Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1906-08-03

SHOWN to the Judges, but not to prey
fus nor his counsel. These secret
documents made up what afterwards
became known throughout the world
as the famous "dossier." These docu-
nlents, 1t was mysteriously explained,
not only to the judges, but to the cab
met, to the president, to parliament,
and to the press We're so terrible that
their publication would be the signal
for a war with great continental
power. The power referred to Of
course was Germany.
Dreyfus was convicted by the "dos-
sier." 1t may be stated here that the
documents which made up the dos
sier" were forgeries. Only one Of
them has ever been made public. It
was private letter from Lieut.. Col
Won Schwarzkoppen, the German mill.
tary attache, to Lieut. Col. Panizzardi;
his colleague of the Italian embassy,
written two years before, and which
contained the sentence:
"Cette canaille de D. devient trop
exigeunte." This dog of a ID. is
getting too importantly
1t was afterwards conceded by the
accusers of Dreyfus that the D." did
not refer to Dreyfus at all, but re-
ferred to another person.
Dreyfus was convicted and SEN
fenced. first to he publicly degraded
and then to be transported and inn
prisOned for life on Devils island, a
barren spot off Cayenne, South Amer
lea. On January 5, 1896, the first part
Of the sentence was carried out. The
troops We're drawn up In hollow
square. Dreyfus, in full dress uniform,
was conducted to the center of the
open space. A noncommissioned Off
Ger tore the epaulettes from his shout
ders, ripped the gold braid from his
coat, tore the buttons off, and finally,
as a supreme mark of degradation,
broke his sword across his knee and
threw the dishonored fragments to the
ground. Then the unhappy officer was
compelled to march to rogues music
along the front of his regiment.
A Prisoner on DEVILS Island.
On February 9, 1895, Dreyfus
reached Devils island. Here had been
erected stockade, like a pen in which
negro convicts are kept. In the stock
ade was a hut. In this hut, under the
glare of an equatorial sun, Dreyfus
was condemned to pass the remainder
Of his life. He ate and slept. in the
hut and took what exercise he cared
for in the little stockade Enclosure.
He was permitted to have no converse
with his guards. He was denied the
solace of books and newspapers. He
was permitted to write to his wife
once month and to receive one lei
ter month from her
The first clew to the innocence of
Dreyfus and to the identity of the real
culprit came later in the year 1895 by
the discovery by spies of card tele.
gram (petit bieu) written by Lieut..
Col. Won Schwarzkoppen and ad.
dressed to Commandant Esterhazy,
calling upon him to give more detailed
information.
This card telegram afterwards ia.
nous in the case as the petit bleu''
ut was written on little blue post
card)-was taken to Col. Georges
PicQuart. who had succeeded Col.
Sandherr as chief of the secret intelli.
gence bureau. Col. Picquart looked
into Esterhazy's record and anteced.
ents. He obtained specimens Of his
writing and made the sensational dis.
covery that it was Esterhazy and NOT
Dreyfus who had written the border.
eau.
The struggle Of Dreyfus' friends to
obtain new trial for him went on
increasingly, but 1t was not until 1899,
after the death OF President Faure and
the election of Loubet that they were
finally successful
Dreyfus landed in France on July 1,
1893, and was placed in prison at
Rennes to await his second trial. II
began on August 7. The same malig.
nant "dossier" was used against him.
Again he was convicted on forged eyi.
dence. He was sentenced on Septem.
Der 8 to ten years detention In fort.
ress on French soil. The years he had
passed on Devils island were deduct.
ed from the sentence President Lou.
bet committed the remaining years
Dreyfls. dismissed from the army
was free man. He retired to his
estates In the country, but for the last
six years he has quietly but persist,
emily worked for the vindication which
he has now gained.
/ *. ! 1 =, s