Testimony of M. Teyssonnière.
The next witness was M. Teyssonnière, who, as one of the experts in handwriting connected with the Seine court, served in the Dreyfus case of 1894, but, a few days before the trial, was stricken from the list of experts, in consequence of a charge that in another case he had called on one of the parties thereto for a payment of 2,000 francs before beginning his report. He told at length of his troubles at that time, and said that before the first council of war he had demonstrated mathematically that the bordereau was written by Dreyfus, he having found that certain words in it were identical with the handwriting of Dreyfus. Later he called upon M. Trarieux, who was then minister of justice, by whose intercession he was enrolled as one of the experts of the appellate court.
“It was on this occasion,” said M. Teyssonnière, “that I spoke of the Dreyfus case to M. Trarieux, and afterwards to M. Scheurer-Kestner, to whom he sent me. M. Scheurer-Kestner told me in June, 1897, that he had conceived doubts concerning the guilt of Dreyfus, and that he would like me to give him light. I brought to him the photograph of the bordereau, and demonstrated by a comparison of handwritings that the guilt of Dreyfus was certain. He seemed convinced. On July 9 he sent for me again, and showed me originals of the handwriting of Dreyfus and Esterhazy, and we compared them with the bordereau. I called his attention to entire syllables in the bordereau which were exact tracings of the handwriting of Dreyfus. M. Scheurer-Kestner then told me that he had had occasion to call upon the staff since my first visit, and that they had said to him: ‘Don’t talk to us of Teyssonnière; he is a thief. It was the testimony of Bertillon that convicted Dreyfus.’ Nevertheless, I have made twenty-five decisive comparisons with the handwriting of Dreyfus, and these comparisons reveal five complete superpositions. There is no doubt; it is a case of identity.”
The witness then told of his relations with another expert, M. Crépieux-Jamin, who had been asked by M. Bernard Lazare to examine the bordereau.
“I received a visit,” said the witness, “from M. Crépieux-Jamin. I remember it only too well, for he came on a day when I had just cut myself to the bone with a table-knife. As he is a doctor, I was not sorry to see him. He attended me professionally for several days, and during that time we naturally talked of the Dreyfus case. I told him that the fac-similes of the bordereau published in the newspapers were very rough pieces of work, and calculated to deceive the public. He tried to inspire me with doubts as to my own conclusions. Not until the last day did I perceive the purpose of his questions. One evening, suddenly, he asked me how much I had received for my report. ‘Two hundred francs, I believe,’ said I. ‘Well,’ said he, ‘you could have had a hundred thousand.’ ‘But, my dear friend,’ said I, ‘you know that I was formerly connected with the department of roads and bridges, and that I have a pension of 4-1/2 francs a day. My little house is mine; I have lived in it honorably, and I wish to die in it honorably.’ This convinced me that M. Crépieux-Jamin had come to sound me.”
M. Zola.—“At the time of your report in 1894 had you been offered money?”
M. Teyssonnière.—“No.”
M. Clemenceau.—“Nor afterward, either?”
M. Teyssonnière.—“I can say only one thing,—that M. Crépieux-Jamin told me that I could have had for my report a hundred thousand; the word ‘thousand’ was cut in two by my reply.”
M. Labori.—“Did he tell you that he was sent by anyone?”