THE LANDING OF DREYFUS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 196, 19 August 1899, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE LANDING OF DREYFUS.

STORM, STRESS AND DRAMATIC

ACCOMPANIMENTS,

MDME. DREYFUS MEETS HER

HUSBAND.

(From Our Special Correspondent.)

LONDON, July 7. The clerk of the weather must be a

strong anti-Semite, judging from the howling tempest he turned on to accompany the landing of the unfortunate Captain Dreyfus last Saturday morning. The Sfax had been dodging oft" the Normandy coast for a week before it was finally decided to disembark the prisoner at midnight on Friday at Haliguen, a small fishing village on the Peninsula of Quiberon, and convey him thence to prison at Rennes. The long voyage home and subsequent waiting must have been a fearful ordeal to the much-tried man, yet he displayed marvellous composure. The cabin he was assigned on board the Si'ax was aft, because there he was out of the way of the sailors. It was the cabin of a petty officer. A sentinel with a loaded gun was on duty night and day at the door. Whenever the prisoner wanted anything he had to ask for it in writing. He begged for reviews, but as they dealt with the "affair" books were sent instead. His requests were few. When he took exercise the officers stood aloof and looked away. The men who brought him his food were civil, but silent as.the grave.

M. Yiguic, the Director of Public Safety, who received Dreyfus from the Sfax and convoyed; him to Rennes, was immensely struck with the poor man's impassivity. This official likewise says that the drenching rain and boisterous seas of Saturday night surpassed anything he cbnkl have imagined at mid-summer. He pitied the soldiers and policemen who stood for nearly four hours on the edge of the landing plnce. Captain Dreyfus was to have landed at nine in the evening, but no boat could put to sea. As it was, seasoned tars who rowed the prisoner from the Sfax felt nervous. The night was pitch dark. The howling oil the wind, the roaring of the waves, rendered every other noise inaudible. llaligutm has a short mole and faces towards the bay where the Sfax was lying at anchor. M. Henri Ceartl, a naturalist author, Lives on the water's edge, and with the light of a dark lantern saw Dreyfus disembark. Used to silence, Captain Dreyfus never said a word during the erossiug, when he landed or on his way to Eennes. Absolute silence was the' rule on board the Sfax. It had been the rule on the He dv Diable. A gaoler was dismissed for breaking it, though all he said was, "Courage, Dreyfus." But when the prisoner was shown into his room at the Eennes Prison he threw himself on the bed and wept convulsively.

According' to M. Viguie Captain Dreyfus looks iv pood health, and is not so aged as the papers say. His chin is no longer shaved, bnt is covered with a red beard, which the ship's barber trimmed onboard. A blue cloth suit had been provided for him, and a grey waterproof with a broadbrimmed felt hat. The brim was turned down and hid the upper part of his face. His manner was quite cool, and apparently he was unconcerned. M. Yiguie remarked that his military salutes were at the right instant and in the best form. For a moment only did he seem not to know exactly Avhat to do. It was when he and his guards reached the carriage in which they wore to drive to the railway station, three-quarters of a mile distant. Captain Dreyfus hesitated, as if not sure that he should enter first. On a sign from M. Viguie he stepped in, however, and seated himself on the furthest side, with his back to the horses. M. Viguie thinks he nevr saw more selfcommand. His expression showed absolutely nothing, and yet it was not vacuous. It was not an unpleasant face, nor did it strike one as the contrary of frank. There was nothing unsettled in the look, no betrayal of a dazed feeling, no sign of worry, of weariness, or of nervous tension. A gendarme took out a newspaper in the. train, and fell asleep when reading it. Captain Dreyfus had never seen a newspaper since he left Europe. He must have been intensely desirous to see one, but no sign of curiosity could be seen in his eyes. As, however, Dreyfus wears eye-glasses the latter fact is not specially remarkable.