Evening star., 1914-04-12
OLD RELICS SHED
=. LIGHT ON bAST|[[E
g
Tourists Likely to Be Disap-
pointed With Remains of
Famous Prison.
TALE OF THE IRON MASK
O.. HAS PROVEN TO BE MYTH
Many Legends Have Been Woven
About Famous Prisoner of State
-
Under Louis XIV.
=
stan Correspondence of The Star.

Siar Correspondence OF The Star.
PARIS, March 2S. 1914.
when l first came to Paris,'' said an
american tourist in my hearing the other
day, II felt that I must see the Bastille
before anything else. AS soon as 1 could
do so went there by an omnibus. and 1
must say it is the most overrated show
place any city ever advertised. All
saw was an ugly iron column commem-
Grating some alleged heroes who fell in
one of the periodical Partisan revolutions
'tnlore than forty years after the BastiIle
was destroyed. and few white curves in
the pavement. I was very greatly dis
appointed
And that is apt to be the feeling of
many who think to .'see something at
The Place de la Bastille where once
stood the kings strongest prison. Unless
sPne knows what the white marks in the
pavement mean. one might as well stand
in the middle of the Champs de Mars.
Or rather one might better stand on the
bridge leading over the Seine from the
Place de la Concorde to the chamber of
deputies. for that bridge was built in
part of stones which formerly were part
of the Bastillc walls. which the white
marks in small degree trace today. II
was rather appropriate thus to use the
stones of the prison walls. the raZing of
which marked the beginning of the revo-
luton, which for so many months had
its terrible manifestation in the space
lust north of the bridge, where the gull
iotine was erected.
Interesting Museum.
To see" the Bastille properly one
should first 90 to the Carnavalet Museum,
in the Rue Sevigne. about five minutes
IL
site Of the prison This is a municipal
museum of antiquities and relics. por-
traits and models and is we'll worth a
days visit Its most interesting item in
this connection is room devoted to
the Bastille where student of that in
famous institution might, in truth. spend
Il week.
After an inspection of the models and
the prints representative of the prison
ss it stood for SO many years on the
eastern edge of old Paris, one can picture
the scene that now is SO difficult to con-
lure into vision at the spot where the
Inappropriate bronze column rises.
There are numerous paintings repre-
sentative of the dungeon before and dur
inS the onset OF the people on the 18th
of .iuly. 1883, nearly a century and a
quarter ago. In the center of the room
'ises n large model of the prison. made
% a stone from its walls.
90, Keys of the Bastille.
Of especial interest to any one who
-its,s ever visited Mount Vernon is a
collection of several keys labeled keys
Of the Bastille." One remembers seeing
at the home of George Washington
great iron key which the Marquis de
Lafayette is said to have presented
' 10 the first President. and the presence
. Of these several others causes some
iS ed hat thka
Bastille was rather big place and
held many prisoners and naturally
had many doors. and each door was
lifted with d lock, as every well equip
ped Jail is supposed to be, and conse-
,ruently keys of the Bastille" were
probably quite numerous. One can find
-on" or more of these keys in every
museum of antiquities in and about
Faris.
Americans are at liberty to solace them
selves by assuming that Lafayette, who
-ulanaged with consummate skill to keep
his head level and firmly affixed through
out the revolution took especially i'm
-portant key of the Bastille with him to
america. Perhaps it was the veritable
key OF the front door. against which the
aitlsurSents aimed their shafts of war.
a In one corner of the room is case con-
tanning the saw and rope ladder with
which Latude. the Bastille's most famous
guest made his escape after spending
Athirty-six years there in consequence of
having incurred the displeasure Of Nine.
Pompddour. Latudes escape consider
ably annoyed the court at the time but
he seems to have continued to evade re-
capture. without getting very far from
Paris 1t IL known that when the Bas-
tile fell and the people reioiced thereat
Istude was guest of honor at the fetes
and he and his saw and rope ladders were
leading features of public demonstrations
for some time thereafter Greater events
than even the storming of the Bastille
soon crowded Latude off the scene, how
aver. He seems to have greatly enjoyed