Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1899-08-28
DREYFUS THE ACTOR
french View of the Trial in
Progress at ReDneS.
1t Is Regarded by many Observers
AS Theatrical Event of SurpaS.
sing InfereSf-Whaf Had Been
Expected of General MerCier.

! Paris, Aug. 27-While the judges,
the prisoner and his defenders, a.
Rennes, are working their weary way
through the mass of documents known
as the secret dc1Eier behinh closed
doors, theirs viii be time to w1:ite about
scme of the many things that have
been neglected during these feverish
| days. yc.s this sElojeote is so absorbing
ttst it Will crop CUT at most unex-
Ipected moments, particularly as it is
no longer ''goCd form to mention the
,tcpic in mixed society, ON account of
the violence cf feeling and prejudice
| in the me..terL
| just why these papers are calDed Sc
cret ts a mystery, for they have all
been published by the Figaro and dis
cusse1 in the supreme court, where it
was proved that the interesting things
they contain Go neE refer to the pris-
cner and that these that do are forg-
cries. 1t Is asserted that they have to
be read in their entirsty, in the strio,s-
est sealu.l.on, because CT the scandal
ence of well known persons among the
stolen letters IN the mass, and IN
which a certain Dfeyfus is mentioned.
We, who are notsso this. manner born,
are struck by the why the French re-
pcrters send in their accounts Of the
first day cls tha public session and espe-
ciaIly of the impression made on them
personally, and en- the public, in their
opiIton, by the accused. This is done
as if the whole solemn nesting, for
which a handfuJ cf ealgnert and in
trepid men have been battling for
nearly two years, were net what 1T is
"a final effort to clear up one of the
most mysterious judicial errors-bUt a
theatrical performance, in which the
voice, attitude and gestures of the
mentally and physically tortured man
were gratuitously submitted to the
artistic Judgment of the best tIained
dramatic critics of the civilizsd world.
Lovers of the army resent his soldier
ly accuracy and precision, his perfect
ly correct bearing and manner to his
superior officers The literary and
d: amatic tendencies in other reporters
make them object that the prisoner
has nct the tome of voice or the Snfiec
tion that an innocent man would have;
that he is too sure of himself, his mind
too nfmbls and able to correct the pre-
siding jCfige's mistakes regarding
times and places, while others point
out shat hle is starting on a wrong
course by denying too much. He must
Indeed be a miserable wretch, when
net even five years of martyrdom and
the hopes cIs the greaten part of his
can bring him to confess
what he has always maintained he did
not do.
ThcI5e who believed in his guilt
found ample proofs for Is in his ready
and quiet answers to the judge, who
did not disguise his personal dislike
for the task set him to do, who spoke !
curtly, often Struggling his shoul lsgs
at the prisoners replies when they re-
futed questions based on mere possi- !
biEties of 'she anultiplied presrlmp-
tions that amounted to proofs" I'm
agin,a this new Prisoner of Chfllon, af-
ter his fifty months Of solitary confine-
ment under unheard-of conditions of |
Temperature and treatment for a Eu-
,opean, quietly replying to one off these
reiterated questions beginning with
1t was possible for you to know
such or such a thing, with a Moth
ing is impossible under such circum-
stances, mon colonel Consider what
power cf will and endur-
lnce this man must possess, be he
to us or not, a good or a
Dad actor IN the part of an innocent
nan, be his voice colorless, or his light
blue eye CLASSY, so to hold himself in
land, at such mcment while he
stakes his life for the honor of the
,lameless name he wishes to hsqueath
o his children
Has there ever been a duel of this s
lind before, where the opponenss were Z
70 unevenry matched, the scene of ac- ,
ion 50 public or so we'll known, the :
Sassions and prejudGces in play so ,
powerful, and the interests. cloaked by
alse patriotism, so numerous? No
me knows the outcome of the trial or !
an guess it; not even The seven artil- :.
cry officers who have the awful re-
possibility of managing this new
rial put upon them.
--:o:-
NEW MINING DISTRICT.