Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-09

in civilian dress. Arriving at the of.
flee on the day specified, Dreyfus was
taken to the room of Col du Paty de
Clam, where, to his surprise, he found
also M. Rochefort, chief Of the secret
police, the latter's secretary and M.
Gribelin, the keeper Of the records.
~ have injured my hand" said Du
Patty de Clam. Have you any obtec.
tion to write for half an hour at my
dictation?"
"None, whatever" replied the can
tain who proceeded to write Immediate
ly, without waiting even to warm his
fingers which were stiff with cold.
The dictation suddenly changed, and
Dreyfus found himself writing: "Sir,
although you have not asked to see me,
send you some interesting intel1i-
gence"
why do you tremble?" asked Du
Patty de Clam.
do I tremble. colonel? Then II Is be-
cause of the cold" responded the young
officer
NO" asserted the colonel, at is be-
cause you are a traitor. l arrest you for
high treason"
The police head and his assistant
were awaiting the word. Immediately
they took Dreyfus into custody,
searched him, then saw him safely
lodged i'm cell of the military prison.
Here the unfortunate man. who had
protested loudly, but in vain. was Wis
itad several times by Du Patty de Clam,
who sought to trap him in every pos
sible manner.
The first trial Of Alfred Dreyfus be-
gan behind closed doors on December
49, 1894, and despite the disagreement
of handwriting experts, he was con-
victed, and sentenced to be publicly
degraded, and to be transported to u
desert island, where he should spend
the remainder of his life. The end of
the year came, and with it the refusal
of a new trial
On Saturday, January 5. 1895, the
sentence of public degradation was car
ried out in the square in front of one
of the largest military schools. The
captain was first stripped of every in
sigma of rank, the buttons of his tunic
cut off, the stripes torn from his
trousers. his cap denuded of embroid
cry, and his sword broken across the
knee of a nom commissioned officer,
after which he was marched all around
the square where his former comrades
and his former men were drawn up
with hundreds of others.
g" Am Innocent Viva la France!"
outside the gates surged great mob
crying, xiii the traitor!" Inside, the
representatives of French journalism,
to whom Dreyfus appealed for a hear
ing, called him "A dirty Jew" And
yet. bravely facing the mob. and as
bravely defying the yellow" writer's,
the convicted traitor cried ever: Il
am innocent! Vive la France!"
On February %, the St Nazaire
sailed from Rochefort with Alfred Drey-
fus as one of the prisoners confined in
the convict cells on the forward deck.
On April IL the traitor" began his sOi-
tary sojourn on Devils island, a bar
ren rock off the Guianas, which had
been used formerly for the isolation Of
lepers. Here for more than four years
the prisoner lived in a tiny hut of
stone, watched day and night by six
guards, who took turns of two hours
each.
Then, when hope appeared to be folly
and only the thought of wife and chill
dren could excuse it, came word that
the supreme court had ordered the sem
tence CT the first court martial to be
quashed and directed that a new mill
tary trial should be held at Rennes. A
French warship carried the prisoner
back to France, where he met his wife
and his counsel, NJ M. Demange and
Labori, and heard many things about
the case which were new to him who
had been for so long a time dead to the
affairs of the world.
That this second and more public
trial should have been held long be-
fore all are now agreed. But that it
was held at all was largely the work
of one honest man. In July, 1895, Lieut..
Col. Picquart had become head of the
inquiry office, and a few months later
another document was brought there
by one of the minor spies employed.
Again the document was from the Ger
man embassy, but this time it was a
telegraphic dispatch Ga petit bleW pre-
pared and signed by Col. Schwarskop-
per for transmission to a Maj. Ester
hazy at No. 27 Rue de Ia Bienfaisance.
Esterhazy Confessed
Picquart thought it would be we'll to
make some inquiries concerning Maj.