FULL
TEXT (Article 1 of 5): Vienna, Oct. 23.—A female brigand named Mila is being
tried for some of her crimes at Posezarez [Požarevac], Servia. She has been for
a number of years a terror to the people of that region, and her crimes and
cruelties far exceed those of ordinary brigands in Turkey and Servia. Mila is
accused of fourteen murders and numerous robberies, and a peculiarly unfeminine
feature of her deeds of blood was that she horribly mutilated her victims. In
audacity and cruelty she had no equal among outlaws. She is not good-looking
and has a nose like a hawk.
[“A
Female Fiend. - As a Brigand Chief, a Woman Was Devilishly Cruel.” St. Paul
Daily Globe (Mn.), Oct. 24, 1891, p. 8]
***
FULL
TEXT (Article 2 of 5): A very romantic story is to hand from Bosnia regarding
the career of a woman named Mila, who has been sentenced to death by the
district court of Pazarevac, in Servia. This woman, it appears, has for ten
years been the terror of North-eastern Servia. In 1881 a reward of 200 ducats
was offered for her capture, two years later 500 was offered, and in 1890 the
promised reward was increased to a thousand ducats. She had a band of devoted
Haiducks with whom she committed her robberies. She never went about otherwise
than in man's dress, with all her weapons in her belt and a rifle over her
shoulder. Young, handsome, and a perfect markswoman, she was the idol of her
band. She had a lover named Petrovitch, who fell ill some time ago, and whom
she nursed with devotion in a cave on the Roumanian frontier. Her people told
her in good time that she was watched and must fly for safety; but she refused
to abandon her sick lover. After a fight with the gendarmes, two of whom she
killed, she was captured. In the court she spoke for over an hour in her defence,
and when sentence was pronounced listened to it with indifference.
[“A
Female Brigand.” (from London Daily News), The New Zealand Herald (Auckland,
N.Z.), Jan. 30, 1892, p. 2]
***
FULL
TEXT (Article 3 of 5) (Translated from German): The wildly romantic past of the
Serbian Haidukin Mila, which was recently sentenced to death by the district
court of Poscharevatz, states a report by "Frkj. Zig." As soon as the
sentence, very unusual for a woman, was pronounced, it was commuted. "Miss
Mila" for ten years had been the terror of all northeastern Serbia. In
1881, the government set a price of 200 Ducats on their heads. Two years later
he who killed them or brought them in alive could already make double the
money, and in 1890 the price for them rose to 1,000 gold ducats. Mila has
hardly any equal in audacity and presumptuousness with regard to the acts of
horror she has committed, and certainly no worthy rival. When the news that
Mila, with a contingent of her blindly devoted Haiduks, was the vicinity, spread
in a hamlet or marketplace in northeastern Serbia, panic would break out.
People would rush to the church or pray at home and they would sharpen their
weapons to prepare as best they could for the coming fight against the dreaded
gang whose leader she was
Mila
committed her first murder on a certain Stankovic, near the Romanian border at
the beginning of the 1880s. From then on, one heard of new bloodshed about
every six months. With her this impetuousness Mila loved madly and eventually
became a victim of her love; the lucky man a Haiduk of her band named Petrovic.
Months ago he became seriously ill, was taken to a cave near the Romanian
border, and Mila nursed him with a devotion that only a woman is capable of.
Although she was warned, although she healed him, the authorities got news of her abode, and
despite a good opportunity to escape, she DID NOT want to leave her terminally
ill lover at his own expense. At his camp she was fiercely attacked; she shot two gendarmes,
but was then then arrested Never but in
men's clothing, armed with rifle, pistol, and yatagan (Turkish sabre), Mila
boldly undertook the dreaded raids. She shot masterfully and seldom missed her
target on. At the same time this woman was beautiful, young and of magnificent
figure. In Pozharevatz, before the Tribunal pronounced the death sentence, she
delivered an hour-and-a-half speech of defense, and she did not flinch when the
President announced that justice would be fully implemented.
[“Romantic
Brigand,” Deutsches Volksblatt (Vienna, Austria), 24. November 1891, p. 3]
***
FULL
TEXT (Article 4 of 5): The Haidukin Mila, who, in association with her husband,
the notorious Haiduken Petar, has been the terror of eastern Serbia for years,
extending her raids to Hungary and Rumania, has now received her final verdict.
The Belgrade Tribunal sentenced her to death for not less than seven acts of
robbery, two of which were involved murder charges, and she has been pardoned
by the Regency to a twenty-year imprisonment. The strong, beautiful woman, less
than forty years old, had repeatedly fallen into the hands of the pursuing
Pandours [light infantry unit of the Habsburg Monarchy], but every time they
captured, she was triumphantly rescued from the dungeon. The last time, when the
Petar's hiding-place, with the help of the Hungarian and Romanian authorities,
had been discovered just in the corner where Hungarian, Serbian and Rumanian
borgers met, only Haidukin Mila and her two small children were able to flee,
Petar himself broke through the chain of the Pandours and Solderin, who had
surrounded Hans, wearing only his shirt, but his rifle in his hand.
It
was known that he would not go away until he brought his wife and children to
freedom, and then they made plans to seize the dreaded bandit. While avoiding
the place where his wife was kept in safekeeping with the two children, the
persecutors followed in his footsteps and, after truly desperate resistance,
found death through the bullets of the Pandours. Without a verdict, the
dangerous Haiduk had received the reward for his wrongdoing. His wife, however,
was put on trial and sentenced to death. Now she has been pardoned. Apparently,
it was the first time in Serbia that the death penalty was carried out in the
feminine realm, and all the more so because in Serbia the death penalty was
carried out by shooting and it would have been a very unusual spectacle to have
a woman shot.
["The
Haidukin Mila." Neuigkeits Welt-Blatt (Vienna, Austria), February 17, 1892, p.
11]
***
FULL
TEXT (Article 5 of 5): It is reported from Belgrade: The Haidukin [paramilitary
brigand] Mila, who was sentenced in 1891 for numerous robberies and acts of
great cruelty, sentenced to life-long
forced labor, died in the Pozarevaper prison. She and her husband, the Haiduk
Petar, were for many years the horrors of Pozarevatzer. Only with the support of
the Hungarian and Romanian border authorities was it finally possible to
capture the dangerous Haiduk couple. Haiduk Petar was sentenced to death and
was shot. Two children of this Haiduk couple were placed in the Belgrade
orphanage.
["A
Haidukin." Grazer Volksblatt (Austria), June 7, 1895, p. 6]
***
WIKIPEDIA: The Serbian
hajduks (Serbian: хајдуци / hajduci) were brigands and
guerrilla fighters (rebels)
throughout Ottoman-held Balkans, organized into bands headed by a harambaša
("bandit leader"), who descended from the mountains and forests and
robbed and attacked the Ottomans. They were often aided by foreign powers, the Republic of Venice and Habsburg Monarchy,
during greater conflicts. The hajduks are seen as part of the Serbian national
identity. In stories, the hajduks were heroes; they had played the role of the
Serbian elite during Ottoman rule; they had defended the Serbs against Ottoman
oppression, and prepared for the national liberation and contributed to it in
the Serbian Revolution.[1] The Chetniks saw
themselves as hajduks, freedom fighters. The hajduk movement is known as hajdučija (хајдучија) or hajdukovanje (хајдуковање). Ranks
included buljubaša
and harambaša,
adopted from the Ottomans.
***
FULL TEXT: Die wildromantische Bergangenheit der serbischen
Haidukin Mila, die fürzlich vom Kreisgericht von Poscharevatz zum Tode
verurheilt wurde, beleuchtet ein Bericht der “Frkj. Zig.” . So schnell der an
dem ganz ungewöhnlichen Weibe vollzogene Urtheilsspruch gefällt wurde, so lange
hatte es gedanert, bis man “Fräulein Mila’s”, die seit zehn Jahren der
Schrecken des ganzen nordöstlichen Serbiens war, halbhaft wurde. Im Jahre 1881
setzte die Regierung einen Preis von 200 Ducaten auf ihren Kopf. Zwei Jahre später
konnte der, welcher sie todt oder lebendig einbrachte, schon das doppelte Geld
verdienen, und 1890 steig der Preis für sie auf 1000 Goldducaten. An Kühnheit
und Vermessenheit hat wohl Mila ihresgleichen kaum um, was die verübten
Schreckensthaten anlangt, erst recht keine würdige Nebenbuhlerin gefunden. Wenn
sich in einem Weiler oder Marktslecken des noröstlichen Serbiens das Gersicht
verbreitete, Mila mit einigen ihr blindlings ergebenen Haiduken befinde sich in
der Nähe, so brach eine förmliche Panik aus. Man stürzte in die Kirche oder
betete zu Hause und schärste seine Waffen, um den bevorstehenden Kampf mit der
gefürchteten Bande, deren Ansührerin sie war, auszunehmen, so gut es ging.
Ihren ersten Mord verübte sie an einem gewissen Stankovic, hart an der
rumänischen Grenze zu Beginn der Achtziger-Jahre. Von da an hörte man beinabe
an sechs Monate von neuen Blutthaten. Und dieses Ungestüm liebte wahnsinnig und
wurde auch schliesslich ein Opfer ihrer liebe; der so Beglückte war ein Haiduk
ihrer Gefolgschaft, Names Petrovic. Vor Monaten wurde er schwere krank, man
brachte ihn in eine Höhle nächt der rumänischen Grenze und Mila pflegte ihn mit
einer Ausopferung, der nur ein Weib fähig ist. Obwohl sie gewarnt war, obwohl
sie die Nachricht erheilt, dass die Behörden ihren Ausenthalt kannten, und
trotz der besten Gelegenheit zur Flucht wollte sie doch ihren todtkranken
Geliebten um seinen Preis verlassen, und sie wurde dann nach heftiger
Gegenwahr, wobei sie zwei Gendarmen erschoss, an seinen Lager verhaftet. Nie
anders als in Männerkleidern, bewaffnet mit Gewehr, Pistole und Yatagan
unternahm Mila mit ihren Getreuen die gefürchteten Streifzüge. Sie schoss
meisterhaft und versehlte fast keinmal, wen sie auf’s Korn nahm. Dabei war
dieses Weib schön, jung und von prachtvollem haben Körperwuchs. Bevor der
Gerichtshof in Poscharevatz das Todesurtheil fällte, hielt sie eine
anderthalbstündige Vertheidigungsrede und mit keiner Wimper zuckte sie, als der
Vorsitzende verkündete, dass der Gerechtigkeit freier Lauf gelassen werde.
[“Räuberromantik.” Deutsches Volksblatt (Vienna, Austria),
24. November 1891, p. 3]
***
FULL TEXT: Die Haidukin Mila, welche im Vereine mit ihrem
Manne, dem berüchtigen Haiduken Petar, Jahre hindurch der Schrecken des
östlichen Serbien gewesen und bis noch Ungarn und Rumänien ihre Raubzüge
ausdehnte, hat nunmehr ihren endgiftigen Richterspruch empfangen. Vom Belgrader
Gerichtshofe wegen nicht weniger als sieben Raubthaten, von welchen zwei mit
Mord verbunden waren, zum Tode verurtheilt, ist sie von der Regentschaft zu
zwanzigjähriger Kerkerhaft begnadigt worden. Das kräftige schöne Weib, noch
keine vierzig Jahre alt, war schon wiederholt den verfolgenden Panduren in die
Hände gefallen, aber jedesmal hatte sie ihr gebracht hatte, trimphirend aus dem
Kerker geholt. Auch das letzte Mal, als man das Versteck des Petar mit Hilfe
der ungarischen und und rumänischen Behörden knapp in dem Winkel, wo Ungarn,
Serbien und Rumänien zusammenstrossen, ausgeforscht hatte, gelang es, nur der
Haidukin Mila und ihrer zwei kleinen Kinder habhast zu werden. Petar selbst
durchbrach die Kette der Panduren und Solderin, die das Hans umzingelt hatten,
blos mit dem Hemde bekleidet, aber sein Gewehr in der Hand. Man wusste, dass er
auch nicht ruben werde, bis er Weib und Kinder in Freiheit gebracht und darauf
baute man den Plan, um sich des gefürchteten Banditen zu bemächtigen. Während
er den Ort unschlich, wo sein Weib mit den zwei Kindern in Verwahrung gehalten
wurde, kamen die Verfolger auf seine Spur und nach wahrhaft verzweiselter
Gegenwehr fand er den Tod durch die Kugeln der Panduren. Ohne Richterspruch
hatte der gefährliche Haiduk den Lohn für seine Missethaten empfangen. Sein
Weib aber wurde vor Gericht gestellt und zum Tode verurtheilt. Nun ist sie
begnadigt worden. Offenbar widerstrebte es, zum ersten Male in Serbien die
Todesstrafe an einem Frauenzimmer zu vollziehen und dies umsomehr, als in
Serbien die Todesstrase durch Erschiessen vollzogen wird und es ein überaus
ungewöhnliches Schauspiel gewesen wäre, ein Weib erschiessen zu lassen.
[“Die Haidukin Mila.” Neuigkeits Welt-Blatt (Vienna,
Austria), 17. Februar 1892, p. 11]
***
FULL TEXT: Aus Belgrad wird gemeldet: Die Haidukin Mila,
welche im Jahre 1891 wegen zahlreicher, mit grosser Grausamkeit verübter Raubthaten
zu zu lebenslänglicher Zwangsarbeit verurtheilt wurde, ist im Pozarevaper
Strafhause gestorben. Sie und ihr Mann, der Haiduk Petar, waren durch viele
Jahre der Schrecken der Pozarevatzer Donaugegend. Nur mit Unterstützung der
ungarischen und rumänischen Grenzbehörden gelang es endlich, des gefährlichen
Haidukenpaares habhaft zu werden. Haiduk Petar wurde zum Tode verurtheilt und
erschossen. Zwei Kinder dieses Haidukenpaares wurden im Belgrader Waisenhause
untergebracht.
[“Eine Haidukin.” Grazer Volksblatt (Austria), 7. Juni 1895,
p. 6]
***
***
***
***
***
For similar cases, see: Female Serial Killer Bandits
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