The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-06-14
the Nan in the Iron Mack.
Hz-fGs To7ng PSl=,.

one vi the stranget storIe. in his
tory j. that Of the Man ia the lroL
Max, who Was mprIsoueC in ( rance
nearly two hundred years ago by the
order Of King Loui. XIV. He died
in the Ba.tiie ia I7y3, and from thai
Gay TO this it ba. never been found
cut who be really d
All sorts o. stories have been told
about the unfortunate luan, who not
only spent . many dreary years ia
pri.pD, but Was compelled 10 have biz
fare always covered with a mask.
But no one saw bin in al iron one,
whlcb would have bfen too horrible
Yet the prisoner probably found lis
black velvet covering, fastened with
Strings, intoierabie enough. 1t waa
never removed. Sleeping Or walking,
in bot weather Or cold. SICK or well,
the s~uffocaiiEg thing had TO be woIn,
and it .eem. q wonder that it did not
drive hin insane.
For a long time this mysterious
prisoner was confined in different
prisons On some islands q the Medi-
terranesD, known a. the Marguerite
Islands. He was removed from
thence when ". de Saint Mars, the
Governor III the state prison there
accepted the gGvernOr-.hip Of the
Battle, the great prison OF Paris.
He was carried in & closed litter, &C.
comlanIed by the Governor, NJ. de
SAINT Mari, and several armed men
On horse back. When they stopped
for meals, tie prisoner always sat
with his back to the windows, and
the Governor had pistols beside his
plate. They were attended by a sin
gle valet, Antoine Ru. The servant
who waited on them did not come
INTO the diniDg-rooIu, but the dishes
were taken from him and returned
in an antechaMber after the dining
room door has been carefully closed.
Poor man. he was closely watched.
and he was said to have been richly
dressed, and served by the Governor
himself Oh Bonded knee with dainty
food on rich silver plate. But what
a mockery all this outward show of
respect must have been to a prisoner
who was threatened with death if he
removed his sitting mask for a mo
meDt or attempted to speak to any
one except those VIII, had charge Of
him,
In spite, however of the dreadful
risk he ran. he did try, when in the
fortress Of PigneIol, the giooImiest of
all gloomy places, with the rough sea
dsshiDg up against its rocky walls. to
make his hard fate known t. the
outer world. He engraved some
word. on a silver plate, which he
threw from the window Of his dun
geOn to the narrow beach below. A
fisherman VINO was passing in a boat
saw the glitter Ut the metal, and
landed to pick il up. Not being able
TO read the words which the poor
dezpairing man in the mask had writ
ten, and thinking it might tie a lost
Article Of great Value, the honest fish
erlnan gave up his prize to the keeper
Of the prison.
Far from receiving any reward, he
was closely questioned, and escaped
being put to death only because he
could not read a word: but he
was obliged to leave the neighbor-
hood as quickly as possible.
Two other persons who found
a linen shirt with words mark
ed Oh 1t, and who were not SO igno-
rant as the fisherman, were said to
have died very sOOn afterWsrd with
out any apparent cause.
The man in the Iron Mask spent
five years in the famous state prison
Of the Bsstile, which was destroyed
by the mob in the beginning of the
French revolution. For over four
hundred years this strongest and
most hopeless of PRISONS had held
and onen Of all ranks, many
Of whom laDguished there without
the ordinary comfort of life, for no
crime whate Yer, but to merely graf
ify the malice Of some powerful rival.
1t has been thought that the masked
prisoner was a twin brother of Louis
XIV, whose birth was carefully con-
from everyone outside of the
royal family, and that he was disposed
of in this way to prevent the trouble
that would arise from two heirs to
the throne. His life was spared,
because if the acknowledged heir died
would be desirable to produce him
his lawful successor.
He was said to resemble Louis
XIV SO strongly that it would be
to have his features seen
by any one, and this led to the un-
comfortable mask A picture of him
through The grated window
Of his cell ia the Bastile, with two
soldiers watching the slightest
movement, is very sad; he could see
80 little, between his mask and the
bars, and theguards had orders
TO fire on him if he made the slight
sst attempt to attract notice outside.
Many persons who did not believe
hat the Man in the Iron Mask was
. brother of Louis xiv have tried to