The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-05-13

| tons Of steel. The victim was described
| as man of majestic speech and bearing.
| His apartments il was said, Were fitted
| up with every luxury, his attire was Of
| the richest, and when the governor ap-
| preached him serving his food with his
! own hands it is said that he stood with
uncovered head and submissive mein. To
! this strange prisoner it was said only
! two things were denied-liberty and an
| uncovered cOuntenance-and the obse-
| quious jailer, in case Of any attempt to
| uncover his masked face, had, according
TO popular belief, the royal command 70
| shoot the prisoner dead upon the spot.
From such tales as these grew the be-
! lief that the prisoner had been OF royal
| Importance, and eventually, in 1751 the
| great Voltaire originated the monstrous
| story which has been since accepted as
| true by countless millions Of people.
"A few months after the death Of Ma
zarine,' he wrote in his age Of Louis
! XIV" there occurred an event which is
unexampled in history, and. what is not
less strange, has been passed over by
| historians in silence. There was sent
! with the utmost secrecy to the Chateau
| Of the Isle of St. Marguerite, in The Sea
| Of Provence, an unknown prisoner Of
more than ordinary height young, and
with features Of rare nobility and beauty.
On the way this prisoner wore a mask
the chinpiece Of which was fitted with
| springs Of steel which allowed him to
| eat freely while the mask covered his
| face. The order had been to kill him If
/ he uncovered. He remained in the island
! until an officer in whom great confidence
was placed, named Saint-Mars, Governor
! Of Pignerol, having been made governor
| of the Basule, came TO the Isle Of st.
! Marguerite to fetch him, and conducted
! him 70 the Bastile, always masked. The
! Marquis de Leux0is saw him in the is
| land before his removal, and remained
! standing while he syoke to him with a
I Consideration savoring Of respect
| These illusions to the Man in the Iron
! Mask created a sensation in France,
! which was increased when Voitaire in his
| Questions Of the Encyclopaedia, subse-
| quently published. insinuated that the
motive for covering the prisoners face
| arose from fear lest there might be dis
| covered too striking a likeness between
| the prisoner and another He still re-
Trained from giving any names. At last,
| in his second edition Of the Questions
/ Voltaire sprang the climax to his sensa-
| ti0nal eighteenth century fake by de-
! claring that the masked man was a son
! Of Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin
older than the King, and his half brother.
| He also wrote a vivid account Of the
masked prisoners life on the Isle Of
/ Saint Marguerite and Of the attempts
! which he made to communicate with the
| outer world.
| Such stories Is these, while they served
! TO advertise VOltaire's book, created an
| immense sensation in France and gave
birth to other and even wilder tales In
the memoirs Of the Duke de Richeiieu it
! is declared that the masked man was
! twin brother of Louis XIV, born eight
hours later than he and put out of the
way in order to make the succession sure.
In a still more sensational tale Baron
de Gleichen maintained that the masked
man was the true King Of France and
that Louis XIV. was really the illegiti-
mate son Of Mazarin and Anne Of AUS
! tria, foisted upon the throne after the
death Of the preceding monarch. The
effect Of this story was to cast doubt
upon the legitimacy of the Bourbans,
/ but the climax Of the absurdity was
! not reached until the beginning of the
present century, when it was boldly as
serted that the masked man married the
/ daughter Of one Of his jailers in Saint
I Marguerite. and that he left a son, who
was sent to Corsica under the name Of
/ Ronaparte where he became ancestor OF
the Emepror Napoleon. who in conse-
( auence Of this descent, was the right
full ruler Of France. But meanwhile and
/ afterward a score Of other persons were
sl1nDcsadlv identified with the masked
man. but these stories were all rejected
At last came the elder Dumas with his
matchIess heroes. Athos. Prothos. Ara
/ mis- and D'Artagnan. and in the last book
/ ~ their adventures he made the plot turn
uDon the story of the Man in the Iron
| Mask
! Readers Of 'Bragelonne' will remem-
! Der Row the intrepid Aramis caused the
/ he'd of Louis XIV. to sink through the
1 aoor to leave the King in 4 dungeon, and
! n return bearing the person Of his twin
7,rct1er. This plot was eventually foiled
! through the Intervention Of D'Artagnan,
after which the King was restored ana
/ his brother sent away 10 prison with
/ his face hidden forever behind an iron
/ mask.
This thrilling tale appealed so strong
" to the imagination OF the world that
/ II has brushed aside all other theories, and
! from the day Of its publication the theory
contained in it has been the one ac-
cepted by the masses Of the reading pub
lie.
! nck-Brentano. who has now finally
/ established the MattioH theory. bases his
/ arguments upon -he records Of the Bas-
/ tile
1T was in 1879 that the mobs of the
! Frabourg Saint Antoine gathered about
/ the BastiIe. battered down the gates
murdered the garrison and seized upon
everything Of value.
/ The room u records was broken open
/ and the papers were scattered. tTampled
/ into the mud and thrown into the moac
Some Of the more intelligent, realizing
/ the value Of the papers. carried masses
of them away. and these were scattered
! throughout France and Europe On the
! cay after the fall of the BaStiIe soldiers
were placed in charge Of the remaining
! papers. and afterwards many Of Jhe miss
Ing ones were discovered Eventually
! they vera sent - the Arsenal Library.
I bus the task of rearrangins more than
/ half a million documents appalled, the
, Librarians. and WAS pat of from year 10
I year until the papers were forgotten. and
/ 10 one could tell where they were. Il
/ was not until lS4o THAI some worknen in
/ repairing kitchen AZ the library were
/ obliged % take Up the foor, and beneath
I il a room was found absolutely c-ammeyi