Omaha daily bee., 1884-11-14
THE MAN IN TIN IRON MASK
what Uisi,ry or1 r,n, 'ition Have To
Say Abuut This MI ''''ousWAt28
Character
Frvm tho London Brw Bells

I''Nt "-Fiug Deen CunlnCu ana uph
II the Bsatils. as first made public by
N%oItairc, has eince been abundantly COW
hrmed in all it's leading points. Tho
journal OF VI. Do Jones, who WIS many
years LieUtcnaus dc Rol at the Bastile,
gives an account of tho prisoner be.
ing removed from the Island of st. Marg-
urite or NJ. dc st. Mars being appointed
governor of the Bastile. We says the
prisoners always wore a mask of Mack
velvet, n circumstance confirmed by sev-
eral writer's, although he has teen called
the Iron Mask, and whom he died in the
Bastile and wAs buried on the Goth OF
November, 1853, in tho burying place Of
st. Paul. In the registry Of this parish
thore ia the following entry:
I'm the year 1908, On the 10Th day OF
November, Marchiali, aged 10 years or
Whereabouts, died at the bastile. His
body was Inferred in the burying place of
this parish of ST. Paul 90 tho Goth Of the
said north, in the pre1cDce of Monsieur
do Rosarges. Mayor of the Bastile, and
Monsieur Reilh, tho sWrgeon, who &C.
cordlngly sign this"
Father Grisset, i'll his, "'Traite de Preu-
yes qui servant pour ctabiir la Verite do
pHistoize, v says nothing can exceed the
dependence that may be placed on The
journal OF NJ. dc Jonca. No adds that a
great many circumstances relating to tho
prisoner were known to the officers
and servants at the Bnstile, when
MonsieuS do Lauaay was appointed
mayor there; that NJ. dc Launay
told him he was informed by them that
immediately after the prisoners death
| L. l,,,N. .I.L-. ...A. .. i.
short, everything that had been used by
him, were burned; that the walls of his
room were scraped and the door taken
up, all evidently from tho apprehension
that he might have found means of wit
ing something that would nave discovered
who he was; and that Monsieur d'Argsn-
son, who often came to the bastile when
Lieutenant General of the police, hear
ing that the garrison still spoke of this
prisoner, asked one day what was said
about him, and after hearing some OF the
conjectures observed, "They will never
know"
1t is related by others that, besides the
precautions mentioned by M. do Launay,
the glass was taken out OF the window
of his room and pounded to dust, the
window-frame and doors burnt, and the
ceiling of the room and the plaster of
the inside chimney taken down. Several
persons have affirmed that the body was
buried without a head; and nj. dc st.
Folk, in his "Essais Historiques," in
forms us that o & gentleman, having bribed
the sexton, had the body taken up in the
night, and found q stone instead of the
head.
Voltaire, in his sage of Louis NV"
says: "Somo monthS after the death of
Cardinal Mazarin in 1861, there hap.
pened an event of which there 10 no ex-
ample, and what ia no less strange, the
historians of that time seem to have been
un~acquainted with it. There was ssnt,
with the greatest secrecy, to the castle on
the Island of Marguerite, in the Sea of
Provence, an unknown prisoner, rather
above the middle size, young, and Of a
graceful figure. On the road he wore a
mask, with steel springs that enabled him
to eat without taking it off. Those who
conducted him had orders to kill him if
he made any attempt to discover himself.
He remained there until the governor of
Pigneroe, an officer of confidence,
named st. Mars, being appointed
governor of the bastile, 1000,
brought him t ence to the bas.
tile, always covered with a mask. The
Marques dc Louvois, who went and saw
him at st. Marguerite, spoke to him
standing, and with that kind of attention
that marks respect. He was lodged at
the Bastile as well as that would admit.
Nothing WAS refused him that hedesired.
His chief taste was for lace and linen,
remarkably fine. He played on the
guitar. His table was the best that
could be provided, and the governor sell
dom sat down in his presence. An old
physician of the Bastile, who had often
attended him when he was indisposed, |
said that he never saw his face, though
he had often examined his tongue and
parts of his body; that he was admirably
well made; that his skin was rather
brown; that he had something interest
ing In the sound of his voice; that he
never complained or let drop anything
by which it might be guessed who he
was.
This unknown person died in 1908,
and was buried in the night, at the bury
ing ground of the parish of st. Paul.
What increases our establishment 10, that
when he was sent to st. Marguerite, no
person of Importance in Europe was
Yet this prisoner certainly was
Of Importance. See what happened soon
his arrival there. The governor
put the dishes on the table himself, re-
tired, and locked the door. One day
the prisoner wrote something with his
on a silver plate and threw it out of
tho window toward q boat that was drawn
on shore near the bottom of the tower.
A fisherman to whom the boat belonged
took up the plate and brought it to the
who, with evident astonish.
ment, asked the man If he had read what
was written on the plate, or If any per.
son had seen it. He said that he could
not read; that he had but just found it,
and that no one else had seen 1t. He
was, however, confined until the COVER
nor was certain that he could not read,
and that no other had seen the plate.
He then dismissed him saying: cit is
lucky for you that you cannot read"
The Able Papon relates "that q young
lad, abarber, having seen n day some
thing white floating on the water, took it
up. 1t was a fine shirt, written almost
all over. He carried it to M. de Saint
Mars. who, having looked at some parts
of the writing, asked the lad, with an
appearance OF anxiety, if he had read it,
He assured him repeatedly that he had
not; but two days later the boy was
found dead In his bed"
nj de la Borde informs us that M. Lin.
guet, in the course of his inquiries, found
that when tho Iron Mask went to mass