The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-08-29
FAVORED DREYFUS.
Balance of Witnesses
For Prisoner.
Hand Writing Experts on the Stand
Yesterday.
One Changes Views AS
To Bordereau.
Now Admits He Thinks Ester
hazy Wrote 1t.

Rennes, August g. -The balance Of the
evidence today. for change, was In favor
of Dreyfus. Five witnesses were for hi m
and two against him. The most interest
ing testimony was that Of Chief Hand
writing Expert Charavay who had come
to declare that he had changed entirely his
opinion which, in 1894. was against and
now In favor OF Dreyfus, who, he today
affir med, was net the author Of the Dor
dereau. Hfs candid confession OF error
was received with murmurs Of satisfac-
ton in court, which bscsms discreet APP
plause, in spite. OF Colonel Jounust's
patent disapprovsl when he solemnly
added: 81 declare here, on my soul and
conscience. that the bordereau was writ
ten by Esterhazy." .ss.- ar.
The most important incident. how ever.
was Col. Jouaust's acauiescsncs in Major
Carriere's request that rogatory COM
mission be instructed to-. take Col. Du
Patty de CLAIMS deposition. The initla-
tive came purely from the government
oommissary, AIaitrss Labor aud Demange
having no faith In such measure. be-
cause 1t allows Du Patty de Clam TO escape
cross examination, which is the only
thing worth having under the present cir
cumstances. Du Patty dc Clam being
witness for the prosecution. Major Car
riere will simply prepare a list of ques-
tions which an examining magistra te
will put to Du Patty de Clam at his resi- :
dence, and nobody supposes that the wit
nesses Will be very much embarrassed by
the interrogatories.
Today the central figure In the court
yard which Is the meeting place for all
the leading personages OF the trial during
the suspension of the sessions. was Gap
tain Freystaettsr, who was the subject of
many fiattsring remarks upon his manly
and soidier-iike bearing. Indeed the In
terest in him was SO great that some per-
sons waitsd all night long outside the
door Of the court in order to obtain stand
ing room In the court room in the hope
OF seeing him at today = sitting an i'm
preston having gone abroad that he
might be recalled. His modest and frank
manner inspired admiration in ali except
the generals and the other military wit
nesses for tbs prosecution who seemed
afraid OF him and scowled in his direc-
tion from the other side OF thec court yard.
Captain Frsystaetter will not remain
here I'M Gil the end of the trial but will
leave Rennes in few days.
II. De Freyeinet, former minister of
wal, arrived this afternoon and will testi-
fly tomorrow.
Paray- laval, the draughtsman called
by the defense Saturday. 70 refute the ties.
timony OF Nj. Bertillon, the famous au-
thropometer. resumed bis testimony ard
with the assistance of black board pro-
ceeded to show the fallacy of the calcula-
tions of III. Bertillon and the latter's
uniairness In not submitting the hand
writing OF Esterhazy to the same tests
as the prisoners.
He declared, howev err, that even If nj.
Bertillon had done SO tho results would
not have proven anything. The witness,
however, insisted that NJ. Bertiilon had
adopted vicious method in only making
partial experiment.. A,as,.
Continuing, HI. PAray- laval sproneeded
to show that the geometrio Irregularities
alleged by 81. Bertilion did not In reality
exist He pointed out number of irreg
ularities in the handwriting of the bor-
dereau and said the same Irregularities
were particularly noticeable In Ester
hays caligraphy.
He also commended that the alleged reg
ularity of the key word interest" was
only approximate and proceeded to Illus
trste his argument ON the blackboard,
showing that all NJ. Bertilion's proofs
applied as equally to Esterhazy as to
Dreyfus.
Finally. NJ. Parry laval declared that
ID. Bertillcn's measurement OF the word
"interest'' which served as the basis
for the whole system was entirely false,
and therefore 81. bertillon's entire sys-
tenn falls to the ground and no longer
exists" (Great sensation.)
The witness, who had awakened the
interest Ct his hearers, maintained that
the bordereau could not have been traced,
He then proceeded to illustrate why this
was the Casa and to prove the falseness of
NJ. Bertiiion's deductions.
In conclusion, NJ. Paray laval said,
amid laughter, that he thought M. Ber-
tillon was a very intelligent man but that
was convinced that only self esteem pre-
vented III. Bertillon from admitting his
error.
HI. Bernard, an inspector OF mines, who
took high honors at the polytechnic
school, who followed Nj. Paray-Javal at
the witness bar said he appeared to refute
portion OF III Bertillon's evidence which
was based on false calculations. As a
matter of fact, he added, it was on such
a basis that the whole system rested.
Witness said he was greatly surprised
that III. Bertillon thought fit to have
recourse to physiological arguments to
prove, hrst: That the bordereau was
which might have been employed In writ
Ing certain words were such as to con-
| stitute proof against Drsyfus.
ID. Bernard also said he was astonished
at the fact that III. Bartillon had under
taken to account for the shape Of letters
and the space between words. There was
not ! % milimetres aa alleged by NJ,
BsTtilion but 1.36. Moreover, the writing
of the hordereau WAs natural and
rhythmic, while It's character and size
showed 1t was not written by either a
short sighted or long sighted person.
| The witness then proceeded to illustrate
| pnotographically his contention that the