Middletown transcript., 1884-03-07
sea which
3 g. Il bis irnmorta


male "a ly his inmorta
Of EEAate Cristo. Everybody knows
the foundation of the novel. Edmond
Dantes, a young master of vessel sail
ing from Marseilles, and betrothed to
Mercedes, falls inte2a trap laid by a
powerful lover of the girl and is ac-
cused of conveying letters from the
Emperor Napoleon, then confined at
Elba, to his partisans at Marse1lles.
He is entirely innocent, but his accuser
is powerful in the government and
poor Dantes is torn from the arms OF
his love and hurried to the Castle DIFF.
The young sailor was immured here
for years, and had given up all hope OF
ever again seeing the outside world,
when one day he was surprised to hear
a scratching noise on the outside OF the
wall Of his dungeon. He answered 1t
aud found that it came from an old
abbe who had also been confined In the
prison for years, and was digging a
hole through the wall, not knowing or
caring what the result might be. A
few DAYS suficed to widen the aper-
ture SO that they could converse, and
the result was the abbe, who was we'll
nigh gone with years, confided to
Dantes the secret Of the isle Of Monte
Cristo, near Naples, where fabulous
wealth was concealed.
The abbe Immediately expired and
Dantes determined to make bold
stroke for liberty. The custom was to
envelop dead bodies in a sack and
throw them over the precipice into'the
sea at night. Dantes pulled the corpse
of the dead abbe into his cell through
the opening and enveloped himself IN
the sack, secreting a knife about his
person. The two soldiers came at the
proper hour, carried the supposed abbe,
but really the living Dantes, to the
precipice and threw it over. The NOM
ent he struck the water he liberated
himself with his knife and swan to a
rock in the neighborhood-there are
plenty of them-and escaped by mir
acle.
AS everything else, the people now in
charge of the island and the disused
prison have made the most Of the celeb
rity that Dumas great work gave the
place. They have selected two dung
cons as the identical ones occupied by
the abbe and Dantes. They dug the
hole between them, and you are shown
the cells and the opening as though the
great novel was historical fact instead
of the revelation of the most wonder
full romancer France has yet produced.
However, it might have happened
the island is simply rock in the sea-
its summit crowned with prison aS
horrible as one could imagine. There
are cells below cells. There are dung
cons into which the rays Of tht
blessed sun never penetrate. Iher'
are others through which all th'
light there ever is, is what ma.
come through a narrow slit in tn
thick walls, and it is so situated tina
escape any other way than that sug
gested by Dumas would be impossible
AS it was used as a prison Of stat
during the old regime, and by the re
public afterwards, great many TRACE
dies have taken place within its walls
which still show mementoes. Mira
beau was confined here for long time
brother of the king of Poland was her
for twenty years, till death relieves
him, " Detained" as the records say
"by the request of the king" Th
brother was probably troublesome, an,
kings were in the habit Of obligin
each other in this way. He was saf
enough here.
Now it is entirely unused, the plac
being in the guardianship of a doze
invalid soldiers and an old woman wit
a handsome daughter, who make liv
ing by exhibiting the place and retailin
the lies that others have invented. The
have cut the story of Dumas down t
a very fine point and they have photo
graphs of the good old abbe and Dante
and an engraving of the escape, all G
which you are urged to purchase
Whether you invest in illustrations 9
the fertile brain of Dumas or not, yo
must drink bottle of very bad wine Q
beer and you must likewise disburse
franc or two for their services. This
however, is the best use the hoary oil
record of crime was ever put to.-Na,
by's Letter IN Toledo Blade.