Unknown Gender History: Julia Ebergenyi, Aristocratic Black Widow Vamp

Note: Julia Ebergenyi is included here based upon her (possibly only accessory) role in the death of Countess Chorinsky on Nov. 21, 1867, for which she was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. One brief news report states she claimed two years after conviction that it was her lover the Count who did the actual poisoning. She does not, in the scanty report, state she was not involved in the planning and execution of the murder however. Only an equally brief report has been so far located suggesting that previous to the 1868 international cause celebre murder trial that Julia had already had two poisonings (murders, presumably) behind her has been found.

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FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 4): Julia Ebergenyi, the murderess of the Countess Chorinsky, is said to have confessed that she poisoned two of her lovers before forming the acquaintance of Count Chorinsky.

[From “Crime and Casualties.” Column, The Daily Standard (Raleigh, N. C.), Jan. 25, 1870, p. 2]

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FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 4): While the inhabitants of this northern metropolis were given up to politics, public attention was fully absorbed in the Austrian Capital by the trial of a young lady, member of one of the oldest noble families of Hungary, Miss Julia von Ebergenyi, who was accused of having poisoned the wife of her lover, Count Chorinsky, expecting thus to have him marry her. In my letter in December last I mentioned this poisoning affair, which occurred in Munich, November 21st. The trial disclosed monstrous details, well worth to be written to Calilornia. Miss Julia Ebergenyi, aged 26 years, left her native place, Scesen, in Hungary, about two years ago, because the quiet life with her father (her mother having died when Julia was still a child) did not suit her any longer.

She went to Vienna to live with an aunt, but there she behaved in such a manner that the old lady told her to leave; she then rented private rooms, and the landlady also dismissed her after a short time, because she received too many male visitors. Other rooms, with a less scrupulous landlady, were taken, and among those who came to see her was Count Custav Chorinsky, an officer whose acquaintance Miss Ebergenyi bad made at a party, in February, 1867. The Count had married, in 1860, a young actress, whom he hated to such a degree that being wounded at the battle of Koeniggraetz, and brought to his parents’ for recovery, he made the condition that the Countess, who resided with them, should leave the house before his arrival, and since that time Countess Chorinsky lived in Munich, supported by the means her husband was obliged to give her.

Count Chorinsky concealed from the Ebergenyi family the fact of his being married, and engaged himself te Miss Julia. When he afterwards informed her about his wife, Miss Julia’s passion for him had already reached such a degree that all her thoughts turned to the question: How can this obstacle be got out of the way? She and her lover tried to find out persons willing to solve it, but their endeavors proved vain, and Miss Ebergenyi, persuaded by the Count, had to do the work herself. The Count having ascertained the lodgings of his wife in Munich, procured for Julia a passport, under the name of Victoria Horvath, and imitating the handwriting of a friend of the Countess, forged a letter of introduction to his wife, presenting Julia as Miss Horvath. Countess Chorinsky received the lady most kindly, not only on account of the recommendation, but because she was pleased with Miss Julia.

At the first call they fixed upon the following evening for visiting the opera together, after having taken tea at the Countess’ rooms. Miss Julia came; tea was made, and the ladies laughed and joked together; according to the statement of a gentleman in an adjoining room. After six o’clock the Countess ordered the servant girl to go for a cab to convey them to the theatre. When the servant returned she met Miss Julia on the stairs, and was informed by her that the Countess had been too impatient to wait, and had already left.

Not seeing Countess Chorinsky that evening, the landlady thought her to have remained with her visitor at the Hotel. The day passed, the evening came, but the Countess did not return. The next morning the landlady, apprehending something might have happened, sent for the police to open the door of the Countess’ rooms—where they found her dead, lying on the floor between the sofa and table. Count Chorinsky had, meanwhile, arrived at Munich; Miss Ebergenyi had hastened to Vienna, where she was soon after arrested, as photographs, etc., found in the Countess’ room, gave sufficient proof that she was guilty of having poisoned her. There could be no doubt that the Countess had died of poison, as remnants of poison were found in a wineglass standing on the table; the teapot had disappeared, and one of the cups also contained particles of poison.

It is clear enough, nobody but Miss Ebergenyi could have been the guilty party. In her rooms, in Vienna, the teapot was found, and a number of letters written by the Count to his beloved Julia, dated previous to November 2lst, when she was alrealy in Munich, and he still in Vienna. After her arrest in Vienna, he was imprisoned at Munich, where he had tried to send her letters secretly—a vain attempt: they were seized, and are additional evidence of his guilt.

The Count speaks in these letters about his wife in expressions the reading of which made the Judge blush. Julia had written to him from Munich, that the Countess behaved very kindly to her, to which he answered: “Don’t let this kindness influence you; remember how much she is in our way; let her live, and we shall never reach our aim.” And more than that still; he asks from the Almighty His assistance for the success of the murderous plans of Julia. After exclamations of intense passion, he writes, more than once: “How I tremble for you, dearest Julia; and how often I am kneeling down to pray God He might protect you; that you may execute our plans without being detected.”

Nothing could be clearer, that Julia, persuaded by her lover, had poisoned the Countess. The wedding dress had already been ordered by her, and she had informed several persons that she was to marry Count Chorinsky this spring, his wife being dangerously ill. In spite of all these proofs, Miss Ebergenyi denied her guilt. The Count had written her from Munich to remain firm, and contend positively that Victoria Horvath had committed the murder; and she followed his advice.

She gave the Judge all the details of the murder, asserting that Victoria Horvath had communicated them to her, and during the trial the Judge received a letter, signed “V. Horvath,” in which the writer promises to appear before the Court, and confess all about the murder she bad committed, as soon as “the Court will have pronounced the Countess not guilty.”

The trick failed, however, and when the Judge pronounced her guilty, and deserving capital she betrayed herself by saying: “I do not deserve as much as that.” The Judge sentenced her to twenty years’ imprisonment, with the loss of her nobility. About the middle of June the trial of Count Chorinsky will commence in Munich, and already all tickets for admission to Court are disposed of.

We receive on this occasion a sad picture of the state of immorality ruling in the “best classes of society;” we must grieve at the numerous details reported, at this opportunity, about life in the highest society, which shows us such thorough rottenness that the possibility of a reform seems most doubtful. These classes, by their rank, suppose themselves better than others, and this causes the difficulty.

In all the letters exchanged between the two guilty parties, the idea predominates, that they, as members of the nobility, cannot be judged as severely as other people; and once the Count writes: “It is impossible that the Emperor or can see people of our rank judged in the same way as others.”

[“Crime in High Life.” From column: “Letter From Berlin.” Daily Alta California (San Francisco, Ca.), Jul. 12, 1868, p. 3]

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FULL TEXT (Article 3 of 4): Julia Ebergenyi says she didn’t poison the Countess Chorinsky, but that she confessed to save her lover, and that she would do the same thing ten times over.

[From: “All Sorts.” Column, Boston Post (Ma.), Jan. 8, 1869, p. 1]

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FULL TEXT (Article 4 of 4): The terrible Chorinsky drama of six years ago can hardly have passed away from public recollection, therefore the announcement of the death of the guilty heroine, Julia Ebergenyi, will readily call to mind her sentence of twenty years’ imprisonment for having poisoned Count Chorinsky’s divorced wife, in order to enjoy more securely the affections of her sinning lover, Count Chorinsky. The poisoning took place in Munich, on the 2lst of December, 1807, and some days after the death of the Countess, Miss Ebergenyi was arrested at her dwelling house in Vienna. A week later her lover, Count Chorinsky was arrested at Munich, whither he had repaired for the funeral of his wife, on the charge of having been an accomplice in the dreadful crime. The trial began in Vienna, in 1808, and all Europe and America followed its revelations with intense anxiety. The Count received the same sentence as his mistress, although his family exercised all their influence to prevent the disgrace, the chief plea put forward in his defense being the usual one of “emotional insanity.” Shortly after his imprisonment the Count manifested symptoms of real insanity, and was taken to a lunatic asylum, where he died December 20, 1871. Julia Ebergenyi, his loving and loved mistress, could never realize the thought of being forever separated from her “Gustav,” and the news of his death came the night of insanity began to close also around her. The once so seductive and beautiful woman pined away in tho lunatic asylum of Brunnolfelde until death came on her, September 11, 1873, to relieve her miseries. It was a violent attack of cholera that put an end to her life.

[“The Austrian Poisoness, Julia Ebebgenyi, Dead.” The Daily Picayune (New Orleans, La.), Oct. 6, 1873, p. 4]

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