Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-05-28
TRADITIONS OF A KEY.

In the collection of curiosities preserved
in the Arsenal of Venice there is key, OF
which the following singular tradition is
related:
"About the year 1000, 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 Tibaldo, became enamored of the
daughter of an ancient house, already af-
fianced to another. He demanded her
hand in marriage and was, of course, re-
jected. Enraged at this, he studied how to
be revenged. ,
"Profoundly skillful in the mechanical
arts, he allowed himself no rest until he had
invented the most formidable weapon which
large size, the handle of which was so
constructed that it could be turned round
with little difficulty; when turned, it dis
covered spring, which, on pressure,
launched from the other end a needle or
lancet of such subtle fineness that it enter
ed into the flesh and buried itself there
without external trace. Tebaldo waited in
diguise at the door of the church in which
the maiden whom he loved was about to
receive the nuptial benediction. The as
sassin sent the slender steel, unperceived,
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 faint
ed 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 few days he died. Tebaldo
again demanded the hand of the maiden
from her parents, and received second re-
fusal They, too, perished miserably in a
few days. The alarm which these deaths
which appeared almost miraculous -occa-
stoned, excited the utmost vigilance Of the
magistrates; and when on close examina-
tion of the bodies, the small instrument was
found in the gangrened flesh, terror was
universal; every one feared for his own
life. The maiden, thus cruelty orphaned,
had passed the first months of her mourn
ing in a convent, when Tebaldo, hoping
to bend her to his will, entreated to speak
with her at the crate. The face of the for
eigner had been very displeasing to her, but
since the death of all those most dear to
her it had become odious (as though she had
presumption of his guilt, and her reply
was most decisive in the negative. Tebal-
do, beyond himself with rage, attempted
to wound her through the CRATE and sue
ceeded; the obscurity of this place pre-
vented his movements 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 surgeon who hast
ened to her assistance, taught by the past,
lost no time in conjecture, but cutting deep
into the wounded part, extracted the nee
die before any mortal mischief had COM
menced, and saved the life of the lady.
The State Inquisition used every means to
discover the hand which dealt these insidi-
GUS and irresistible blows. The visit of Te-
bado to the convent caused suspicion to
fall heavily upon him. His house was care
fully searched, the infamous invention dis
covered and he pershed on the gibbet."