Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1885-07-31
THE KEY OF DEATH
A Venetian Curiosity Concerning which
the Following Tradition Is Related.

A Venetian Curiosity Concerning which
the Following Tradition is Related.
About the year 1000 one of those
dangerous men, in whom extraordia ary
talent is only the fearful source of ccme
and wickedness beyond that of ordiuory
men, came to establish himself ss
merchant or trader in Venice. Ihe
stranger, whose name was Tebaldo, e.
came enamored of the daughter of IN
ancient house, already ailianced to a.c-
other He demanded her hand in fnar
riagc, and was, of course, rejected.
Enraged at this. he studied how 10 be
revcnged. 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 a key of large
size, the handle of which was so con-
structed that it could be turned round
with little difficulty; when turned it
sure, launched from the other end
needle or lancet of such subtle finencss
that it entered into the flesh and
buried itself there without leaving
external trace. Tebaldo waited in dis
guise al 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 unper-
ceved into the breast of the bridegroom.
The wounded man had no suspicion of
injury. but seized with a sudden and
sharp pain in the midst of the ceremony,
he tainted, and was carried to his house
amid the lamentations of the bridal
party. Vain was all the skill of the
physicians, who could not devise the
cause of this strange Illness; and in a
few days he died. Tebaldo again de-
manded the hand of the maiden from
her parents, and received second re-
fusal. They, too, perished miserably in
few days. The alarm which these
deaths-which appeared almost miracu-
ous-occasioned excited the utmost vigi-
lance of the magistrates: and when, on
close examination of the bodies, the
small instrument was found in the gan
grened flesh, terror was universal; every
one feared for his own life. The maiden
thus cruelty orphaned had passed the
first month of her mourning in Il con-
vent, when Tebaldo, hoping to bend her
to his will, entreated to speak with her
at the gate. The face of the foreigner
had been very displeasing to her, but
since the death of all those most dear
to her it had become odious Gas though
she had a presumption of his guilD,
and her reply was most decisive in the
negative. Tebaldo, beyond himself with
rage, attemp ed to wound her through
the CRATE, 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
hastened 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. 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 heavily upon him. His house
was carefully searched, the infamous
invention discovered, and he perished
on the gibbet. Opinion.