Here’s my dilemma. One of my favourite distractions is to read magazines from two hundred and fifty years ago to see what the main talking points of the day were. It’s mostly pretty mundane with a few oddities here and there but recently I found a case so remarkable that I couldn’t believe it had been forgotten, even after so long.
According to the story, in Vienna on 31 July 1769 a woman was charged with having killed around 100 children. She worked as a nurse for women who were, themselves, nurses. She would get several months paid in advance and then, after a short time, would tell them of the sad news of their child passing away.
“It is certain that during 17 months near 90 children have been carried from her house to the grave.”
So I wanted to know more about this, especially since the story mentions accomplices. I thought it must have been a huge story at the time but I can’t find anything when searching in English.
If anyone here speaks German would they have a quick go? Maybe they can find articles that I couldn’t. There’s a link to the article below (click the one on page 366) which, annoyingly, doesn’t name the woman in question.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?redir_e...na&f=false
According to the story, in Vienna on 31 July 1769 a woman was charged with having killed around 100 children. She worked as a nurse for women who were, themselves, nurses. She would get several months paid in advance and then, after a short time, would tell them of the sad news of their child passing away.
“It is certain that during 17 months near 90 children have been carried from her house to the grave.”
So I wanted to know more about this, especially since the story mentions accomplices. I thought it must have been a huge story at the time but I can’t find anything when searching in English.
If anyone here speaks German would they have a quick go? Maybe they can find articles that I couldn’t. There’s a link to the article below (click the one on page 366) which, annoyingly, doesn’t name the woman in question.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?redir_e...na&f=false