The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-04-23
DREYFUS ASKS THAT
HIS CASE BE
REOPENED
Fearfully Wronged French
Army Officer Appeals to the
Minister of War That
Justice Be Done Him-Fs-
terhazy the Real Culprit.

PARIS, April 22.-Alfred Dreyfus
has submitted to Minister of War An
DIRE a letter in which he asks for a
reopening of his case by means of an
investigation by the minister, as the
supreme military justice. The letter,
which is dated Paris, April 21. prom
ises to cause a tremendous agitation
among the various elements Of the
political groups for and against Drey-
fus. 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
lam, and second by the false testimo-
ny OF one Of the witnesses, Czernuski.
After arguing on the extent to which
these contributed to his condemnation,
Dreyfus recalls the long series of hor-
rorS to which he had been subjected.
The letter throughout is couched in
a highly dramatic style. which is like
Iy to make it one of the notable pa
pers of the case. 1t refers to Ester
navy as "one who stands before the
entire world as the culprit"
Specimen Passage.
One of the leading passages ia as
follows:
Il will not recall. Mr.. Minister what
4.
yourself the horrors of a soldier whose
whole 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 suffer-
lngs. 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
mystery, prOClaiming his innocence
ana struggling with all the forces Of
his mind and body for the supreme
pleasure OF indicating his good name
ana character. Days, months, years.
pass thus in most cruel agony. amid
the torture of a murderOus climate.
AT last he is brought back to France.
the guilty one is discovered and tho
soldier hears himself proclaimed inno-
cent by those who before reviled him
as a traitor. 1t was thus, Mr.. Min
ISter' that hoped to see my martyr
dom ended.
But. alasl If I returned to find
the devotion of friends who had bat
tied for the truth, it was to find also
that deadly hatreds had been Embossed.
In the processes of 1894 I was stabbed
In the back. I cannot imagine how
such conditions prevail through false
Fraudulent Deeds Repeated.
But so it was. and my second con-
demnation was but an aggravated re-
animation of what occurred in 1894
When the guilty one was known and
unmasked and EsterhaZy was recog-
n1zed 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 maneuvers. Conscious
or these methods. the government of
the republic will not permit itself to
keep in prison one who is known to
be innocent.
In constant thought of ultimate Ie-
gal revision, have reassembled little
by little all the divergent elements
or the testimony contributing to nv
conviction. I have scorned calumnies
and falsehoods. I have remained ST.
lent with the firm conviction that JUS
tice would surely have it's day of tri-
umph. The victim of criminal tactics
and violation of the law twice commit
ted against me, 1 now address myself
to the supreme chief of military JUS
tlce, and supporting myself by new
facts which have been elected and by
the existence Of the pretended border
eau annotated by Emperor William L,
L beg to ask that you institute an in
curry first upon the uses made Of
this false document at Rennes and
the consequences it produced on those
rendering judgment; second, upon the
false and fraudulent testimony OF
CZernush at Rennes."