Dr. Socquet.--“Yes.”
M. Clemenceau.--“Did Dr. Socquet ask Mme. de Boulancy the following
question: ‘Is it true that you have other letters from Major Esterhazy
than those that have been published?’”
Dr. Socquet.--“No.”
M. Clemenceau.--“Did the witness say to Mme. de Boulancy: ‘Is it true
that you have three telegrams from Major Esterhazy?’”
Dr. Socquet.--“No.”
M. Clemenceau.--“Did Mme. de Boulancy declare spontaneously: ‘I have
letters from Major Esterhazy which are much more serious than those
that have been published?’ And did she also declare, of her own
initiative: ‘It has been incorrectly stated that I had three telegrams
from Major Esterhazy; I have only two’?”
Dr. Socquet.--“No.”
M. Clemenceau.--“Was the name Esterhazy uttered at all in the course of
the conversation?”
Dr. Socquet [after reflection].--“Yes.”
M. Clemenceau.--“Under what circumstances was this name uttered, and by
whom?”
Dr. Socquet.--“By Mme. de Boulancy.”
M. Clemenceau.--“As Mme. de Boulancy would not have uttered this word
singly, will the witness tell us what other words she added?”
The Judge.--“I call M. Clemenceau’s attention to the fact that he is
entering into the domain of a private conversation.”
M. Clemenceau.--“The defence attaches the greatest importance to the
testimony of Mme. de Boulancy and to the production of the letters
which are still in her possession, as well as of the two telegrams
which she also possesses. Under these circumstances we shall do all
that we possibly can, and shall talk as long as the court does not
prevent us, to secure the appearance of Mme. de Boulancy that she may
enlighten this court and this jury regarding Major Esterhazy’s letters.
I ask the witness what other words Mme. de Boulancy added to the word
Esterhazy.”
Dr. Socquet.--“I am entirely ready to answer, but it is a matter
outside of the mission that the court entrusted to me. Still, if it be
not inappropriate, I will say that, when I examined Mme. de Boulancy,
she talked to me of sundry matters,--among others of the way in which
she had reached her present condition, and the annoyance that she felt.
I let her talk, for I wanted to form an opinion as to the state of
her health. She spoke of Major Esterhazy’s letters, and told me that
she had complained at the office of the public prosecutor, who was
looking into her charge, that a person had abused her letters. She said
that she had entrusted these letters to a person who had found them
interesting, and who had used them in a way of which she did not learn
until later. She told me especially that this person had entrusted
them to ‘Le Figaro,’ and that, an hour after he brought them back, M.
Hadamard, sub-chief of police, came to seize them. She added that all
these letters were from Major Esterhazy. That is all that she said to
me on that subject.”
M. Clemenceau.--“By ‘all these letters’ did she mean those published by
‘Le Figaro,’ or the other letters that she had in her possession, or
had deposited with one of her lawyers?”
Dr. Socquet.--“She said: ‘All his letters.’ Six letters, plus a
seventh, which contains the word ‘Uhlans.’”