Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-08-19


the police reports therein contained
showed nothing serious against Drey-
fus. He explained that they embodied
the theme mostly utilized by the police
spies in order to dupe the intelligence
department and asserted that their in
formation was mostly worthless, en-
broidered or false, and prepared in or
der to make interesting reading.
Dreyfus displayed the keenest inter-
est in Picquart's protracted analysis OF
the dossier. to which the whole audi
ence listened with attention. The mem
bers of the court-martial and the for
mer ministers of war were equally in
terested.
Concluding his examination OF the Sc
cret dossier, Col. Picquart explained
how he had acquired the conviction
that the bordereau was written by Es-
terhazy and how he ascertained that
the anti-Dreyfus proofs were worth
less. The witness asserted that the
first occasion on which he saw Ester
Hays name was when he read the ad-
dress of the Petit Bleu. He said ne
was not acquainted with Esterhazy
and never had Esterhazy watched.
Previous to this the utmost efforts had
been made to prove the contrary and
to show Picquart knew Esterhazy be-
fore the discovery of the Petit Bleu.
The witness then rebutted the charg-
es against him Of unnecessarily delay
ing the prosecution of Esterhazy. He
said his object was to avoid arousing
suspicion IN regard to an officer, who
perhaps, was entirely innocent. What
mistake he added, would have
been averted in 1894 had they acted in
the same way in regard to Dreyfus. ,
This remark caused
MURMURS OF APPROVAL
in court.
Turning to the leakage at headquar-
tiers, the witnes described the negotia-
lions of Major Lauth with the spy,
Richard Cuers, at Basic, showing how
the spy promised information about the
leakage and how he, Picquart, was in
duced to allow Lieut.. Col Henry to ac-
company Major Lauth to Basic. Pic
quart also described the vague replies
of Henry when questioned on the sub
ject of Esterhazy before his departure,
and the futility of the visit to Basic
because of Cuers' refusal, when he saw
Henry, to impart the promised infor-
nation.
81 know Esterhazy was anxious TO
enter the war Office" said the witness,
land did not regard his desire favor
ably. l communicated my impressions
to my chiefs, who approved all my
steps, and the application of Esterhazy
was rejected. His insistence, however,
only increased my uneasiness regard
ing him and resolved to obtain spec
linen of his handwriting. was imme-
diately struck with the similarity oil
his handwriting and that of the border
eau and forthwith I had the letters OF
Esterhazy which were in my possession
photographed and showed the photo
graphs to Major Du Patty de Clam and
M. Bertillon (the handwriting expert),
between August 25 and September 8.
The colonel emphasized this point be-
cause M. Bertillon asirms he saw the
photographs in May, 1d)6, and made
note of them, whereas the letters were
not written on that date. The conflict
ing testimony of Picquart and Bertll-
lon on this point had been used to dis
credit the formers evidence.
Col. Picquart, continuing, said Du
Patty de Clam, on seeing the writing,
declared it was that of Matthew Drey-
fus. the brother of Captain Dreyfus
Col. Picquart added: II frankly admit
| was stupefied on reading the secret
dossier. | expected to find matters OF
gravity therein, and found, in short,
nothing but a document which might
apply just as much to Esterhazy as to
Dreyfus, an uaimportant document
mentioning D'Avignon, and document
which it seemed absurd to apply to
Dreyfus, namely, the 'cette canaille de
d. document. Lastly, | recognized
report appended, in the handwriting OF
Guenee, which appeared to be at least
as
WORTHLESS AS THE SECOND
document"
ut was then evening. l had stayed
late, alone at the Office, to examine the
documents thoroughly. | thought IL
over during the night, and the next day
/ explained the whole situation to Gen.
Du Biosdeffre 7 took to his Office the
secret dossier. the fac-simile of the
bordereau, the Petit Bleu and the prin-
cipal papers connected with my invesi-
CATION of Esterhazy. / wonder now, II
| had one or two interviews. But |
still see Gen. Du Biosdeffre as he ex-
orr