98 WIDOWS IN GAOL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 792, 12 October 1929, Page 30

98 WIDOWS IN GAOL

RESULT OF POISON CULT IN HUNGARY BLACKMAIL AND SUICIDE Amazing revelations are now reachins London concerning a poisoning « ult. in the village of Tiszakurt, in Szolnok. a province of Hungary, says a London exchange. Apparently this poison cult, which has already resulted in the arrest of 98 widows on charges of poisoning their husbands, was started by the success of three women who established liaisons with three young men in the village when their husbands were away at the war, and gave to their war-weary husbands on their return a feast of toadstools mid rat poison. Envious of the facilities of the trio in discarding their old loves and taking on new ones, other women from time to time have tried the same trick with great success. It was only when the alarming percentage of death among supposedly healthy land-owners became the subject of gossip that the police intervened. The official investigations spread to neighbouring villages, with overwhelming evidence against 51 of the 08 arrested widows, who have been transferred to the prison of the capital of the province, lest they be lynched by enraged relatives of the murdered men. The detectives who brought the whole business to light. knew’ mediaeval history well. Hungarian mid wives of the Middle Ages, in addition to the normal task of bringing life into the world, were charged surreptitiously with the grisly task of lopping off the dead branches of many family trees. They could cure corns and dandruff, provide love-philtres and cure old age. Arsenic was the favourite remedy of old age. Gossip in Tiszakurt pointed to Mesdaraes Fazekas and Papai, two midwives who had amassed considerable fortunes, and it was whispered that they sometimes raised large sums when in need of cash from various widows by blackmail. The detectives made a shrewd guess at the lever they used in these operations, and on their beginning investigations the midw'ives admitted their guilt by flight, hanging themselves from the kitchen rafters when the hand of the law knocked at the door. Accusations amounting to confessions then began to pour in against rhe dead midwives from the widows, one of whom had been frequently blackmailed, having made use of their services ou seven occasions. Since 1011 they had gone about various households where the husbands were blind and doting, but otherwise troublesome, offering their services in aiding the removal of these men. Father Laszototh, the pastor of Tiszakurt, which is a Calvinist district, describes the state of mind

which makes such behaviour possible. He says: “The peasants here are mean and grasping, and think only of money and comfort. Spirituality does not exist. My church is empty, though among the accused are several of my faithful few.” An examination of the coroner’s records reveals the fact that the unlucky husbands died after prolonged stomach-ache. One of the most curious features of the case is a sudden run on the coroner’s oflice by scores of widows who came by that distinction honestly, and want their dead husband exhumed and examined so that they shall be freed from suspicion. Greed of land is another motive attributed for these wholesale murders. One woman invoked the services of the übiquitous midwife because her father-in-law refused to give certain fields to his son, and she feared he would re-marry. Another woman, aged 20, married to a penniless youth, pleaded with her father to give her nine acres for herself and her husband, but the old folks said: “Wait till we are dead. You can have everything then.” So the girl went to Madame Fazekas. The usual charge made by Madame Fazekas for the popular arsenic philtres ranged from 150 to 200 pengoes (about £6 to £S), but she had been known to concoct a potion in exchange for a wagon-load of hay.