NOTE: Anujka de Poshtonja, “The Witch of Vladimirovac” is
known, in English languages sources under various names: Anna Pistova, Anyuka Dee, as well as the nicknames “Banat
Witch,” “Little Mother Anjuschka.” Her crimes took place in Panchova, Banat
(Banyat, Banci) district, present-day Serbia, then, Jugoslavia.
In the following articles there is a great deal of redundancy,
yet each offers important information not highlighter in the others. As is
typical for such English language sources, there is great variation in the
spelling of names and places, due both either transliteration, multiple
languages in use in the region in question or by simple error.
***
FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 8): A 92-year-old
woman called the Witch of Vladimirovac," near Belgrade, Jugo-Slavia – her name is Anna Pistova –
is accused of
having made a practice during many years of supplying deadly love potions and intentional poison draughts
to a large number of unhappy Serbian wives. Her trial was at Pancevo, and six rich
farmers' widows were tried with her.
The
police regarded Anna, known throughout the country as "Little Mother Anjuschka," as a harmless
herbalist. The
mysterious death of Burgomaster Carina of Novoselo last year created an unusual sensation, however, and
resulted in the
arrest of the wise woman and Mme.
Carina. A strong force of police fetched Anna from her miserable cottage at midnight,
because she is venerated by the peasants, who would have defended her.
—Neglected Wives.—
Carina's widow, a 29-year-old woman,
educated in Switzerland, is remarkably pretty. Her husband was 20 years older,
and their married life was wretched. The bodies of Carina and 12 other husbands have been exhumed and an
analysis made at Belgrade University has shown in all cases evidence of vegetable poison. Anna's
defence is that she gave the love potions to neglected wives, and it was their fault if
they overdosed their husbands. Carina's widow and the five other accused with
her insist that they only tried to revitalise their husbands' love without
intending to kill them.
[“Fatal Love Potion. – Overdosed Husbands. – Six Widows And
A Witch On Trial.” The Kadina & Wallaroo Times (Kadina, Australia), Jun.
18, 1930, p. 1]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 8): Anna Pistova [Anujka de Poshonja], aged 92, the
so-called witch of Vladimirovac, near Belgrade (the capital city of
Jugo-Slavia, formerly Serbia), will be tried on murder charges, together with
the widows of six rich farmers, as the result of an accusation that she
supplied deadly love potions to unhappy Serbian wives. The police regarded her
as a harmless herbalist until the mysterious death of the Burgomaster Carina,
of Novoselo, last year. It caused a sensation, in the district, and led to the
arrest of Pistova and Carina’s widow. A strong police force brought Pistova
from her squalid cottage, at midnight, to avoid a rescue by the peasants, who
venerate her. Madame Carina, a pretty woman, of 29, led a cat and dog life with
her husband, who was 49. The bodies of Carina and 12 other husbands were
exhumed, and the autopsies disclosed vegetable poisoning. Pistova says it was
the wives’ fault if they overdosed their husbands. The widows declare that they
merely tried to revitalise their husband’s love, and did not intend to kill
them.
[“Witch And Wholesale Poisoner,” The Worker (Brisbaine, Australia), Jun. 26, 1929,
p. 19]
***
***
FULL TEXT (Article 3 of 8): Vienna.— Anna
Pistova, age ninety-two or ninety-three, is to go on trial shortly in Pancevo,
Yugo-Slavia, on the charge of furnishing poison to wives who wished to get rid
of their husbands. Six wives who tried her “love potions” on their husbands and
became widows are to be tried with Anna, or after her case is settled. Some say
she has led to the deaths of 60 husbands, and of many wives, for men also
patronized her.
While Anna is called the “Witch of Vladimirovac,”
a place not far from Belgrade, and is an exceedingly aged person, it appears
that she is by no means a peasant crone. Her story as now told is one for a
novelist, but it is difficult to say how much truth it contains. The United
States is not the only country in which a woman on trial for murder is provided
with a romantic past.
~ The Village Enters. ~
The story is that Anna was the daughter of a
rich cattleman of Rumania, who moved to Vladimirovac 80 years ago, and that she
received an excellent education. The villain, goes the story, entered her life
when she was twenty-one. As is always the case with more than ordinarily heartless
female killers, she had to be more than ordinarily beautiful.
The villain was a young officer, who finally
cast Anna aside and left her a pessimist and misanthropist.
Anna sought seclusion after the affair of the
heart, and with her knowledge of five languages gave herself up to medical and
chemical studies. She came out of her grief sufficiently to marry a landowner
named Pistova, by whom she had 11 children. Only one survives, a prosperous
merchant.
Her husband’s death sent Anna back to the
test tubes and beakers.
She built a laboratory onto her house and
evolved from herbs many real or supposed remedies for diseases, but she is
charged with having plenty of arsenic around. She dispensed many of her
remedies to wives who were not inconsolably distressed when their husbands
tried the remedies and left the wives with property and prospects of other
husbands. As has been said, it is charged that not a few husbands who bought
remedies of Anna were careless about leaving them around where their wives
could sample them with disastrous consequences for the samplers.
That is the defense. Anna’s counsel assert
that she was not responsible if wives or husbands took overdoses of her
medicines. Some of the fatal medicines are said to have contained vegetable
poisons which were exceedingly difficult to detect, but some of them appear to
have contained arsenic.
~ Called ‘Em Tonics. ~
Arsenic is used as a tonic and some people
became arsenic addicts. The husband of Mrs. Florence Maybrick was an arsenic
addict, which fact made Mrs. Maybriek’s conviction of poisoning him to death
with arsenic extremely doubtful as to the charge having been proved. Anna’s
defense is somewhat along the same lines. She says that the death dealing
medicines containing arsenic which she dispensed were first rate tonics for the
purchasers, if used properly.
Anna herself is said to be a walking
advertisement for her own tonics, if she takes them. She is described as
looking not more than fifty-five years of age, instead of ninety-two or
ninety-three; has her hair curled dally and uses cosmetics.
[“Aged Poisoner May Have Killed 60 – Claims ‘Love Potions’
Were Given as Tonics.” The Pawling Chronicle (N.Y.), (Date unknown (circa June 26, 1929), page number
unknown]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 4 of 8): A record murder trial has just
begun at Panchora, Jugoslavia, where ninety-three-year-old Anyuka Dee is
charged with having murdered more than fifty men.
She is known throughout the district as the “Banat Witch.”
Legends throw a veil of mystery around her lonely life, and
as the wives of wealthy farmers liked to go to her for help in case of illness
and also to consult her on other difficulties, she drew a large income, which
enabled her to lead a life of comfort. Recently it was charged that Anyuka Dee,
in addition to saving lives with herbs, also destroyed them with arsenic if she
were paid to do so.
Post-mortem examinations in this farming district being of a
careless nature, murderers have little to fear from official inquiries. Anyuka
Dee was accused by the gossip of a client who complained to another woman that
her husband would not die, although she had given him arsenic for nearly a
year. More than fifty men and women, who are alleged to have administered
poison furnished by the “witch,” also will be arraigned.
The trial of Anyuka Dee will last at least a month. She is firmly
convinced that she will not be executed on account of her ago. She even hopes
that she will outlive her prison term, if she is sentenced. The old woman is
vain. She uses lipstick and powder and waves her hair every day. Having plenty
of money, she frequently orders new dresses and has developed a large appetite.
She persuaded the prison authorities to allow a dentist to
make her another set of teeth because, she said, with the old ones could not
eat enough to keep herself in trim.
[“Jugoslav ‘Witch’ On Trial at 93 As Slayer of 50 – Adviser
of Farmers’ Wives Accused of Poison to Many Men for Pay,” New York Herald
Tribune (N.Y.), Jun. 23, 1929, section II, p. 1]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 5 of 8): Vienna, July 6 – Anyuka Dee, a
woman 93 years old, charged with having more than fifty men, was sentenced
today to fifteen years in jail. She was convicted specifically of supplying
poison to fifteen women who wished to get rid of their husbands.
The trial took place at Panchova, Jugo-Slavia. For a score
of years and more the old woman had been known throughout the district in which
she lived as the “Banyat witch.” For a consideration she would supply arsenic
in the wives of the wealthy farmers of the countryside with instructions how to
administer it.
[Accused of 50 Murders, Woman, 93, Gets 15 Years – ‘Banyat
Witch’ Supplied Poison to Wives Who Tired Of Their Husbands,” The Sun
(Baltimore, Md.), Jul. 7, 1929, p. 2]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 6 of 8): Vladimirorvac, Jugoslavia, July
10 – The arrest her of Anujka de Poshtonja, a 90-year-old Rumania [sic] woman
who is charged with selling slow-acting poisonous mixtures during the last 50
years to married peasant women who wished to rid themselves of their husbands,
has revealed a story of witchcraft and murder which recalls the dark days of
the Middle Ages.
Anukka, who stoutly denies the charges, has been renounced
and feared for half a century as a “witch” by the superstitious peasants in
this district. She will soon be brought to trial with a number of other
peasants alleged to be involved in the crimes.
The police charge that about 20 wealthy husbands have been
mysteriously done away with in this district. The investigation in progress is
declared by authorities to involve many prominent persons in this and nearby
towns.
One of the most recent cases to attract attention was that
of Gaja Marinkov, rich and wealthy proprietor of Banci, who was suddenly taken
ill and died within a few days. Relatives who lived with him, and who
benefitted by his will were accused by the police of poisoning him, but no
trace of poison could be found.
Fearing foul play and suspecting Anujka, Gaja Marinkov’s
eldest son told the police that he went to Anujka’s house and inquired discreetly
whether she could supply a poison to kill off an old relative of his. Anujka,
he said, asked how old he was and many similar questions, and finally said that
for a great price she could supply something. The young man then pretended to
doubt its efficiency to kill a healthy man and the old woman is declared have
replied:
“If it was good enough to kill Gaja Marinkov it will do for
anyone.”
Soon afterwards Lazar Ludushki, a wealthy peasant, died
under similar circumstances a week later Mrs. Ludushki married another peasant
from the same village. Within a few months a rich uncle of her second husband
died under astonishingly similar circumstances and his lands were added to
Stana Ludushka’s wealth. But this led to Mrs. Ludushka’s detention and an investigation
by the authorities, and information she gave the police is alleged to have
involved Anjuka.
When Anjuka was arrested she tried at first to frighten the
young police sergeant who came to her, he reported.
“I work with the devil, young man,” she said. “If you
imprison me you’ll remember it to your dying days. “Don’t play with the forces
of evil.”
When accused of having sold poisons she protested that she
had only supplied “magic water,” and claimed to have cured many people of ills
by its use.
Investigations show that several of the richer peasants of
Ilanci have died suddenly and mysteriously in the last few years.
[“Say Rumanian Woman Sold Poison To Kill Undesired Husbands
– Police Claim Over 50 Wealthy Men Succumbed to Concoctions of ‘Witch.’”
syndicated (AP), The Niagara Falls Gazette (N.Y.), Jul. 10, 1928, p. 7]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 7
of 8): Vladimirovac, Jugoslavia – The arrest here of Anujka de Poshonja, a
90-year-old Rumania [sic] woman, who is charged with selling slow-acting
poisonous mixtures during the last 50 years to married peasant women who wished
to rid themselves to their husbands, has revealed a story of witchcraft and
murder which recalls the dark ages of the Middle Ages.
Anujka, who stoutly
denies the charges, has been renounced and feared for half a century as a
“witch” by the surreptitious peasants in the district. She will soon be brought
to trial with a number of other peasants, alleged to have to be involved in the
crimes.
The
police charge that about 20 wealthy husbands have been mysteriously done away
with in this district. The investigation now in progress is declared by
authorities to involve many prominent persons in this and nearby towns.
One of the most recent, cases to attract attention was that
of Gaja Marinkov, rich and healthy peasant proprietor of Banci, who was
suddenly taken ill and died within a few days. Relatives who lived with him,
and who benefited by his will were accused by the police of poisoning him, but
no trace of poison could be found.
Fearing
foul play and suspecting old Anujka, Gaja Marinkov's eldest son told the police
that he went to Anujka's house and inquired discreetly whether she could supply
a poison to kill off an old relative of his. Anujka, he said, asked how old he
was and many similar questions, and finally said that for a great price she
could supply something. The young: man them pretended to doubt its efficiency
to kill a healthy man and the old woman is declared to have replied:
“If
it was good enough to kill Gaja Marinkov it will do for anyone.”
Soon
afterwards Lazar Ludushki, a wealthy peasant, died under similar circumstances
and a week later Mrs. Ludushki married another peasant from the same village.
Within a few months a rich uncle of her second husband died under astonishingly
similar circumstances and husbands added to Stana Ludushka's wealth. But this
led. To Mrs. Ludushka's detention and an investigation by the authorities, and,
information he gave the police is alleged to have involved Anujka.
When
Anujka was arrested she tried at first to frighten the young police sergeant
who came to her, he reported.
“I
work with the devil, young man,” she said. “If you imprison me you’ll remember
it to your dying day. Don’t play with the forces of evil.”
When
accused of having sold poisons she protested that she had sold only “magic
water,” and claimed to have cured many people of ills by its use.
Investigations
show that several of the richer peasants of Ilanci have died suddenly and
mysteriously in the last few years.
Folk
of the district are agog over the forthcoming trial.
[“Sold Poison To Rich To Kill Husbands -
Women Who Wealthy Husbands To Die Are Made Victims,” syndicated (AP),
Carbondale Free Press (Il.), Jul. 12, 1928, p. 4]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 8 of 8): A murder
trial has begun at Panchova, Jugo-Slavia, where 93-year-old Anyuka Dee is
charged with having murdered more than fifty men. She is known throughout the
district as the “Banat Witch.” Legends throw a veil of mystery around her
lonely life, and as the wives of wealthy farmers liked to go to her for help in
cases of illness and also to consult her on other difficulties, she drew a
large income, which enabled her to lead a life of comfort. Recently it was said
that Anyuka Dee, in addition to saving lives with herbs, also destroyed them
with arsenic if she were paid to do so.
Post-mortem examinations to the
district being of a careless nature, murderers have little to fear from
official enquiries. Anyuka Dee was accused by the gossip of a client who
complained to another woman that her husband would not die, although she had
given him arsenic for nearly a year. More than fifty men and women, who ore
alleged to have administered poison furnished by the “witch,” also will be
arraigned. The trial of Anyuka Dee was expected to last at least a month. She
is firmly convinced that she will not be executed on account of her age. She
even hopes that she will outlive her prison term, if she is sentenced. The old
woman is vain. She uses lipstick and powder, and waves her hair every day.
Having plenty of money, she frequently orders new dresses and has developed a
large appetite.
[“A Jugo-Slavian ‘Witch’ - Faces
Murder Trial,” The Advertiser (Adelaide, Australia), Aug. 12, 1929, p. 17]
***
[Sources of photos: 1) cropped head: “Exposing the Evil Eye
in America,” Long Island Daily Press (N.Y.), Aug. 19, 1929, p. ?; 2), half figure:
‘Science’s New Rests of the Evil Eye Legend,” Salt Lake tribune (Ut.), Jul. 31,
1932, magazine section, p. 4]
***
For more than two dozen similar cases, dating from 1658 to 2011, see the summary list with links see:
The Husband-Killing Syndicates
***
