The times., 1901-05-26
The Diary of Dreyfus.

Five Years of My Life" is the title ot
| a small book containing the diary OF
Dreyfus, kept by him on Devils Island
together with a short autobiographica
| account Of his previous life and his trial
ead some letters written by his wife dur,
ing the period of his Incarceration
The information contained in this boob
has already. in the main, been given tc
the public Most of it illustrates a re-
mark of the unhappy author in one of the
earlier entries in his journel:
Nothing will be spared me; neither
mental torture nor physical suffering"
1t is a record of petty persecution and
malice. Of misery, of small torments SO
arranged as by theIT cumulative force TO
become great ones Burning under the
unjust condemnation to which he had
been subjected, tortured with the remem-
brance of disgrace endured, the wretched
prisoner Is forced TO occupy himself with
the Insignificant details of cooking his
food in old tin cans, trying to eat ra-
tions not fit for q human being, and pur-
suing other petty yet difficult tasks of
no particular value to himself or anyone
else. The absolute irresponsibility and
caprice of his tailers is perhaps more
CALLING than anything else. On September
Z, 1896, he makes this record:
Yesterday evening I was put in
irons Why, / know not.
Since | have been here I have al
ways scrupulously observed the orders
given me.
How is it I did not go crazy through
the long, dreadful night? What won
derful strength clear conscience and
the feeling of duty toward ones chill
dren give onel AS an innocent man,
my imperative duty is to 90 on to the
end Of my strength SO long as they
do not kill me, l shall ever and simply
perform my duty"
Again:
"On the 4th of September my jailers
received from NJ. Lebon, Minister Of
Colonies, the order to keep me, until
further notice, confined TO my hut
through the twenty-four hours, with
the double boucle at night, to sur
round the space left for my walk close
around my Aut with Il solid palisade,
and to set another guard in my hut IN
addition TO the one already there.
Besides this, they withheld all letters
and packages sent to me; and trans
mission Of my correspondence was
henceforth ordered TO be made only in
copies Of the originals
"ConfOrmably to these institutions [
was shut up night and day without
minutes exercise. This absolute con
fnement was continued during the
whole time needed for the bringing of
the lumber and the construction of
lIE HdllSdut4 llidl Is TO say IOE nearly
two months and a half. The heat that
year was particularly tOrrid and was
so great In the hut that the guards
made complaint after complaint de-
claring that they felt their heads
bursting. 1t became necessary on their
account to have their quarters in the
shed attached to my house sprinkled
every day with water. As for myself
! literally melted.
Dating from the 9Th of September.
l was put I'm the double boucIe' at
night; and this torment which lasted
nearly two months, was OF the follow
ing description: Two irons in the form
of U' were fixed by their lower
parts to the sides of the bed. In these
irons an iron bar was inserted and
to this were fastened two boucles. AT
the extremity of the bar. on one side,
there was head. and at the other a
paddock, so that the bar was fastened
into the irons. and consequently to
the bed. Therefore, when my feet were
inserted in the two rings il was no
longer possible for me TO move about
/ was fastened in an Interchangeable
position to my bed. The torture was
hardly bearable during those tropical
nights.
But on one of these long nights Of
torture, when riveted to my bed with
sleep far from my eyes, ] sought my
guiding star, my guide in moments Of