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The Seaforth News, 1955-12-15, Page 6P .Y!PAPER POISONER KILLED FOR PROEM' Over a period of eighteen years mysterious deaths were contin- ually occurring in a country dis- trict called "Tisza Corner," near Budapest. The victims, mostly innocent people, always died m agony, ' A cold=blooded mass -poisoner was at work. Everyone knew her identity — yet Madame Julius Fazekas was allowed to carry on her terrible trade until more than fifty people had met their deaths at her hands. The key to her power lay in the fact that many local people had paid her and her assistants to break the law for them them —and even get rid of unwanted relatives. They were terrified of being implicated. Another extraordinary feature was the odd reluctance of both local and regional authorities to make more than superficial in- vestigations when their sus picions were aroused by the ar- rival of anonymous letters. Madame Fazekas lived in the village of Nagyrev, which, with a few hamlets and one other village named Tiszakurt, com- prised the area known by a loop of the river Tisza. A widow, she was a midwife by profession. Greedy for money, she showed criminal tendencies while still a pitting wornan. Finding that the fees earned by normal. midwifery were too small to satisfy her desires for clothes and jewellery, she turn- ed her attention to illegal ()per. atione. That was in 1908. Six yo s later the first great war began, and Madame Fazekas soon found at hand all the circumstances which could make herillegaloc- cupation lucrative. For, as the war dragged on, so more and more husbands and male sweethearts were called up, and prisoners -of -war began to arrive. And the womenfolk, de- prived of their husbands and sweethearts, found the P.O.W 's engaged in agricultural work more than ready to take the place of the absent men. tinder these conditions Mad- ame Fazekas, working on the credulity of the simple village ' women, was soon making a lot of money at her vile trade Meanwhile, another midwife had set herself up in opposition To the avaricous Madame Faze- kas this was a barefaced attempt to steal her livelihood Cunning. ly, she set about removing this menace. She became the sweet- heart of the woman's brother, and not long afterwards, by ap- parent coincidence, her rival died a sudden violent death! The neighbours. and especial- ly the woman's grown-up son, were certain she had been pois- oned by Madame Fazekas, but Only the son had the courage to do anything about it. He chal- lenged Madame Fazekas with 'the murder. Brazenly, she dared him to prove it. Outwitting the vengeful son was not very difficult. Madame Fazekas visited a number of people' whom she had "helped,' and thus formed a gang who let it be known that they were prepared to burn down the house of anyone who gave evidence against her. It was natural enough, then, that the villagers of Nagyrev should pretend they knew teeth- ing when the son sought con- firmation of his belief. Thwarted, he waylaid Madame Fazekas one day, shot at her — and missed. The penalty for the attempt was a long term of im- prisonment, an act of fate which removed Madame Fazekas' great- est enemy, The ease witih which these two enemies had been removed tempt- ed Madame Fazekas to offer her "services" to other people also desirous of getting rid of some- body. Almost openly she let it be known what it would cost, and she arranged a scale of fees which varied according to the wealth and socia] position of the inter- ested persons. Subsequent investigations sug- gest that the first "murder for profit" took place in 1916. The victim was a fairly wealthy man. When he fell genuinely ill, his wife (wishing to be rid of him) obtained Madame Fazekas' help to ensure that he didn't recover Arsenic, supplied by Madame Fazekas; was added to his meds cine. Ironically, the guilty pair hid the bottle of arsenic -contaminat- ed medicine in the victim's coffin, never foreseeing that the body would be exhumed and the grisly evidence revealed nineteen years later. During the period 1918-1924, many people died "mysterious- ly" In the villages of Nagyrev and Tiszakurt. But few had any doubts as to the identities of the murderers. Then, in 1924, the suspicions of a local doctor became crystal. lized by the sudden death of a wealthy patient whom he hate been treating for "bronchitis." The illness styes not serious so that the doctor was startled when. about a week later, the wile visited him at his surgery, said her husband had died in the night, end requested a death certificate. The doctor went immediately and examined the body. Unable to ascertain the cause of death, he submitted a request for an autopsy to the local attorney. But, since it was based 'on sus- picion only, the request was re- fused. Later that year the first of the anonymous letters arrived. One reached the authorities at Nagy - rev in which it was clearly stated that people were being put to death by poison; both victims and murderers were clearly named. But, oddly enough, the letter was ignored, Four year3 later a woman's body was recovered from the river Tisza. An autopsy proved she had died of arsenic poisoning Police investigations were made easy when the woman's daughter confessed. She was sentenced to life imprisonment. but this was later commuted to penal servitude. Yet Madame Fazekas was stili not implicated. Then came another anonymous 1 letter, which was delivered to 1 the local prosecutor. He ignored 1 it. i In 1929 a third anonymous letter arrived, this time address- ed to the Attorney -General at Szolnok. In it the writer directly accused three women of poison- ing people. The writer was iden- THEY FIGHT, FILM FIRM BUSTS—Because sultry Italian movie stars Sophia Loren, left, and Silvana Mangano battled over which would star in a picture about Indochina, Italy's biggest movie company has broken up. 1t was the Ponti-De Laurentis, Film Co, Carlo Ponti, 42, the steady date of Sophia, 20, in- sisted that she get the stellar role. But his partner, Dino De Leturentis, happens to be Silvana's husband, and was deter- mined that his wife get the plum. So Ponti and Sophia went one way and De Laurantis and his Silvana the other, Both sides are racing to bethe firstto produce the Indochina film. No Girl Ever Had Too Many Clothes To War This fact may be the key to the puzzle of what to do with Uncle Sam's huge, 23 -million bale,, two-year surplus of American -grown cotton. Comely government girls recently mo- deled clothing •Fashioned• from cotton and cotton blendsat the Department of Agriculture's Beltsville, Md., Experiment Station. Products of both government and textile mill research, new types of cloth are, or will soon be, in the market. Some of the styles are shown, below. Cotten and China grass, fiber of the ramie plant, is com- bined in this attractive two- piece suit for casual wear. Bathing suit and coat feature first practical u s e of c o n grain thread. It's blended with wool and cotton when woven. Cotten - fabric raincoat h a s woven - in reflective thread which turns wearer into a walking danger sign at night. tified, and failing to produce evi. dente to support his accusations, was promptly sent to prison for slander! Despite this, frightened people in the village concerned contin- ued to write' many, anonymous letters. And, at last, a thorough investigation was launched by the authorities. A number of bodies were ex- humed and arsenic was found in them. Police inquiries quickly broke down the wall of fear which had so strangely protected the guilty, and several people confessed. The evidence against Madame Fazekas piled up so quickly that she was on the pont of being arrested when she took her own life. Altogether, twenty-nine bodies were exhumed, involving eighty• six cases in the village of Nagy - rev alone. Something over forty people from both villages were implicated in the murders. After a long and sensational trial, six were found guilty and sentencedto death, seven receiv- ed life imprisonment and an- other seven were sentenced to periods ranging from five to fif- teen years In her diabolical "trade" Madame Fazekas was assisted by two women friends. To obtain the arsenic, they used flypapers — so many that at the trial a grocer from a neighbouring town was able to testify that more fly - papers were sold in Nagyrev than in all the rest of Hungary. From these the arsenic was extracted and mixed with the food, drink or medicine of the chosen victim. i Murder Comes Oat In The Wash! A young man leaves his suit at the cleaner's saying he will be back for it next day. The assistant preparing the jacket for cleaning notices a stain on the cuff. There has been a nasty brawl in the district in which a youth was stabbed. Before the suit is (-leaned the stain is tested. In this case it turns out not to be blood, and the suit is handed back cleaned without the young man having the least idea of the interest it has aroused. Even if the stain had turned out to be blood. probably no- thing would have been said. But the police might have made a routine check on the young man just to make sure before the stain was removed and the pos- eib1e clue obliterated. In fact, although cleaning. would make the stain invisible, it would probably not conceal from the enicroscones, lamps and chemicals of the modern laboratory detective the fact that there had been blood on the cloth. Modern techniques have reached the point where invisible amounts of chemicals can be identified. A bullet passing through a piece of clothing leaves behind tiny pieces of metal rubbed from it by friction. They are much too small to the visible to the naked eye or even under a microscope. But delicate teats with Lha spree vagrant' tries. LONDON DERRIERE — Backseat driver goesfor a stroll with his mother in London, England, in this 20th Century adoption of the "papoose caboose" — cen- turies-old method of toting the baby. show them, and prove that the hole was riot made by a knife or by accidentally tearing. If a bullet is fired from a short . distance there will be minute grains of powder imbed- ded in the cloth. Tests exist making it possible to find each grain. The pattern they make shows the angle and distance from whcih the shot was fired. This can be vital information in cases where, for instance, it is claimed the weapon was fired accidentally or in a struggle In one way or another clothes can provide key clues in almost any crime. For this reason po- lice all over the world seek the • co-operation of ` everyone who Ls concerned in the making and repairing of cloth and clothes— cloth manufacturers, dyers, cleaners, launderers. In crime detection speed is generally everything. The iden- tification of a laundry mark within an hour or two of a body being found, for instance, may increase the chances of finding. the killer one hundred per cent against its identification a week later, Laundry marks have been vital clues in the identification of a number of murder victims. When detectives examined I.he clothes of a body in a trunk. at Charing Cross cloak -room they found the name "P. Holt" and a laundry mark. - The mark led them to a Miss Holt, who identified the gar- ment as one she had passed to a cook who had left her service. The cook's husband was traced and the body identified. The woman's associates were traced. When an early morning bath- er found the body of a woman who had been strangled with a bootlace on Yarmouth sands, there was no clue to her Iden- tity, except the laundry num- ber 599 on her linen, A pi -telegraph of that number was idcnlified by a laundry far away hi Kant a; the one they herr ellelt"d 1n a v',„ 11 mielt, of Bexlevh"^tlr, and that we the beginning of the end for her husband who had murdered her. Laundry marks "wanted" for identification are periodically published in the trade press, not necessarily, of course, in con- nection with murder. They may be clues to persons found dead or wandering, The clever. crook in - these days may be aware of the danger of laundry marks and examine cloth carefully for them. perhaps cutting hien. out. L'ut -an increasiinsz uuinber of laundries tines use "invis- ible" marks. '1'o save u,iv marking the ink used is invis- ible except under a special lamp. Moreover, cutting out marks and tailor's or clean- er's tabs does, not incan a piece of cloth cannot be iden- tified by the modern scientific detective. A piece o[ gauze little more . than the size o[ a half-crown, • bloodstained and dirty, was found near the body of a mur- dered girl. It seemed the only material clue, and it might have come from' anywhere. But the experts e'ot to work and identified the gauze as a type used by a particular manufacturer in surgical dressings. The trail then led to an Army camp, and finally to a soldier who had used his field dressing to bandage an injured thumb. Part of the remainder • of the dressing was recovered, and ex- perts from a civilian textile laboratory were. able to show the fragment and the remaind- er "matched." Individual manufacturerle methods of spinning and wean- ing, the dye and other factorri make it possible to trace a mere fragment of cloth heels to its makers and then perhaps to a particular shop. k'tyen a few fibres, almost in- visible to the naked eye, per. haps under the fingernails of d person who has been attacked; or on the wing of a car or the fogged edge of a broken safe, may be identified and eventual- ly proved to have come front a particular jacket. Cleaning may provide invai• uable clues in another way. Ali kinds of textiles are liable tea pick up and hold minute parti- cles. The amount is increased when they are made up ante clothes because they are re- tained in the crevices of pocket's and seams, It is almost routine now for the last particle to be extract- ed from the clothes of a suspect f or laboratory examination, Minute fragments may be iden- tified as paint and proved .te metch the paint on a blasted safe. A cast-iron alibi of a suspect. in a murder case in New York was broken when dust from bis cuffs was examined in the lab- oratory. It included almost in- visible particles of earth and dead plants. The body had beers found in Central Park. The fragments exactly matched the earth and dead weeds under it. That "dust" resulted in the man with the alibi being con- victed and duly executed. Short Skirts Make News an&Troub e Skirts constantly make new. Because he disapproved of hie fiancee's frock, a twenty -year- old Surrey soldier cut it with a razor. When charged with injuring the girl and damaging her frock, he said her skirt was much toe short. He was bound over and ordered to pay for the damage. A new law prohibiting short skirts was introduced in Athena in 1926 and rigorously enforced. A pretty young girl was arrest- ed because her skirt was 15 in. from the ground. Police said it should not have been more than 14 in. from the ground, but the girl was allowed to go free af- ter twenty-four hours. Less than a week later the law was cancelled following the arrest of another girl. She proved to be the dainty, twen- ty - year - old daughter of a Greek judge. She had been jailed for a day for walking down the street in an "immod- est" skirt more than 14 in. from the ground. Lovely Spanish girls flatly refused to obey a decree by the Mayor of Almendralejo, a town in province of Badajoz, which forbade women to wear very short skirts in 1927. Instead, they paid fines en- titling them to wear a short skirt for one month. Police with tape -measures were empowered %ems`° to measure in the street skirts of debatable length.' Eventually that decree was cancelled, too. You can fall foul of the law for some strange things in dif- ferent parts of the world. An Indian girl was sentenced to a month's hard labour at New Delhi for kissing her sweetheart in a quiet alley. The youth was' fined $25. Aver DME WITH (ARE SQUEEZE I This huge closed die forging press, biggest indus- trial machine ever built, stands imposingly in an aircraft plant. Ten stories high and boasting a 50,000 -ton "squeezing" power, the giant press is turning out airplane parts. It lock. 17 months to assemble the press, which weighs 10,605 tans, Some 48 •Feet above the operating floor on -1 more thin 60 1�.t below it, the press is suspended in o 100-1oot.daep I. ;1.