A solitary witness of this act of violence, Vincenzo di Coreglia, deposed to having raised the dying man from the ground, put earth into his mouth by way of Sacrament, and urged him to forgive his enemies before he breathed his last.

The weather had been very bad that day, and at nightfall it was thundering incessantly.
Inquisition was made immediately into the causes of Lelio's death.
According to Lucrezia's account, her husband had reproved some men upon the road for singing obscene songs, whereupon they turned and murdered him.

The corpse was exposed in the Church of the Servi, where multitudes of people gathered round it; and there an ancient dame of the Buonvisi house, flinging herself upon her nephew's body, vowed vengeance, after the old custom of the _Vocero_, against his murderers.

Other members of the family indicated Massimiliano as the probable assassin; but he meantime had escaped, with three of his retainers, to a villa of his mother's at S.Pancrazio, whence he managed to take the open country and place himself in temporary safety.

During this while, the judicial authorities of Lucca were not idle.