"... Whilst the 'Countess' made to me, in private, the statements I have just repeated, the third person was waiting in the passage. I joined him, and told him what had happened.... He then left me and went back to the 'Countess,' whilst I went to the Matin and at once related all these incidents to the Editor. Five minutes later, the 'Countess' and the third person arrived at the Matin. In the presence of my colleague, M. Bourse, Ghirelli repeated that she had spoken the truth and that she hid part of the truth from you only because of the pressure put upon her. I said to her: 'Your word has no longer any value for me. You must write down what you say and sign it!' The 'Countess' showed some hesitation.
"I must tell you that on the very day when she gave us the interview which we published, I paid her 500 francs (£20) as a reward, and I promised her further sums of money—thinking of handing her—little by little, 2000 francs (£80) if the information which she might be able to supply, seemed interesting to us.
"Besides, I had it in my mind that the £80 were also to represent the price of her Memoirs....
"To return to our conversation with the 'Countess' on January 19th... She suggested a document according to her ideas, but written by me, and merely dated and signed by her. I said I wanted the document to be written by her.... She consented, and wrote exactly four documents without being dictated to, but on lines that we suggested. (She thought them in accordance with the truth.) The first was published in facsimile in the Matin on January 20th; the second refers to the letter taken by the 'Countess' to a magistrate; the third tells the fact that Rosselli was beseeched by Mme. Steinheil not to repeat to the examining magistrate the revelations she might have made, and the fourth concerning the intimidations to which 'Countess' Ghirelli was submitted by various persons. We published this last letter too. When all was written and signed by her, she asked me for the rest of the £80, and I told her to come the next morning. She came... and asked me for the money. I consulted the Director of the Matin, and, returning to Ghirelli, I said to her: 'Madame, so long as you are a witness in the Affair, the Matin won't pay you anything, for I don't want it to be said that the Matin gave money to a witness in the Affair, so that she would confirm what she had said before...'
"Furious, she asked me to return her the manuscript of her Memoirs. The same evening she telephoned... and asked me to dine with her. I accepted... M. Bourse and M. Vallier were with me. She remained with one of the two others till 10.30 P.M., and afterwards went to the offices of the Eclair. And a day or two afterwards she told me that it was there, in the office of M. Montorgueil... that she wrote to you the letter of rectification which you must have received from her. Since then, Ghirelli has often asked me for money.... Last night, she again asked me for money, and again I told her: 'No, your being a witness makes it impossible for us to give you money... I only gave evidence in order to re-establish the reality of the facts in all its exactness.
"(Signed) Sauerwein.
Simon.
André."
(Dossier Cote 3035)
Comment is unnecessary.
In regard to the mission to Mme. Prévost with which I was alleged to have entrusted Ghirelli, who was described in the Matin as having mysteriously journeyed to Mme. Prévost's by motor-car, several persons residing in the street where the motor-car was said to have stopped—who had been mentioned by the newspaper as having made statements that were quoted, of course—were interrogated on the matter by the Law:
"Mme. Kaufman, aged 41, doorkeeper at No. 11 Rue du Cher, consulted about the Matin article... declared: I have not made the statements attributed to me. I have never noticed an automobile at the corner of the street, nor did I see Mme. Prévost go and talk to some one hidden in a motor-car. I absolutely confute everything that I have been made to say in the Matin. It is not accurate, and, what is more, it is untrue.'"