Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1885-07-15

Monte Crfkto.

Across the beautiful bay from the
city an hour or such matter is the
famous lie DIFF, on which is the famous
State prison which Dumas made famous
by his immortal romance Of Monte
Cristo. Everybody knows the founda-
tion of the novel. Edmund Dantes, "a
young master OF a vessel sailing from
MarseilleS and betrothed to Mercedes.
falls into trap laid by a powerful lover
of the girl, and is accused of conveying
letters from the Emperor Napoleon.
then confined at Elba, To his partisans
at MarseIlles. He is entirely innocent,
but his accuSer Is powerful in the gov
ernment, 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 cne day lie was
surprised to hear scratching noise on
the other side of the wall of his dun
geon. He answered it, and found that
it came from an old able who had also
been confined i'll the prison for years,
and who was digging a hole through
the wall, not knowing or caring what
the result might be. A few days suf-
feed 10 widen the aperture SO that they
could converse, and the result was the
abbe, who was well nigh gone with
years, cOnfided to Dantes the secret of
the Isle of Monte CristO, near Naples,
where fabulous wealth was concealed.
The able Immediately expired. and
Dantes determined TO make a bJld
stroke for liberty. The custom was to
enyelOp dead bodies in 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 knife about his person.
The two soldiers came at the proper
hour, carried the supposed Able, but
really the living Dantes, to the preci-
pice and threw it over. The moment
he struck the water Dantes liberated
himself with his knife and swan to a
rock in the Observation-Disclosures are
plenty of them-and escaped by a MR.
acle.
As everywhere else, the people now
III charge of the island and the diSuSed
prison have made the most of the celeb
Tity that Dumas great work gave the
place. They have selected two dun
geonS rs the Identical ones occupied by
the abbe and Dantesl They dug. the
hole bbetween them, and you are shown
the cells and the opening as though the
great novel was historical fact in
stead of the revelation of the most
wonderful rOmancer France has yet
produced.
However, it might have happened :;
the island is simply rock i'll the sea,
its summit crowned with a prison as
horrible as one could imagine. There
are cells below cells. There are dun
geons into which the rays of the blessed
sun never penetrate. There are others
through which all the light there ever
is is what may come through a narrow
slit in the thick walls, and it is situated
SO, that escape any other way than that
sug-sstei By Dumas Mould be hnpes-
sible.
AS it Was used as a prison of state
during the old regime, and by the Re.
public afterwards, great many TRACE
dies have taken place within its walls,
W otlll SuON
beau was confined here for long time,
a brother of the King OF Holland was
was here for twenty years, till death re-
Heved him, detained" " as the records
say, 'by request of the king" The
brother was probably troublesome, and
kings were in the habit of obliging
each other in this way. He was safe
enough here.
Now 1t is entirely unused, the place
being in the guardianship Of dozen
invalid soldiers and ali old womad with
handsome daughter, who make
living by exhibiting the place aud re-
failing the lies that others have invent
ell. They have cut the great story of
Dumas down to very fine point, and
they have photographs of the good old
abbe and Dantes, and an engraving of
the escape, all of which you are urged
to purchase. Whether you invest in
illustrations of the fertile brain OF Du-
mas or not, you must drink bottle of
very bad wine or beer, and you must
likewise disburse a franc or two for
their services. This, however, is the
best use the hoary old record of crime
was ever put to.