M. Dubois was summoned regarding the pretended confessions of Dreyfus. The judge having refused to put to Major Forzinetti the question relating to the confessions, M. Labori abandoned the hearing of all the witnesses who were to testify on this point. M. Dubois says that he desired to tell the court that a certain Mme. Chapelon, whose husband was intimately connected with M. Lebrun-Renault, had declared to one of his collaborators on ‘L’Aurore’ that, not once only, but a hundred times, Captain Lebrun-Renault had said to his associates that he never had received any important confidence from the ex-captain. “L’Aurore” having reproduced these declarations, M. Dubois received a visit from Mme. Chapelon, who expressed a fear that she might lose her situation, and that her son might not obtain the scholarship at Chaptal which he was seeking. Mme. Chapelon was taken into the office of M. Clemenceau. In his presence and in the presence of M. Gohier, she confirmed the remarks that had been attributed to her by “L’Aurore,” and again expressed her fears, adding that, to save her situation, she would refuse to speak before the assize court.
“If Mme. Chapelon had not come, we should have heard MM. Dubois and Gohier, in whose presence she made her declaration. Since then, an incident has occurred between Major Forzinetti and Captain Lebrun-Renault, of which you undoubtedly know through the newspapers, and which seems to me sufficiently serious to make it indispensable that I recall it to you. The story is told in ‘Le Temps’ of February 12, 1898, in the following language:
M. Dubois, one of the editors of “L’Aurore,” who was summoned as a witness in the Zola trial, relates an incident that occurred yesterday afternoon in the witnesses’ corridor between Major Forzinetti and Captain Lebrun-Renault. “During the last recess,” says M. Dubois, “Captain Lebrun-Renault was walking up and down the room, when, in my presence, Major Forzinetti approached him and said:
‘A newspaper pretends that you have declared to a deputy, whose name I do not remember, that you have never said anything regarding Dreyfus. Now, you know very well that, when, six months ago, I asked you a precise question, you told me that Dreyfus had never made any confession to you.’
“Visibly embarrassed, Captain Lebrun-Renault sought to evade the question, but Major Forzinetti followed him up.
“‘Come, let me refresh your memory. You even added that you had been very much annoyed by this matter, and that, in consequence of the newspaper stories, you had been summoned before the minister of war, and then before the president of the republic.’
“As Captain Lebrun-Renault still did not answer, but tried to escape, Major Forzinetti seized his cloak, and shouted:
“‘If you used the language that is attributed to you, you are an infamous liar.’
“The witnesses of this scene intervened. General Gonse, who was present, said to M. Forzinetti:
“‘In these things we get too much excited. Come, Major, calm yourself.’