Armand du Paty de Clam

Who was Armand du Paty de Clam?

Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Armand Auguste Ferdinand Mercier du Paty de Clam was a French army officer and graphologist, and a key figure in the Dreyfus affair.

In late September 1894, French military intelligence became aware of a spy within the army through a handwritten note obtained by their agent within German embassy in Paris. Du Paty de Clam, then a major attached to the General Staff, was appointed to head the investigation to find the spy, due principally to his expertise in graphology. A brief investigation identified approximately half a dozen suspects; du Paty de Clam and his superior officers decided upon Captain Alfred Dreyfus, the only Jew on the General Staff, as the prime suspect. Du Paty de Clam was ordered to obtain a sample of Dreyfus's handwriting which could be used as irrefutable proof of his guilt. In mid-October 1894 an unsuspecting Dreyfus was summoned to a meeting with Major du Paty de Clam, two police detectives and a man from French military intelligence. Feigning an injury to his writing hand, du Paty de Clam asked Dreyfus to take dictation; Paty de Clam proceeded to read out the exact words of the bordereau. Satisfied Dreyfus's writing matched that of the suspect, du Paty de Clam arrested Dreyfus immediately, transferring custody to the deputy head of French military intelligence Major Joseph Henry, who'd been waiting in the next room.