Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-07
It Now Seems That There
is No Chance for Him.
COURT SHOWS ITS HAND
When It Refused to Have the DepOSi-
tiOn of Foreign Ministers Taken
Mercier Was Again on the Stand
The Testimony Brought Out.

Rennes. Sept. AT the opening of the
Dreyfus court martial this morning NJ
Labori announced that he had received
semi-official intimation that Colonel
| Schwarzkoppen and Colonel Panizzardi
would be unable to appear personally be-
fore the court and SO he proposed that a
rogatory commission should be tele-
graphed to receive their dispositions. NJ
! Paleologue and Major Carriere did not
oppose this proposition, only the latter
pointed out that the proposed step would
! involve deviation from the general pro-
cedure in necessitating a long adjourn
ment.
| M. Labori replied that the court was
entitled to adjourn for As hours and in
| case a longer period was required he sug-
gested that a short session be called to-
| morrow, when the court could adjourn
until Monday. He then drew up a formal
application that Colonels Schwarzkoppen
and PaniZZardi be called as witnesses and
that seven questions should be telegraph
ed them, to which they should reply under
OATH The first question was if they had
ever received the documents mentioned
in the bordereau and he also requested
that they be asked if they had received
the firing manual; when and from whom;
! whether either had sent to Esterhazy the
, petit bleu, copy whereof had been tele-
graphed; and finally If directly or indi-
rectly they had any relations with Drey-
fus.
The court delberated on NJ. I4aboris
application for regatory commission
for a quarter of an hour, at the expira-
ton of which time Colonel Jouaust read
the decision, declaring that the court
was incompetent to grant the applca-
ton.
After Labori had submitted his appl
cation the chief of detectives, NJ. Coche-
fort, deposed favorably regarding the at
titude of Dreyfus when Colonel De Clam
dictated the bordereau to him.
The clerk of the court read a letter
from Captain Humbert to the effect that
Dreyfus had expressed a keen desire in
'94 to enter the statistical section of the
office, and saying he met Dreyfus once
| carrying some volminous packages of
| maps and documents, and remarked that
he was acting very imprudently
Dreyfus calmly traversed Humbert's
statements, declaring them to be in
exact.
General MERCER came to the bar and
said he felt the deposition of Captain
Freystetter was bound to have produced
considerable impression on the minds of
the judges. He spoke of the attacks
made on him since the captain had test-
fled, saying the Dreyfusard press had
been calling him false witness, etc.
The general declared he gave an order
in "a that nothing should be done at
the various translations of the Panizzardi
dispatch, adding that he himself was
present when the packet of secret papers
| for the court martial was made up and it
did not contain the Panizzard dispatch
He had since questioned the judges of
the court martial on the subject but none
of them was prepared to swear that the
dispatch was not submitted to them be-
cause their recollections We're now rather
vague.
This statement of Mercier evoked
chorus of disguised "ohs" from the audi
| ence.
Mercier proceeded to call attention to
the CONTRADICTIONS In FreyStetter'S state
ments, reading an old letter from the
| captain to friend, in which he declared
his mind was made up in "a before he
saw the secret dossier, and another letter
from an officer who was in company with
Freystetter in Madagascar, where the
| writer asserted Freystetter talked of the
court martial of 94, but never mentioned
the Panizzardi dispatch.
Mercier brought up two bad points in
Freytstetter's career. While in NADIA
gascar, MERCER said he was guilty of an
act of disobedience to his chief, and he
also executed 30 natives. His assertion
| caused a certain impression in the audi
ence and Jouaust asked MERCER to alb
stain from giving any further partic-
ulars. The general added that he firmly
believed Freystetter was brave man,
but thought the two acts referred to
showed he could not be entirely trusted.
He asked the judges not to allow the
captains evidence to shake their conf
dence in his own dispositions, but to lend
him the same credence as though the
Freystetter incident had never occurred.
The court then retired to deliberate on
Labori's application, and its probable de-
cision was eagerly discussed.