Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-09-20

/ z.
mated him supernumerary senator, Il
dignity which carried with it the title
Of count.
Louis XIV. King OF France, had an
ambassador at Venice. the Able
d Estrades. This man, seeing the am
bilious and intriguing nature of Mat
toll, entered into negotiations with
him for the purchase of the town Of
Casale, the property OF Charles ",
duke Of Mantua. Louis already pos
sessed Pignerol; with Casale he could
overwhelm Piedmont Charles II was
spendthrift and a gambler. Mattioli
negotiated the sale, and the sum OF
100000 crowns was paid for it to the
Duke of Mantua. At private audience
Louis XIV handed to MattioH dia-
nond Of great value and a sum of 100
double louis
The Traitor Ensnared.
Notwithstanding all this, two
months after Mattioi's journey toParis
all the governments interested in the
failure OF this project-namely, those
OF Piedmont, Spain, Austria and Venice
were fully informed IN every par
ticulaT. 1t is needless to INQUIRE into
the motive Of MaCtiolis treachery, but
a desire for mCney was evidently its
foundation. The resentment of Louis
NV. was memorable. DEstrades. who
had never ceased to correspond with
Mattioi, was the chief instrument of
the Kings vengeance. Mattioli COM
planned that ne 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 SIMS
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 il the recent floods, the Able
d'Estrades and Mattioli met Catinat
who was awaiting item. He showed
them into a neighboring house, where
they could confer unObserved. DIES
trades left the house soon after and
Mattioli was arrested without diff1-
Guilty.
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 it
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-
sons. 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 propagandism
is more active than that Of scholars.
Traditional Fables.
Think that day by day at the isle of
St Marguerite, says Vict0rien Sard0u,
the prison Of the Man in the Iron Mask
is opened to visitors by good woman
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 50
many? Besides the legendary tales
are far and away the pleasanter, filling
the Imagination Of the people with
vague pictures Of royal end 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 corrIuors 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.