The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-05-16
THE MAN WITH THE IRON MASK.
Amusing Sequel to the Search for
His Identity In His Grave.

Amusing Sequel to the Search for
His Identity In His Grave.
From the London Pail Mall Gazette.
One OF the old houses of Paris, sit
uate at II RueBeautreillis, is about to
disappear, ard the place thereof will
know it no more. 1t has been handed
over to workmen. who win demolish it
to make room for a workshop. Rue
Beautreillis is an ancient and narrow
street which the omnibuses do not
penetrate, remnant of the times when
the Place des Vosges was the Place
Royal and the home of beauX, pc
ruked" and red-heeled. In the garden
of the doomed house, famous in times
past as the residence of distinguished
persons, is a grave which local ira
dition says is the resting place of that
mysterious figure in history-the Man
with the Iron Mask. One remembers
that this remarkable person died in the
Bastille in 1908, and the local register
says he was buried in the parish of st.
Paul. Now, this garden undoubtedly
forms a part of the ancient cemetery
of st. Paul, and the church itself is
near at hand, set in the midst of a
cluster of old houses. It is in the gar
den that the famous Iron Mask is said
to have been buried, and the spot is the
Mecca of daily pilgrimages. Outward
ly the place is unloVely enough, ragged
and uncultivated. A few poor bedrag-
gled flowers try to live on, cut off from
the sunshine O. by the over-topping
houses, and prematurely faded by
great name. In corner, where are
the decayed trunks of some acacias,
and where a pool of stagnant water
gives an additional aspect of melan-
choly is the reputed grave of the Iron
Mask. The old attendant will tell you
that the water does not run away be-
cause there is a vault beneath covered
over with thick bed of cement. In
the middle of the garden there is a sub
terranean passage which leads by
gentle descent direct TO the cave of
burial.
The question which is agitating the
minds of the "Old Paris" society which
watches over these matters is whether
the bones of this fascinating figure of
a former century are really there. This
will be settled, perhaps, when the tomb
! is opened VIII the strange instrument
that he wore for so many years be
! found, rust eaten, among the remains?
| Actually, there Is on the grave col
umn which bears an inscription, cut
with a knife: Here lies MarchiaH
| the Man With the Iron Mask" 1t
would appear that the inscription was
copied from a stone, which was for
merly in place there. The ancient
| cemetery of st. Paul is now almost
built over. Here. however, If one may
| again believe the tradition of the quar-
| ter. have lain the ashes of Rabelais,
of Mansard, the architect. who built
the Bank of France, and the hotel, now
the Musee, Carnavalet, of Mouliere and
his spouse, Armande Bejart.
/
Yesterday, one of the most distin-
guished of these learned gentlemen re-
ceived a note from the "housebreak-
| ing contractor to say that the laborers
under him had turned up some debris
that appeared very interesting. The
! good man, in a state of archaeological
| excitement, jumped into a cab and
| drove hurriedly to the house. When he
arrived there he found a few sheep
bones and an old fencing mask, very
rusty, placed on the upturned soil. One
of his colleagues had arranged this
| practical joke. Even archaeologists, ii
seems, can be very young sometimes,
AS to the victim, his language on the
occasion can find no place in a re-
spectacle newspaper.