Colonel Picquart.--“But I say that you did not see it.”
The Judge.--“M. Picquart, did you ask M. Gribelin at a certain time if
he could not get the post-office to stamp a letter, which letter you
did not otherwise indicate?”
Colonel Picquart.--“To stamp a letter?”
The Judge.--“To stamp a letter; not with the date of its arrival, but
with an earlier date.”
M. Gribelin.--“My colonel, let me refresh your memory. You re-entered
your office at two o’clock. You sent for me and, as you were taking off
your overcoat, you said: ‘Gribelin, could you get the post-office to
stamp a letter?’ You did not add a word. You never spoke of the matter
afterward. But, on my honor as a soldier, that is the truth, and you
know that I never lie.”
Colonel Picquart.--“That I know, but I answer as follows. It has very
often happened that Gribelin and I have talked of the way in which
letters could be sent to spies. Well, it is possible that one of these
recollections is in his mind. But I say that I have no recollection of
it at all.”
The Judge.--“But did you not ask this information of Major Lauth
almost in the same terms?”
Colonel Picquart.--“I? Oh, never, never, never!”
The court recalled M. Lauth, who repeated his accusation as follows:
“On the very day when Colonel Picquart spoke to me on the subject of
removing the traces of tear, he said to me: ‘Do you think that they
would stamp this document at the post-office?’ I answered him that they
would not be very obliging in such a matter, and that I did not think
they would do it.”
The Judge.--“You see, it is almost the same thing.”
Colonel Picquart.--“Does Major Lauth remember that, in his written
deposition regarding the proposition which he declares that I made to
him that he should say that the handwriting of the dispatch was that
of such or such a person, he said: ‘This document has no authentic
character; it must have the stamp of the post-office.’”
M. Lauth.--“‘In order that it may have an authentic character, it
must have a stamp’; and I added: ‘It is a handwriting that I do not
know.’ Colonel Picquart never asked me to certify to my recognition
of the dispatch. He said: ‘You will be there to verify that it is the
handwriting of such or such a person.’ That is what he said to me, and
I answered: ‘I never saw this handwriting, and cannot certify that it
is the handwriting of such or such a person.’”
General de Pellieux was recalled.
The Judge.--“Can General de Pellieux tell us anything of the search of
which he spoke yesterday?”
General de Pellieux.--“Colonel Picquart admitted to me that an agent
sent by him had entered the premises. Well, I ask why he went into the
apartment. I suppose that he will say that he went there to rent it.”
Colonel Picquart.--“It seems to me that I have explained that matter.
The agent brought me only a card containing a few words. I had him
carry it back. I never got anything else.”
The Judge.--“General, did you enter the apartment?”
General de Pellieux.--“No.”
The Judge.--“Then you do not know what state it was in?”
General de Pellieux.--“No.”
The Judge.--“But yesterday you gave us details.”
General de Pellieux.--“Major Esterhazy says that a piece of furniture
was forced, and that traces of this still remain.”
M. Clemenceau.--“Then what General de Pellieux told us he got from
Major Esterhazy.”
Colonel Picquart admitted that one of his agents had entered
Esterhazy’s premises, which were to let.
The Judge.--“This agent had no legal warrant.”
Colonel Picquart.--“No, but he entered the apartment by lawful means.”