The Republican journal., 1870-05-19
TERRORS OF THE BASTIlE.

IpeOple OF farlS and Its horrors laid open to
the sunlight. 1t had then been standing
Inearly four hundred years, though it had been
enlarged by frequent additions in the mean
time. The Bastile was citadel or fortress
erected to defend the principal gate Of Paris
and the palace of Charles the Fifth. 1t after
ward became a prison where criminals OF
| rank were confined as well as innocent per
sons who were merely suspected of being
enemies to the State. Strange to say, the
very architect who planned the building, and
who exerted all his powers to make it the
strongest fortress of his century, was the first
State prisoner received into its horrid vaults.
For years he lay in damp dungeon, where
the sunlight never entered but he escaped at
last during a public insurrection when the
Bastile was forced open by the people
There were eight towers to the building
They were 12e feet high, and had very heavy
double iron doors. The walls were twelve
feet thick at the top, and nearly forty feet
thick at the base. All the towers contained
cells, and the windows of these were merely
Sits near the top, opening through the solid
masonry, and guarded by three heavy iron
| gratings. There were five different kinds OF
cells, but the dungeons in the vaults under
the towers were the most dreadful of all.
They were dark, and swamed with toads.
spiders, an9 great hungry rats
The floor, a mass of slime and mud, sent
. up the most distressing odors; a rough iron
| bed, fastened to the wall and covered with
| few planks, was the only furniture. and the
entrance was by two iron doors, each with
three heavy locks and three outside bolts
!! The other cells were not much better, some
We're eight-sided or octagon in shape; some
were small and so arched that the prisoner
could stand only in the middle; some had
floors that We're rounded in all directions to-
ward the centre; and all We're wretched and
gloomy Sufocatng IN summer and cold IN
winter,
! The Governor of the Bastile had full con
troll over its management. Under him We're
| Il major, an assistant major, IA lieutenant, and
two hundred soldiers, whose muskets Were
| always kept loaded The .iailors and turn
4 KEYS, the toughest and most bar5arouS set ot
men that could be found, were tools i'll the
hands of their superors. They cleaned the
! rooms. brought the prisoners their food. At
tended them in sickness, were spies OF the
Governor, and carried out his wishes. Each
wore huge bunch of keys in his girde
| Each cell had five keys.
| prisoner would generally arrive al the
| Bastle III a coach. surrounded by dragons.
Then they would lead him into room to br
searched, and take from him every loose AT
| icie ne carried, ,-riuSs, papers, knives. or
whatever they might be-belore conducting
him to his cell Three or four heavy doors
are opened he is pushed in, the doors shut
behind him, and the prisoner is buried in hi-
dungeon, perhaps forever. If he should he
tortured or put to death there no human being
outside the prison would ever know his fate.
At first the prisoners were suffered to have
neither books nor writing materials, but
1 safterward these We're allowed them. There
awere two meals a day of the most wretched
A.
lcharged high prices. Woe to the poor
kwretch who made any complaint! He would
shave to suffer heavy punishment for the OF
fence, and perhaps even be cut Oft from his
few minutes daily walk in the courts and
passages of the Bastle. These walks were
always closely watched, and the guard had
S0rderS to fire at once on any who were seen
making the taintest effort to escape.
| One day Il mysterious prisoner appeared
whose name was kept n profound secret.
ITO this day it never has been known who he
was or why he was put there. No man except
| the Governor SO far as is known, ever saN
his face OF heard his voice. He always Wore
la mask of black velvet, fastened ut the back
Eof the head with steel springs. No one wait
led upon him but the Governor who attended
Ewhen he ate and when he dressed. When
his linen was changed it was destroyed by
the Governor rs soon rs ii was taken OFT. lite
Eneyer removed his mask for an instant, and
when he went to hear Mass, which was held
lin the prison. the armed men who were pres
lent were instructed to kill him instantly in
lease of his speaking or showing his face
For years he remained in the BaStlc, and
Balways wore the mask lie died in the prison
fand was buried at st. Paul's, He was eyi-
Edently u person of high rank, probably Il
grelatiye OF the royal family, but the mystery
bo W. aA 10 alN nt
ftended by the Governor and major alone,
twas treated with great consideration; died
Every suddenly, and after his death all his fur
lniture, papers, etc, We're burned, and his
amoney and Jewels melted down.
Il When the Bastie was destroyed 10y the in
furated mob in the French Revolution it
was hoped that something would be dis
covered in regard to this man in the Iron
Mask. as he was called. But no Not even
the carefully kept records of the prison, which
lwere discovered, threw any light upon the
jmystery lie was merely mentioned as an
unknown prisoner; but the fact is set down
that he was obliged always to wear mask
of black velvet.
| When the BaStile was thrown open and
transacted on that terrible June day. only
lscyen prisoners were found in its cells amt
dungeons. One. the Count dc Solagc had
tbeen there a close captive ever since he wa
a little boy Of eleven Another, named 1ay
lernier, had passed thirty years in the Bastlc
and when he found the doors Of the prison
lopen and his fellow creatures crowding in.
eager to welcome him, he was like one wax
ing from a Thirty years sleep. His mind was
dulled; the sunshine frightened and bewit-
dered him he scarcely knew what freedom
meant.
They found records there Of one poor old
man named Lebar, who had been arrested
when rs years Old, and had died in one of it,
vaults at the age of 80.
Dreadful deeds We're done during the
French Revolution, but one bright spot in its
record is the destruction of the Bastlc No
more shall broken-hearted prisoners langulsh
in its gloomy towers. The place where it
stood SO long is now one of the gayest and
brightest in the city of Paris, and the famous
July column marks the spot where the cruel
old walls fell Hearth and Home.
LIABILITY OF TOWNS FOR DAMAGES.
In a recent case before the Supreme Judi-
cial Court at Portland, Judge Walton laid
down the law on the liability of towns for