EXCERPT (Article 1 of 2): In the course of last week, according to a Perth correspondent, it was remarked that many deaths took place amongst the young farmers belonging to the villages of Syrmia, the most eastern part of Croatia. In each case it was found that death occurred soon after marriage. An inquiry was accordingly ordered by the authorities, which has resulted in proving that the young men had been poisoned by their wives, who thus inherited their houses and farms. During last week seven young widows in the village of Aingula and an old widow, who had prepared and sold poison to them, were arrested, and numerous other arrests are expected.
[“Poisoning Manias.” The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser (NSW, Australia), Dec, 27, 1887, p. 3]
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FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 2): A most horrible murder story comes from Pesth. Young married farmers have been dying off with dreadful suddenness in villages of Syria in Eastern Croatia. These young farmers were all brand new husbands, and at last their deaths, all coming so soon after their marriage, excited suspicion, and the matter was investigated. It was found that an old woman had conceived the idea of getting pretty young girls to marry farmers and then poison them and divide the spoils. The old woman is now in gaol, and so far seven young widows to whom she had furnished poison with which to kill their husbands, These arrests have all been made in a single village, and a lot of other arrests are anticipated. The. engaged and newly married couples in that pint of the country are probably not the very fondest of their kind at present. It is not stated what sort of poison was supplied by this wholesale murderess, but the doleful story recoils names of noted, female poisoners, such as Borgia, Brinvilliers, and Tufana, but happily our young wives do not appear to hare any taste for making away with their newly wedded husbands, and I trust they will remain free from such cold-blooded crime as this Croatian old woman instigated.
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A briefer version of this report appeared on Oct. 31, 1887: [“Our Cable Dispatched – Remarkable Murders in Southern Europe,” The Oldensburg Journal (N.Y.), Oct. 31, 1887, p. 1]
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For more than two dozen similar cases, dating from 1658 to 2011, see the summary list with links see: The Husband-Killing Syndicates
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For more than two dozen similar cases, dating from 1658 to 2011, see the summary list with links see: The Husband-Killing Syndicates
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