Italy preserves the traditions of ancient Rome, for Italian poisons and Italian antidotes continue to occupy a leading place in the history of poisoning.
In 1492, the Spanish royal couple, Isabella and Ferdinand, wanting to have support in Rome, spent 50 thousand ducats on bribing conclave participants in favor of their candidate, the Spaniard Rodrigo Borja, who took the name Alexander VI in the papacy. In Italy they called him Borgia, and under this name Alexander VI and his descendants went down in history. The debauchery of the papal court defies description. Together with Alexander VI, his son Cesare, later a cardinal, and daughter Lucretia took part in fornication, incest, conspiracies, murders, poisonings. Wealth and power allowed Alexander VI to play a significant role in politics, but his vile life was known to the people from retellings and from the accusatory sermons of the Dominican monk Savonarola (Savonarola was accused by the pope of heresy and executed in 1498).
The high position of Alexander VI and the crimes committed in his family were reflected in countless records of contemporaries and subsequent historians. The poisoning of noble persons is reported not only by chroniclers, but also by Alexander VI’s successor on the papal throne, Pope Julius II. Here are a few excerpts from old chronicles: “As a rule, a vessel was used, the contents of which could one day send into eternity an inconvenient baron, a rich church minister, an overly talkative courtesan, an overly humorous valet, yesterday a devoted murderer, today a still devoted lover. In in the darkness of the night, the Tiber received into its waves the unconscious body of the victim of the “cantarella”...".
“Cantarella” in the Borgia family was the name for poison, the recipe for which Cesare allegedly received from his mother Vanozza Catanea, a Roman aristocrat and his father’s mistress. The poison apparently contained arsenic, copper salts and phosphorus. Subsequently, missionaries brought from the conquered at that time South America poisonous local plants, and papal alchemists prepared mixtures so poisonous that one drop of poison could kill a bull.
“Tomorrow morning, when they wake up, Rome will know the name of the cardinal, who slept his last sleep that night,” these words are attributed to Alexander VI, who allegedly said them to his son Cesare on the eve of the holiday in the Vatican, meaning to use the festive table to poison the unwanted cardinal .
Legends say that either Lucretia or Alexander VI owned a key, the handle of which ended in an inconspicuous point rubbed with poison. Being invited to open the chambers where works of art were kept with this key, the guest would slightly scratch the skin of his hand, and this was enough for fatal poisoning. Lucretia had a needle, inside of which there was a channel with poison. With this needle she could destroy any person in the crowd.
No less terrible is Cesare, who tried to unite the principalities of Romagna under his rule. “His insolence and cruelty, his entertainment and crimes against his own and others were so great and so well known that he endured everything conveyed in this regard with complete indifference... This terrible infection of Borgia lasted for many years, until the death of Alexander VI allowed people can breathe freely again."
The death of Alexander VI was caused by accident. He decided to poison the cardinals he disliked, but, knowing that they were afraid of his meals, he asked Cardinal Adrian di Carneto to give up his palace for a day to organize a feast. Previously, he sent his valet there with poisoned wine and ordered it to be served to those whom he pointed to. But due to a fatal mistake for Alexander VI, he drained a glass of this wine, while Cesare diluted it with water. The pope died after four days of torture, and twenty-eight-year-old Cesare remained alive, but suffered for a long time from the effects of poisoning.
The Italian school of poisoners found new patronage in the person of the French queen Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589), who came from a noble Italian family of bankers and rulers of Florence, the grandniece of Pope Clement VII. During the life of her husband, King Henry II, Catherine did not play any significant political role. After the unexpected death of Henry II (he was wounded at the tournament), she is left with four sons, the eldest of whom Francis II was barely 15 years old. Death quickly claimed this son too, and Catherine became regent under the ten-year-old King Charles IX.
Catherine brought with her to France the traditions of the House of Medici; at her service were performers, experts in black magic, astrologers, two Italians Tico Brae and Cosmo (Cosimo) Ruggieri, and the Florentine Bianchi, a great lover of making perfumes, fragrant gloves, women's jewelry and cosmetics. The life doctor of the royal family, the famous surgeon Ambroise Paré, believed that poisons were behind all these objects, and therefore wrote that it would be better to “avoid these spirits like the plague and escort them (these persons) out of France to the infidels in Turkey.” .
Catherine is considered to be the culprit in the death of Queen of Navarre Jeanne d'Albret, the mother of the future king of France Henry IV, an active leader of the Huguenot party. “The cause of her death,” wrote d’Aubigné*, “was poison that penetrated into her brain through scented gloves. It was manufactured was according to the recipe of Messer Renault, a Florentine, who after that became hated even by the enemies of this empress." Jeanne d'Albret dies from arsenic; arsenic was also found in the person who tried to poison Coligny. It is unlikely that
poisoned gloves were the cause of the death of the Queen of Navarre, but this version was accepted by contemporaries of the events described. Approving the attempts to poison Coligny, the chancellor of Charles IX, and later Cardinal Birag, said that a religious war should not be resolved by loss large quantity people and resources, but by cooks and kitchen staff.Sitting at the table with them was considered a very bad omen.
Caligula
Brief reign Roman Emperor Caligula (37-41) was saturated with poison from beginning to end. To avenge his father, Caligula poisoned his predecessor, Emperor Tiberius.
The emperor was generally a keen connoisseur of poisons. He was well versed in their properties, composed various mixtures and tested them on slaves. However, it was not only the slaves who suffered. Caligula poisoned the drivers who dared to overtake him in horse racing. He put poison into the wounds of the victorious gladiator Columbus, who did not enjoy imperial favor. Caligula, greedy for other people's goods, forced rich Romans to sign over part of their inheritance to him and, not wanting to wait long for their natural death, simply sent them poisoned delicacies, speeding up the process.
After the murder of Caligula, a huge chest of poisons was found: each poison was personally signed by the emperor and named after the person he poisoned. The chest was thrown into the sea, causing damage environment, similar to the crash of an oil tanker: for a long time, schools of poisoned fish washed up on the surrounding shores.
Nero
Nero put the process of poisoning unwanted people on an assembly line and even hired a tame Gallic poisoner, Locusta. During the entire reign of Nero (54-68), this sweet woman prepared poisons for his enemies.
The first victim was Nero's predecessor, Emperor Claudius. The poison, made from opium and aconite, was served in mushrooms, which Claudius loved so much. But the wine-soaked emperor did not die. He already realized that he had been poisoned and tried to get rid of the poison with the help of an emetic feather. No such luck: Nero made sure that the pen was also smeared with poison.
Having become emperor, Nero began to eliminate his rivals. One of the first to suffer was Britannicus, the son of Claudius, half-brother of Nero. A cunning plan was devised. First, the young man was deliberately served food that was too hot. A servant who tried Britannica's food asked to cool it, which was done with the help of poisoned water that had not been tested by anyone. Britannicus began to die in agony right in front of the guests, but Nero calmly assured everyone that the young man was simply in poor health and was about to come to his senses. Did not come.
Then Nero began to poison everyone. The emperor's lover Narcissus was poisoned because he stopped liking him. Close Pallius - because he became too rich. Doryphoros - for recklessly objecting to the next marriage of the emperor.
Burr suffered no one knows why, but it is known how: Nero ordered poison to be rubbed on his palate. Nero's teacher, the famous philosopher Seneca, involved in a conspiracy against his former student, was forced to swallow the poison of the Athenian hemlock and, to be safe, also open his veins.
Alexander Borgia
Pope Alexander VI Borgia (1492-1503) is perhaps the most famous vicar of the throne of St. Peter, but not at all thanks to his Christian virtues. He went down in history with his phenomenal debauchery and poisoning, even for unbridled secular rulers.
Dad's favorite poison was cantarella. Only Borgia himself knew the recipe for this poison. After missionaries brought poisonous plants there from the newly discovered New World, papal alchemists began to prepare poisons so powerful that one drop of them could kill an elephant. For such chemical experiments, Alexander VI earned the nickname “Satan’s apothecary.”
As much as dad was tireless in debauchery, he was so inventive in poisoning methods. Poison was added to prosphora before consecration ceremonies. The fruit was cut with a knife rubbed with poison on only one side. The victim, seeing that the second half of the fruit was absorbed by the father without any harm, joyfully ate the treat and died without understanding anything. Sometimes a key was used, ending in an inconspicuous point, which was rubbed with poison; the unfortunate person who opened the door with this key slightly pierced his hand with the tip and died from poisoning.
Festive table The hospitable pope was often replete with poisoned dishes placed before those destined for liquidation. Guests invited to dinner sat down at the table only after having first made a will.
Ironically, Alexander VI died from the poison he prepared for his next victim.
Catherine de' Medici
The French queen Catherine de' Medici (1547-1559) came from a famous family of Florentine poisoners. The queen turned out to be worthy of her ancestors: in the endless court intrigues, poison was her main weapon. Catherine de Medici had at her disposal a whole staff of poisoners, dubious “perfumers” who produced poisoned cosmetics, perfumes, as well as poisons that were applied to gloves, fans and women’s jewelry.
Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, who was a supporter of the Huguenots, died from a pair of such gloves, which the Catholic Catherine strongly disliked. The son of the poisoned woman, Henry IV, fearing for his life, during his stay in the Louvre ate only eggs he prepared with his own hands and drank water that he collected from the Seine.
Catherine twice tried to poison the influential Huguenot, Admiral Coligny. But as a result of the poisoning, both of the admiral’s brothers died, and he himself escaped with colic.
Having decided that poisoning the Huguenots one by one is too tedious, Catherine de Medici invites all the Huguenots to Paris for a St. Bartholomew's Night...
Cixi
Having started her career as an ordinary concubine, Cixi eventually became the unlimited ruler of the entire Chinese Empire (1861-1908). Poisons contributed a lot to this professional advancement.
Cixi's first victim was the Empress Dowager. When Emperor Xianfen was still alive, Cixi gained the trust of his barren wife and at the same time the emperor. She gave birth to an heir to Xianfen, and after the death of her child’s father, she simply removed the empress who had become unnecessary: she either ate poisoned cookies or drank poisonous broth, which Cixi prepared with her own hands.
Cixi poisoned unwanted people during court meals, and no tricks helped: neither silver plates, with the help of which they checked whether food was poisoned (the plates darkened from poison), nor eunuchs who tried the dishes, nor prayers to the goddess Guanyin, who saved from poison. Many courtiers and imperial concubines opened entire pharmacies and personal pharmacists with a full range of antidotes.
Pu Yi, grandnephew of Cixi, the last Emperor Celestial Empire, later recalled that he ate only after his younger brother tried the food.
It is not surprising: the penultimate Emperor Guangxu, Cixi’s nephew, adopted by her, was poisoned by her. She greatly disliked Guangxu and, sensing the approach of death and not wanting him to survive it, poisoned the emperor with arsenic. And she herself died of dysentery the next day.
February 11, 55 AD e. The son of the Roman Emperor Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus was poisoned by his half-brother Nero. "Russian Planet" talks about historical figures, whose cause of death was poison.
Britannic, orphan
Britannicus was born to Emperor Claudius by his third wife Valeria Messalina in 41 AD. e. After seven years, she got too caught up in the power struggle and was executed. Claudius married Agrippina and adopted her son Nero, who was older than Britannicus and thus received the first right of heir to the throne. This created conflict between the half-brothers. Agrippina announced that her stepson was being harmed by the teachers, who were immediately dealt with in the usual ways for that time. In their place came the people of Agrippina, who kept Britannicus almost under house arrest and did not allow him to see his father. The long absence of the imperial son from public gave rise to rumors that he was suffering from epilepsy or had died altogether.
In 54 AD e. one of the freedmen warned the young man that Agrippina was planning to kill Claudius, and called for revenge on his father's enemies. The emperor himself by that time began to become disillusioned with Nero as an heir and was preparing to announce the coming of age of his own son. Agrippina did not want to give up power, and on October 13, Claudius died of mushroom poisoning, and Nero became emperor.
But then the relationship between mother and son deteriorated, and the widow began to demonstratively support Britannicus. During Saturnalia, the orphaned young man sang a song about grief over a lost inheritance, which greatly touched everyone present. Such outrage could no longer be tolerated, and four months after being proclaimed emperor, Nero poisoned his half-brother during a feast as a warning to his enemies.
Borgia, Satan's Apothecary
Rodrigo Borgia, a native of the Spanish noble family of Borja, was the nephew of Pope Calixtus III. There are suggestions that the pontiff, who bore the name Alfonso in the world, was in a relationship with his sister, and could be the father of the son born to her.
Be that as it may, Rodrigo, under the patronage of Calixtus III, became a cardinal at the age of 25. To achieve his goals, Borgia actively used money, making deals with Jews and Moors. In 1492 he was crowned papacy under the name of Alexander VI.
The Pope's plans included the unification of Italy and its adjacent lands. To implement them, it was necessary to more money, than the Borgia clan had, so Alexander IV needed to look for new sources of income. The pontiff invited nobles to feasts, poisoned them, and then confiscated property for the benefit of the church. For his extensive knowledge in the field of preparing poisons, Alexander VI received the nickname “Satan’s apothecary.”
Other members of the Borgia family also often resorted to poisonous substances. Thus, the Pope’s illegitimate daughter Lucretia used cantarella, a poison made from compounds of arsenic, copper and phosphorus. Her brother Cesare invented a ring with spikes that, if necessary, were filled with poison and killed a person when shaking hands. Arsenic was the basis for most poisons, since its solution with water is colorless and odorless, and in small doses the symptoms of poisoning are similar to many diseases. The sailors also brought plants with potent poisons from South America to the pontiff.
There is a high probability that Alexander VI was a victim of his own carelessness and mistakenly drank the poisoned wine that his son prepared for Cardinal Adriano. This assumption arose when studying the rate of decomposition of a corpse. According to the official version, the pontiff went out to take a breath one evening fresh air, fell ill with a fever and died.
Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre
During the wars between Catholics and Huguenots in France, the mother of King Charles IX, Catherine de Medici, decided to reconcile the parties to interbreed the Valois and Bourbon dynasties. In 1571, she offered the hand of her daughter Margaret of Valois to the son of Queen Jeanne d'Albret of Navarre, Henry.
When the Bourbon family arrived in Paris, the Medici began to court d'Albret, giving her clothes, perfume and gloves. After a ball at the Paris Town Hall on June 4, 1572, Jeanne d'Albret felt ill, and doctors diagnosed her with pneumonia. Five days later, the Queen of Navarre died.
Her death is attributed to the work of Catherine de Medici, who often poisoned her ill-wishers and used the services of the perfumer Rene for this. On the fateful evening for the Queen of Navarre, she was wearing gloves that were given to her by her future in-law. They, like the high collar of her dress, were perfumed with Rene's poisonous drugs. Since the lungs are the first to be affected when poison is inhaled, the resulting symptoms of poisoning can be mistaken for inflammation.
Georgiy Markov, Bulgarian dissident
Bulgarian writer Georgiy Markov was forced to leave his homeland to escape political persecution in 1969. He settled in London and got a job at the BBC. In September 1978, Markov was walking across Waterloo Bridge when an unknown passerby stabbed him in the leg with the tip of an umbrella. In the evening, the writer developed a fever, then began to have bouts of nausea, and he was taken to the hospital. Four days later he died of heart failure, having managed to talk about the episode with the umbrella before his death. An autopsy showed that Markov had a ball with a diameter of 1.5 millimeters in his leg, which contained the poison ricin, obtained from castor bean seeds. The holes in the ball were sealed with wax, which melted inside the body and released poison into the blood.
Georgy Markov. Photo: Press Association / AP, archive
Great Britain announced that Markov's murder was political and the work of the Bulgarian authorities. In 2005, information appeared about the alleged killer of the dissident - a Dane with Italian roots, Francesco Giullino, who was a secret agent for Bulgaria and disappeared immediately after the murder. The investigation was resumed in 2008, but the involvement of the Bulgarian special services has not yet been proven, and the killer has not been found.
Napoleon, controversial version
The version that the French Emperor Napoleon was poisoned appeared after historians Ben Weider and Rene Maury conducted a study of hair cut from Napoleon's head on the island of St. Helena and found a low concentration of arsenic in it.
Then the scientists came across letters from General Charles Montonol to his wife Albina, and the version of the poisoning took final shape: the general killed Napoleon out of jealousy. Albina was the emperor's mistress and bore him a daughter, but in 1819 Napoleon expelled them from the island, preventing the general from following his family. Mori suggested that Montonol began to add a small amount of arsenic to the emperor’s food so as not to arouse suspicion of his death too quickly.
According to Weider, Napoleon was given arsenic for five years before his death in 1821 for the purpose not of murder, but of weakening his health. Very small doses could not cause death, but only cause stomach pain. She was treated with mercuric chloride, which becomes poisonous when combined with hydrocyanic acid contained in almonds. In March 1821, almonds were added to the patient’s syrup.
Further research, including hair cut from Napoleon's head before 1816, showed that some amount of arsenic was always in the conqueror's body. In this case, this could only be a consequence of taking medications containing this substance.
Women have been the leaders among criminal record holders for the use of poisons since ancient times, ahead of men, who more often preferred to solve their problems with their fists, sword or pistol. Poison is the weapon of the weak, but with its help they feel stronger, and this sometimes intoxicates them and pushes them to new crimes.
Mysterious pestilence among the Roman patricians
The first high-profile case of poisoning, in which women were identified, dates back to 331 BC. e. Then in Ancient Rome A mysterious pestilence occurred among the noble patricians, which killed off quite healthy men one after another. After some time, the mystery of this “plague” was solved: it turned out that malicious viruses had nothing to do with it. Everything became clear when the Senate received a denunciation from a slave, in which she reported the names of Roman women who organized the distribution of poisons among patrician women who wanted to get rid of disgusted men and lovers.
The Roman women Cornelia and Sergius, mentioned in the denunciation, were searched and many different drugs were found, which, according to the women, were just medicines that did not pose any threat to life. At the trial, the alleged poisoners were required to take “harmless” potions; With little hesitation, they did so and soon died. Undoubtedly, Cornelia and Sergia understood that they could not get out of this story; for them, death by poison was preferable than at the hands of the executioner.
During the investigation of a number of mysterious deaths, about 100 female poisoners were identified and publicly executed. Historians suggest that they used aconite, hemlock and hemlock as poisons. The mass executions of female poisoners in Rome were remembered for quite a long time; for some time, cases of criminal poisoning were practically not recorded. However, the temptation to quickly receive an inheritance or get rid of an unwanted person with the help of poison overpowered fear, and the poisoning began again.
Locusta - a living encyclopedia of poisons
The very first legendary poisoner in history is usually called Locusta. She was a certain native of Gaul, very knowledgeable in the preparation of various poisons. It is known that she provided services of a very sensitive kind not only to the Roman nobility, but also to the Roman emperors. However, Locusta did not refuse anyone if she potential client could pay her generously. The name of this monster became a household name, and for a long time many poisoners were called Locusts, adding to this name only the name of the place where another lover of poisons showed her “talents”.
It is believed that even Emperor Caligula, who himself was considered a great expert on poisons, consulted with Locusta.
Agrippina, the wife of the next emperor Claudius, more than once turned to Locusta for poisons. With the help of her poison, she sent her husband Claudius to the next world, clearing the way to the throne for her son Nero. He, having become emperor, also quite often used the services of Locusta.
He used the poison obtained from her to poison his half-brother Britannicus, who was a potential contender for the throne and caused him natural concern. Having gotten rid of Britannicus, Nero royally thanked Locust: he gave her a lot of money, an estate and dozens of slaves. In addition, Nero provided her with students, wanting her to pass on her knowledge to them.
When Nero was overthrown, Locusta hid and tried not to attract attention to herself. Unfortunately for her, by that time she had become so “famous” that the Romans could not forget about her existence. Many of them, during the reign of Nero, lived under constant fear of possible poisoning, so their awakened anger concentrated on the figure of Locusta. Galba, who became emperor, first arrested her and then put her on trial. Locusta was sentenced to death in 68 AD. e. she was executed.
Poisoned mushrooms from wife Agrippina
Agrippina was the niece and fourth and last wife of the feeble-minded Roman Emperor Claudius. Having become his wife in 49, she not only took full power over her husband, but also decided to make him the heir of her son from Nero’s first marriage. The new empress immediately took the path of intrigue and murder.
The first thing she did was get rid of Lollia Peacock, her former rival for the throne. She slandered her, accusing her of trying to find out the future of the emperor through oracles, for which Pavlina was sentenced to confiscation of property and exile. However, this was not enough for the bloodthirsty Agrippina: after the unfortunate woman, she sent a hired killer with prerequisite bring her the head of her former rival. Looking at her terrible trophy, she received great satisfaction and began preparing new murders.
Her next victim was Calpurnia, the famous Roman matron, whose beauty Claudius had the imprudence to praise. Calpurnia was joined by other women who could at least in some way compete with Agrippina. When, at her insistence, Claudius adopted her son and deprived his son Britannicus of the right to inherit the throne, she, fearing the volatility of her stupid husband, decided to speed up events by poisoning the emperor. Turning to the famous poisoner Locusta, Agrippina received poison from her and mixed it into mushroom sauce, Claudius’s favorite dish.
When the emperor became ill, a doctor was urgently called. To make Claudius vomit, he stuck a feather down his throat, not even suspecting that it had previously been saturated with poison by the prudent Agrippina. Without wanting it himself, the doctor only accelerated the death of the emperor. On October 13, 54, Claudius I died of mushroom poisoning; it remains to remove the legal heir of Britannicus, the son of Claudius.
Like his father, Britannicus was also poisoned; Locusta was again used to prepare the poison. The unfortunate young man followed his father. All those close to Nero and Agrippina who were involved in the murder themselves became victims of poison. Nero became emperor, as Agrippina wanted, but the end of this poisoner was terrible, she was killed on the orders of her son...
Eliminated father, brothers and sister
One of the most terrible poisoners of the 17th century was Madame de Brenvilliers. Her betrayal of her husband with the cavalry officer Saint-Croix forced Madame de Brenvilliers' father to obtain a royal decree to imprison the daughter's lover, who was disgracing the family, in the Bastille. Although the officer spent only six weeks in prison, he managed to learn experience in making poisons from a certain Giacomo Exili.
It is unknown whether he gave the recipes to his mistress or whether she found another source of poisons, but while he was in prison, the Marquise de Brenvilliers amused herself by treating patients of the Parisian hospital Hotel-Dieu with poisoned biscuits, visiting them for charitable purposes... She tested the poison and on his maid, sending her to the next world with the help of poisoned jam.
De Brenvilliers clearly got the taste; she tried to poison her former lover Briancourt, the teacher of her children, and then his daughter, whom she considered very stupid. It was her harmless husband’s turn, and then something unusual happened: having taken poison from his wife, the simpleton immediately received an antidote from her lover, who felt a certain affection for this cuckold, which is why the unfortunate man managed to survive. It is unknown how many more people would have fallen victim to this terrible poisoner, but the unexpected death of Saint-Croix, who inhaled toxic fumes in his laboratory, put an end to her atrocities.
The fact is that her prudent lover, fearing his mistress, kept documents in his box that could, if necessary, reason with his dangerous passion. During the sealing of the house, these documents fell into the hands of the police, and with them were several bottles with various poisons. De Brenvilliers panicked and retreated to her estate; her arrested servant, under torture, told everything and was immediately wheeled. The marquise was also sentenced to death in absentia. She still managed to hide for some time, but on March 26, 1676, the poisoner was arrested. On July 17, on Grève Square, the executioner cut off her head.
Arsenic lovers
If in the past it was quite difficult to prove the use of poison, now, with the development of forensic medicine, this is generally not difficult. However, even this does not stop those criminals who have chosen poison as their weapon. In 1970, doctors examined Ronald Martin, who was paralyzed in the lower part of his body; doctors could not understand the cause of the disease for a long time, until it turned out that Ronald was poisoned with arsenic. It turned out that he was poisoned by his wife Rhonda Belle Martin, a waitress from Montgomery (Alabama), who at one time was also his stepmother...
Rhonda at one time married his father, who died from a similar disease that Ronald himself began to suffer from. Of course, the father’s body was immediately exhumed and it was discovered that the unfortunate man was literally loaded with arsenic. Doubts also arose about the death of Rhonda's 4-year-old daughter (1934), her first husband (1937), then her four children and her mother in 1944. Realizing that her song was finished, Rhonda admitted that she poisoned them all with poison to kill insects...
In 1929, a man's corpse was discovered in the river; It turned out that he was poisoned and thrown into the water already dead. An investigation was launched in two nearby villages. As it turned out, there were rumors about other mysterious deaths. The exhumed bodies of two men also showed arsenic poisoning. It turned out that two local healers, widows Suzanne Olah and Frau Fazekas, looked after them during their illness. The widows, along with some of their clients, were arrested. During interrogations, one of the women admitted that she bought arsenic from Frau Fazekas and poisoned her husband, his brother and one acquaintance with it...
