The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-08-26

Rennes, Aug. 25.-After M. Bertillon,
the handwriting expert, who is at the
head of the anthropometric department
of the prefecture of police of Paris, had
concluded the first installment of mis-
so-called demonstration of the guilt of
Capt. Dreyfus, prominent Dpeyfusard
referred to him as "Ie fin de steele
cagliostro."
The Dreyfusards refuse to regard him
as anything but the prince Of quacks
They cover his remarks with ridlcule
and protest that the admission of his
fantastic theories as evidence before
the court martial is disgrace to
France.
"C'est une honte," was the remark
beard on all sides when the session clos
ed and the audience, mainly made up OF
Dreyfusards, was being pressed outside
by the gendarmes, who clear the court
room as soon as the court adjourns.
Nevertheless, even the Dreyfusards
do not deceive themselves as to the eff
| feet NJ. Bertilion's testimony or dem
! onstration," may have upon the judges
who, they fear, will be gulled by what
the Dreyfusards consider spurious. AL
the judges have passed through the
| ecole polytechnique, the highest school
of science in France, and they are thus
peculiarly interested in such evidence
as M. Bertillon's.
Moreover, with the aid of the innum-
cradle diagrams and specimens Of writ
ing which he submits to them, they
may be able to follow his reasoning in
diligently, which is more than any
member of the audience could do today
If the judges accept BeTtillons prenis-
es-that Dreyfus, as an expert spy, did
not write ordinary handwriting, but in
close imitation, even contriving to give
the letters the appearance of having
been traced in order to be able to re-
pudiate them as a forgery " detected
then the structure built upon this
groundwork may be scientifically cor
rect.
Even Dreyfus, when shown Bertil-
Ions demonstration, admitted the in
genuity and plausibility of the system,
though he naturally declared that it
was built upon a false basis.
A remarkable feature of NJ. Bertil-
Ions deposition was the heat and ex-
element he put into what was expect
ed to be calm, dispassionate EXPOSE
ton of his theories. He thundered,
shouted and waved his arms as though
he literally shrieked and numbers of
the usual audience who had been I'M
able to follow him and were taking the
air in the court yard, rushed back into
the hall, hreathlessly inquiring what
had happened, and imagining that he
was fulmina ting some dreadful denun-
citation of the accused. Their excite
ment was tuEned into hilarity when
they found that he was merely i'm
pressing upon the judges the signifi-
canoe of tire exact space, measured in
centimetres, between two words in
the bordereau.
The military witnesses, all of whom
sit in a bunch, leaving Col Picquart
and M. Bertrllus severely isolated, fol-
lowed M. Bcrtillon's statements with a
grave and wise expression of counte-
nance, upon which never a suspicion of
q smile appeared, as though they un-
derstood every word Evidently they
had received a mot d'ordre to preserve
this attitude; for without seeing the
diagrams. they certainly could not have
hin, any better than did the
general public, who treated M. Bertil-
Ion as a fsrceur.
The Echo de Paris announced today
that the ccursel of Dreyf1Is had OBJ
tanned possession of certain documents
mentioned i'll the bordereau, in Ester
it"NS NittAiS. Nllcn tney would pro-
duce in court next week as a coup de
theatre. The correspondent of the AS
ISOLATED Press inquired as to this in
competent Dreyfussrd quarters this af-
ternoon. He was assured that the
statement was erroneous, but was also
told that the defense intended, in the
event OF Capt. Dreyfus being recon
semned, TO asl. the German government
70 communicate these documents, prov
ing his innocence, and that they had
reason TO believe such a request would
ha