New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1885-05-20
The Key of Death.

In the collection of curiosities 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 a mer-
chant or trader in Venice. The stran-
ger, whose name was Tebaldo, be-
came enamored of the daughter of an
ancient house, already atfianced to
another. He demanded her hand in
marriage, and was, of course, rejected.
Enraged at this, he studied how to be
revenged. Profoundly A1illed in the:
mechanical arts, he allowed himself
no rest until he had invented the most
formidable weapon which could be
imagined. This was a key of large
size. the handle of which was so con
structed that it could be turned round
with but little difficulty; when turned,
it discovered spring, which on pres
sure, launched from the other end a
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 at the door of the church in
which the maiden whom he loved was
about to receive the nuptial benedic-
ton. The assassin sent the slender
steel unperceived into the breast of
OF the bridegroom. The wounded man
had no suspicious of injury, but, seized
with sudden and sharp pain in the
midst of the ceremony, he tainted and
was carried to his house amid 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 a few
days he died. Tebaldo again demand
ed the hand of the maiden from her
parents, and received second re-
fusal. They too. persisted miserably
in 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 convent, when
Tebaldo, hoping to- bend her to his
will, entreated to speak to her at the
gate. The face of the foreigner had
ever been displeasing to her,. but since
the death of all most dear to her it
had become odious Gas though she
had presumption OF his guilt), and
her reply was most decivlve in the
negative. Eebaldo,. 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 a
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-tanght 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 insidions and irresistible
blows. The visit of Tebalda to the
convent caused suspicion to iall heag-
lily upon him. His house was carefully
searched the infamous invention dis.
covered, and he persisted on the Glib
bet"