his opin-
Ion had since been confirmed, because
II was now proved the bordereau was
the work of Esterhazy." (Sensation.)
Replying to the,court, M. Colbert sug-
gested that the judges compare the
bordereau with@a letter admitted to be
In Esterha2y's handwriting and dated
from Rouen, Aug. II, 1894 with docu-
nlents written by the prisoner. You
will then Enthusiastically recognize" NJ.
Colbert added, that the bordereau is
In Esterhazy's handwriting and not in
the handwriting of Dreyfus." Great
sensation.)
The expert refused, in reply to
question by the court to admit the
bordereau was written in disguised
hand. He said 1t had been written with
great rapidity, precluding all idea of
doctoring or tracing.
There was a general movement OF
curiosity when NJ. Bertillon, the WE'LL
known anthropometrist, was called,
and the interest deepened when the
chief Of the Identification department.
No ttliNFu " Tire NtAutSS Ddr. he SalQ
he proposed TO prove the part, first
that the bordereau was a doctored doc
ument; second, that it could only be
manufactured by the prisoner; third,
that it had been written in a free hand
by means Of a keyWord placed beneath
tracing paper in such a way as to be
quit visible.
The witness declared Dreyfus did not
have recourse to initiating Esterhazy's
free HANDWRITING. because it required
too long to study and he used the trac-
ing process because it was easier to
learn and more likely to be successful.
With the view of Illustrating his rneau.
ing NJ. Bertillon handed round photo
graphs Of the bordereau. and during the
course Of the Representation, the spe-
cialist advanced to the judges bench
and with his finger pointed out illus
trations Of his theories.
NM. Denange and Labori the Iudeea
ana others gathered in a group arouna
the anthrQpometrist Dreyflis appeared
10 be stupefied by the comparatively in
COMPREHENSIVE jargon and many of the
audience left the court Suddenly the
wondering attention of those remaining
in the hall was riveted by the cryptic
sraphic remark, enunciated by M BAf-
Lilon, in loud tones: I'VE clearly have
before US fabricated document The
one word always rests upon the other.
With divergence of lbs nillimetera
and 2.25 millimeters. That Is a pha-
which Is unnatural"
nj. Labor watched the specialist FOR a
lew moments and then returned to hin