The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-07-20
COLONEL ALFRED pgEYrs
"A Summary of the Charges. Trial. Con-
viction and Final y~indication of the
Man.

'>Ioh anu Tindf khu2catIOn of the
Man.
Captain Alfred Dreyfus. Of the artil-
lery, a member OF a wealthy Hebrew
family of Alsace, where he was horn
IN 1859, was on October Il. 1894 ar
rested on the charge of communicating
French military secrets 10 a foreign
power. Two months later Dreyfus was
tried By court-martial and found guilty
and On January ) he was publislv de
graded and deported TO Devils Island.
a Cayenne, French Guiana. there
apparently to spend the remainde- Of
his life.
1he friends and relatives Of Drev-
fus, notably his wife, always believed
in his innocence and devoted all heir
energies TO prove that he had been IN
justly condemned. Colonel PicouarI.
when he became chief Of the intel!i-
gence department OF the French army
IN 1863, examined the documents in The
proceedings against Dreyfus and ques-
toned the correctness of the procced-
AHSD, ohd, continuing Has lQSeSr4Zd-
tons. formed the opinion that the evil
dence pointed to Major Count Ester
hazy as being the guilty man.
Plcquart thereupon determined 10 see
that justice was done TO Dreyfls. 4
FAC smile Of the discriminating
document alleged to have been written
by DreyfuS found its way into the COL
umns OF a Paris newspaper and cause:
a sensation. The supporters of Drey-
fus claimed that the document was a
forgery and it was compared with the
handwriting of E~sterhaZy and alleged
to be the work of the latter. Soon At
terward Colonel Picquart was super
seeded as chief of the intelligence de-
partment by Colonel Henry, and llen
began a fight to preserve the honor of
the French army.
Dreyfus, on November 10. 1897,
charged E~sterhazy with writing the n
eliminating document, but the latter
was acquitted by a cOurt-martial in the
following January.
The late Emile lola warmly espoused
the cause of Dreyfus and made serious
charges against the French general
staff n the government in regard to
the court-martial Of Esterhazy, which
caused the government to prosecute the
popular author. lola eventually was
condemned to pay a heavy fine and
suffer imprisonment, but the sentence
was quaShed.
When NJ. C~avaignac became head Of
the French war office he read in the
chamber of deputies several documents
which he said proved the guilt of Drey-
fus. Colonel Picquart afterward charg-
ed that these documents were -forger-
les, for which he was arrested and de-
graded. But the friends of Dreyfus
were tireless in pushing his case and
brought about the arrest of Colonel
Henry, chief of the intelligence depart
ment, who, when driven to the last
ditch, confessed that he had forged the
of the discriminating documents. He
then comm tied suicide in prison.
BY this time the whole of France
was arrayed for Or against Dreyfus and
the utmost excitement prevailed in
military, political and social circles.
But a reaction of feeling in favor of
Dreyfus set in with the suicide Of Colo
mel Henry, and on June 8, 1899, a fresh
court-martial of Dreyfus was ordered
and the prisoner was brought back
from DEVILS Island to be tried. In
the meanwhile the press throughout
the world had been filled with stories
of barbarities which Dreyfus had been
subjected to during his solitary con-
fnement on Devils Island, which
aroused further feeling in his favor.
The second court martial of Dreyfus
opened at Rennes, France, August 7,
1899, under the presidency of Colonel
J%Ouaust. Dreyfus was represented by
Maittres Labori and Demange. Colonel
Picquart and Captain Freystetter, the
latter a member of the first court
martial, who at that time was opposed
t the prisoner, were the principal wit
nesses for Dreyfus. Opposed to the
prisoner was almost the whole French
army and the machinery of the gov
eminent. Strong evidence was brought
forth in favor Of DreyfuS and the case
of the prosecution was shown to DE
very weak, in fact to be resting almost
entirely on the document, stating that
D. was furnishing to the Ger
mans valuable information, whereas It
has since been disclosed that the lnl-
tial was "P' forged into Il D.. An
other point which the defense unSuc-
cessfuily attempted to prove was that
the discriminating letters had arrived
after Dreyfus was serving his sentence.
Later the correctness of these points
was established and ii was further
| proved that one of the witnesses at the
Renncs cOurt-martial received money
for his testimony. But after a long
and sensational trial Dreyfus was
! again convicted and was sentenced 10
ten years Imprisonment in a fortress,
Later he obtained a full pardon from
President Loubet II was set at Iper-
". The friends of this unfortunate
captain were not contented. They kept
hard at work hunting for fresh eE--
dence in his behalf and finally got the
case before the supreme ourt. Maltre
! Mornard. counsel for Dreyfus, in pre-
sentine his clients case before the su-
preme court, said Dreyfus did not ask
for damages. He desired only the
vindication Of his honor and the res
ST. - %14 itC- HF o.