Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 105, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 September 1899 — PLEADS FOR DREYFUS. [ARTICLE]

PLEADS FOR DREYFUS.

M. Demange Eloquently Aska Justice for Accused Officer. The court room at Rennes Friday was pervaded with an air of great solemnity when M. Demange began his plea in defense of Dreyfus. The prisoner entered the court looking unusually forlorn and piteously wretched. M. Demange stood silent for a moment before he spoke. Drawing himself together for the supreme effort of his life, he began by saying he was a Frenchman, and the son of a soldier. M. Demange’s gestures were frequent and he spoke in a tense voice, vibrant with emotion. Recalling the testimony of Detective Cochefort, M. Demange said: “I find this man was persecuted, trapped and pursued in an endeavor to find him guilty. At the time of the dictation test to which he was subjected by Du Paty de Olam a pistol was put before him for an obvious reason. Dreyfus did not use it Instead he cried: ‘I will not die. lam innocent and I will live to prove it’ On the day after his condemnation he proved the sincerity of his utterance by sending a letter to the war ministry in which he begged that, the truth of his case be sought. This purpose and this hope sustained him through his long years on Devil’s Island, and brings him here to-day.” Then fame a scene which will live forever in the memory of those present. M. Demange began reading from letters written by the prisoner while on Devil’s Island. These were wonderful human documents. They told of suffering which alternated with hope and despair. In them Dreyfus related how he lay in irons, and when the guards, more pitiful - than their officers, stole in to him during the darkness in order .to cleanse with rags the chafed sores upon his wrists and ankles. “Yet through all this ordeal,” said M. Demange, who with eloquence was now carrying his auditors with him, “there was always but one cry, ‘I am innocent.’ ” The emotion of the orator was contagious. First women in the court began to weep. There were few present but what paid a tribute to feeling as they listened to the moving words of the defense. Dreyfus, who sat without his usual erectness, seemed overwhelmed with the recollection of his sufferings. His lips trembled, and he frequently wiped his eyes. Six of the judges sat with a fixed expression, listening intently, but the seventh, Maj. Profilette, furtively removed unsoldierly tears from his cheeks. M. Demange told of the alleged confes-' sion of Dreyfus. He took the secret dossier in hand, piece by piece, telling of the origin and history of it, and sifting thk legal value of each document with its" re-’ lation to the accused. He dwelt on the fact that M. Cavaignac had withheld pieces favoring Dreyfus from the dossier. He controverted the conclusions of Maj. Carriere. He dwelt especially on the evidence of Maj. Cuignet, who had testified vehemently his belief in the prisoner’s guilt. M. Demange then discussed the moral proofs of the prisoner’s innocence, including the performances of Esterhazy and the late CoL Sandherr, who sought to maintain his guilt. The Henry forgery and its consequences was also dwelt upon by the speaker at length. The court adjourned until Saturday morning-