Evening star., 1901-05-04


and weaker. There were long weeks when
he wrote nothing In. his diary. Then. in the
fall OF 1875. when the weather was so dead
ly that many Of the guards broke down
unoer, 1t the authorities Instituted what
appears like a deliberate attempt to hasten
the prisoners death.
Put I'm Irons.
Monday. September Z. 1sa6-Yesterday
evening | was put In irons Why | know
not Since have been here have alvays
scrnpulously observed the orders given me.
How Is 1t do not go crazy during the long
dreadful night? What suffer is horrible.
yet L no longer feel anger against those
who thus torture an innocent man: 1 feel
! only a great pity toward them.
These nights in irons. / do not even speak
or the physical suffering, but what moral
ignominy. and without any explanation
without knowing why or for what cause
Nearly two years of this have worn
me out. L can do no more. The very in
stinct of life falters; 1t is too much for
mortal man to bear"
The diary ends on September 10. ISas
with the entry of an appeal by letter. TO
the president Of France for Justice There.
after Capt. Dreyfus' narrative continues
He tells how for two months and a half
he was confined to his hut without a min
ute's exercise. when the heat was so great
that his guards had to keep their quarter.
sluiced out with water: for nearly two
months he slept In irons every night the
ankle rings being so tight that they tore
his flesh. In spite OF all this he writes TO
his wife. whose courageous letters were
his strongest support.
"A pure soul that has sacred duty to
fulhll must rise above suffering Have
courage. have courage, Look straight be-
| fore you. too. neither To the right nor TO
| the left. but steadfastly to the end. 1
know well that you too. are but human.
Yet when grief becomes too great when
trials still to come seem too hard for you
to bear, look into the faces Of our children
and say to yourself that you must live &c
and for h., 81.
day when our country shall acknowl edge
what i have been and am.
What i wish to repeat to you with
voice that you must always hear is 'Cour-
age. courage" Your patience your resola-
! tion, that Of all of MS must never tire until
| the full truth is revealed.
Il cannot fill my letters fun enough 80
| the love that my heart holds for you all
That / have been able to Withstand 50
much agony of soul, such misery and
| strain. is because | have drawn strength
ALFRED"
Return to France.
Matters went from bad to worse for a
| time. then the treatment Of Dreyfus be-
came somewhat less rigorous. until finally,
| on June 3 1899. the following note was put
| into his hands:
please let Capt. Dreyfus know imme-
diately of this order of the supreme court.
! The court quashes and annuls the sentence
pronounced the 22d of December 1884,
upon Alfred Dreyfus by the first court
martial of the military government OF
| Paris and remands the accused party to a
court martial at Reunes. etc"
His return to France. i'm close confine-
ment on the warship Sfax, followed. Once
| In France he learned the history Of the
| fight for revision of his and was
| ready to face his accusers at the second
| court martial at Rennes. He writes;
'Of my own story | knew nothing. As 4
said I was stil back i'm 1884 with the bor-
| dereau the only document In the case.
! with the sentence Of the court rtial,
| with that appalling parade Of degradation
| with the cries of Death to the traitor,
| from a deluded people. I believed in this
| loyalty of Gen de Bosdeffre: / believed IT
| the chief magistrate of The state. Felis
Faure; | thought both eager for Justice.
| Thereafter a Veil had fallen before M
| eyes. growing more impenetrable every
day.
Meeting With His Wife.
1t was some time after he landed before
he allowed to his wife. and OF
| their first meeting. I'm prison. he says:
1T is impossible for words TO express
| in their intensity the emotions which my
wife and | both felt at seeing each other
again. Joy and grief were blended in our
hearts. We sought to read in each Others
faces the traces OF our sufferings: We
| wished to tell each other all that we felt in
our souls to reveal all the feelings sup
pressed and sttfed during those long years;
| but the words died away on our lips. We
had to content ourselves with trying to
| throw into our looks all the strength Of
| our affection and of our endurance. The
| presence of lieutenant Of infantry who
was stationed there, prevented any inti-
mate talk"
Then came the retrial and the conviction,
of which he writes:
I'm spite of the plainest evidence against
all justice and equity, L was condemned.
Two votes, however, were given for me.
AS to the sentence which five judges dared
to pronounce, / do not accept it
off of nd
of it Dreyfus explains thus:
"A pardon was offered me on condition
that I withdraw my demand for revision.
Although expecting nothing from my de-
mand. / hesitated to withdraw II, for L
had no need of pardon. l thirsted for JUS
tice. But. on the other hand, my brother
told me that my health, already greatly
shaken, left little hope that L could resist
much longer under the conditions in which
l should be placed; that liberty would give
me greater opportunity to strive for the
reparation of the atrocious judicial error of
which l was still the victim, since II would
give me time. and time was the only OBJ
ject of my appeal to the military tribunal
OF revision. Matthew added that the with
drawal Of my demand counseled and
approved by the men who had been. In
the press and before the world, the chief
champions OF my cause. Finally L thought
of the sufferings of my wife and family:
OF the children whom L had not yet seen
and whose memory had haunted me day
and night since my return to France Ac-
cordingly, L agreed to withdraw my appeal
but at the same time specified unmistaka-
bly, my absolute and unchanged BILE inten-
tion to follow up the legal revision OF the
sentence at Rennes."
An eminent Scotch divine was once asked
how long he would require to prepare q
speech. THAT depends" said he upon
how much time / am to occupy in its de-
livery. If 1 am to speak for a quarter OF
an hour l should like a week to preparef
if am to speak for half an hour three
days will do: II am to go on as long as
like, 1 am ready now"
The spool mills use about s.. 900 cords or
16OOO000 feet. OF birch annually, turning
out SO0000OO0 spools. each spool large
enough to carry 200 yards Of thread. The
amount of thread that could be wound
upon these 100000. 600 spools would reach
5000 times around the world at the equa-
tor and leave a little for mending.
Several unique bills were introduced in
the Wisconsin legislature recently. The
queerest was that fathered by Mr.. Young
of Eau Claire. which provides that after
January /, 1904, railway companies shall
equip their trains with devices that will