New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-02-20

were you to Kill hiEl, should he make a it'll,
| show of defense, because he is a very i'm
, pertinent man in his language. and one who
employs his industry against the interests O
| France with terrible energy. You cannot
| imagine how well you will advance yourself
with his majesty If you could execute this
project the moment be turns back"
That such plot existed have no doubt
no more have that there was n society 81
the kind. but 1t would seem hardly possible
that it should have continental proportions
have always presumed that it was confined
TO the coterie of which the MARQUIS de Brin.
yilliers was a member. One-half the Court
was concerned, at least. and all the enemies
oil Louis Joined this society of PRISONERS. The
Minister knew Of the cabal formed against
him, and was sure Of certain members
Condo among the number, but he was unable
TO get the proofs lie wanted, and which he
made every effort TO secure.
There are many more of the same sort So
many. in fact, that We feel sentiment of in
dignation even at this date, for the ministers
OF the king thought no more Of ordering a
man assassinated than of serving a simple
process for non payment of taxes. At thi,
time there was great connection at Paris and
Versailles over the Brinvilliers poisoning
cases, and readers Of history will remember
that " Poisoning Society,"" or organization,
was discovered. At least it was so claimed,
and Captain 1ung credits the story This
organization was said to extend throughout
Europe, and Mile. de Montespau the Prince
de Condo, and many more were implicated
1t is certain that hundreds Of persons were
poisoned at that time, and that plot was
discovered for poisoning the king and all his
heirs.
THE IRON MASK"
At length, however, bribery aided him,
and he learned that this gentleman from
Lorraine, the Chevaler de Kifenbach, was
not only member Of the organization, but
in possession Of the records. Besides, in
order to prevent his own betrayal, he had
taken the precaution to compromise every
member, and held the secret of their iuplica-
ton in the plot in writing. Louvois had him
seized and secretly.thrown into prison. His
papers were seized also, and the chroniclers
OF the time inform us that the Minister sent
for the Prince de Condo, his greatest enemy,
who left him firm friend. A few DAYS later
the great poisoning conspiracy was revealed,
as history records. In one of the reports of
the men who seized the Chevalier mention
was made of velvet mask placed over the
head OF the prisoner, and we now know that
there was no such thing as an iron mask,
the mask which was so called being made Of
velvet.
TUNG'S PROCESS.
With these facts Captain Yung began
long and tedious process. The prison rec.
ords are perfect, and the registers still show
the name OF every prisoner entered. One of
the prisoners upon the register must be the
Man of the Iron Mask" and the difficulty
was to fix upon the man. The slight hint
above really proves nothing by itself, and so
NJ. Iung went through the entire records in
order to arrive at the real man by a process
Of elimination. He claims to have done so
faithfully, and to have traced every prisoners
career, finding that he alone at all fulfilled
the conditions. and that the Man in the Mask
could be no other than Chevalier de Kitfen-
bach, seized by Louvos, and the Minister
had stolen his papers, and he used his words
with most terrible effect, and had every reason
for preventing not only his escape. but COM
municatlon with the world.
RESULTS
1 have here given the matter in q small
compass, and condensed a very large book
The deductions are probable, no fault can be
found with the reasoning. the proofs are
abundant and of the strongest character in
the way of such evidence, and no great fault
can be found with the conclusion. That the
Man of the Iron Mask was not a son of Anne
of Austria, but a simple gentleman of I.or-
raine, conspratOr, too, seems to be settled.
Yet only year ago NJ. Marin Topin took the
Academy prize for proving that the Iron Mask
was quite another and more important Der.
sOnage.