Le Bordereau, 1894

This letter, known as bordereau, was received in the late summer of 1894 by the German military attaché, Maximilian von Schwartzkoppen (1850–1917). It discusses the delivery of confidential documents concerning French defence arrangements. Its author was identified as Alfred Dreyfus (1859–1935), a captain in the French artillery, who was duly arrested on 15 October 1894. Only a year and a half after Dreyfus's arrest was the letters true author identified as Major Charles-Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy (1847–1923). Esterhazy, however, was acquitted by a court martial in spite of incriminating evidence.

Ferdinand Walsin-Esterházy (1847–1923), Bordereau, 1894, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Bordereau_from_Service_historique_de_la_d%C3%A9fense_(SHD).jpg,  Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 1.0 Generic.