The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1903-04-30
DREYFUS APPEALS.
Celebrated Freueh Army Case May
Be CpeGed Again.
Dreyfus Claims That the Court That
Tried Him Was unduiy Influenced
By Outsiders.

Paris, BY Cable-Alfred Dreyfus
has submitted 10 Minister Of War
Andre lengthy letter. in which he
earnestly asks for the re-opening Of
MS case by means Of an investigation
oF the Minister. as the supreme head
or military justice. The letter. which
Is dated Paris, April q, confirms the
reports that Dreyfus had been living
quietly for some time II promises to
cause tremendous agitation among
the various clements Of the political
groups for AMI against Dreyfus. The
first part Of the letter Is an earnest
plea that the court which condemned
MIN at Rennes was improperly in
fluenced, first, by the annotated docu-
ment ascribed to Emperor William
and, second, BY the false testimony of
, one OF the witnesses, CZernski
After arguing On the extent TO
| which these contributed to his con
demnation. Dreyfus recalls in graphic
terms the long series of horrors TO
which he had been subjected. The let
Ter throughout is couched in a highly
dramatic style, which is likely to
make 1t one of the notable papers of
the case. Ii refers to Esterhazy as
one who stands before the entire
world as the culprit." One of the pas
sages, showing the rhetorical style,
Is as folio ws:
! i will not recall. Mr.. Minister,
what | have endured since 1894. Pic
ture to yourself the horrors of a SOL
dier whose life was devoted to duty, to
work, to loyalty. and to profound de-
Votion for his country and who in an
/ instant IS stripped of his good name
and despOiled of the honor of himself
and his children. For FIVE years this
! soldier is subjected to horrible suf-
! ferlngs. They seek to crush him physi-
| cally, to annihilate him morally. He
Is absolutely innocent of all crime and
struggles in vain to penetrate the mys-
! terry. proclaiming his innocence and
| struggling with all the forces of his
/ mind and body for that supreme pleas
ure Of vinicating his good name and
| character. Days, months, years pass
| thus in most cruel agony, amid the
| torturcs of a murderous climate. At
! last he is brought back to France, the
! guilty one is discovered and the SOL
! der hears himself proclaimed inno
| cent by those who before reviled him
as traitor. 1t was thus, Mr.. Minis
| ter, that l hoped to see my martyr
! dom ended. But alas if | returned to
! find the devotion of friends who had
battled for the truth it was to find
also that deadly hatreds had been un-
| loosed.
, In the processes of 1894 was stab
/ bed in the back; | cannot imagine how
| such conditions can prevail through
falsehood and deception. But SO it was
and my second condemnation was but
All aggravated reaffirmation Of what
occurred in 1894. When the guilty one
! was known and unmasked and Ester
hazy was recognized as the author Of
! the treason. the same men who had
cheated justice in 1894 again sought
in 1899 to cheat justice for the second
time by the same criminal manoeuv-
res. Conscious Of these methods, the
government CT the republic will not
permit itself to keep in prison one
! who is known to be innocent
In constant thought Of ultimate le-
gal revision, l have reassembled little
by little ali the divergent elements of
testimony contributing to my convic-
ton. / have remained silent with the
firm conviction that justice would
surely have it's day OF triumph. The
victim of criminal tactics and viola
ton of the law twice committed
against me, now l address myself to
the supreme chief OF military justice
and. supporting myself by new facts
which have been elected and by the
existence of the pretended bordeau
and note by Emperor William l am
going to ask that you institute an in,
quiry first upon the use 5 made of this
false document at 2ennes and the
consequences it produced on those
rendering judgment; second, upon the
false and fraudulent testimony OF
| Czernuski at RenneS.'