The witness-chair was then taken by M. de Castro, who testified as follows:
“At the time in question I was a banker and broker near the Paris Bourse, and I had had occasion to do some business for Major Esterhazy. He was in regular correspondence with the house, and I was very familiar with his writing,—so familiar, indeed, that in the morning, when I opened my mail, I knew the major’s writing before opening his letter. Toward the end of last October I was on the boulevard when a street-fakir passed by me, selling a fac-simile of the famous bordereau attributed to Dreyfus. I was struck by the writing. It looked to me like a letter from Major Esterhazy. I returned to my house much perturbed in mind. The next day I went with my brother-in-law to find some of Major Esterhazy’s letters. I compared them with the fac-simile, and found a perfect similarity,—in fact, a striking identity. I spoke to some friends of this strange coincidence, and they advised me to carry a few letters to M. Scheurer-Kestner, who was concerning himself with the Dreyfus case. Meantime these friends probably spoke to M. Mathieu Dreyfus, who came one day to ask me to show him these letters. I offered him some of them, but he refused them, saying: ‘I advise you to go yourself to M. Scheurer-Kestner, and show them to him.’ So I went one morning, and said to him: ‘I come to lay before you some very curious types. You will see for yourself the similarity between the handwriting of these letters and the famous bordereau.’ M. Scheurer-Kestner took the letters, and looked at them for some time; then he went to a bureau, and came back, saying: ‘Here are some letters probably written by the same hand.’ and, indeed, I recognized Major Esterhazy’s writing.”
M. Labori.—“At that time had Major Esterhazy’s name been spoken as that of the possible author of the bordereau? Did M. de Castro suspect that M. Esterhazy was already under suspicion?”
M. de Castro.—“No.”
M. Labori.—“Did M. de Castro receive threatening letters?”
M. de Castro.—“No; no letters. I received one day a telegram. If the court desires, I will produce it.”
The Judge.—“No, but what did it say?”
M. de Castro.—“It contained this threat: ‘If you have given in evidence the letters which “Paris” designates by the initials d. d. c., you will pay dear for this infamy.’”
The Judge.—“Did this handwriting resemble that of Major Esterhazy?”
M. de. Castro.—“No, there was nothing to indicate the origin of the dispatch. It was not signed, and the writing was quite different from that of Major Esterhazy.”