The Judge.--“M. Clemenceau asks you how you asked for these documents,
and how they were refused.”
M. Bertillon.--“The war department paid eight hundred francs for these
documents. I turned that sum into the municipal treasury, considering
that these documents had been made with the products of my laboratory.
They remain the property of the war department; I have them temporarily
in my possession. Really, I ought to have deposited them with the
clerk of the war department. I am only a witness; it is not my duty to
execute commissions.”
M. Clemenceau.--“M. Bertillon told us day before yesterday that he
could not produce the documents without the authorization of his
superiors,--the prefect of police and the minister of war. It was an
important point, for the minister of war is the complainant in this
case. Then the court said to him: ‘Will you ask your superiors for
authority to bring these pieces, and answer here on Monday?’ Today M.
Bertillon tells us that he has not obtained them. I ask him to tell us
under what conditions he asked for them, and under what conditions they
were refused.”