Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-09-09
A FEMALE FIEND.
An Old Hag Who Filled One Hun
dred Graves.
A Terrible Story From Across the Sea-A
4 Deadly Drug Which Sent Scores Of
Husbands and Lovers 10 the
.. Other World.
POISON WHICH. DEEIeD DETECTION.

NEW oRE, september line llst lof-
eign mails bring particulars of sensation
which the cable dispatches last month
vaguely referred to. The Vienna cores
pondent of the london Standard says:
Tbekia Popov, the peasant woman who is
being tried ON o charge OF aiding and aoet-
ting upward OF hundred women in poison
ing their husbands, is very remarkable
,eIson-destined 20 oeelpy position at
once unique and picturesque in the annals
OF erlme. She Is gypsy, and is now some
20 years of age. She lived in little vii.
fess called Msleaezs.- aud it may almost be
saii tLat
Murder Was Her Trade.
People say she had her agents and ennis
saries, whose business il was to keep up
her connection" anu it must have been
hor-iG and gIuesoJne spectacle TO see the
grizzly hay seated in her armchair every
day, receiving hereustomers during bnsi.
ness hours, and giving them the diabolical
advice and aid they sought. u
They were all married women from the
neighboring countryside, eager, for some
reason or another, to get rid OF husbands
whs obstinatply refused to die in the ordi
nary course of nature, but who, by Thekia's
friendly offices, might be made amenabls to
the resources of art. These wretches paid
the old gypsy a fss of from fifty 10 one
hundred horins for each bottle Of poison,
and were duly instructed By her in the
safest methods of its exhibition"
A TerrGble Trade.
Thekia Popov's clients were, however,
not always married women. Sometimes
she had dealings with, young girls who had
o-,orra1al nit fhai, ha~ nj and pvhn.
from jealousy or rare, had determined to
kill them This voman's terrible trade
prospered amazingly for two years. She
excited no suspicion, because the drugs she
administered acted slowly, though surely,
and in their effeCtssimulated the symptoms
of disease. Even now that the bodies -
some of her victims have been exhuned
, they
Show no Signs Of Poisoning,
though the stomaehs are eaten away.
The first case that set people on the alert
was that OF one JecZa kukin, a rich peas
ant, who died at Nclencze two months ago.
tSly rumors about the death were sPread.
srd the gossipe whispered mysterious
hints Of foul play. There was in cOnse-
quence an inquest; but the most careful
examination failed to reveal any traces
of poisoning IN his case. The whole
story was slipping out OF the memo.
ry of the villagers, when suddenly
Dreadful Revelation was Made.
A gypsy girl, the daughter of cid Thekia
Popov, camo before the court OF Gross
Bedskerek, and Mortified it by the tale she
had to tell. She confessed that she gave
the wife of Jocza kukin bottle of some
red liquid poison prepared by her mother.
She did this by her mothers instructions.
Having had quarrel with her respected
parent over some property, she determined
to betray her. Thekia Popov's daughter
further declared that she actually saw ku-
kin's wife pour this poison into his coffee,
and that she told her mother what she
knew and had seen. The gypsy replied,
"One day will poison you also unless you
I'D gnTIStoans "stavenvmv o~-s,.. -;------
Popoy and the widow of Kukin to be ar
rested They, however, denied the charge
brought against them. Oddly enough, the
Judge, by a clever ruse not quite in keep
ing with English notions OF fair play to ac-
cused prisoners, managed To overhear the
two women talking the affair over in jail.
Among other thiags he overheard was
Kukin's widow saying to her accompiice;
"Well, / am young and pretty. He was Old
and ugly. Why should he not die? Fhe
Judge after that had
Little Doubt That the Prisoners Were