The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-15
DISCOVERY OF
 THE FORGERY Story of tbe Vindication
 of syfus, GUILT e MAJOR EsTERHAzY coms dson of the Writing and the
 Famous Bordereau. BIT. Bunsu-variIla First Obtained Clue From the Fact That the Long 's" was Transposed--A Fight
 For Justice.
GUILT e MAJOR EsTERHAzY

Paris. July 14.--As a fitting epilogue to the acquittai of Alfred Dreyfus. NJ Philip Bunau-vari1la today gave the Associated Press a remarkable story of how he first discovered positive proof of Dreyfus's innocence and the guilt of Major Count Esterhazy. story heretofore known only to few tntimates, Including Dreyfuss who said during q recent dinner here that while the establishing of his innocence was attributed to many causes, M Bhnau- Varilfa's chance detection of the coun- terfeit bordereau, or the main docu- ment on which the prosecution relied. was the real cause of the triumph of justice.
 The interview occurred at the resi- dence of M Runau-varilla, where his study is hung with souvenirs of his services with the late Count de Lesseps and as minister at Panama. at Wash ington and more recently of hls strug- gle in behalf of a sea level canal
 Yes" said M. -Vatilla, "a doc- ument among those old records was the basis of the whole Dreyfus agitation and was Instrumental in his final ac- quittal Dreyfus and I entered the Polytechnic School together in 1878. I recall his very characteristic Jewish look which was rather nnprepossess- ing. But he was a good fellow and companionabie student Our ways parted on our graduation; he going in- to the army and I becoming govern- ment engineer. We seldom came to- gether after that but once, chanclng to meet him on the Avenue Montaigne. we chatted about project which | was directing for the development of the French Congo.
 Got Letter From Dreyfus.
 Dreyfus wrote me asking for infor-i nation about the project for the pur-I pose of writing 2 geographical study an oversight the letter remained un-I answered., It was some years later that Dreyfus was arrested and convict cd before secret court martial Il first thought he was victim of the prevailing antl-sensitic sentiment. but tho conviction appeared to establish htss gull; Hnppening to dine after- wards with. my brother Maurice, prd-l prietor of The Matin. he spoke of hav-l ing q photographic reproduction of the bordereau. constituting the only proof upon which Drreyfus was convicted. All the official photograprs of the bor- derau had been scrupulousIy traced and returned to the court, but some one had ingeniously photographed one of the photographs and this was de- liyered to my brother with the idea that its publication would prevent fur. ther assertions that Dreyfus was in- nocent. However, Maurice decided not to publish 1t. as he did not wish to again call public attention to Dreyfus, who was then considered to be a vile traitor.
 When my brother spoke of the bor- dereau. the idea flashed across my mind that I might compare the docu- ment with something written by Drey- fus during our school days. I finally found the old, unanswered letter in fnh nrA relative to the Congo"
 Letter and the Bordereau.
 Bunau Varilla then showed the cor respondent of the Associated Press a letter written on note paper in a del- icate hand in which Dreyfus asked his old school chum to give him infor- nation about the Congo for geograph- teal study. By the side of this letter M. Bunau-Varilla placed the photo graph of the bondercau, which he still possesses.
 T began a careful comparison of the bordereau and Ereyfuss Congo letter" he continued. "The first glance gave me the impression that they were in the same handwriting, but suddenly I | observed something which caused me | profound astonishment. In Dreyfus's letter to me the words having a dou- bio g were written with a long "a | first and short 's' second, whereas in | the bordereau 1t was just the reverse. The short s was first and the long 's' | second I myself write a double s' with a long s flrst.
 q tried to reverse the letters. but | 1t was impossible. It was like right 1 handed man trying to write with his | left hand. My brother made a com | parison of the Bordereau and the let | ter, and reported the same conslusion. namely that the handwriting of the letter about the Congo was not that of the Bordreau. As together we though an earthquake had shaken us
 Morris immediately announced his l determination to publish the photo- graphed Bordereau so that everyone | possessing letters written by Dreyfus | would be able to make comma rfSona and the following day the people gen l erally and the Dreyfus family in par ticular saw for the first time what | has since been known as the Border | eau.
 From the appearance of that pho- tograph of the Bordereau. dates ai | most everything known as the Drey- | fus affair. Everything of importance | which followed was in conseQuence of | that discovery and the publication of | the photograph of the Bordereau.
 Robbed by Unknown Persons.
 But the three main consequences were:
 The Three Main Conseaueneea.
 "First-The Dreyfus family were al- lowed to see the mystery and the only proof that Dreyfus was convicted on | and they were thus able to make com parisons establishing the innocence of Dreyfus
 "Second-T'he appearance of the pho- tograph of the bordereau led M. Cas- tro, a stock broker. to recognize it as being in the handwriting of one of his clients, Count EsteFhazy. thus precipi- tating EsterhaGy's trial and the pulpit | cation ot Zola's famous accuse let ter.
 "Third-The appearance of the photo. graph of the bordereau permitted Col onei Picquart (head of the intelligence department to break his silence and become the most powerful witness es- tablishIns the innocence of Dreyfus.
 "All the facts which so violently az itated the world for years were sim ply the results of three essential facts following the appearance of the photo- nh Of the bOrd areau which xryo,,td