CONDEMNED TO DIE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 192, 16 August 1938, Page 7

CONDEMNED TO DIE.

WOMAN PRISONER. SENSATIONAL TRIAL DRAMATIC APPEAL MADE. VIENNA. ■' "I demand that I should be hypnotised to prove that I am telling the truth," cried red-headed, green-eyed Martha Marek, a widow of 40, in Court here when she was found guilty of poisoning four people and - was condemned to death.

When this request was refused, Mme. Marek begged her judges: "Then let me take poison (naming a poison she was accused of administering to her victims) to prove that it is harmless."

On that note of drama ended one of the most sensational trials here of recent years—and the first this century at which the death sentence has been passed on a woman.

Victims of Mme. Marek—who is said to possess remarkable hypnotic eyes— were her husband, her seven-months-old baby daughter, an aunt, and a woman friend.

In each case she employed a poison used in the manufacture of optical glass—which, it is believed, has never before been used by a murderer. Mme. Marek was first married when she was 14, her husband being over 60. She inherited a considerable sum when he died in 1923, and a few months later married Emil Marek. Eleven years ago she was accused of cutting off Emil's leg to get a large sum of insurance money. The charges were not proved. In July, 1932, her husband died [suddenly—from "pneumonia." Two months later 'their three-year-old son, Alphonso, was taken ill with food poison, it was said. He recovered.

A few weeks later the baby girl, Ingeborg, aged seven months, also became ill and died. Again pueumonia was certified.

' In 1934" Marek invited her rich aunt, Susanna Loewenetein, to live in her Vat. Within five weeks she died—of cancer, according to her doctor. Marek nherited Frau Loewenstein's furniture, ewels, and other valuables. Posed as Dumb and Blind. In 1935 a woman named Kittenberger went to live with Mme. Marek, took out an insurance policy, and died—of "cancer. , * .A chance remark made by Frau Kittenberger's son aroused suspicion. The body was exhumed, and traces of poison were' found. The bodies of Emil Marek, the aunt, and the baby daughter were also exhumed. Poison was found in all. Throughout the preliminary investi-, gation Marek refused to say a word, having written on a piece of paper that she was dumb and blind. Witnesses declared that she possesses remarkable hypnotic powers, and that she used to "fascinate" men from whom she obtained money. Marek told the Court, "I ajm not guilty, and therefore I am not afraid to die. lam the one who is going to be murdered." i