The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-07-12

TO-
tary council, but in vain. The degrade
ton took place July 5, 1895, in the court
YARD OF the Ecole Militaire. The cere-
mony began at nine O'clock in the morn
ing and the public viewed it from with
out
In reviewing the tragic spectacle
tnaI followed. the pens of Partisan re-
porters, with their characteristic love
TOT me melodramatic, unconscfously
gave tremendous moral support to the
unna ppy man. In attempting to de-
plct MS careless dfsdain Of his humilia-
ton, they eulogized his dignity, his
composure, his absolute fearlessness,
his scorn of the mocking crowds.
thousands on reading these descrip-
lions. said to themselves. That man
must be innocent
On that day Dreyfus wrote to his
counsel from the Prison de Ia Sante,
letter which began as follows:
Cher Maitre:-I have kept my
promise to you. Innocent, I have
faced the most awful martydom which
can be inflicted on a soldier. I have
suffered the most terrible torture i'm
aginable. How much happier I
should have been in the tomb All
would be ended I should be al rest.
all my suffering forgotten. But alas,
duty does not permit it. I must live.
l must allow myself to be nartyred for
long weeks to come, before the truth
- - e--s7HC CAc cAAA lily AAd4AAC
habilitated.,'
On DEVILS Island.
On February 9. 1895, the French
chamber made a special law sending
Dreyfus to French Guiana, on the east
ern coast of South America In March
he was transported. BY order of the
governor general of the colony he was
confined on the lie du Diable one of
the three Hes du Salut, or Safety Is
lands, which lie about sixteen miles
from Cayenne the capital of French
Guiana. There he was to remain in
solitary confinement for the rest of his
natural life and he did remain there
suffering tortures untold until the sum-
mer of 1899 when he was taken back
to France for a second court martial
the Cour de Cessation having granted
the unfortunate man one.
Hardly had Dreyfus left the shores
of France for Devils Island when a re-
vulsion of public sentiment started
over his conviction. The friends and
relatives of Dreyfus. notably his wife,
believed in his innocence and
devoted all their energies to the work
of proving that he had been unjustly
condemned.
Colonel Piquart, when he became
chief of the Intelligence department of
the French army in the late fan or $50,
examined the documents in. the pro-
CGGQlnk against anu 40Cot4CH~N
the correctness of the proceedings and
continuing his Investigations, formed
the opinion that the evidence pointed
to Major Count Esterhazy as being the
guilty man. Pfcquart determined to
see that Justice was done and then
there ensued that memorable flght TO
preserve the honor of the french
army. Fsterhazy was tried by court
martial for writing the most incrirn-
mating documents in the case but was
ACQUITTED by a court martial IN jan
uary. 1898. When NJ. Cavaignac be-
came the head of the French war ONCE
he read in the chamber OF deputies
several documents which, he said.
proved the guilt of Dreyfus. Colonel
Picouart afterwards charged that these
documents were forgeries for which he
was arrested and degraded.
ZoIa Espouses His Cause.
nv this time all France was afiame
again over the celebrated case and the
general feeling was that Dreyfus had
been wronged n1onktr DUSTY, me laes
Emil lola espouSeds the cause of Drey-
fus with his mighty pen. He ADDRESS
ed letter to NJ. Felix Faure, president
of France, to do justice TO DreyIus.
Near the end of the epistle, IN a rev
words terrible in force OF expression,
marvellous in rhetorical form, he ar
raigned the members of the general
staff as actors in the conspiracy against
Dreyfus and dared them to prosecute
him for libel. This the government be-
gan to do at once and he was convict
ed and sentenced to pay heavy fne
and serve a term in prison but this
was afterwards quashed- Al
the Zola trial the government made
every effort to keep out matters per-
tanning to the conviction of Dreyfus but
ZOla's counsel the famous Maltre
Labor succeeded in bringing to light
enough of the foul conspiracy that the
9cfr NJ hn
which was started by NJ. Scheurer-
Kestner, a vice president Of the senate
in 1897, took added strength despite the
statements of the minister of war, NJ
CaVaignac.
When Pfduart was arrested and de-
graded Lieutenant Colonel Henry sue
ceeded him as the head of the secret
bureau Henry, apparently
was the tool of the arch conspirators
against Dreyfus, admitted on August
80 1898, that he had forged document
Dreyfus' guilt and couple
of days later he committed suicide. AT
any rate he was found dead in the
Mont Valerien prison where he was
sent after confessing to the forgery and
many people believe that he was muir
dered so that he could not incrimlnate
other officers in the army in the plot
against Dreyfus.
1898, referred the Dreyfus verdict to
the Cour de Cessation, the supreme
court of appeal. for revision. After
months of labor, during which there
we're all sorts of upheavals in the gen
eral staff of the army and the court
as we'll and several court martials. this
court on June 3, 1899, ordered revision
Of the case and Dreyfus was brought
hack to undergo a second court mar
tial at Rennes.
The verdict Of this court martial was
"a Their of the Scotch order. The mem
bers of the court decided that Dreyfus
had been guilty Of something or other
against the honor of the army but that
he had been punished sufficiently for
his offense and once again Dreyfus was
a free man but with q stain to his name
which he has been working ever since
to have washed away.
And at last Dreyfus, the Frenchman.
who from the depths of his torrid cell
never ceased to cry .'vive la France is