Colonel Picquart.--“Yes.”
M. Labori.--“How, then, could General Gonse say that it was necessary
to distinguish the Dreyfus case from the Esterhazy case?”
Colonel Picquart.--“That he said that is true. He said that confusion
of the two cases should be avoided so far as possible; that the
Esterhazy case should be continued, but that the Dreyfus case should
not be mixed up with it.”
M. Labori.--“But, if Major Esterhazy had been recognized as the author
of the _bordereau_, would not the charge against Dreyfus have fallen
necessarily?”
Colonel Picquart.--“Yes; that is why I never understood the attempt to
separate them.”
The Judge.--“Do you remember having sent for M. Leblois to call on you
at your office?”
Colonel Picquart.--“Yes.”
The Judge.--“Do you remember the date?”
Colonel Picquart.--“He came in the spring of 1896 concerning two
matters,--the Boulot case and a carrier-pigeon case, about which I
should like to say a word.”
The Judge.--“I was going to ask you. What is this carrier-pigeon file
of documents? Is it not a secret file?”
Colonel Picquart.--“There are two. One file is in a pasteboard box,
which contains nothing but newspaper articles about pigeons. These
matters are not secret, and it was about these that I consulted M.
Leblois. There is another file which is absolutely secret, containing
information with which M. Leblois had no concern, and about which M.
Leblois could not have enlightened me. There has been confusion lately
concerning this matter. Recently I asked for the carrier-pigeon file,
and by chance the secret file was brought.”
The Judge.--“You had by the side of this carrier-pigeon file another
file on which was the letter ‘H’ written with blue pencil?”
Colonel Picquart.--“Your description designates the envelope
containing the secret file. That was never on my table when M. Leblois
was there, and there is a very simple reason why. The file was in my
possession only from the latter part of August to the beginning of
November, and M. Leblois left Paris August 5, and did not return until
November 7.”
The court here recalled M. Gribelin to confront him with Colonel
Picquart. M. Gribelin repeated his testimony as follows:
“One evening in October, 1896, I went into Colonel Picquart’s office
to get leave of absence. He was sitting at his table with the
carrier-pigeon file at his right, and at his left the file that I
had handed to him between August 28 and September 5. The letter was
contained in an envelope bearing the mark of Major Henry, and it was by
this that I recognized it.”
The Judge.--“You saw no documents?”