CENTRAL FIGURE DEAD JUDICIAL ERROR

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 12, 13 July 1935, Page 9

CENTRAL FIGURE DEAD

JUDICIAL ERROR

DEVIL'S ISLAND PRISONER

CIIAEGE OF TREASON

United l'rcss Association—ily .Electric Tolecrapli—Cowright. (Received July 13, noon.) PARIS, July 12. - Obituary—Colonel Alfred Drqyfus, j the French officer who was sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island for alleged treason in 1894 and was released iivo years later following a fight by his family for his liberty. His was one of the most remarkable cases in history of a miscarriage of justice.

FIGHT FOR HIS FREEDOM

Colonel Alfred Dreyfus was born on October 9, 1859, the son of a Mulhouse manufacturer, and entered the army as a lieutenant of artillery. He was the victim of a judicial error which became famous throughout the world and was repaired only after years of agitation and after France had been stirred to her depths. Dreyfus had been trained at the French military college and finally received an appointment at the Ministry of War.' I . During the summer of 1894 an anonymous letter abstracted from the German Embassy was communicated to the Minister of War. It had been addressed to the military attache, Colonel yon Schwartzkoppen, and was written as a covering letter with some military memoranda. In it were enumerated the documents which the writer j hoped to send to Schwartzkoppen. i It was obvious that a French officer j was betraying his country. The writing in the letter was held to be like that j of Dreyfus and he was arrested on October 15. He maintained his innocence and actual evidence against him was extremely scanty, the main basis of the charge being the alleged similarity of his handwriting to that of the letter. For this reason General Mercier, Minister of War, placed before the tribunal secret documents which could not fail to impress them, and did this unknown to the prisoner or to his counsel, M. Demange. Dreyfus was unanimously found guilty and sentenced to life detention in a fortified area. He was interned at Devil's Island, and his family, convinced that he had been made a victim of a terrible error, began a fight for Colonel Dreyfus's liberty. A FIND. This could not succeed unless new' evidence was brought to light, and an officer entirely unconnected with the family made the necessary dis-i covery. Colonel Piquart, head of the information branch of the French Secret Service, became possessed of a! letter which Schwartzkoppen had torn] up and absent-mindedly thrown into i the wastepaper basket. This was ad-j dressed to a French officer, Major i Esterhazy. and showed that he was in Schwartzkoppen's pay. It was discovered that Esterhazy led a dissipated life and was heavily in debt, and the incriminating letter which had imprisoned Dreyfus was revealed to be in Esterhazy's handwriting. Convinced of the innocence of Dreyfus, Colonel I Piquart then laid this fresh information before his superiors. Then began one of the most extraordinary campaigns in history, on the one side to free an innocent man, on the other to make him a victim of officialdom and to refuse to acknowledge a mistake. When Piquart declared that he would disclose the information he had discovered the chief and deputy chief of the French General Staff had him transferred to a distant post in Tunisia. The deputy director of the intelligence branch then brought forward a letter declared to be written by Colonel Panizzardi, the Italian military attache. It was an evident forgery, but if true would have left no doubt of the guilt of the Frenchman. Colonel Piquart had passed information on to his friend the lawyer M. Leblois, who discussed it in turn with the vice-president of the Senate. This man became convinced that Dreyfus was innocent and began agitation on his behalf. HAND OF CHANCE. j At the same time Mathieu Dreyfus, i brother of the condemned man, had come to realise, by mere chance, that the writing in the incriminating letter was that of Esterhazy. On November; 15 1897, he wrote to the Minister of War accusing Esterhazy of the crime for which Dreyfus had been convicted. The General Staff would not confess their mistake, and though Esterhazy was court-martialled his acquittal was secured. A. Press campaign of great violence now broke out against those who were working for the imprisoned man. They were represented as traitors to their country. Colonel Piquart was thrown into prison on a pretext (that he had communicated confidential papers to a civilian—M. Leblois!) but by now influential supporters were being gained for the Dreyfus case. Among them were Clemenceau, Guyot, and Reinacn. Two days after the Esterhazy acquittal Emile Zola published his, famous "J'accuse," in which he openly addressed the president and denounced the efforts being made to stifle the truth. He was proceeded against at the instance of the Minister of W«u and condemned to a year's lmprisonm The cry for revision of the sentence became more insistent and the Minister of War brought forward the forged letter from Panizzardi. This was proved to be a forgery and its discoverer" committed suicide. Finally th^Government decided to lay the case before the Court of Appeal, which annulled the sentence. Dreyfus was brought back for a new trial, and this, lasted a month. On September 9, 1899 the court-martial, by five votes to two, found him guilty with extenuating circumstances, and after an incoherent judgment sentenced him to ten years' imprisonment. This amazed The public, and finally the Government decided to pardon Dreylus. He* set at liberty and settled in Parih. In 1903 fresh facts came to light and another hearing, was demanded from the Court of Appeal which, after lonfe inquiry, quashed the sentence in July, 19CG Dreyfus was completely lehabiiitated, he was promoted major in the army, and reached the rank oi colonel in 1919, when he retired and shortly afterwards was awarded the Legion of Honour.