The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-07
BLUEBEARD OF FICTION.
SCIENTISTS SAY THAT HE WAS AN
ACTUAL PARSONAGE.

Was French NObIeman-Lived
Near Nantes More Than Three
Centuries AEO-FInalIy Executed
for His Crimes-He Murdered no
Fewer Than 40 PersOns-A Crimi-
nal Monster who Held the Baton
of "A Marshal.
From the Hartford Times.
Everybody has read about Bluebeard.
and having relinquished the confidence
of childhood in fairy tales. has set him
down as a Pigment Of imagination. Moth
ing could be more unjust. A Smithson-
ian scientist, Col. Thomas Wilson, has
investigated him and has found out that
he was a real parsonage. HIS authentic
history has thus been raked up out Of
what might have been oblivion, and It
is proved with a fair degree Of certainty
that he was even worse than he was
painted in the blood-curdling romance of
Perrault.
To get at the facts Of the case, Col.
Wilson recently visited the French city
of Nantes, where the records Of the yeri-
table "Barbe Bleu" are officially filed.
skeptical at the start, he was surprised
to find that the inhabitants of the town
we're well acquainted with the history
of the acknowledgement original OF the
storied monster. They showed him the
chateau wherein he was imprisoned; they
pointed out the cathedral which was
the residence of the bishop who presided
at the ecclesiastical tribunal by which
he was tried; they indicated the place
where he was condemned to death by a
civil court, and finally they took him to
the SPOT where Bluebeard was executed.
There was no proof Of facts in these
allegations; so Col. Wilson started in to
look up the evidence. He would not nave
got far If It had not been for good luck.
1t happened that a certain ABIDE Bous-
sard had newly written, as a prize es-
saw a translation into everyday Latin
OF the almost undecipherable Latin rec
ords of the BlueDeard case preserved
at Nantes in the archives Of the depart
ment of the Loire Inferieure. No ordi-
nary scholar could have construed the
archaic text; but. thanks to this assist
ance, Col Wilson was enabled 70 peruse
the documents intelligently.
What the documents revealed was start
ling enough. They told the tale Of the
real Bluebeard-a human hend, compared
with whom the "Barbe Bleu' Of the
French romancer was almost mild and
auaiable His true name was Giles dc
Ret. and he lived about $50 years be-
fore the time of Perrault, the story
teller. Be it understood that MS identity
must not be COMPOUNDED with that OF the
Cardinal de Retz, who lived &OO years
later. and was imprisoned in the same
Chateau de Nantes. His family was a
great one, and was allied with many or
the MODEST in Brittany. The famous war
rior Bertrand du Guesclin, was collat-
eral ancestor of his.
Giles de Retz was one of the most for
tunate men of his time. lie inherited nu-
merous chatteaux and estates, together
with immense sums in ready cash. IN
fact. there was scarcely any nobleman or
brittany richer or more powerful than he.
His father died early; his mother married
again, and he was paced under the guard
fanshjp Of his maternal grandfather, Jean
de Craon. This Jean de Craon, by the
way, was a descendant of the nobleman
Of the same name who suddenly encoun-
tered Charles V in the forest, and, be-
ing himself esteemed a mailman, pre-
dicted for that monarch SUCH dire woe
that the latter became insane on the
spot and never recovered.
Jean de Croan married his grandson,
Giles de Retz, to a very charming young
woman, whose name was Catherine de
Thouars She brought to him severel val
liable estates, and among them the Chat
eau de Machecoul, where he afterwards
lived and where many or his horrible
crimes were committed. The chateau was
situated not far from Nantes. Perhaps
the most interesting element In the whole
narrative Is the cOntfaQlcIlOn expressed
By the life Of this man. who was first
8 loving husband and finally fiend; who
was the bravest of the brave, and yet a
coward of superstition; who was a pa
triot and yet could murder innocent
children wholesale, and apparently with
out remorse.
The old man, Jean de Craon, was a gal
liant fighter, and he took his grandson
with him in his campaigns When Giles
was only 16 years old, the two took their
seats together in the great military coun-
ell at Vannes. Those were troublous days
for Europe, when England was trying to
wipe France out Of existence, and the
hundred-years' war was In full swing.
From 1920 to 1924 the grandfather and
grandson fought side by side. In 1i24
came a meteor across France-Joan Of
Arc, who landed at Orleans, not far from
the residence of Giles de RetZ. Giles
himself became captain Of Joan's own
guard, and did duty as her escort through
the siege of Orleans and on the march to
Rheims. where the king was to be
crowned.
on the occasion Of the coronation she
baton of a marshal Of France wafk le
slowed upon de Retz. History tells NJ We
events which followed, eliminating eoArA
trial and execution OF the her9c a So,
Giles went back TO his estate in RAW tSo.
and 50 far as IS known, he liveda foes
full and happy life, with his vie