The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-09-22
Poisoning Husbands.

Thekla POpOv, the peasant woman who Is
being tried on charge of aiding and abetting
upward Of a hundred women in poisoning
their husbands, is a very remarkable character
destined to occupy position at once unique
and picturesque in the annals of crime. She
is gypsy, and is now some seventy years of
age. She lived in a little village named Me.
lencze, AMI it may almost be laid that murder
was her trade. People say shs mad her agents
and emissaries, whose business 1t was to keep
up her connection" and it must have been q
horrid and gruesome spectacle to see the
grizzly bag seated in her armchair every day,
receiving her customers during business
hours, and giving them the diabolical advice
and aid they sought.
They were all married women from the
neighbOr' ng country side, eagrr, for some
reason or another, to get rid of husbands who
obstinately refused to die in the ord nary
course of natur,, but who, by Thekla's friend
ly offices, might be made amenable to the re-
sources of art These wretches paid the old
gypsy a fee of from fifty to one hundred
horins for each bottle of poison, and were
duly instructed by b II in the safest methods
of its "exh btion.''
Tnekla Popovs clients were however, not al
ways married women. Som It mes she hal
de tliugs W tn young girls who gu ,rrelled with
their sweethearts and who. from Jealousy or
reg, had determ ned to kill them. This wo-
mans terrible trade prospered amazingly for
two years. She exc ted no suspicion, because
tn, drugs she amin stored aotcd SLOWLY,
.ough surely, and in their effects simu ated
symptoms of d sease. Even now that the
bodies of some of her victims have been ex-
humed they show no signs of poisoning,
though the stomachs are eaten away.
The first cise that set people on the alert was
that of one Jocza Kuk n, a rich peasant. who
died at Melencze two mon hs ago. Ugly ru-
mors about his death were spread, and the
gossips VIII spered mysterious hints of foul
play. There was in consequence an in u st;
hut the most careful post-mortem examination
tailed to reveal any traces of p,is ming In his
case. The whole story was slipping out of
the memories of the villagers, when
suddenly dreadful revelation was
made. A gypsy girl, the daughter of old
Tnekla POpov, came before the court at
Gross Bedskerek, AMI Mortified 1t 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
d d this by her mothers instructions. Having
had quarrel with her re pectei pa ent over
some operty, she determin d to betray her.
Thekla Popov's daughter .fu Their declared
that she actually saw Kukin's wife pour this
POISON lutO MS cOuct, duu tuat Suc tutu ucE
mother what she knew and had see I. The
gypsy repliei: Zone day VII poison you I'M
less you hold y"ur tongue"
OF course this statement caused Thekla
Popoy and the widow of Kukin to be arrested.
! hey, however, denied the charge brought
against them. Oddly enough. the Judg by q
clever ruse not quite In keeping with English
notions of fair play to accused prisoners, man
aged to overhear the two women talking the
affair over in jail Among other things he
overheard was Kukin's widow saying to h,r
accomplice: "Well I am young and pretty.
He was old and ugly. Why sh ul1 hs not
der The JUICE after that had little doubt
that the prisoners were guilty. Thy were
therefore put on their trial, and the clew thus
Unexpectedly placed in the han1s Of the au-
thorities was actively followed up. t''t
Strange scoveries were soon made. show
ing that, from The woman fheka Pcpov as q
center, q vast and G ,mplex ramihcasiou OF
CRIME extended far and wide thr ,ughJu the
community. The tr al has been deferred for
several weeks, 80 that the bodies Of men sup
posed to have bsen murdered by their wives
may be exhumed and exam Del-Vean0
august sD Cor. London Standard.