About a Robbery in the Treasury of the Republic of Venice

In 1449, the precious hoard of saintly relics, valuable jewels, and other riches, in the treasury of the Republic of Venice, very narrowly escaped dispersion through an artful robbery. Among the suite of the house of Este, indulged, according to custom, with an inspection of the wonders of the treasury of St. Mark's, was a Canadian, named Stammato, in whose bosom the sacred spectacle awakened more desire than veneration. Watching his opportunity, and closely noticing the localities of the spot, the ingenious plunderer secreted himself behind an altar in the body of the Cathedral, and obtained fresh access by means of false keys. After numerous difficulties, and by the labour of many successive nights, he removed one compartment of the marble panelling which girded the lower part of the treasury. Having thus gained access at will to the interior, he carefully replaced the panel, leaving it removable at pleasure, and, renewing his nightly visits, he selected, without fear and without suspicion, such portions of the entire spoil at his command as most gratified his fancy. It was, doubtless, a lust for gold which allured him, in the first instance, to the Birretta, or ducal cap of the Doge, studded with gems of inestimable price. For the full enjoyment of his plunder, it seemed necessary that another should know of its possession. Accordingly, having exacted a solemn oath of secrecy from one of his countrymen, Grioni, a Candian of noble birth, he led him to an obscure lodging, and poured before the astonished eyes of his companion the dazzling fruits of his plunder. While the robber watched the countenance of his friend, he mistrusted the expression which passed across it, and the stiletto was already in his grasp to insure his safety, when Grioni averted the peril by saying that the first sight of so splendid a prize had almost overcome him. As a token of benevolence, perhaps as a bribe, Stammato presented his unwilling accessory with a carbuncle, which afterwards blazed in the front of the ducal bonnet. Grioni, seeking an excuse for a short absence, and bearing in his hand this well-known and incontestable evidence of his truth, hastened to the palace, and denounced the criminal. The booty, which amounted to the scarcely credible sum of two million golden ducats, had not yet been missed, and was recovered undiminished. Stammato expiated his crime between the two columns; the rope with which he was executed having been previously gilt, in order that, like Crassus, he might exhibit in his death a memorial of the very passion which had seduced him to destruction.