Show C ela degraduUofi < you were entrusted r with tile > task of conducting him from t the Cher he Midi prison to the military chotjl where he remained some time in tour charge Tell the court what l passed between him and you at that time 55 Captain lo BrunRenault Sctur day n i 1893 I was ordered with my squadron to proceed to the Cherchc Midi prison and take charge of Drey i lus who was to be degraded at 9 J S oclock in one of the court yards of the military school Starting at 715 I arrived n ar-rived at the place Indicated at 745 The oQH of the garrison adjutant was pointed out to me as the place to keep the prisoner until the hour of degrada i ton parade He began to protest his innocence and to say that with con jte r iderablc > means at his disposal and aright g > S bi a-right future In store for him he would have no motive in being guilty of treason trea-son He said S The Alleged Confession I am innocent In three years my f Innocence will be acknowledged The minister kncvs it well He told Du S Paty de Clam to tell me so some days I ago in my cell He knows that if I communicated documents to Germany I i they were of no importance and it was i Ito I-to obtain more serious and more Important I Im-portant documents i t The witness added that Captain dAt i S tel was present when the statement was i S made Continuing Captain le Brun i Renault said that as soon as four artillerymen i 5 ar-tillerymen commanded by a corporal I came to take the prisoner to the courtyard r court-yard for the ceremony of degradation radatol lie witness left the ofiice and was immediately I p im-mediately surrounded by several offi of 5 cers to whom he repeated Dreyfus remarks f re-marks He also repeated them at the i captains mess of the Republican guard Jlefemng to articles in the newspapers S in regard to the confession CaPtain le I BrunRenault said S General Mercier aid to me Go to S the Elysee and repeat to the president of the republic what you have told r me i Talked to Newspaper Men While I was in the anterocm I heard f i someone make remarks about me in i very discourteous tones M Dupuy i shered me before the president who said You have had relations with journalists jour-nalists and have been indiscreet Cer tan articles have appeared In the newspapers news-papers I replied that perhaps journalists were among the persons I had seen but I said I had not spoken directly to journalists Ko mention was made of the confession and I left after having iccelved a lecture from the president x M Dupuy took me into another room and drew up a semiofficial note to the S effect that I had no relations with the press One of the judges asked the witness i he did not remember hearing Dreyfus witnes say that the documents delivered were S only copies to which Captain le Brun Renault replied I do not recollect I do not remem ber that phrase but he may reme said 1t I talked with Dreyfus for a quarter of an hour The sentence I have quoted was that which I jotted down in my S note book S A Judge What did General Mercier tell you when tel who you mentioned the con fession to him cn Captain le BrunRenault He asked what Dreyfus had said and then told an me to go to the Elysee and describe the confession But I was give decJb time to mention i then Tho Judge Did you go there for that purpose I Captain le BrunRenault went S there for that purpose I The Judge It is a great pity you said nothing on the subject I Why He Did Not Tell I Le BrunRenault had no time to epeak of it The president moreover seemed much semed more concerned about a remark by Dreyfus concerning the writing of tho bordereau which had been published in a newspaperS S A Judge Did the president know what you came to the Elysee for Le BrunRenault The president a notified that I was For 11tle coming my part I was somewhat intimidated S which is easily explained 1 herd myself my-self described as a traitor canaille and cur That was not encouraging M Demange as ec the witness if it was really a conversation with Drey fus or if the prisoners remarks prsoners rearks consisted con-sisted of a broken dialogue as General Gonse had said Captain le BrunRenault Dreyfus poke to me but I did not reply 1 Demange asked how the witness could detect confessions in a sentence Containing the words I am innocent xn three years my innocence will be acknowledged Le BrunRenault is not for me to reconcile the inconsistence of a sentence In which the material facts that documents docu-ments had been communicated was admitted ad-mitted I is not for me to give an explanation ex-planation I is for Dreyfus and the defense to explain I heard this defens e herd sentence sen-tence I was only a kind of phonograph J eve I repeated it without commentary Excitement Dreyfus Said a Great Deal S Replying further to M Domange the witness refused to say whether or not he regarded the words of Dreyfus as a confession I have no impression whatever he said Dreyfus said a grcat deal to me I retained this sentence and I repeated j when asked I I did not mention it in my report i was because I had the task of conducting Dreyfus from the prison to the place of degradation and it was not my duty to make Dreyfus talk Excitement I M Demange How could General Gonse and General Merder on hoer ing your story believe they had to deal wih a confession and why did they send you to the Elysee Lc BrunRerault have no idea M Demange reminded the witness that tefore the court of cassation he considered the sentence of the prisoner which he had quoted to be a kind of explanation or excuse Captain le lrunRenault Why Monsieur Mon-sieur k President that is a personal question I have no opinion to express on that point I am no judge of things I repeat simply what Dreyfus told me Certain persons may consider his remarks re-marks as embodying confessions others oth-ers as bring an explanation That is I their business Commotion Witness Is Inconsistent 3L Labori Captain le BrunRenault was not content with entering on his port oC Jan 5 i that duty commenced at such a our and ended at such an hour but pecially added Nothing to report < en a a matter or fact he alleges > a an incident of this im portancv oi ttrred Captain It l BrunRenault had nothing noth-ing to report My duty was to take Dreyfus from the prison and guard him I had nothing to say in regard to that duty M Labori Why did the witness keep the leaf of his pocketbook With the note of the confessions for years The witness seems to sar that it was mere S wines I am surprised that the wit ness destroyed it just the day after it a mentioned in the chamber of depu ties S tiesTo this CapTaln le BrunRenault replied re-plied that at that time he considered i that the document he possessed Was authenticated by the copy made of it by M Cavaignac the day before i was i destroyed M Labor1The court will draw its own conclusions Then turning to the svitnesfe M La I hori asked Who was the official who made abusive remarks about you at the Ei see Captain Ie BrunRenault have nol no-l ea At this 1 Labori said he was much surprIsed that witness had not referred 61rpred r to this abuse before the court of cassation cas-sation t Beply of Dreyfus Atked if he had an thing io say r I Dieyfus declared that when he was at i the military school on the day of his I degradation Captain Ie BrunRenault did not leave with hm > r v I < It is possible continued the prIsoner r l pris-oner that Captain dAttel entered the I i guard room but as far l I can jfcs rt I after live years interval no other officer I of-ficer but Captain le BrunRenault entered en-tered the room in VAhich I was I Replying to Colonel Jouaust > < upt3iii le BrunRenault reiterated that Captain Cap-tain dAttel entered therwom and remained re-mained there five minutes I Dreyfus replying said that in any case he certainly did not speak to captain cap-tain dAttel He added that he had already explained to the eO1rt that the words actually used on chat occasion referred to the steps taken Jn ieqard to him the prisoner by Colonel du Pat < le Clam to whom hi > had ex pre sel a desire that full light fahould be thrown upon his case Allow me continued Dreyfus lo express the emotion and surprise I feel today after five years when I free a witness who hearing such words beginning be-ginning with a protest of innocence reported them to his chiefs without I asking the most concerned person for an explanation of them These are proceedings pro-ceedings in the face of whi h all honest people can only express indignation Great sensation sensaton Heard the Confession Captain Antherne who was present at the degradation of Dreyfus wnsthe next witness He testified that on leaving leav-ing the parade ground he met Captain dAttel who informed him that Drey fus had made remarks in his presence the meaning of which to his mind clearly was First a formal confession that he had delivered the documents second an allegation that the documents docu-ments were unimportant third that the prisoners object was to obtain more important documents in exchange ex-change Replying to Captain Antherne the prisoner said he had only one observation observa-tion to make that he maintained rosi tively that he only spoke to Captain L BrunRenault and that he had nothing to add to his reply to the latter lat-ter Captain le BrunRenault recalled admitted that Captain dAttel did not speak to the prisoner but he added that as dAttel was in the room which was very small he certainly heard the words uttered by Dreyfus < M Labori What is very certain is that Captain dAttel made no report of the incident tohis chiefs General Mercier No S Lieutenant Colonel Guerin whom General Saussier ordered to attend the degradation was next examined He said At the Degradation At about 745 I saw the prison van arrive Dreyfus alighted and was taken to the office where he was guarded by Captain le BrunRenault whose name I did not know at that time At 855 the adjutant of the garrison relieved Captain le BrunRenault with four BrunRenaul wih artillerymen ar-tillerymen and a corporal composing the guard which was to conduct the prisoner to the place of degradation At that moment I was at the door of the building I Captain le BrunRenault when BrnRenau1 relieved re-lieved from duty saw me and began to relate what Dreyfus had said The three statements which Struck him I because of their importance remained so graven in my memory that I could I never forget them namely First the prisoners pride in the facings he had lost second his confession that he had delivered documents to a foreign power pow-er third that in three years justice would be done him A group of officers were standing near and as Captain le BrunRena conversation was not confidential and the statement he made to me was of great importance and interest to us I begged him to repeat to the officers what he had just told me While In the Prison Major Forsenetti who was governor of the Cherche Midi prison while Drey I fus was confined there testified tht while in prison Dreyfus always seemed to have the bearing of an innocent I man and always asserted his innocence The wines added that he told General I de Boisdeffre that he believed Dreyfus was innocent Continuing Major For senett said he wasjntimate with Captain Cap-tain le i BrunRenault and Captain dAttel but neither of them ever mentioned men-tioned to him the alleged confession of Dreyfus Replying to M Demange the major said Colonel du Paty de Clam asked him to surprise Dreyfus in his sleep in order to disturb him and catch him off hs guard by throwing the light of a blight lamp in his face The witness also recalled the despair of Dreyfus before be-fore his convictions and the regrets he expressed at not having resigned Dreyfus the major also said talked of committing suicide lie Thought of Suicide When Dreyfus rose to reply be admitted ad-mitted that after his degradation he intended to commit suicide but he added ad-ded that if he succeeded in enduring pndurinS the torture inflicted it was owing to his wife who made him understand his duty Commotion Major Forsenetti corroborated Forseneti this He said Dreyfus statement was quite correct S I Captain le BrunRenault recalled by Colonel Jouaust said he did not tell I Major Forpenetti of Dreyfus confession because General Risbourg his commanding com-manding officer had told him to hold his tongue General Roget then advanced and denied that Major Forsenetti was on terms of intimacy with Captain dAt tel General Boisdeffre also asserted that there were inaccuracies in Major Forsenettis evidence The general denied de-nied that the major ever declared to him that he believed reyfus was innocent inno-cent Replying to M Demange Major Forsenetti said he adhered to all the evidence he had given before the the of cassation S At 1125 a m the court adjourned for the day |