Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1899-08-25

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The testimony of the custodian
of the French captain, Alfred
Dreyfus, during his confinement on
Devils Island, serves to show the civ
ilized barbarity that was manifested in
his treatment. An interesting account
of some of the tortures sustained by
Drcyfus is given by a writer in the Lon
don National Review, who says:
"When atelegram was received, order
ing the prisoner ironcd, the little forge of
the lie du Diable was lighted, and they
undertook to manufacture as we'll as
they could the instruments Of torture.
On the very first day the ankles, swollen
by the pressure Of the iron, became lac
Grated. a. sore formed, s%anious, putrid,
and surrounded by a circle of intiamma-
ton. Was it necessary for so little to
cease the torture? The idea did not &C.
cur to any one. The sufferer, %stoical,
not complaining, but extending to the cx-
ecutioners his tortured legs, asked to be
told at least the reason for this new tor
ture. No reply. For two whole months
every morning the irons, stained with
blood, were taken off to leave exposed
the terrible wounds. Then the sores
were dressed, to form the beginning of
the scab, which it was proposed to de-
Stroy in the evening. And so, indeed, it
was. When the sun had set the irons
were once again screwed to the bleeding
flesh, and the scab formed during the
day served only by its cracks to render
all the keener the pain which banished
sleep"
The picture OF the kennelcd Dreyfus is
completed by NJ. Leuis Havct, an emil
nent member of the institute, who got
his facts direct from the victim:
II frequently pictured to myself that
Dreyfus, when the comparative GOODNESS
of evening arrived, breathed the sea air
while gazing at the stars. l had read
that in the tropics these are more bril-
liant, and that all are seen there, those
of our zone and those of the antipodes.
1t seemed to me that a man sentenced
to Imprisonment for life, whom official
instructions had declared unworthy of
any pity'--for this was stated who
heard no more the sound of the human
voice, and who had just been deprived
even of the sight of the waves, would, at
least, find refuge in the contemplation
of the celestial luminaries. I imagined
him feasting his eyes on their light and
bringing peace to his mind by launching
it into the depths of time and space. l
was mistaken, for the sky had also been
cut off from him. Between the cabin
and the palisade there was a space OF
forty centimeters Fifteen inches). I beg
you and | beg every reader not to read
this figure carelessly. Measure forty
centimeters from the wall. Walk quite
close to the wall, and imagine that there
is another wall quite close to you on the
other side. Turn you head up as if tc
see a ceiling, and picture yourself the
morsel of sky which would be perceived
through the opening. The palisade in
terceptcd the air and the light. Thi:
state of things lasted a year. The pris
oner was then subject to attacks of suf
location, and the doctor required some
thing to be done. Do not fancy that tn,
palisade was widened. The cabin wa
raised so that a little air, a little of thu
torrid air of Guiana could at least enter
Nothing shows the cannibal spiri
which has developed in France durin,
the Dreyfus case than the recent remarl
of a great French lady, who is repute'
to be as devout as she is fashionable: ="
hope Dreyfus is innocent that he ma
suffer a thousand times the MORE" Blu
if this fair savage is not satisfied wit
the physical tortures inflicted on tn
victim during several years, may she nc
be appeased by his moral sufferings
The one and only thing that s%ustaine
him. apart from the consciousness of hi
innocence, was the knowledge that hi
family stood by him and believed in hin
as shown by their aff%ectionate and d.
voted letters. AS the home mail ev
IDENTITY gave him pleasure, his tormentel
decided in the first place to withhold tt
originals, SO he was only allowed to Sc
copies-probably garbled-of his wife
letters. Then for a long time they wei
suppressed altogether. When driven b
this apparent neglect to the borders
despair, n of his custodians whispere
to him, "Your family has abandone
you," Nine. Dreyfus being told on b.
side that her husband refused to .wri
TO her. On the eliminating outrage v
abstain from any comment, but the!
are the simple facts. After Dreyfus hs
been two years on the Devils island, !
was one day handed a telegram bearir
the official imprint of the Colonial ofic
which he opened feverishly, thinking
might contain the news of his rehabilit
ton, which he had demanded witho'
ceasing. It merely contained the lyi1
announcement that his wife had give
birth to a child of which he could n
possibly be the father. He refused
commit suicide so a characteristic pl
was Matched to assassinate him, a pr