The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-03-01
MONTE cRISTO.
lNasby's Letter, in Toledo Blade.

Across the beautiful bay from the city an hour or such a matter is the famous lie d'H. on which is the famous state prison which Dumas made famous by his immortal romance of Monte Cristo Everybody knows the foundation of the novel. Edmond Dantes, a young master of vessel sailing from Marseilles and betrothed to Mercedes, falls into a trap laid by powerful lover of the girl and is accused of conveying letters from the Emperor Napoleon, then confused at El- ba, to his partisans at Marseilles. He is entirely innocent. but his accuser is pow erful in the government and poor Dantes is torn from the arms of his love and hurried to the Castle d'If The young sailor was immured here for years, and had given up all hope o' ever again see ing the outside world, when one day he was surprised to hear scratching noise on the outside of the wall of his dungeon He answered it and found that 1t came from an old abbe who had also been con- fined in the prison tor years, and who was digging hole through the wall, not knowing or caring wha, the result might be- A few days sufficed to widen the aper- ture so tha, they could converse, and the result was the abbe. who was well-nigh gone with years, coniided to Dantes the secret of the Isle of Monte Cris,o, near Naples, where fabulous wealth was con- cealed.
 The abbe immediately expired and DAntes determined to make bold stroke for liberty. The custom was to envelop dead bodies in sack and throw them over the preeipice into the sea at night. Dantes pulled the corpse of the dead Ab- be into his cell throu sh the opening and enveloped himself in the sack. secreting knife about his person. The two sol diers came at the proper hour. carried the supposed able, but really the living Dantes. to the precipice and threw il over. The moment he struck the water Dantes liberated himself with his knife and swam to rock in the neighborhood there are plenty of them-and escaped by miracle.
 As everything else, the people now in charge of tke island and the disused prison have made the mos, of the celeb rity that Dumas grea; work gave the place. They have selected two dungeons
 
 be and Dantes. They dug the hole be- tween them, and you are shown the cells and the opening is though the great novel was d historical fact instead of the revelation of the most wonderful roman Ger France has yer produced.
 However, it might have happened the island is simply rock ia the sea, its sum- init crowned with a prison as horrible as one could imagine. There are cells be- low cells. There are dungeons into which the rays of the blessed sun never pene. trate. There are others through which all the light there ever is is what may come through marrow slit in the thick walls, and 1t Is so situated that escape any other way than that suggested by Dumas would be impossible.
 As it was used as prison of state dur ing the old regime. and by the repuoiic afterwards, great many tragedies have taken place within its walls, which still show mementoes. Misabeau was con- fined here for a long time. brother of the king of Poland was here for twenty years, till death relieved him. detained" :" as the records say, by reques, of the king. The brother was probably trouble some. and kings were in the habit of obliging each other in this way. He was safe enough here.
 Now it is entirely unused. the place being in the guardianship of dozen in- valid soldiers and an old woman with a handsome daughter, who make living by exhibiting the place and retailing the lies that others have invented. They have cut the ureat S.ory af Du,,,.r inun to very fine poin, and they have pho tographs of the good old abbe and D antes and an engraving Of the escape, all of which you are urged to purchase. Wheth- CT you invest in illustrations of the fertile brain of Dumas or not. you must drink a bottle of very bad wine or beer and you must likewise disburse franc or two for their services. This. however. is the best use the hoary old record of crime was ever put to.