New-York tribune., 1904-08-07

P'rom portrait painted Mount Vernon in 1881
solved. To research Of this sort he brings an
ingeniously speculative mind. and at the same
time. rigid conviction as 10 the Importance
OF verifying your facts" which serves to correct
any tendency which he may have to the de-
velopment OF plausible hypotheses unsupported
a born detective he Sits such evidence as is
actually procurable on a given point but he is
not in the least distressed IL he leaves nys-
terry where he finds it, The author is we'll
aware H. says IN his preface To the present
volume that whosoevcr discusses historical
mysteries pleases the public best 10y being quito
sure and Offering "a definite and certain solu-
t!on. Uuluckuy science fornids. and conscience
is on the same side" lie IS a literary de-
tcctive modesty itself in his chapters on such
subjects as the Man in the Iron Mask. the mys-
terious death Of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey.
the false Jeanne dare. Lord Lyttelton's ghost
and the mystery of Amy Rohsart But this does
not make him any the less interesting
NJ Funck- Breutano came To the conclusion a
few years ago when writing his LEGENDS ct
Archives de In Bastiile.'' that the Man in the
Iron Mask Was Count Mattioli. an official at the
court Of the Duke OF Mantua, who. in the course
OF certain secret transactions with Louis NV,
gave mortal offence to that monarch by treach-
erous conduct, was kidnapped in Italy and was
held as a prisoner IN France until his death
The Identification has much to recommend It,
but Mr.. Lang challenges it shrewdly at i'm
portant points. and has. moreover. notion of
his own in regard TO the matter which is not to
be lightly dismissed. He thinks that the Man
may have been one Martin. valet 20 Roux de
Marsilly. the French Huguenot with whom sew
eral Englishmen had negotiations looking to the
formation OF Protestant league against France
when Charles III was King. II will be remem-
bered that Marsiuy ~as pursued with deadly
pertinacIty by the representatives of Louis XIV,
and that. having captured him in Switzerland,
they hurried him into France cIapped him into
the Bastllle, and executed him not long after
under circumstances OF peculiar atrocity. The
Huguenot technically convicted on
trumped up charge. Dying in agony on the
public scaffOld. he still protested that he was
innocent of all crime. and. in fact. that he did
not know why he was being put to death. No
one now knows why he put to death. Did
his valet know? Martin seems to have given the
impression to those who questioned him in Eng
land that he not altogether in the dark as to
what his unhappy master may have been up to.
and whether because they believed him, or
thought it was wise. general principles TO
close his mouth. the French authorities moved
heaven and earth to get him into their clutches
They got him, and from that moment poor Mar
tin passes out of our ken as Martin. to reappear
as Eustache Danger. q prisoner of the French
King.
1t is n matter OF record that in July. 1863
message went from Louvois. the French Minister
of War, TO Saint-Mars. the commandant at
Pigneroi. telling him that he might expect from
Dunkirk prisoner "of the very highest i'm
pOrtance." and that this prisoner was a valet
Says Mr.. Lang: This valet. now called
'Eustachc Dauger,' can only have been Mar
ailly's valet, Martin. who, by one means or an
other. had been brought from England to Dun