The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-10-26
THE REAL BLUEBEARD.
GlAES DE RETZ, BOLD SOLDIER,
ARTLST AND MURDERER.
Story of His Lsfe-Fought by the Side o {
joan of Arc--Marshal Of France Then
Trinl-Confessed and Was Hanged.

TriaI-Confesseda and Was Hanged.
The origin Of the story of Bluebeard
as told in the immortal "Contes de
Perrault' is not fixed absolutely beyond
dispute, but. on authority of the French
historian Michelet and of numerous
Breton legends we may reasonably as
sumo that the bloodthirsty and uxori-
Gus ogre who has been the terror of so
many nursery had his historic proto-
type in the notorious GILES de Retz, a
Baron Of Brittany and marshal of
France in the fifteenth century.
Learned scholars and Industrious delv-
ers amid the dusty archives Of the mid
die ages may dispute among them
Scelves as to whether this or that his
toric character was the original OF this
cruel hero of the "Contes de la Mere
Love (stories of Mother Goose, but
to this day the peasant folk Of Britta-
ny hold to their belief that the tale Of
Bluebeard and his unhappy wives Is
founded on the life of human mons
ter who lives i'll their country hum
dreds of years ago, and was tried and
70 executed in their ancient city of
mainly. Interest in the story of this
notorious criminals life is revised at
the present moment by the publication
by the Putnams of a volume on the
subject. "Bluebeard A contribution
to istory and Folklore. Being the
History of GILES de Retz of Brittany,
France, who was executed at Nantes in
1440 A. D.. and who was the original of
Bluebeard in the tales of Mother
Goose by Thomas Wilson, LII. d. Mr..
Wilson, who Is one of the curators of
the National Museum and a counsellor
of the bar of the supreme court, was
for some years United States consul at
Nantes, and while resid
made the investigations which resulted
IN this volume. He had access to the
original records of the trial of GILES de
Retz, and, among other photographs he
made copy of page of the confession
of the accused, taken from Latin
MSS. of the record in the process
against him in the archives of Loire In
fericure. He has drawn freely upon
the comparatively recently issued
works of the Able Brossard and M.
Charles Lemire, and he has judiciously
eApurSdteu the criminal RECORDS IN SuCn
a way as to make the story acceptable
to the general reader.
Neither the exact date nor the place
OF birth of GILES de Retz is known, but
the event occurred at one of the family
chateaux in southern Brittany some
where about -404. His father died dur
ing the childhood of GILES, and his
mother remarked, leaving the boy to
the care of an aged and ndulgent
grandfather. In 1920 he married a rich
young noble woman who brought him
number of chateaus and a fortune
which, together with his own patrimo-
ny, made him one of the richest barons
of his province. The standard of edu-
cation at that era and in the province
of Brittany was not high and as GILES,
in after years and at his trial, said:
I'm my youth l was allowed to go al
ways according to my own sweet will"
Nevertheless he spoke three languages,
Latin, French and Breton had some
knowledge of chemistry, and was al
ways addicted to the society of learned
and intellectual men. In 1925, when he
appeared at the court of the Dauphin,
his contemporaries represent him as a
vigorous, robust man of great beauty