McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1885-04-30
The Key OF Death.

In the collection of curioSitics pre-
served in the arsenal of Venice there
is key, of which the following singu-
lar tradition is related: about the
year 1890, one of those dangerous men
in whom extraordinary talent is only
fearful source of crime and wicked
ness beyond that of ordinary men,
came to establish himself as mer-
chant or trader in Venice. The stran-
Ger, whose name was Tebaldo, be-
came enamored of the daughter of an
ancient house, already affianced to-
another. He demanded her hand in
marriage, and was, of course, rejected.
Enraged at this, he studied how to be
revenged. Profoundly skilled in the
mechanical arts, he allowed himself
no rest until he had invented the most
formidable weapon which could be-
imagined. This was Il key of large
size. the handle of which was so con-
structed that 1t could be turned round
with but little difficulty; when turned,
it discovered spring, which on pres
sure, launched from the other end Il
needle or lancet of such subtle fine
ness that it entered into the flesh
and buried itself there without leaving
external trace. Tebaldo waited in
disguise ut the door of the church i'll
which the maiden whom he loved was
about to receive the nuptial bcnedic-
ton. The assassin sent the slender
steel unperceived into the bre ssl of
OF the bridegroom. The wounded man
had no suspicious of injury, but, seized
with Il sudden and sharp pain in the
midst of the ceremony, he tainted and
was carried to his mouse 4nid the la-
mentatiOns of the bridal party.
Vain was all the skill of the physic-
ians, who could not divine the cause
of this strange illness. and in 4 few
days he died. Tebaldo again demand
ed the hand of the maiden from her
parents, and received second re-
fusal. They too persisted miscrably
in a few days. The alarm which these
deaths, which appeared almost mi
raculOus, OccaSiOned excited the ut
most vigilance of the magistrates, and
when, on close examination of the
bodies. the small instrument was
found in the gangrened flesh, terror
was universal; everyone feared for his
own life. The maiden thus cruelty
orphaned had passed the first months
of her mourning in Il convent, when
TebaidO, hoping to bend her to his
will, entreated to speak to her at the
gate. The face of the foreigner had
ever been disp!easing to her, but since
the death of all most dear to her it
had become Odious Gas though she
had a presumption Of his guilt, and
her reply was most deciYive in the
negative. Tebaldo, beyond himself
with rage, attempted to wound her
through the gate, and succeeded; the
obscurity OF the place prevented his
movement being observed. On her
return to her room the maiden felt
pain in her breast and uncovering it
she found it spotted with a single drop
of blood. The pain increased; the
surgeons who fastened to her assis-
tance-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. The state inquisition used every
means to discover the hand which
dealt these insidious and irresistible
blows. The visit of Tebaldo to the
convent caused suspicion to fall heav-
III upon him. His house was carefully
searched the infamous invention dis
covered, and he persisted on the glib
bet"