St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-10-03
MAN IN HE IRON MASK.
The Mystery Of the Centuries Said
to Have Been Solved.

1.-THE mystery of the Man in the Iron
Mask' is said to be solved at last, for
Capt. Bakeries, of the French army,
stationed at Nantes, has deciphered the
dispatches between Louis XIV. and
the Duke de LouvoiS relating to the
prisoner of Pignerol and the Bastllle.
He was Gen. de Bulonde, and his of
Tense was raising the siege of Conf in
Piedmont in 1851, against orders and
without necessity, thus endangerng
the success of the campaign in the war
then waging. The dispatch ordering
Bulonde's arrest directed that he
should be allowed to walk every day
on the rampartS of the citadel, his face
being concealed by mask. This dis
covery of his identity, which is said to
be absolutely certain, leaves the riddle
of his punishment wholly untouched.
The dates do not agree with any of those
heretofore given for the beginning of
the imprisonment of the wearer of the
mask. These vary according to the sew
eral theories as to his identity, the earli-
est being 1862, which would have made
the term of Imprisonment fOrty-one
years. since he died in 1903. whereas, if
he was Bulonde, it was but twelve
years. The most that had, before this
discovery of Capt. Bakeries, been placed
bevond dispute, was that in September,
1893, the mysterious parsonage was
brought from the island fortress
of Ste. Marguerite (where later BaZaine
was imprisoned for a worse treachery
exchanged the governorShip of Ste.
Marguerite for that of the Bastile. The
prisoner wore mask of black velvet
fastened with steel springs, and he was
closely watched by the governor, with
pistols ready to kill him should he make
an effort to remove his mask or speak
with any one. st. Mars himself attend
ed him at his meals and his toilet, and
removed his clothing, carefully exam
ing and sometimes destroying it lest he
should have in some marked it so as to
reveal something. After his death
everything belonging to him was
burned. The Iron Mask was always
most gentle and resigned, and no au-
thentic instance is known of an attempt
on his part to make his secret known.
These circumstances seem too strange
to reconcile with Bulonde's case, but
so they do with the hypothesis. of Count
Matthioli, the Marquis Fouquet, and
almost all the rest-eXcepting those
theories which are utterly baselesS, as
that he was the child of Anne of Aus
tri, Queen of Louis XIII. land the Duke
of Buckingham, or twin brother of
Louis XIV, born few hours after
him, and disposed of thus to avoid dis
pute about the succession. Plays, po-
ems, and romances have been written
about the Man in the Iron Mask, of
which the romance of Dumas so en-
titled is the best known. When the
translations of Capt. Bakeries shall have
been published, as they probably will
be by the French war department, then
there will be more ground for specula-
ton about the reason for the singularl-
ty of the vengeance of LIE Grand Mon
argue, and especially why it should
have gone so far Gas one story has it, as
to require that when the prisoner was
dead his face should be beaten out of
shape and cut in pieces so as to prevent
recognition. What object was to be
gained by concealing the fact that it
was Gen. de Bulonde who was pun
iShed so for treachery?