At the beginning of the session the judge recalled General de Pellieux
to the stand.
The Judge.--“Did not Colonel Picquart admit in your presence the
authenticity of a letter of November 27, 1896, written in Spanish and
signed ‘J’?”
General de Pellieux.--“I had only a copy of that letter. It began
thus: ‘At last the great work is finished, and Cagliostro has become
Robert Houdin. Every day the demigod asks if he cannot see you.’”
The Judge.--“Did not this word ‘demigod’ occur in one of the dispatches
sent to Colonel Picquart at Sousse in November, 1897?”
General de Pellieux.--“Yes, and the expression occurs again in a letter
signed ‘Bianca,’ addressed to Colonel Picquart by Mlle. de Comminges.”
The Judge.--“Did Colonel Picquart accuse Major Esterhazy directly of
the two forgeries signed ‘Blanche’ and ‘Speranza,’ or did he accuse two
other persons before accusing the major?”
General de Pellieux.--“In his first testimony Colonel Picquart accused
Major Esterhazy. It was in later testimony that he altered his first
charge, and said that the forgeries were committed by Major Esterhazy’s
friends or by others.”
The Judge.--“Did he abandon his declaration later?”
General de Pellieux.--“He did not abandon his accusation of others, but
he ceased to accuse Major Esterhazy, and, when I confronted him with
the certainty that I had acquired, by an investigation at the office of
the prefect of police, that the first telegram was from Souffrain, he
said: ‘Souffrain is an agent of Esterhazy.’”
The Attorney-General.--“From whom was the letter signed ‘J,’ seized on
the premises of Colonel Picquart?”
General de Pellieux.--“From M. Germain Ducasse, secretary of Mlle.
Blanche de Comminges; and I think it would be a good idea to hear M.
Germain Ducasse as a witness, but under certain conditions,--that
is, to bring him here without allowing him to previously communicate
with any other witness. He lives at 13, Avenue de la Motte-Piquet.
Everything about this case seems to me strange. The minister of war has
preferred a precise charge against M. Zola. M. Zola has accused the
council of war of 1898 of acquitting a guilty person in obedience to
orders. So far nothing has been said of this question.”