Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1906-08-03
.DREYFUS VINDICAT Ed.
NAME OF FAMOUS FRENCH JEW
rs CLEARED.

Officer Once Degraded as Convicted
Traitor Will Be Restored to Place
in Army-History Of the
Tragedy.
Paris.-The complete yindication
OF Capt. Alfred Dreyfus of the charge
of treason has been practically as
sured, and it is said he will be given
the ribbon Of the Legion of Honor.
Prosecutor General Baudouin, in
concluding his address to the SUI
preme court, formally asked the
court to quash the verdict of the
Rennes court-martial without re.
trial.
"The peace of the country" the
prosecutor said, demands 1t, and the
whole world awaits the courts sum-
mary disposition of the subject, which
will be triumph for justice and
truth"
With the government prosecutor
asking the court to quash the Rennes
verdict without retrial, the supreme
courts decision goes without say
ing.
Quashing the Rennes verdict leaves
Dreyfus an officer in the French army,
cleared of all dishonor. 1t entities
him to command. He will be in the
line Of promotion.
The French people years ago ceased
to look upon Dreyfus as a traitor.
Instead he long has been regarded as
q martyr, and the Judgment of the
court restoring him to the army will
be acclaimed as an act Of national
restitution to greatly wronged man.
Story Of the Dreyfus Tragedy.
Alfred Dreyfus, a Jew, was a cap-
tain in the French army in 1898. He
was modest, unassuming man, liv-
ing happily with his wife and chill
dren. Fate made him the victim OF
one of the greatest conspiracies de-
veloped in the history of modern Eu-
rope.
For some months before 1894 1t was
known to the French government that
some French officer was traitorously
selling French military secrets to
the German staff. It was known that
Germany had bought the secret of the
French method of charging melinite
shells and also the secret that bat
teries Of the new No. 120 guns had
been assigned to the Ninth army
corps.
It may be stated right here that
1t is now generally admitted that
the real traitor was one Commandant
Esterhazy, BLACKBOARD, gambler,
and a degenerate, who for some mys:
terious reason was shielded by every.
one in the conspiracy. When he
could no longer be used Esterhazy
was driven from France. He went to
London, where he lived and died in
wretched poverty, after selling the
secret of his treachery to newspa-
per for a few shillings.
No one outside Of the conspirators
knew that Esterhazy was the officer
who was selling French military
secrets to the German staff. The task
of discovering the traitor was placed
in the hands Of the intelligence bu-
reau of the French general stan. IN
1893 the chief of the Intelligence bu-
reau was Col Sandhurst. He set his
spies to work.
Discovery Of the Treason.
It was not until September, 1894,
that the spies Of the secret intelli-
gence department discovered in the
waste paper basket of Lieut.. Col. Won
Schwarzkoppen the German mill
tary attache, fragments Of a paper,
which, when pieced together, formed
q memorandum. OF which this is the
translation:
''In the absence OF any news indicat-
ing your desire to see me, neverthe-
less send you, Sir, certain ihforma-
ton Of interest: az A note on the
hydraulic brake Of 120 (method Of
operating this piece); a note on the
outpost troops "a few notifications
will be made in the new plan) (3) a
note on modification In artillery for
nation; a. a note relating to NADIA
gascar; (5) the scheme relative to
the manual Of field firing Of March
IA, 1894. am just leaving for
the maneuyers." si55
The foregoing memorandum after
wards became known as the famous
"bordereau, which figured through
out the entire Dreyfus case.
Choose Dreyfus for Victim.
Col Sandherr, chief Of the secret
Intelligence bureau, was the first man
to directly accuse Dreyfus Of writing
the bordereau. He 1t was who first
suggested that the writing resembled
That OF Dreyfus. He pointed out that
Dreyfus was native Of Alsace. and
that he spoke and wrote German as
huently as he did French. (The Dor.
dereau was written In Germany
On October is. 1894, Capt. Dreyfus
vas called to the war Office He was
nshered into a room where he found
Maj. Du Patty de Clam seated at a
table. He was asked by the major to
seat himself and to write at dictation
Before witnesses Dreyfus began to