Daily Kennebec journal., 1904-12-29
dangerous man fond of intrigue, an
agent for the Duke of Mantua."

a dangerous man fond of intrigue, an
agent for the Duke of Mantua'
These TWO facts taken in conjunction y
Tive m hreatano sntt,a ito tod Trbune representa-
alone one may feel that a thing is so. but
not know it. With these two facts, not to
iiame lame thIee !. others in my possession, one
But if the Iron Mask was Matthioli.
lg,many be asked how came. he to be i'm
requiring his wearing perpetually a vel
I'm 1873" said the archivist "whiIe
and while Louis XIV. was casting covet-
Gus eyes on Casale uhe capital Of Mont
aorrat % IN the Duke of Mantua's s dominions
thioll arrived at the court of Versailles
he announced his authority on behalf of
ms master to yield up Casale and it's Sc
sum of 100000 livres. A treaty was accord
nsiy negotiated between NJ. de Pom
P.Gmme, .nf,n;:,,, the French Minister. and
Matth1o!i the monarch himself giving the
dukes minister 1000 livres and a bag of
diamonds as his own commission
dnid lt ,,adI,. apIeared are subsequently that the
price arranged for by his emissary.
Scarcely had the negotiations closed when
the Count Of Asfeld on behalf of his
Io=al master went TO take possession of
,asaie, bat was arrested on the way by
Spanish s and Austrian troops. Whereat
the me. hing. believing Matthioli had be
trayed him. became furiOusly angry. His
minister he disgraced and as for Mat
thloll he caused his arrest on Italian soil
ara prisdn nung erh hm on May 1879 into Pignerol
thereafter to wear mask, lest the duke
learn of his fate.
III is necessary that no one shall know
his own hand. In 1854 Matthioli was sent
to to the prison of Ste. Marguerite, an island
from Cannes On September is. 1893,
Matthioh was transferred to the Bastie
There on November 9. 1903, The Man in
still unknown to the duke. his master
But d. to CaSale Louis apparently
was Il man. infieXible in purpose once his
y" much desired treaty with the duke.
paying in consideration the sum of 12Oo, 900
1xreS, JUST four times the amount de.
According to NJ. Funck Brentano, de-
spite the traditions to the contrary, the
prisoners ,i in the Bastile were royalty
the nobility. whereas the Fort lEyeque
was the prison for the commoners. which
term included "dramatists and comedi-
accorded to the Bastle inmates. NJ.
funck-BrentanO mentions that Louis set
aside at regular intervals IA certain sum
that certain marshal received 81 livres
and a Cardinal laO livres AS it was i'm
To eXDend the. amount allowed for their
nourshment. many laid 1t by against
day Of need ard in some instances left the
prison far richer than when they entered
IT. So enamoured. indeed did the Count of
Moriot become of the prison, that when
the time arrived for him to be liberated
he begged permission from the King to
remain there, if only during the winter
months.
But with all the privileges to write or
t. attempt to communicate in any way
with the outside world was forbidden, on
pain of the. severest penalties Any de-
ScriptiOns of pens, ink or paper was,
hence. vigorously withheld; One Bastile
prisoner. however. Latude by name.
straw from his pallet. made an incson
in his side. and tearing off a strip of his
shirt. wrote a letter with his blood on the
strange improvised linen paper. NJ.
Funcll-Brentano exhibited a photograph
of this strange document. every word of
which is plainly viSible after M iapse OF