St. Charles Republican intelligencer. (St. Charles [Charles City], Iowa) 1856-1857, 1856-11-20
8on1antie Sketfb.
BLUE BEARD.

.. DLO II DEAhU.
This bugbear of every nursery in
Christendom was no fabulous monster
yelled in human form. He actually
lived, moved, and had being in the
fifteenth century not, however, as a
long-robed, turbaned Oriental, as the
pictures which used to make our blood
curdle, would lead us to think.
On an eminence which overloohs the
little village of Champtoce, near the
Loire, stands the imposing ruin of an
old feudal castle. It's gray walls, bare
and broken, rear themselves against
the glorious sky /; and amid the tumb-
ling turrets, the bat and the owl beat
their wings and shrek in their mid
night revels. The superstitious peas
antry avoid the neighborhood from fear,
and when the storm whistles and the
wind means, they imagine the sounds
to be walls from the. injured dead of
the old ruin. The dread of the place
is no new feeling, but has existed
among succeeding generations of peas
antry since the reign of Charles the
Seventh. 1t was at that time the
dwelling of GILES de Retz, feudal
baron, who, as he was then, and still
is called, the Barbe Bleu," was, no
doubt, the original of our time-honor-
ed, or rather feared, Blue Beard. His
deeds of blood, which were but the ev-
cry day incidents of his life, made him
the terror Of the surrounding region.
The bare mention of his name was
enough to subdue the most rebellious
urchin into submission and even the
parents believed that the winds which
reached them by passing over his do
main were sulphur-tainted.
Well does the history of this man
reveal the dark superstition of the tif-
teenth century, and also the impunity
with which one in high rank might
commit the most revolving crimes
against humanity. De Rctz had once
been in possession of immense estates
and untold wealth. But by the most
debasing excesses he not only squand-
cred his fortune, but also ruined his
constitution, SO that, while yet a
young man, he bore the appearance of
decrepitude and old age. He could
not, however, consent to pay the pen
atty of his sin by becoming old before
his time. In the blindness of his SUI
perstition he conceived the hope of re-
claiming both health and wealth BY
the power of magic. Having heard
OF a famous Italian alchymist who had
performed some great miracles by this
art, he sent for him to the castle.
The cunning magician at once read
his man, and encouraged his hopes !;
he was, therefore, employed at high
price to undertake the work, and invi-
ted to make the lofty castle his home.
The first act was the winning back of
health and vigor, without which all
other treasures are of little avail
Numberless the arts he tried and mys-
terious the preparations he made
The dark dungeons and secret subter-
ranean passages beneath the castle
were the scene of his work. Here the
terrified peasantry imagined that the
italian made compact with the Prince
Of Darkness, and sold the duped De
Retz to him in compensation for his
aid in restoring his health. Among
many nonsensical and harmless exper-
iments, were also some of cruel and
abominable character. He induced
his infatuated employe to believe
there existed in the blood of infants
charm for restoring youth and vigor.
He assured him that by bathing daily
in the blood of these innocents, the
pure young life which had so lately
coursed through their tiny veins would
be transferred to his own.
The bloody baron did not shrink for
one moment from the commission of
the horrid crime which this prescrip-
ton rendered necessary. Tender in
fants were secretly stolen or forcibly
torn from their parents, and kept in
the dungeons Of the castle, till their
blood was required. 1t is believed
that not less than one hundred humble
mothers were thus deprived of their
youngest born. This fiend in human
shape hired a magician but not mur-
derer. That Office he reserved for him
self, nor did his savage nature shrink
from the horrid work it imposed
With his own hand did he pierce the
hearts of his poor little victims until
there was blood sufficient to cover his
emaciated body. This is but one in
stance of the monstrous cruelty of De
Retz. We think very likely his wives
shared the fate of the poor infants, and
that the story of Blue Beard in wide
trousers, loose robe and turban, was
not exaggerated.
But crime cannot always go unpun-
ished. Even then, when the rich ruled
over the poor, justice and mercy tri-
umphed at last. The cries and en-
treaties Of the heartrbroken people
around his domains reached the cars Of