The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1900-01-26
THE DIFF.
Prison of Dumas Famous Romance,
Count of Monte Cristo,' as
1t Exists To-day.

\ CORRESPONDENT of the Paris Temps,
who attended the recent festival in Mar
settles cOmmeTOrating the twenty-five
hundredth anniversary of the n
ton Of the city, visited the Chateau diff,
and made some interesting inVestiga-
tiOns of the prison where Dumas Count
of Monte CristO was confined. A boat
made three trips q day to the island
one indication of how widely Dumas is
still read. The boat was full, and every
body maintained the serious demeanOr
proper on a pilgrimage. The trip takes
! about half an hour. The castle, situated
on an islet about 500 yards in circum-
ference, entirely surrounds it with its
wall. 1t is a heavy structure, with
short, thickset towers and a square dom
ion, yet there is a certain beauty IL the
color Of its stones, even in its massive
conformation. 1t was never used as
anything but a state prisOn-a south
ern bastille. Francis |. in 1924 laid the
first stone. He was through personal
experience a connoisseur in prisons.
The cells open into a small. gloomy
inside court. Many have no windows;
some are merely low dungeons, below
the level of the ground. Three larger
and more cheerful ones on the second
story have contained famous prisoners;
the Mar in the Iron Mask, who was
transferred in 1856 to the Island of St.
Marguerite; Philippe Egalite, father Of
Louis Philippe, who was beheaded on
November g., 1888, and Mirabeau, by viz
tue OF a letter de cach@t obtained by mis-
father. But these places are not the
$500 49,. +-,o Il ,~x-l &c ,irI+ NC
They all direct their steps first to a
dungeon on the first floor, dreadful of
appearance, with an i~rOn-bOund door,
a gril]ed pcephole, a bolt weighing a
dozen pounds. Enter this door and you
are in a chamber, dry, but gloomy,
lighted by one little lamp. Written out
side it are these words Cell of the
Able Faris, expelled from ROmei in 1911,
confined in the Chateau dit as a On
;pirator. died in 1929" 1t is neverthe-
less only an ante-chamber. Earias cell
is in a kind of recess, where a man can
hardly stand, and where no ray of light
peretrates. In his cell can be seen
the hole dug by the able to cOmmuni-
cate with Dantes'' Yes, it really eX-
lists, this hole! What southern genius
lug it? 1t is not known, but it is there,
unfailing proof of the power of a pop
ular books illusion of reality. Through
his hole Dantes' cell can be dimly seen.
and in a glamour of mystery the more
terrifying because the door has been
walled up and no one can enter.
According to serious archaeological
Investigators. there were really prison.
ers confined in this dreadful hole
mong them Il named BernadOt, q
rich merchant of Marseilles. arrested
on a charge of speaking i'll of Carolina.
Richelieu, and left there to die of hun
ger. Jean Paul, a sailor who had STRUCK
MS commanding officer, died there il
the tower in 1879. after 81 years Of cap
tivity. 1t was doubtless the story 0.
these men. literally buried alive. that in
spired Dumas. To-day for the whole
world the Chateau diff is the prison O.
1aria and Dantes. and the inscription!
are there to certify to their existence
An Italian visitor some years ago kisseC
the stones Of these dungeons and wep'
copiously.
The correspondent embarked for TIL
mainland. The captain of the boa
pointed out to him a tiny islet sticking
up out Of the sea-a mass Of rocks
wave-beaten and tragic in aspect.
"Tiboulen." he said. where Dante
first landed after his escape.'-N. y
Tribune.