The southern aegis, and Harford County intelligencer. (Bel Air, Md.) 1862-1864, 1862-09-27
THE KEY OF DEATH.

In the collection Of curiosities preserved
in the arsenal at Venice, there is key,
of which the following singular tradition
is related
About the year 1900, one Of those dan
gerous men, in whom extraordinary talent
is only the fearful source Of crime and
wickedness beyond that of ordinary men,
came to establish himself as merchant or
trader in Venice. The stranger, whose
name was Tebaldo became enamored of the
daughter of an ancient house, already af-
fanced to another. He demanded her
hand in marriage, and was of course rejec-
ted. Enraged at this he studied how to
be rcvenged. Profoundly skilled in the
mechanical arts, he allowed himself no
rest until he had invented the most formi-
dable weapon which could be imagined.-
This was key Of large size, the handle Of
which was SO constructed that it could be
turned around with little difficulty
When turned, it discovered spring,
which, on pressure, launched from the 9TH
er end needle or lancet of such subtle
fineness, that 1t entered into the flesh and
buried itself there without leaving exter-
nal trace.
Tebaldo waited in disguise at the door
of the church in which the maiden
whom he loved was about to receive
the nuptial benediction. The assassin
sent the slender steel, unperceived, into
the breast of the bridegroom. The woun-
ded man had no suspicion of the injury,
but seized with sudden and sharp pain in
the midst Of the ceremony, he tainted, and
was carried to his house amid the lamen-
tations of the bridal party. Vain was all
the skill of the physicians, who could not
divine the cause Of this strange illness,
and in few days he died. Tebaldo again
demanded the hand of the maiden from
her parents, and received second refusal.
They too persisted miserably in few days.
The alarm which those deaths, which
appeared almost miraculous, occasioned,
excited the utmost vigilance of the magis-
trates; and when, on close examination
of the bodies, the instrument was found in
the gangrened flesh, terror was universal
every one feared for his life. The
maiden thus cruelty orphaned, had passed
the first months of her mourning in con-
vent, when Tebaldo, hoping to bend her
to his will, entreated to speak with her at
the CRATE. The face of the foreigner had
been ever displeasing to her, it had be-
come odious, Gas though she had pre-.
sentiment of his guilt and her reply was
most decisive in the negative. Tebaldo
beyond himself with rage, attempted to
wound her through the CRATE, aud sue.
ceeded; the obscurity of the place pre-
vented his movement from being observ.
ed. On her return to her room the maid
en- felt pain in her breast, and uncover
ing it, she found it spotted with single
drop of blood. The pain increased; the
surgeons who fastened to her assistance
taught by the past, wasted no time in
conjecture, but cutting deep into the
wounded part, extracted the needle before
any mortal mischief had commenced, and
saved the life of the lady. f8
The State inquisition used every means
to discover the hand that dealt these in
sidious and irresistible blows. The yisi
Of Tebaldo to the convent caused snspi
cion to fall heavily upon him. His house
was carefully searched, the infamous in
vention discovered, and he persisted OF
the gibbet. ae a@