The Savannah morning news., 1903-04-23
APPEAL OF DREYFUS
is PRESENTED TO THE FRENCH
MINISTER OF WAR.
WANTS HIS CASE RE-oPENED.
SAYS HE WAS CONDEMNED UPON
FALSE TESTIMONY.

EsterhRxy, Dreyfus Declares, Stands
Before the World as the True
CuIprit, Guilty of the Treason of
victed-Dreyfus Has Been Living
UnObtrusively in Paris-He Re-
cites the Injustice That He Feels
Was Done Him.
Paris, April 22.-Alfred Dreyfus has
submitted to Minister of War Andre
a lengthy letter. in which he earnestly
asks FOR a reopening of his case by
means of an investigation by the
minister, as the supreme head of mill
tary justice.
April 81, confirms the reports that
Dreyfus has been living quietly here
for some time. 1t promises to cause a
tremendous agitation among the va
rious elements of the political groups
for and against Dreyfus.
The first part of the letter is an
earnest plea that the court which con-
demned him at Rennes was improper
ly Influenced, first by the annotated
document ascribed to Emperor Will
liam and second, by the false testi-
mony of one of the witnesses, Ger
nuski. 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 letter fhrOnphOnf is cOuched in
highly dramatic style, which is like
ly to make it one of the notable papers
of the case. 1t refers to EsterhaZy as
''one who stands before the entire
world as the culprit."
Dreyfus Is Rhetorical.
One of the passages, showing the
rhetorical style, is as follows
Il will not recall, Mr.. Minister, what
1 have endured since 1894. Picture TO
yourself the horrors of a soldier whose
life was devoted to duty, to work, TO
loyalty and to profound devotion for
his country, and who in an instant is
stripped of his good name and despoil-
ed of the honor of himself and his chill
dren.
For five years this soldier is sub
jected to horrible sufferings. They seek
to crush him physically, to annihllate
him morally. He is absolutely innocent
of all crime. and struggles in vain to
penetrate the mystery, proclaining his
innocence and struggling with all rhe
forces of his mind and body for that
supreme pleasure of vindicating his
good name and character. Days,
months, years, pass thus in most cruel
agony. amid the tortures of murder
Gus climate. At last he is brought back
to France, the guilty one Is discovered
and the soldier hears himself proclaim
ed innocent by those who before re-
viled him as a traitor.
1T was thus, Mr. Minister that
hoped to see my martyrdom end. But,
alas! If / returned to find the devo-
tion of friends who had battled for
the truth, it was to find also that dead
ly hatred had been unloosed.
Was stabbed i'm the Back.
"In the process of 1894 was stabbed
in the back; cannot imagine how such
conditions can prevail through false
hood and deception. But so 1t was,
and my second condemnation was but
an 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
1S99 to cheat justice for the second
time by the same criminal maneuvers
Conscious of these methods, the gov
ernment of the republic will not permit
itself to keep in prison one who is
known to be innocent.
Elm constant thought Of ultimate le-
gal revision, 1 have reassembled little
by little all the divergent elements of
testimony contributing to my convic-
tion. l have scorned calumnies and
falsehoods. / have remained silent
with the firm conviction that justice
would surely have its day of triumph.
The victim of criminal tactics and vio-
lation of the law twice committed
against me, now 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 bordereau
annotated by Emperor William, / beg
to ask that you institute an inquiry,
first upon the uses made Of this false
document at Rennes. and the conse-
quences it produced on those rendering
Judgment; second, upon the false and
fraudulent testimony of Czernuski at
Rennes."
After a deferentral salutation, the
letter is signed, alfred Dreyfus."
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