The Portland daily press., 1873-02-20
'ERMs $500 PER ANNUM IN ADVANCE.
The Man in the Iron Mask.

The Paris correspondent of the New Yoik
Times relates the latest solution Of the old
mystery about the "Nan in the Iron Mask:
NJ ung, staff officer in the French army,
nv" proves, or appears to prove, that the
-''i' Vi 'he non Mask was not the important
p'c he was supposed to be, but merely
.ns oheVaiier Kitienbach, who called himself
IN france the Chevaer des Harno;so. u.
was native OF Lorraine, of noble b;r,,, -
Oh education. He was thrown into nr;.o,, h.,
the Minister Louvois, who for his oI,,,, ~
desired the papers which the Cheva,ier ~,
in his possession, and which were vsrv 10"
p omising to the minister's enemies Sonn.
years ago Captain Yung accidentally CANE
upon the records of ''the po soners." and M
on the DEGREES OF Louis. He found in tbesa
papers the clew to the iron mask mvsterv
but his copies of the documents were never
stamped and he was told that the emperor de-
elined to rction the publication OF his docn.
msnts of which he had taken copies, for the
Bourbons had been the sovereigns of France.
With tie advent of the republic the way. was
clear for Captain Yung, and Mr.. Thiers has
given the authority refused by Napoleon III.
In the time of Louvos there was great COM
motion at Paris and Versailles over the Brin-
villiers poisoning cases, and readers of history
will remember that "Poisonir e Society,"" or
organization, was discovered, WHICH was said
to extend throughout Europe, and Mime. de
Montespan, the Prince de Conde, and many
more were implicated. 1t is certain that hum
dreds of persons were poisoned at this time,
and that plot was discovered for poisoning
the king and all his heirs. One-half tho
court vas concerned at least, and all the enc
mics OF Louvois Joined this society of poison
ers. The minister knew of the cabal formed
against him, and was sure of certain mem
bers, Conde among the number, but he was
rcable 10 get the proofs he wanted, AMI
whic.- he made every effort to procure. At
length, hSyever, bribery aided him, and be
lear ed that>this gentleman from Lorraine.
the Chevalier de- Siffenbach, was not only =
member of the orgSS ization, but in possession
OF its record. Besides, IN order to prevent
his own betrayal, he had taken the precau-
tion to compromise every nember, and held
the secrets of their implication m lie plot in
writing. Louvois had hun seized aud !. .ret-
ly thrown into prison. His papers weieSe>s.
ed also, and the chroniclers of the time in
form us that the minister sent for the Prince
de Conde, bis greatest enemy who left him
firm friend. A few days later the great poi
soning conspiracy was revealed, as history
records. In one Of the reports Of the men
who seized the Chevalier, mention is made of
q velvet mask placed over the head of tie
prlsone', and we now knoR that there was
no such thing as an iron mask, the mask
which was so called being made of velvet.
With these facts Captain Yung began long
and tedious process. The prison records are
perfect, and the registers still show the name
Of every prisoner entered. One of the pris-
oners upon the register must be the MAN in
the Iron Mask" and the difficulty was to fix
upon the man. The slight hint given above
really proves nothing, by itself, and so NJ.
Yung went through the entire records in Or
der to arrive at the real man by process of
elimination. He claims to have so faithfully,
and to have traced every prisoners career,
finding that one alone at all fulfilled the con-
ditions. and that the man in the iron mask
could be no other than the Chevalier de Kiff-
enbach, seized by Louvois. As the minister
had stolen hi S papers, and had used his Sc
crets with m ost terrible effect, he had every
reason for preventing not only escape, but
communication with the world.