Free Countess Dracula by Tony Thorne

lady and how did he come to her court?
    Response: He has been living with the lady for sixteen years, if not longer. He was taken from Mrs Martin Csejthe, the wife of a student, by force.
    Second question: From that time hence, how many girls and women had been killed?
[Literally ‘had he/she killed’ – the reference is not clear.]
    Response: He does not know of any woman or mistress, but of girls, since he has been living there, he knows of thirty-seven in number. Besides, when his Lord Palatine went to Pressburg, he [or ‘she’] buried five in a pit, two in a small garden and one under a drain. The one is dead who was found and showed to him [the ‘him’ is ambiguous]. Two were taken to LeÅ¡etice [a small village now called Podolie] into the church by night and they were buried there. They were taken there from the castle because that is where they were killed. Mistress Dorkó killed them.
    Third question: Who were they that she had killed and where were they from?
    Response: He does not know whose daughters they were.
    Fourth question: Which and what manner of women were summoned to the court and taken there?
    Response: Six times he himself, this witness, with Mistress Dorkó went to look for girls, and the girls were promised that they were taken to be merchants or serving-women somewhere. This last dead girl was from a ‘Horvát’ [Croat] village somewhere over near Rednek, and she was taken from there. She [presumably Dorkó] was there with her, and then she had her killed [or ‘caused her death’ – the use of the Hungarian causative structure is likewise ambiguous throughout]. With Mistress Dorkó to look for girls were also Mrs János Bársony who lives close to Gyöngyös in a place called Teplánfalva, and besides this there was a Croatian woman living at Sárvár, Mrs Matej Ötvös, who lives opposite Mrs János Zalay. Mrs János Szabó also brought girls. She brought her own daughter and she [either Dorkó or Báthory] had her killed as well, of which she [presumably the mother] was aware, but despite that fact, she brought more and took more girls there. Mrs George Szabó also gave her own daughter to her at Č achtice and she had her killed,but more she did not take. Mrs Stephen Szabó also brought many; Mistress Helena also brought enough. Mistress Kata never brought girls, she just buried those who were killed by Mistress Dorkó.
    Fifth question: With what kind of treatment and by which method did she have them killed?
    Response: They tortured in the following way: they tied the arms of the girls with Viennese cord. The woman called Mistress Anna Darvulia who lives [sic] at Sárvár tied their hands behind them – like the colour of death, their hands were – and they were beaten until their body was opened up. Their palms and the soles of their feet they were beating for as long – five hundred blows – as they beat the other captive women. But they learned how to torture from this Mistress Darvulia first of all, and they were beating them until they died. Mistress Dorkó also cut with scissors the hands of the one who did not die at Č achtice.
    Sixth question: Who assisted in the killing and torturing?
    Response: Besides these three women, there is a woman at Č achtice called Mistress Helena who is also called ‘the bald Mrs Ko č iš’ and she also tortured the girls. The woman, she herself pricked them with a needle if the lace was not tight. The old women took them into the torturing house . . . they burned them with an iron rod and she herself and all the old women burned them on the mouth, the nose and the lips. She put her fingers into the mouth, pulled it apart, and that is how she tortured. If they did not finish their needlework, then they were taken to be tortured. They took as many as ten a day. Like sheep they were taken there; sometimes four or five naked girls