EXCERPT (Translated from Polish, with additions): The trial of Katarzyna Onyszkiewiczowa, which took place in Lviv (Ukraine), in the spring of 1880, aroused great interest. There was a crowd of onlookers in front of the court building, and the media of that time reported in detail the course of each trial. Onyszkiewiczowa probably came from northern Bukovina (a historical region today in Ukraine), but she conducted her "activity" mainly in Galicia. It is not known what her real name was, because she also introduced herself as Kasia Koczeczukowa, Ksenia Unyszkiewicz or Joanna Topolnicka.
She went from village to
village, pretending to be a tradeswoman or a nun, and asked for
hospitality. Then, she treacherously treated her hosts with a sleepy and
deadly mixture (it probably included datura, venomous scarlet and black
henbane), which caused not only narcotic sleep, but also
hallucinations, vomiting, convulsions, breathing difficulties, and
sometimes death. When the victims lost consciousness, Onyszkiewicz
looted the cottage and disappeared. She would prey on another victim
again miles away under a new name and disguise.It is not known how many
people she killed. She was convicted of 4 murders in 3 separate trials
(1869, 1870 (2), 1872). In 1880 the court sentenced her to ten years in
prison - the penalty was to be added to previous sentences. The poisoner
died behind bars.
[“Najsłynniejsze trucicielki,” WP (Poland), Jan. 11, 2016
***
CHRONOLOGY
Murder convictions: 1869, 1870 (2), 1872.
1858 – in Chernivtsi she was sentenced to theft for 6 months in prison.
1859 – in Sniatyn convicted for theft of 20 rods. (The accused, laughing, says: not true).
Jul. 2, 1862 – in Stanisławów convicted for the theft of rods for 5-30 years and imprisonment for 2 years.
Dec.
19, 1866 – Released; having served a 5-year sentence, in a short time
she managed to commit 20 thefts by poisoning her prey.
1869 – Stanisławów court convicted of murder; sentenced her to 10 years in prison; sent to Mary Magdalene Prison.
July
9, 1870 – escapes; commits poisoning-theft in four locales; 2 victims
die. captured in Krakow, from where she was sent to Lviv, she was
sentenced to an additional 10 years, a darkroom in September and a hard
bed, to be served consecutive to her previous sentence.
1872 – convicted of murder by poisoning, 20 thefts; sentenced to additional 10 years in prison.
Sep. 2/3, 1879 – escapes without the slightest trace.
1880 – arrested.
Feb. 1880 – Trial.
Mar. 9, 1895 – dies in prison.
***
FULL
TEXT: The famous poisoner of Onyszkiewicz, whose skillfully committed
crimes and escapes from prison, once awakened great sensation, did not
live to see her freedom, because she died the day before yesterday in
St. Mary Magdalene.
[The National Gazette. Year XXXV. No. 68. In
Lviv - Saturday, March 9, 1895. Rubric: Chronicle The original spelling
has been preserved.]
***
FULL TEXT: On the 9th of May,
at 6 a.m., the famous thieves Barbara Woźna from Lubień near Gródek,
33, escaped from the facility of Mary Magdalene, 33 years old, for the
theft of 6 years in prison, and Heńka Onyszkiewiczowa, actually Kasia
Koczerczukowa from Stanisławów, sentenced to 10 years; he is 30. They
both wore prison clothes.
[“Escape from prison.” Gazeta Lwowska. Monday 11. July 1870.]
***
FULL TEXT: In the spring, they escaped from the prison for women at St.
Magdalene in Lviv, two very dangerous thieves, Barbara Woźna, sentenced
to 6 years, and Onyszkiewicz, sentenced to 10 years in prison. The
janitor was later arrested in Lviv for theft by the police. Those days
Onyszkiewicz came to Żółkiew to a court janitor, where she offered tea
to the whole family. After drinking tea, everyone fell ill and the
janitor died, probably due to poison. Onyszkiewiczowa, after taking
several hundred zlotys. in gold, silver and banknotes, she has
disappeared. On a telegram to the Lviv police, Commissioner Meidinger
and agent Millet went in pursuit of Onyszkiewiczowa, followed her partly
by carriage, and partly by rail, as far as Krakow and held her there on
7th. The greater part of the amount stolen was still found at the
arrested person.
[“Theft.” Gazeta Lwowska. Nov. 10, 1870]
***
VERY LONG REPORT ON THE 1880 TRIAL:
FULL
TEXT: Lviv, February 26th. – Today the final trial against the famous
poisoner and thief Katarzyna Onyszkiewicz has started in the local
criminal court. As a result of the announcement in the newspapers about
the date of the trial a month ago, all the places standing in the hall,
as well as those sitting in the gallery, were first dismantled. The
gallery is intended exclusively for women. The curiosity of the ladies,
it seems, only about this process was so great that the pleaders could
not be resisted and they had to give way even to the room downstairs,
which had never happened before. More than 160 cards were issued and
twice as many.
At 1/2:10 this morning the jury draw was
completed. The jury consists of: pp. Nasadnik, Henryk Müller, Korkes,
Józef Onyszkiewicz, Swaczyna, Grodzicki, Brecher, Leszczyński, Mütz,
Hawranek, Płoszczański, Baurowicz; as deputy Mr. Małuszyński.
The Tribunal consisted of pp. Budzynowski as chairman, Drdacki and Buszak as voters.
The prosecutor, Mr. Henzel, the defense attorney Dr. Krówczyński.
At 3/4 out of 10, the accused Katarzyna Onyszkiewicz was brought into
the courtroom simultaneously with the appearance of the high tribunal.
She is a woman who is very sick, of small height, an expression much
softer than the known photograph shows him - Mary Magdalene's mélena
dressed in winter dresses. She sits on the dock with utter apathy and
sits throughout the trial as if she did not take part in it, yet, as I
will show later, she pays attention to everything.
After calling the case, he calls the chairman of the accused to give her pedigree.
The defendant says that she was formerly called Rózia, her real name is
Katarzyna Onyszkiewicz, she comes from Bukovina from Czerniowce, her
father's name was - certainly not Jan, or otherwise, her mother was
called Marynia, she is 40, religion Greek. cat. In her youth she made a
living by sewing, she served in various places, for a long time she was
considered a pupil of some major, not to write and read.
The
prosecutor accuses Katarzyna Onyszkiewiczowa of the crime of serious
bodily injury and of compulsive theft. The history of her recent crimes
is summarized as follows:
In eastern Galicia and Bukovina, many
years ago there were cases of intoxication of many people with poison,
which were then stolen. Kobiéta, who committed these crimes, captivated
the rural people with mock godly fear, she knew how to sneak into their
hearts and minds. And since she always left the place of action when the
people intoxicated by her were completely unconscious, it was extremely
difficult to track down the criminal. Finally, the security authorities
managed to track down this criminal in the person of Katarzyna
Onyszkiewicz, also known as Kikierczuk. Having served only on December
19, 1866, a five-year sentence, she threw herself again and with even
greater ferocity on the field she knew. The harvest was abundant for
her, because in a short time she managed to commit 20 thefts in a proper
way, i.e. by intoxication with poison. In 1869, the court of
Stanisławów sentenced her to 10 years in prison. Onyszkiewicz was sent
to Mary Magdalene, from there she had already escaped on July 9, 1870,
and then in various places four cases of theft and intoxication of the
victims happened, two of whom died immediately.
It was not
difficult to guess who was the perpetrator of these crimes, but it was
difficult to capture the criminal, because cunning Katarzyna O.,
changing clothes, was quickly escaping from place to place. She was
captured dopiéro in Krakow, from where she was sent to Lviv, she was
sentenced again to 10 years in prison, after serving her previous
sentence. Despite the close supervision of her by Mary Magdalene, she
managed to escape again on the night of September 2 to 3, 1879 without
the slightest trace.
Although suspicious women were held here
and there, it soon turned out that they were completely innocent. The
trace showed on September 6. On that day, many people went to the fair
in Podkamienie via Pieniaki. The local postmaster, Władysław Zaleski,
saw a woman through the window of his apartment, who approached the
window and said that she was from Rawa, her name was Mirska, and that
she was going to Pidkamin for an indulgence. Zaleski, struck by the
perception of the nipple on the woman's face, asked: are you not
Onyszkiewicz, whom they are looking for? So questioned, she did not get
confused, but denied that she was called Onyszkiewicz and left calmly
gifted with a few more cents.
A few days later, on September
11, 1879, the same woman appeared in Załoźce, at the house of the
shoemaker Dmytro Chronowicz, to whom she told that she was returning
from Podhorece from an indulgence. Complaining that her legs were
swollen, she asked for a noclég. Chronowiczowa took pity on the woman
who was barely able to hold her feet, and took her to her and brought
her camphor and vodka to lubricate her legs for her own money.
Onyszkiewicz said that she came from Tarnopol and that she was married
to a shoemaker. Then she slept for a few hours in the chamber, and about
7 hours in the evening she entered the room, knelt by the stove, prayed
for a long time, because it was almost an hour and a half on lace. The
next day she went out to town around 7 am and brought some plums and
candies as a gift for Tekla Chronowiczowa's children. It was raining
outside, so the stranger asked the shoemaker for hospitality, until God
gave him a better look for the weather, and that she was bored,she
started embroidering aprons. In the morning she began to complain to the
Chronowicz family about the toothache, and in the evening she cooked in
a pot a small, flat seed, similar to mustard seed, which she said she
had received from her married sister in Podhorce, as a good remedy for
toothache. After boiling the semen, she cut the decoction, a dirty dark
yellow in color, and poured it into the flask she had with her. During
this cooking, in order to draw attention in a different direction, she
told the household members about various wonderful things, such as the
appearance of Mother of God in several places, then she went to bed. The
next day, she got up quite early and worked on finishing the
embroidery, and around two in the afternoon she went out into the city
under the guise of buying leggings, or rather, to gather information
about the relations of the inhabitants,which would be robbed. Returning
in the evening, around 7 am, she brought a piece of pork with her, put
it on the bench, and went back to town for butter on the road, telling
her that she had to leave for Tarnopol the next morning.
It was
at that time that Hrynko Podolan, the landlord of his house, was busy
chopping wood on the threshold of his hut, and when his daughter
Maryanna entered the hut from the garden, this stranger (Onyszkiewicz)
approached them, greeting the Podolians, and turned directly to Maryanna
and she started telling her that she was returning from Podkamień from
an indulgence, that she was walking in the company of her brother
corporal in the 80th infantry regiment in Lviv, who asked her to come to
Podolany and greet them from Danil Podolan, son of Maryanna, who served
in the same regiment .
She continued that she was the hostess
of the Daughters of Charity on the farm in Trościaniecand goes to the
convent of the Sisters in Załoźce, where a pig was killed, which she is
supposed to undress at night. This surprised Podolanów immensely,
especially since this woman, who she did not know, told them about the
family and property relations of Podolanów as thoroughly as if she had
been in the best intimacy with them for many years, and my daughter
Maryanna had already called it my name. As a result, she was welcomed by
Podolan people with the greatest kindness, especially when she advised
them, as if Danyla Podolan could be freed from the army. During this
conversation, she ordered a stranger to bring for 20 cnt. After drinking
vodka with Podolany, she gave Hryńek Podolan a gulden, then, as if
rushing to the Monastery of the Sisters of Mercy, she said goodbye to
Podolany, announcing that she would return to them the next day to have
fun with them.
Instead of going to the convent, Onyszkiewiczowa
went to the Chronowicz family, in front of whom she praised Podolanów,
telling her that Hryńko showed her grain resources and other things,
such as beads, etc. Having gotten into a good mood, she took off the
cloak, gave the Chronowicz servant, and lay down to sleep, she asked to
be woken up early, as she had to go to the wagon with whom she was to go
to the monastery farm, a quarter mile from the city. According to
wishes, the following morning, very morning, a stranger was woken up,
who, taking meat and a flask with her, left the Chronowicz family, led
out by the hostess, who saw that the stranger had left the city. Instead
of going to the farm, at dusk on the same day she entered the Podolanów
hut, to whom she immediately gave the piece of meat she had brought.
The meat was cooked and eaten at once,then the stranger went to bed.
Getting up the next day around 11 am, she went with the Podolany family
to their orchard in Hajki Załozieckie. Then she ate dinner with the
Podolany family, refreshing herself with vodka. After 6 evenings she
ordered Maryanna P. to bring her from the city for 10 cents. rum, 10
sugar, 15 teas, 4 cinnamon and 20 cents. vodka, saying: today we can
still have fun, and tomorrow I will go toTrościańca
As soon as
these victuals were brought in, the stranger got down to making some
tea. Marynia Podolanka wanted to cook it, which, however,
Onyszkiewiczowa did not allow, saying that she would prepare it better,
because she was rotating among the gentlemen. So she put three pots of
Podolanów to the fire and one that she had brought with her. Having
drained the tea, she drank the first glass herself, and handed the
second to Hryńko. Hryńko, however, immediately felt an unpleasant taste,
spat, and released what he drank on the ground. Onyszkiewiczowa,
undaunted by this, refilled the same glass with the same liquid and
handed it to Maryanna, who, having drunk almost a third of the glass,
tasted an unpleasant and strange disgusting smell, and did not want to
drink any more, despite Onyszkiewicz's assurances about the good results
of this tea.
In a quarter of an hour Maryanna made her
father's bed, she lay down on the bench herself, and the stranger went
to sleep in the shed under the pretext that it was too stuffy in the
room.
Maryanna Podolan did not wake up until the next day after
1am, feeling a strange headache, nausea, chills and unable to get up
from the sheets. After some time she regained consciousness, and then
she saw a small box on the floor, a handkerchief, a twenty cent coin, a
four cent coin and a slipper of her father, all around her, wondering
how the things that always lay in her father's trunk could be scattered
on the ground. In a moment she noticed again that she was missing the 5
strings of beads that were still around her neck yesterday - and she
began to look behind them, in the room and in front of the house,
because her memory was so lost that she could not realize what was
happening to her. Not finding the beads, she returned to the room, where
her father was still lying on the bed, restlessly rolling over in his
sleep and tugging the shirt over his chest with her hands.
Her
father's hands were icy cold, his mouth burned with fever, black as if
covered with soot. She woke him up immediately, but after a few hours,
after vomiting heavily, he came back to himself a little, and when he
opened the trunk, he found that it lacked 8 strings of beads, a
peasant's sheepskin coat, a katanka, a jacket, a woolen cloth
handkerchief, a cloth, a cloth trousers, an apron, two bills of
exchange, one for 50, the other for 60 PLN. The Podolans, seeing the
trunk of a vanity, could not yet realize what had happened, and after a
while they remembered that this stranger woman who had poisoned them in
their tea had to do it - and informed the court about it. The court
ordered a forensic examination, which showed poisoning, and began a
search for the criminal.
However, before the criminal was
caught, she showed up on September 16 in Mikuliniec, where women,
Polinka Krasotycha and Marya Poburka, digging potatoes in the court
garden, saw her driving along the route from Mikuliniec to Czartorya
around 9 in the morning. An hour later she was noticed walking from
Czartorya in the opposite direction. Onyszkiewicz, noticing the beads at
the whore, immediately got into a conversation with them. She said that
she came from Myszkowce, where she married a local farmer two years
ago, she complained about a bad relationship with her husband, as a
result of which, although she is a housewife on 30 morga, she has to
seek service. She also said that she won 6,000 zlotys by showing a
bundle of banknotes and 5 strings of beads. Polinka invited herself to
Mary for the night, saying:that she would soon return and bring them a
green plum slivovitz, which she had received at the convent, for
afternoon tea.
On her way to Mikuliniec, she met the
distiller's servant, Hanka Kalińska, whom she also told about her
riches, and complaining about the sudden pain in her teeth, asked Hanka
to show her a house where she could prepare her booze.
There
was no English kitchen in the adjoining apartment where Hanka had failed
her, so she asked Hanka to take her to the lady, and there she
introduced her as her sister so that you would not be angry that a
foreign woman was allowed into the kitchen. Hanka let her into Mrs.
Rohozinski's kitchen and let her cook her teeth. Soon after, she went
out to town, bought three quarts of spirit, a pound of sugar and 18
rolls, and having collected some Datura seed in the yard, she poured it
into a quarter pot and poured it with spirit. After the decoction had
boiled, she poured it, adding sugar, to the flask with which she
hurriedly left the kitchen, saying that she would go to a woman she
knew, whose teeth were aching, and in whom she had her beads and ducats
stored. Indeed, she went out to the garden where Krasotycha and
Poburkowa worked, and where the farmhand, Jaśko Orłowski, also arrived.
He will sit next to them,she opened the flap, took out a dozen or so
pieces of sugar and rolls, poured the liquid from the flask into a small
cup, and having tasted it, began to treat the strangers: Krasotycha
drank half a cup, Poburkowa one, and Jaśko Orłowski three, - then they
all felt a sudden dizziness; the first two laughed violently and fell
unconscious to the ground, and Orłowski also soon lost consciousness.
At that, a friend of Krasotycha, Franciszka Bogusz, came, and, thinking
that the women were getting drunk, she wanted to remove the beads from
their necks, for fear that someone might steal them. The stranger,
however, who seemed to be a relative of Krasotycha and an acquaintance
of Poburkowa, assured that she would guard the beads herself. Franciszka
Bogusz left, but returning after an hour, she did not find the stranger
there anymore, and both women were still lying on the ground
unconscious, but without beads around their necks. A great riot
happened, the criminal was chased in various directions.
This
time, vigorous searches gave a more successful result. On September 18,
1879, she was held by a gendarme in Monasterzyska at the town of Piotr
Orłowski, just as she was soaking her feet after a long and tiring
journey. At the sight of the gendarme entering, she jumped into the corn
and was caught there. They found 11 strings of beads and a French gold
coin.
When taken to court in Monasterzyska, Onyszkiewicz felt
evasive, said her name was Malwina Dynowska, she had been a widow for 5
years. When she was shown that she resembled the dangerous poisoner
Katarzyna Onyszkiewicz, who ran away from Mary Magdalene, she fastened
herself as hard as possible, and even asked herself to be taken to Lviv
to convince herself. Her wish was done. In the court in Lviv,
Onyszkiewiczowa confessed fully to the crimes committed in Załośce and
Mikulińce.
When asked by the chairman of the tribunal, what to
say about his acquittal, Onyszkiewiczowa begins to lament that she did
not go to steal to make a fortune. Only the nuns at Mary Magdalene are
guilty of all misfortune. They made it to what it has become, that's a
cripple.
She always said: Old lady, if I don't get lice, I will
run away and run away. I had no bad intentions, I just wanted to be
admitted to the hospital in Stanisławów. First I was a decent, healthy
person (she starts to cry), and now I am a cripple, all the nuns have
made all of me so that God ... The chairman shrugs off the accused. This
is not about nuns, but just to explain what she was doing in Załośce.
Onyszkiewiczowa. The nuns forced me to flee - I wanted to get to the hospital in Stanisławów.
The chairman sees himself compelled to ask her detailed questions which he makes her answer.
The accused testifies that in Pieniaki no postmaster asked her what
kind of question, because everyone saw that she was ill. Some military
man, also a professional thief, persuaded her to visit Podolanów in
Załośce. He gave her instructions on how to speak to Podolanów in order
to gain the trust of this family.
Then, always on detailed
inquiries, she tells with the greatest calm how she invited herself to
the Chronowicz family, how and when she prepared tea from "denderev" at
Podolanów. Sometimes she only hides a poor memory, because the nuns
shook her head completely. The same with the fact in Mikulińce.
When asked about the cell in which it served these people poisoned tea,
Onyszkiewiczowa replies with the greatest calmness. - Well for what to
rob them. Anyway, she knew that it wouldn't kill them, just the lost
one.
Since we have already given all the significant moments of
the crimes committed by Onyszkiewicz, both in Załośce and also in
Mikulińce, we will not repeat them here again. She admits everything,
and if she answers questions, it is more to correct some circumstances,
and not to be acquitted.
During the investigation, she already
told the judges: "write whatever you like, I don't want to live anymore,
I only want death."
The witnesses of Mary Podołanka, Hryńek
Podolan, Palinka Krasołycha, Maryanna Poburka and Jasiek Orłowski were
interrogated. Their testimony is in complete agreement with what we have
already given. - The stories of these witnesses about the terrible
effects of the poison they experienced on themselves, the torments they
experienced, did not make any impression on the accused. She says that
they wanted to drink themselves, so she gave them a drink. Almost every
witness, when asked if he recognized the accused, replies with a curse:
may I never know her, or: be damned if she is.
After reading
the lékarski inspection reports of the victims, court experts, Dr. Karcz
and Lukas, who unanimously stated that the symptoms of the disease in
all the injured, namely dry throat, blurred vision and hearing, pupil
dilatation, muscle and brain paralysis, and irritation of the digestive
tract indicated that they had been given an excessive amount of dandruff
with an admixture of henbane which, together with the spirit, enhanced
the action of Datura. The amount of Datura used for medicinal purposes
is reduced to 1 milligram as a single dose, or 3 mils, according to the
Austrian Pharmacopoeia. for day. According to this, due to the fact that
the victims have undoubtedly taken more, the experts classify the acts
committed by the accused as serious bodily injuries, connected with the
danger of life. As for Maryanna Podolanki, there was only a slight
injury to her body, because she drank less dandelion tea.
Then the chairman read the list of sins of the defendant and thus:
In 1858 in Chernivtsi she was sentenced to theft for 6 months in prison.
In 1859 in Sniatyn for theft with 20 rods. (The accused, laughing, says: not true).
In 1862, on July 2, in Stanisławów for the theft of rods for 5 or 30 years and imprisonment twice a year.
In 1869 for murder by poisoning for 10 years of hard prison.
In 1872 for 20 thefts and murder by poisoning again for 10 years in prison, a darkroom in September and a hard bed.
The Court asked the jury 6 questions, and the jury replied as follows:
Na 1. Is Cat. Onyszkiewiczowa is guilty that as a result of her
actions, although not with the intention of killing, but with some other
intention, Hryń Podolan suffered mental irritation and irritation from
the nerves (brain), and that he suffered a serious injury to his body,
treacherously, and moreover, in such a way and with such and such means
that threatened the safety of life - 8 votes yes, 3 yes, excluding
serious damage, 1 vote no.
To the 2nd question, with the same
content, applied to the accident with Marya Podolan, and with the change
"slight damage." 10 votes yes, 1 yes, excluding deception, 1 vote no.
To the 3rd question, every 1 was applied to the accident with Paulinka
Krasołycha, Maria Poburka and Jasiek Orłowski. 7 votes yes, 4 yes
excluding serious bodily injury, 1 vote no.
To the 4th question, is Katarzyna O. guilty of robbing Hryńek Podolan of things worth over PLN 25. 11 votes yes, 1 vote no.
11 votes to the 5th question relating to the theft in Mikulińce - yes, 1 vote - no.
To the additional question 6, whether the above thefts were boldly, treacherously and deceptively committed by the accused, and whether they indicate compulsive theft, 10 votes yes, 1 vote yes, excluding treacherous and deceptive, and 1 vote no.
On the basis of this verdict, Katarzyna Onyszkiewicz was sentenced to 10 years of hard prison.
[“The Onyszkiewiczowa Trial,” The National Gazette (Lviv), Feb. 28-29, 1880]
***
[108-1/11/21]
***
No comments:
Post a Comment