Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1865-12-14
The Man With the Iron
Max s

Many have inquired who the
celebrated historical parsonage, to
whom somany illusions have been
made, really was. Voltaire, in
his cage of Louis XIV gives the
following account of the mysteri-
Gus prisoner of State:
''In 1861, there happened an
event of which there is no similar
example in the history of the
world, and with which the histo-
rians of that time seem to have
been totally unacquainted. There
was sent to the castle in the island
I of st. Marguerite, in the sea Of
Provence an unknown prisoner,
rather above the middle size, young
and of a graceful figure. On the
road he wore a mask with steel
springs, which enabled him to eat
without taking it off He remain
ed here, closely confined, till 1890,
when st. Mars, the new governor
of the Bastile, had him conveyed
to that prison. During the jour
ney, he remained always covered
with a mask, and the governor
never sat down in his presence
He was lodged at the Bastile with
all the attention possible in that
dungeon. Nothing was refused
him that he desired. His chief
taste was for lace and linen, re-
markabiy fine. During his two
journeys, the soldiers who escort
ed him had orders to shoot him if
he made any attempt to discover
himself.
"This unknown person died in
1903, and was buried in the
night. Whatincreases oursurprise
is, that when he was lent to the
island of St. Marguerite, no person
jof consequence in Europe was
missing. Yet the prisoner was Ger.
tainly one of the great ones of the
world. Every circumstance con
nected with him proves this. The
governor put the dishes on the ia.
BILE himself, then retired and lock-
ed the door. One day the pris.
oner wrote something with his
knife on a silver plate and threw
it out of the window. A fisher
man picked it up and brought ii
to the governor, who, with evident
establishment, asked the man if
he had read what was written on
the plate, or if any body else had
seen it. lie was not allowed to go
till he had proven these facts de-
cisively. The governor then dis
missed him saying, 1T is lucky
for you that you cannot read.
One of the prisoners shirts, written
upon in very fine hand, was one
day discovered in the water by a
young barber. Two days after
the boy was found dead i'll his bed.
Another authority adds: "On
the death of the Iron Mask, his
apparel, linen, clothes, mattresses,
in short, everything that had been
used by him were burnt, the walls
were scraped, and the floors taken
up; all evidently from the appre-
hension that he might have found
means Of writing something which
would have discovered who he
was. The glass was taken out of
the windows of his room, and
pounded to dust, the window frames
and doors were burnt, and the cell
ing and the plaster of the inside
of the chimney were taken down.
1t was even affirmed that the
body was buried without q head !;
and it was currently reported that
a gentleman having bribed the
sexton, had the body taken up in
the night, and found stone in
stead of a head. The most prev
alent opinion as regards this
singular individual is, that he was
the twin brother of Louis XIV,
born some hours after him; and
the king, their father, fearing that
the pretensions of a twin brother
might one day rekindle war in
France, cautiously concealed his
birth, and sent him away to be
brought up in private"