Erdélyi Jogélet (Jan 2024)
Women Using Arsenic
Abstract
In the summer of 1929, the news of a shocking series of murders claiming more than a hundred victims scandalized Hungary and the wider world. For nearly twenty years in the Tiszazug region, women poisoned their relatives who stood in their way, with arsenic soaked from flypaper or extracted from fly stones with the help of the midwife from Nagyréve, without being held accountable and despite that their actions had been brought to the attention of the authorities by anonymous letters for years. After the first letter, another 5 years had to pass before the wheels of justice started to turn. An investigation was launched against 77 suspects, then charges were brought against 39 perpetrators, and finally 28 verdicts were reached, proving 162 intentional murders. In six cases, the court of first instance sentenced the perpetrators to death by rope, and three were executed. Most of the perpetrators were women who killed their husbands, their lovers, children, or older relatives for inheritance. In my essay, I would like to present the black chronicle of this mass arsenic poisoning from the beginning to its end, also covering how almost twenty years could pass without being held accountable and then the facts that could have led the women to ask for the help of the death-dealing midwife from Nagyréve. The investigations were ordered in 1929; however, I start my essay from five years earlier, presenting the antecedents and the reasons that ensured the uninterrupted work of the “arsenic” midwife. Then, I scrutinize the investigation that was conducted over the course of three months in 1929 and concluded in October, discussing its difficulties and showing the cunning of the gendarmerie that broke the silence of the guilty women. After that, I will examine the court proceedings and their results. Of course, it is impossible to present all the cases separately (77 investigations, 28 court proceedings); therefore, in addition to their common characteristics, I will cover a few cases that faithfully reflect the justice system of the time.
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