Morning journal and courier., 1882-09-12
A Hundred Husbands Poisoned.
Am Awful Story or Crime Among Hum Rarian Pea sa nts-A Peculiar Drug.
 From the london Standard

| Am Awful Story or Crime Among Hum | 9arian Pea sa nts-A PecuIial Drug l From the London Standard.l
 | VIENNA Aug. 24.-Thekla Poppy, the | peasant woman who is being tried on charge | of aiding and abetting upward of hundred | women in poisoning their husbands, is very remarkable character-destined to occupy a position at once unique and picturesque in the l annals of crime She is gypsy and is now some 70 years of age She lived 1n little ] village named Melencze, and it may almost be said that murder was her trade People say she had her agents and emissaries, whose business it to keep up her connection, " and it must have been horrid and gruesome spectacle to see the grizzly bag seated In her arm-c chair 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 | neighboring country side, eager, for some reason or another, to get rid of husbands who obstinateiy refused to die in the ordlna- " course of nature, but who, by Thekla's friendly offices, might be made amenable to the resources of art. These wretohes paid
 the old gypsy fee of from fifty to hundred forins for each bottle of poison, and were
 duly instructed by her in the safest methods of it's ''exhibition.'
 Thekla Popoy's clients were, however not
 always married women. Sometimes she had dealings with young girls who quarrelled with
 their sweethearts, and who, from jealousy or rage, had determined to kill them. This wo- mans terrible trade prospered amazingly for two years She excited no suspicion, because the drugs she administered acted slowly,
 though surely, and the effects simulated the
 symptoms of disease. Even now that the bod
 ies of some of her victims have been exhumed
 they show no signs of poisoning, though the stomachs are eaten away.
 The first case that set people on the alert
 was that of one Jocza Kukin, rich peasant, who died at Melencze two months ago. Ugly rumors about his death were spread, and the gossips whispered mysterious hints of foul play. There was in consequence an inquest i; but the most careful post-mortem examina- tion failed to reveal any traces of poisoning in his case. The whole story slipping out of the memories of the villagers, when suddenly dreadful revelation was made. A gypsy girl, the daughter of old Thekla Po- poy. came before the court at Gross Bed skerek 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 poi son prepared by her mother. She did this 1 by her mothers instructions. Having had @ quarrel with her respected parent over some property, she determined to betray her. 1 Thekla Popoys daughter further declared that she actually Kukin's wife pour this poi | son into his coffee, and that she told her mother what she knew and had seen. The 1 gypsy replied, s'One day will poison you l also unless you hold your tongue.'
 | Of course this statement caused Thekla
 Poppy and the widow of Kukin to be arrest.
 ed. They, however, denied the charge
 brought against them. Oddly enough, the judge, by clever ruse not quite in keeping
 with English notions of fair play to accused
 prisoners, managed to overhear the two
 women talking the affair over in jail. Among l other things he overheard was Kukin's wi
 dow saying to her accomplics, Well, am young and pretty. He was old and ugly Why should he not die? ?" The judge afte,
 that had little doubt that the prisoners were 1 guilty. They were therefore put on theii l trial, and the clue thus unexpectedly placed I in the hands of the authorities was actively l followed up.
 1 Strange discoveries were soon made, show | ing that, from the woman Thekla Poppy as centre, vast and complex ramifcation oi | crime extended far and wide throughout tho | community. The trial has been deferred fol l several weeks, so that the bodies of men sup
 posed to have been murdered by their wives l may be exhumed and examined.