The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1885-04-25
The Kew of Death.


In the collection of CuriOSitieS pre-
served in the arsenal OfNeniCe there is
a key of which the following singular
tradition is related about the year
1000 one of those dangerous men in
whom extraordinary talent is only
the 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, became
enamored of the daughter of an an
cient house, already atiianCed to an
other. 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 inn
agined. This was a key of large size,
the handle OF which was so constructed
that it could be turned round with lit
tie difficulty; when turned it discOv-
cred a spring, which, on pressure,
launched from the other end a needle
or lancet of such subtle tineness that
it entered into the flesh and burned
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 benediction. The
assassin sent the slender steel unper-
ceived into the breast of the bride
groom. 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 car
ried to his house, amid the lamenta-
tions OF the bridal party. Vain was
all the skill ofthephysicians who could
not divine the cause OF this strange i'll
ness, and in a few days he died. TebaldO
again demanded the hand Ofthe maid
en- from her parents, and received a
second refusal. They, too, persisted
miserably in a few days. The alarm
which these deaths-which appeared
almost miraculous-occasio ex-
cited the utmost vigilance of the mag
istrates; and when, on close eXamina-
ton OF the bodies, the small inStru-
ment was found i'll thegangrened flesh.
terror was universal: everyone feared
for his own life. The maiden thus cru
ely orphaned had passed the first
months OF her mourning IN a convent,
when Tcbaldo, hoping to bend her to
his will entreated to speak with her
at the crate. The face OF the foreigner
had ever been 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 deci-
sively in the negative. TebaldO, be
yond himself with rage, attempted to
wound her through the CRATE, and sue
| ceeded; the obscurity of the place pre-
vented his movement being observed.
On her return to her room the maiden
felt pain in her breast, and uncover
ing it, she found it spotted with a sin
gle drop OF blood. Thepain increased,
| the surgeons who hastened to her as
sistance-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 ire
sistible 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 persisted
on the gibbet.