TRADUCER OF DREYFUS.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 2777, 19 October 1923, Page 9

TRADUCER OF DREYFUS.

FAMOUS TRIAL RECALLED, DEATH OF LEADING ACTOR. SOUGHT OBSCURITY IN ENGLAND Death has removed one of the principals in the notorious Dreyfus drama, which stirred and excited Europe in the 'nineties. For three months .Major Fernand Esterhazy has been buried in the httle parish church of Harpenden, in Hertfordshire, but the world remained ignorant of the fact until now. Esterhazy, while in the French secret service, was the author of the famous document over which the affair arose. Captain Dreyfus, wrongly con. victed of writing it, was sent to Devil's Island nearly 30 years ago. It is history now how the exile was condemned a second time, how finally his innocence was established amid national rejoicing, and how Esterhazy, forger and spy, went to England to spend the remainder of his life. Few poople in,this peaceful little village suspected the identity of the man whose name once rang throughout the world, and his body is now mouldering in a grave at present unnamed. ..

Seventeen long years have elapsed since Major Esterhazy sought sanctuary on England's hospitable shores, there to try and live down his guilty part in one of the most amazing political intrigues in modern history. He never succeeded in doing so, though he cleverly masked, his identity from thoso who were his neighbours. The passage of years has faded none of the villiany from the role he played in that scandal o.f scandals, H& called himself the Count Jean de 'Voilement, but his name was originally Mane Charles Ferdinand Walsin. He added to this in the full flush of his career tho name o.f "Esterhazy." This lie prefixed with the label "Couut," and he tried to suggest a relationship with the princely family of Esterhazy, which has given soldiers and statesmen and ambassadors to Hungary and Austria. There are three branches of this family, but the elaborate genealogies contain no reference to one which settled in France, according' to the betrayer's claim. Born either in Germany or Alsace, he entered the French Army soon after the Franco-German war of 1870-1871. He served in the Tunis expedition in 1884, and in 1888 became a captain. Next he was ap. pointed commandant of the 74th Line Regiment quartered in Paris. The crlsi3 in his life occurred while he was in the French secret service. He was then weak enough to sell information to Colonel Schwarzkoppen, thp German military attache in. Paris, who paid him £BO a month. ACTED IN DESPERATION.

Discovery threatened him and his accomplice, Colonel Henry, in 1894. In desperation, they decided to take advantage of the anti. Semitic agitation then proceeding in France, and "plant" the offence on Captain Dreyfus, a very talented and efficient oflicer of Jewish origin. It was here that the famous document' called the "bordereau" came into the affair. It was a memorandum of secret details of the French artillery, etc., and was said to have been found in the overcoat pocket of Colonel Schwarzkoppen,. The document was alleged to be in Dreyfus's handwriting, but if was.really' a forgery by Esterhazy. Semitic feeling was' aroused against the innocent victim, and in the storm of public anger Dreyfus was tried, convicted, degraded, and sent tq Devil's Island, The world had almost forgotten' him when, two years later, another little document turned up, which literally sprung a mino in the affair. It consisted of a suspiciously-worded postcard, apparently from the German Embassy, and addressed to Major Esterhazy. Col. Picquart, head of the French Intelligence'Department, who inquired into the matter, was con. vinced that Esterhazy was the traitor, and not Dreyfus, but Picquart was removed from liia post aad succeeded by Colonel Henry. BROTHER ISSUES CHALLENGE. Dreyfus' brother then openly challenged Esterhazy with being the author of the "bordereau," but the major replied that Dreyfus had tried

to imitate his handwriting. Ho claimed a court-martial, which, on January 11, 1898, solemnly acquitted him of any treachery to France, while a "faked" charge was got up against Colonel Picquaui, This last atrocity aroused the fiery indignation of. Emile Zola, the famous novelist. Ho charged the French Ministers and officers with boing in a great conspiracy against an innocent man.

Zola was prosecuted and fled to England. Hot upon this came the discovery that one of the letters in, the case had been forged by Colonel Henry, who committed suicide in prison. This burst the entire bubble. The conviction of Dreyfus was quashed, and Major Esterhazy also fled to England, where he openly admitted that he wrote the "bordereau," declaring that he did it on the; orders of his superior officer, General Sanherr, "They are a pack of miserable scoundrels," he added, "these great gods of war who now abandon me in so cowardly a fashion," He maintain, ed that his object in writing the "bordereau" was to detect the traitor. FLACID LIFE IN ENGLAND. The story of lis life in England was told after his death by his wife, a charming French woman, somewhat younger than ho was. "I can only speak o.f him," she related "as I knew him.' Wc lived for a time near Paddrngton, and my husband was then engaged in literary work. He continued this occupation as long as he had strength to sit up in bed and use a pencil—that is to say, within a few weeks of his death. From London we moved to Hertfordshire, as his health was failing fast. We took a small cottage, and when we arrived there he was nearly dying, but was restored by a doctor of high reputation. His literary work, to which he devoted himself almost night and day, increased in quality and financial result. At length we were able to buy a larger house, standing in its own ground, surrounded by a large fruit garden, and with an orchard adjoining it. My husband kept a beautiful horse. He was passionately fond of riding. He was a lover of the country and animals above all, and besides discussing with his friends political subjects he would often refer to musical and artistic matters. POLICE GUARD SECRET About'.the time war broke out, the state of his lungs became much worse, and soon afterwards we sold tho horse and thereafter my husband seldom went beyond tho garden gate. He preferred to work at night. Usually be began his writing at- about half-past ten, and worked until three or four o'clock in the morning, when he went to bed and did not get up until noon. He had no means apart from his liter, ary work." The police, it is believed, discovered the real identity of the "Count" when he had to register his name during the war, but they closely preserved the secret. His neighbours believed him to be a retired colonel, for in the hall of his house was a great collection of firearms, and beside them hung his old helmet. He died at the age of about 70 from pneumonia following influenza, and was buried in the parish churchyard at Harpenden by a Roman Catholic priest. There is nothing to mark his identity on the grave, which lies in the corner o.f the little green enclosure.