Fernand Labori's Failed Assassination

Fernand Labori's Failed Assassination is an attack on the advocate during the Dreyfus trial, witnessed and pursued by Georges Picquart. It turns the morning journey to court into a sudden interruption of the trial’s legal and political struggle: Labori is shot, an unidentified attacker escapes, and Picquart’s attempt to pursue him leaves the immediate aftermath to Edmond and others. Labori’s reported assurance that Dreyfus is safe makes the case itself the measure by which he understands the danger.

The walk to court

At breakfast, Picquart and Edmond have established a routine at Les Trois Marches, eating omelettes and baguettes in its small parlour. Across the road, the shutters of Mercier’s house remain closed, while a gendarme keeps watch outside. The detail places the walk within a closely watched town and a trial still shadowed by military authority, though the attack itself does not establish who ordered it or why.

The three men set out shortly before six, descending the hill toward the canal. Labori catches up with them after calling a greeting from behind. He is in a dark suit and straw boater, carrying a large black briefcase. In high spirits, he predicts that the day will bring amusement. His mood and the ordinary purpose of the walk sharply contrast with what follows: this is not a planned meeting or a private confrontation, but the approach to another day in court.

Labori asks Picquart for a last-minute detail concerning Mercier: whether Boisdeffre was present when the Minister ordered Sandherr to disperse the secret file. Picquart is about to answer when he hears a noise behind them and half turns, suspecting an eavesdropper. The question ties the walk to the testimony and concealed evidence at the heart of the proceedings. The attack interrupts that exchange before Picquart can reply.

The attack and pursuit

A youngish, red-haired man in a black jacket and white cap stands behind the group with a revolver. A shot is fired; Labori drops to one knee and falls forward, still holding his briefcase. Picquart first moves to support him, then sees the attacker running away along the canal. His response changes from attending to the injured advocate to pursuing the fleeing man. He tells Edmond, “Stay here.”

Picquart runs after the gunman, calling out that he is a military officer and that the man must stop. The claim gets him past people who stand in his way, although one tries to trip him. The chase carries them out of the built-up stretch beside the canal and into open Breton country, with a railway line and fields nearby. The attacker leaves the towpath for the trees. Picquart, weakened by months in prison, becomes short of breath and develops cramp; he crosses a ditch but reaches the wood too late to see where the man has concealed himself. He searches the undergrowth for half an hour, then returns to the canal without capturing him.

Labori’s condition and the response

Because Picquart walks back more than three kilometres, he misses the immediate response to the shooting. Edmond later tells him that Labori managed to place himself over his briefcase, apparently to deter people who had recognized him from taking his notes. Marguerite Labori arrived and stayed beside her husband. Soldiers carried him back to his lodgings, and Demange came from the courtroom with assistants to learn what had happened. In recounting the scene, Edmond also reports Labori’s words to his colleague: “Old chap, I’m going to die perhaps, but Dreyfus is safe.” The declaration places the trial’s cause above Labori’s own uncertain fate, without identifying the attacker or explaining his motive.

By the time Picquart returns, the canal appears deserted. He learns that Labori has been taken to the home of Victor Basch, a professor and Dreyfus supporter, on the rue d’Antrain, the same street as Les Trois Marches. Journalists gather outside, and two gendarmes guard the entrance. Inside, Labori is unconscious on a mattress, with Marguerite beside him. A doctor has summoned a surgeon but considers an operation too dangerous at that point; the next twenty-four hours are described as crucial. The facts establish the seriousness of the attack while leaving its eventual medical outcome outside this scene.

The interrupted trial and unresolved assailant

A police inspector questions Edmond in the front parlour. Picquart supplies his description of the attacker and recounts the chase, including the place where the man entered the woods. The inspector identifies the area as Cesson Forest and says he will have it searched. The account therefore records a concrete investigative response, but does not report that the assailant was found or identified.

The attack’s immediate consequence is to remove Labori from the walk to court and place the progress of the trial under pressure. Yet the narrative does not turn that disruption into proof of a particular conspiracy: it supplies the gunman’s appearance, route of escape, and the police response, while leaving both identity and motive unresolved. Its point of view also shapes the account. Picquart witnesses the shooting and pursues the attacker, but learns the details of Labori’s rescue from Edmond afterward. The scene’s divided knowledge—pursuit on one side, care and testimony on the other—makes the failed capture and Labori’s declaration of fidelity to Dreyfus part of the same event.