The daily Alaskan., 1909-09-24
THE TRUE BLUEBEARD
He Was a Cruelty and Malevo-
 lently Maligned FrenChman.
NOT A MURDERoUs MONSTER.
Ho Had Matrimonial Misfortunss, it Is True, but He Seems to Have Been tho Only One Who Came to Grief on Account of Them-His Tragic End.

Account ot Ihen-His iraoio Eho.
 The supposedly detestable Bluebeard, the monster of murderous pclygamy. the very name of the ogre into whose mouth one used. If one could, in child hoods happy hour, to throw india rub Der balls, was in truth man who has been as cruelty and malevolently ma. ligned by history as Nero, Richard III, Macbeth, tutti Quanti. So says M. Anatole France-and pray who can speak with higher authority on the real facts of faery?-in Les Sept Femmes de Ia Barbe-Bleue ct Autres Contes Merveilleux." One knew al- ready that Charles Perrault frst wrote. in about 1860, the historical biography of Bluebeard. but one did not Know until now how deeply PerrRult, prob- ably through false information, wrong ed the memory of an excellent and i'll treated parsonage. From Nj. France we learn that NJ. Bernard de Montra- goux, of old and noble descent, lived in 1850 or thereabouts at the ancestral Chateau Les Guillettes, on his estates between Compiegne and Plerrefonds. The castle, of drowning outward as- pect, was inside treasure house Of taste and wealth. Its owner. contrary to long existing tradition. wore no beard, only a mustache and . little tuft below the lower lip. He was known through the countryside as Bluebeard because his hair was very black. and therefore his close shaven cheeks and chin were markedly blue. He was fine figure Of man who, in spite of his manifest advantages as good match, did not get on well with women of his own rank in life. Thls was due to an ipcrrable shyness on his part. Pleasant and pretty girls who had been well brought up attracted him immensely, but also filled him with an indescribable terror. .ts .
 The first notable result of this af- fiction was that the unfortunate or plan, for such he had been since his early youth, incapable of making pro posals for the hand of any of the at tractive and high born ladies in the neighborhood, married e certain Go lette Passage, a fascinating gir. in her way, against whose character nothing seems known, who was going round the country with dancing bear. Things went well enough for few months, and then C5lette. who had at first reveled In being lady of quai- ity, began to long for her old freedom. The longing became irresistible. and at last she took her departure secretly with her justly beloved bear. It Is noteworthy that they made their es- cape by way of room that had door leading to what had been water meadows, and so to open country. Perrault called this room '1e petit cab met" but 1t was also known as 'the wretched princesses' room," because Florentine painter had covered its walls with the most lifelike figures of Gree, Niobe and Procris- The tragic, effect of these paintings was enhanced by the porphyry flooring of the room, which suggested bloodstains.
 Montragoux appeared inconsolable at the disappearance, which was com plete, of Colette, his first wife, and doubtless his lot would have been far less unhappy If he had never tried to console himself. This, most unfor- tunately, he did by marrying one Jeanne de la Cloche, who turned out to be violent dlpsomaniac. Blue beard was of nature so kindly and noble that. although In a ht of mad passion she nearly killed him with q kitchen knife, he continually hoped to reclaim her by kindness. But one day she strayed into the generally shut up hrincesses' room, took the painted fig nres for real people and was so terri fled that she rushed wildly into the open fields, tumbled into deep pool, lnd so was drowned.
 So things went on, new affliction with each new wife, and In each case the final catastrophe was associated with the princesses' room. The climax to the unhappy career of the moro than worthy and lovable Bernard de Montragoux came with his seventh wife, Jeanne de Lespoisse. cleyerest and most fascinating of a family of utterly interruptions adyenturers. No one knew anything about the supposed late husband of the mother. Of the two brothers, a dragoon and musket- ger, one was a low rascal and q mere sponge; the other lived on gaming and on the good nature of women to whom he made love. Anne, the sister, was the incarnation of malicious cunning. Associated with this precious family was a certain Cheyalier de Merlus. who had a great deal to do with the final tragedy of Nj. de Montragopx'e career The nature of this tragedy may be inferred, but it is curious that, while Perrault represented Bluebeard us taking Journey in order to laYsa trap for bis wife, the fact was exactly opposite. Both before and after his marriage he had heaped benefits on all these wretches. When be was obliged to go away in the matter oe l an inheritance he cave all his keyB