FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 2): Szolonok,
Hungary, Jan. 1. – The trial of forty alleged poisoners of the little Hungarian
hamlets of Mahyrev and Tizakurt reached its highest point of dramatic interest
to day when Maria Kardos was accused of the murder of her own son and husband
and the attempted murder of the husband of her friend, Juliana Foldvari, and
Juliana Foldvari was charged with poisoning her husband, lover and mother.
These two women known in their youth as the
belles of the district, are still among its wealthiest inhabitants. In contrast
with the half dozen peasant women already tried they exhibited in their more
intelligent features, more correct accents and more fashionable garb a degree
of refinement and culture which threw into stronger relief the medieval crudity
of the crimes of which they are accused. That the accusations are well-founded,
however, was shown by the admission of Mme. Kardos under the strain of to-day’s
cross-examination of her responsibility for poisoning her husband and son.
~ PASSIONATE FIGURE ~
Mme. Kardos appeared in court in black with
silk stockings and patent leather shoes. She was depicted by police accounts as
a vital, passionate figure who combined a certain longing for city refinements
with rural coarseness in the indulgence of unbridled desires.
After marrying and divorcing two husbands
Mme. Kardos found herself, at age of 40 with a 22-year-old son. As his bad
health made him a burden whose existence interfered with the mother’s
pleasures, she enlisted for £100 the services of “Aunt Suzi” the midwife who is
alleged to have been the inspiration for most of the sixty poisonings supposed
to have occurred.
After a first dose of poison the son grew
ill. Mme. Kardos had his bed moved outside one fine Autumn day. Then, in her
own words, “I gave him more poison in his medicine. Suddenly I remembered how
splendidly my boy used to sing in church so I said “Sing my boy! Sing me my
favorite song!” He sang it with his lovely, clear voice, then suddenly he cried
out, gripped his stomach, gasped and he was dead.
Mme. Kardos then remarried, but on being
threatened with divorce by her husband she obtained another dose of arsenic
from the midwife, who charged her nothing this time, as she herself was eager
for revenge against the husband, who had once been her own lover, and got rid
of him by more summary means. This murder she also admitted in court today.
~ ANOTHER DENIES CHARGES. ~
Juliana Foldvari, who is 49 years old, four
years younger than Mme. Kardos, flatly denied today the three charges against
her. The first is that she poisoned her old mother, from whom she had had large
property expectations, but with whom she lived in none too friendly relations,
by inducing her to eat cookies filled with arsenic. The old woman died in great
agony.
After providing an imposing funeral the
daughter erected a gravestone with the epitaph “Here lies she whom I most
loved.”
Two years later Mme. Foldvari’s first
husband died suddenly. On exhumation traces of arsenic were found in his body.
Another two years and another victim followed, this time Ladislaus Toth, with
whom she had lived as common-law wife.
After partaking of soup which Mme. Foldvari
had sent him when he was at work in the fields, Toth died in great agony. His
exhumation also revealed the presence of arsenic.
In to-day’s hearing Mme. Foldvari denied all
previous admissions. When reminded by the prosecutor that a Mrs. Krek, a
neighbor, had heard Mme. Foldvari’s mother cry just before her death. “The
devil fly away with these cookies my daughter made me. They made me ill.” Mme.
Foldvari’s reply was.
“She lies, she lies out of the depths of her
dirty soul. She hates me because once, when she wanted to buy a house from me I
would not give her back her deposit money.”
[“Woman Admits Poisoning And Husband -
Hungarian Says Her Mate’s Former Sweetheart Gave Arsenic Free. - Another
Accused. – She Denies Charges of Slaying Mother, Husband And Lover with Food.”
The Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica), Jan. 28, 1930, p. 8]
***
FULL
TEXT (Article 2 of 2): Szolnok, Hungary, Jan. 13. – Marie Kardos, the first
woman to be hanged in Hungary in many years, went to the gallows today for the
murder of her husband and her 22-year-old son last year.
Seventy
persons watched the execution, which took place early today. The woman had lost
all the composure which had remained with her during the period of her
imprisonment, and she was on the verge of collapse when she was led from her
cell to the scaffold.
~ One of 40 Prisoners. ~
Frau
Kardos was one of forty women who were tried last spring and summer after their
husbands and other relatives died mysteriously
of poison. Most of the crimes were traced to an old woman called “Aunt Susie,”
who, it was established, incited most of the murders and in most of the cases
administered the poison for a fee. She was said to have made a small fortune
this way. After she had been convicted of murder she took her own life in
prison.
Frau
Kardos was one of three women sentenced to death. The woman who was hanged
today spent last night in prayer, but was thrown into hysterics when the
hangman came Into her cell to estimate her weight before they fashioned the
noose. As she mounted the scaffold, the executioner’s assistants bound her arms
and legs and kicked the stool from under her.
“God
help me,” she cried. Eight minutes later she was dead.
[“Woman
is put to Death In Hungary - Marie Kardos Hanged For Murder Of Husband And Son
With Poison.” Syndicated (AP), Jan. 14, 1931, p. 1]
***
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