Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1906-07-20
YINDICATION
OF DREYFUS
HAS BEEN COMPLETELY AC-
Quilted OF CHARGES.
ENTITLED TO RANK IN ARMY
Is Restored to Advance Rank in the
Army as Though He Had Never
Been Accused-Decision Comes as
a Relief to All of France.

a h0lle1 60 All OF FRANCE.
Paris.-Alfred Dreyfus has beea
completely acquitted of the charges
on which he was condemned as a trail
tor, dismissed from the army and I'M
prisoned or Devils Island, and re-
garding which France has been torl
for years by the most bitter political
and racial agitation. His vindication
is two-fbld, the supreme court fir it
announcing a decision establishing the
entire innocence of the accused man,
and the minister Of war deciding later
to present an immediate bill restoring
Dreyfus to the army with advanced
rank and otherwise giving repara-
tion
The decision of the court was a
foregone conclusion.
The main features of the decision
were as follows:
First, that the documents from Gen.
Mercier, ''secret papers," presented
at the Rennes courtmartial, in which
the initial SD" was substituted for
''P, was Justification and being
the strong presumption of Dreyfus
Innocence; second, that another docu-
ment Of the secret papers in which
Dreyfus was alleged to have been
shown TO have delivered to Germans
the plans for the railway mobilization
never reached the war department.
authorities, and therefore Dreyfus
could not have secured possession OF
1t; third, that the Rennes courtmar-
tial failed to hear essential testimony
calculated to establish the fact tha.
Dreyfus was innocent.
These facts,'' the decision Of the
court says, without looking for any
further grounds, are Of a nature to
establish the innocence of the accused,
and 1t IS only necessary to examine
whether the verdict Of the Rennes
cOurtmartial shall be annulled with
out retrial or be followed by another
trial by courtmartial. +"
After lengthy review Of the docu-
ment In the case, known as the bor-
dereau, the decision says it was writ
ten by Major Count Esterhazy, AMI
that the accusations connecting Drey-
fus with the bordereau rest only
on hypothesis and conjecture.
'"The accusation against Dreyfus, -
continues the decision, whether
based on the handwriting or text Of
bordereau, was completely unjustifed
and without motive
Moreover, Dreyfus, having a large
fortune, one seeks i'll vain for any
reason for his committing such
crime.
The court therefore holds that as
all the accusations against the accused
fall to the ground, there is no aeces-
slty for a new trial, and consequently
the judgment in condemnation is an
nuHed as unwarranted by the evi-
dence."
In conclusion, the court noted Drey-
fus' waving of pecuniary indemnity
and ordered its decision to be tran
scribed on the records of the Reanes
courtmartial, and to be inserted in
the official journal and also in five
newspapers to be designated by the
procurator general, aad at the cost
of the government in fifty papers of
Paris and the provinces to be desig-
mated by Dreyfus.
In the chamber Of deputies the dis
cussion of the Dreyfus case was post
poned, owing to the assurance of Pre-
mier Sarrien that Dreyfus will imme-
diately be restored to the army with
the rank Of brigadier general.
1t has already been determined thai
besides the restoration Of Dreyfus to
the army, a special bill will be pre-
sented to parliament authorizing the
minister of war to restore Col Pic
quart, whose sense of justice brought
about the quashing Of the verdict Of
the Rennes court-martial to the army,
from which he was degraded owing
to the charges which he brought
against the late Col. Henry.
Captain Alfred Dreyfus Of the ar
tillery, a member of a wealthy He
brew family Of Alsace, where he was
born in 1859, was, on Oct. IA, 1894,
arrested on the charge of communicate
ing French military secrets to a for
eign power. Two months later Dreyfus
was tried by court-martial and found
guilty and Jaa. 5 he was publicly de-
graded and deported to Devil IS Island
near Cayenne. French Guina. there
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