Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1900-09-20

were fully informed In every par
ticular. 1t is needless to inquire into
the motive of Mattiolls treachery, but
desire for money was evidently its
foundation. The resentment of Louis
XIV. was memorable D'Estrades, who
had never ceased to correspond with
Mattioli, was the chief instrument of
the Kings vengeance. Mattioli COM
planned that he had spent all the money
at his command in brides at the court
of Mantau with a view of bringing
about the result desired by the king of
France. D'Estrades thereupon promis-
ed that he should be paid certain sums
by Catinat, who had been intrusted
with them by the king, his master.
A meeting for Thursday, May 2, was
arranged. The Able dEstrades tells.
with much complacency, how COM
pletely he duped and ensnared his
victim. On the other side of the bridge
over the r-ver Guisiola, which had
broken in the recent floods, the Able
d'Estrades and Mattioli met Catinat,
who was awaiting item. He showed
them into a neighboring house, where
the could confer unobserved D'Es-
trades left the house soon after and
NJ ttioli was arrested without diff
culty.
In The Bastille.
The details of his Imprisonment at
Pignerol, then at the isle of ST. Margue-
rite, show that he was at first treated
with the consideration due to the rank
and to the situation which he occupied
at the moment of his arrest. After
ward the respect which the prisoner
had at first inspired was gradually
lessened until the day that he was
transferred to the Bastille in Paris,
where he was placed in a common
room with individuals of the lowest
social grade. On the other hand, the
rigor of detention in regard to the
secret of the prisoner became less, all
that it was necessary to conceal being
the circumstances in which he was ar
rested, and as the years passed this
became of less Importance.
His Young Wife.
The mask which has rendered him SO
mysterious was, as has already been
! said, of black velvet, and strange to
say belonged to Mattioli himself, as il
was found among his effects when he
was arrested. 1t is evident that he
used it to conceal his face when coming
and going about his very peculiar mis-
| sions. A good young wife mourned his
disappearance and returned to the con-
vent in Bologna, whence he had taken
her on their marriage day few years
before. She remained in the convent
till her death.
Such is the admittedly true history
of the Man in the Iron Mask Time
will but slowly make it prevail There
are the legends to be destroyed AND
the wild tales told by guides to be up
rooted. They are faithful guardians Of
every legend, and their propagandisn
is more active than that of scholars.
Traditional Fables.
Think that day by day at the isle OF
st. Marguerite, says Victorien Sardou,
the prison of the Man in the Iron Mask
is opened to visitors by a good woman
who retails to them all the traditional
fables concerning the luxurious mode
of life of the prisoner his lace, his
silver plate and the great regard in
which he was held by the Governor OF
Mars. How can you struggle against
that daily lecture delivered to so
many? Besides the legendary tales
are far and away the pleasanter, filling
the imagination of the people with
vague pictures of royal and aristocra-
tic crime. The isle and the prison
built by Vauban have been purchased
by the prosaic Mayor of Cannes for
municipal purposes, and the glory OF
the legend grows dim, and only the
ghost of Mattioli wandering at night in
the coTrIuors of the prison, wearing
the black mask always, can revive the
old story. A newer memory is as
ISOLATED with the isle at the prison OF
Marshal Bazaine, whose shameful sur
render with 10000 men at Metz helped
to bring down the pride and power of
France in the Franco-Prussian War.
But Bazaine has little interest beside
the Man in the IRON Mask.
COULDN'T RESIST