The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-09-24
THE HUSBAND PRISONERS.
Details Of the Remarkable
Crimes Perpetrated in
Hungary.

airy trial IN Hungary. he states TIA
Ghekla Poppy, the peasant woman
who is being lried on a Charge Of aid
ing and abelting upward of 1Ot
women in poisoning their husbands
Is a very remarkable characteristics
tined to occupy a position at ooc,
unique and picturesque IN the aauals
OF crime. She Is a Gypsy. and II
now some 20 years Of age See wed
III little village named M elencz
ana It NAV almost be said that mur.
der was her trade People SAP sue
had her agents AID emissarIes, whose
business It was to keep up her con
nectlon," and It must have been q
horrld and grnesome spectacle to see
the grizzly bag seated in beT arm
chair every day receiving her Gus.
toners during business hours and Civ
ing them the diabolical advice and
aid they sought. They were nearly
all married women from the neigh
boring country side, eager for some
reason or another, to get lid OF hus-
bands who obstinately refused to die
in the ordinary course of nature, but
Who, by TheklR's friendly offices,
might be made smenable to the re-
sources of art. These Wretches paid
the old Gypsy a fes OF from so TO 100
forms for each bottle OF poison they
bought, and wee duly Instructed by
her in the safest methods of its "ex-
hibition." Tnekla Popoy's clients
were hoWever, not always married
women. Sometimes she bad dealings
with young girls who quarreled VITO
their sWee.heaits, and VINO from jea
lousy or rage had determined to XII
them. The woman's terrible trade
prospered amazingly for two years.
excited no suspicion, because the
drugs she administered acted slowly,
though surely, and their effects simu-
lated the symptom. of disease. Even
nov that the bodies Of some OF her |
victims have been exhumed they |
show no signs of poisoning. though |
the stomachs are eaten away.
The frs. case that set people on the !
alert vas that Of one J0tza Kukin. O
rich peasaLt. VINO died at Meler cZe |
TWO months ago. Ugly IumOrs ahont
his death weIe spread, aud the gUssIl !
whispered mysterious hints OF ioGl 1
play. There WAa Ia consequence an
but the most careful post
norton examination failed to reveal
any traces o. poisoning In bis case.
The whO.e story Was siIppIng UaL the
the memories VI the villagers wuen
suddenly dreadful fevalati0u was
made. a Gypsy glrl, the dauAhter
Of Cd Ehekla P0pOy, came before tle
court a; Gross Bedskertk and no II
fec il by The ;al, she had u eli
Soc Confessed tnaG che had g.v ihe
wife of J0cza KuEIn a oOltle Oi some
,orne red Iiqu d po.sou pre-. ared 10y
her mother. She had done this ~
her moIner's instructions. Having
had Il quarrel with her respected
parent oyef some property she de-
Lermlned to betray her. Tnekla
PopJy's laughter further declared
bat che lad actually seen Kukin's
wife pour this poison into bis coffee,
and that she told her mother what
she mad seen. To this the olo Gypsy
replied: Zone day [ will poison you
3 Iso upleas you hold your tongue"
Or cousse tnis statement caused old
Poppy and the widow Of
Kukin to be arrested. They, how
ever, denied the charge brought
against them. Oddly enough, the
Judge, by clever ruse not quite 10
keeping witt English notions oil tsir
play to accused prisoners, managed tt
1verhear the Two women talking the
affair over in jail. Among other
things ne overheard was Kukin's
widow saying to her aocompiice:
Well. | am young and pretty. He
was old and ugly. Why should he
not die?' The judge. after that, had
little doubt that the prisoners we're
guilty. They were, therefore, put on
rial, and the clew thus unexpectedly
placed in the hands of the authori-
les vas actively followed up. Strange
were soon made. showing
hat from the woman Thekla Poppy
Is a center a vast ard complex rami-
icasion of crime extended far and
vide throughout the community.
The trial hes been deferred for several
weeks so that the bodies Of men cup
,osed to have been murdered by tteir
7ives may be exhumed and suhiet ted
0 post na0TEeH examination.