The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-12
SOME HISTORIC CoNUNDRUMs.
Who Was the Man in the Iron Mask?
Who Wrote the Junius Letter?

From the Philadelphia Record.
There are some historic mysteries that
excite increasing interest the more the
attempts to solve them are bafied The
last word has not been spoken in regard
to the authorship of the celebrated Let
tiers of Junius Notwithstanding the
concurrence of Macaulay, Sir James Mack
lntoSh, De Quincy and other eminent
critics In fixing "Junius' upon Sir Philip
Francis, the claim of Francis has been
well-nlgh abandoned in recent years,
Aside from certain facts and dates that
go TO overthrow the claim of Francis, his
identity with 'Juniusn can be maintained
only at the complete sacrifice of his char
aster, and Francis was by no means bad
man.
Another historic riddle. which for
nearly 20S years has defeated the guesses
OF the curious, is the Man in the Iron
Mask, who was for so many
years imprisoned in the Bastile. The
Duke of Monmouth, Fouquet, ex-min'
lister of Louis XIV, and Count Er'colo
Antonio MatthioH, the Italian traitor and
spy; Oldenburg, the poison mixer, and
several other personages have in turn
worn the mask of iron in various accounts
and traditions. But the latest and ap-
pdrently a successful attempt to discover
the secret has been made by Emile Bar
gaud and Bazieres in work entitled lie
Masque de Fer a Revelation of the Cipher
Correspondence of Louis XIV The
authors fell upon their discovery in curl
Gus way when editing the correspondence
of the famous Marshal Catinat The
marshal had preserved only his papers re-
lating to the campaign of 1886. but among
these were accidentally save two letters
in cipher dated JulyS and 9. 1891. Ba-
zieres found the key TO the cipher, and
found also, to his great surprise, that it
solved the mystery of the Iron Mask.
Louis XIV, at the period in question,
was at war with half Of Europe, and
Marshal Catinat in command of the
French, confronted Prince Eugene in
Northern Italy. After several successes
of Catinat Louis set his heart on the
capture of Cuneo, in Savoy and
gave orders for its immediate invest
ment. The siege operations were in
trusted to veteran campaigner, Lieut..
Gen. Vivien Liable, Seignieur de Bulonde
Instead of taking the fortress, Bulonde
was completely routed out by Eugene, and
reiterated with the loss Of his artillery
and munitions of war. This disaster in
the midst of a career of victory deeply in
censed Louis, who attributed it to the
cowardly conduct of his general. In the
cipher letters Louvois, the minister of
war, tells Marshal Catinat that the king
is greatly offended at the behavior
of Bulonde in abandoning the siege of
Cuneo, and orders that he be arrested
and conveyed to the neighboring citadel
of Pignerol. Minute orders were given
at the same time concerning the treat
ment Of the distinguished prisoner. He
was to be locked in a cell Of the citadel at
night, but TO be permitted to promenade
the walls by day Should this be the
true solution of the mystery it explains
the command of Louis XIV, 10 provide a
prisoner by day with mask. The cor
rectness of the key to the cipher of the
year 1891 is established by the later dis
covery of letter mot in cipher of Lou
vols to Catinat on the same subject and
corresponding with the cipher dispatch
Whether these revelations agree with
the subsequent career Of Bulonde
remains to be determined. The
Mask, whoever he may have
been, was removed to the bastile in 1898.
The authors describe him from the ac-
counts of contemporary observers as a
man of fine presence, with white hair.
Although closely guarded, he was treated
with great respect, and sat at able with
the governor of the prison. All this bet
ter fits Bulonde than little Matthioli,
who has been regarded by some invesu-
gators as the wearer of the Iron Mask
For the rest, the mask was not of iron,
but of black velvet, and was designed
merely to prevent his recognition. Vol
taire. who first spoke of the Man in the
Iron Mask, says he was an eminent per-
sonage Was that parsonage Count
Vivien Liable Bulondel The evidence
points strongly in his direction.