Free Countess Dracula by Tony Thorne Page A

were just standing before him [the accused] and the young lads could also see that. And even in these cases they did their needlework or tied the lace. And again she punished Sittkey’s daughter because she stole a pear. And she started to torture her and in the place called Piešt’ány with the old women they killed together those two who were suffering the pains of childbirth. She killed the Viennese girl Miss Modl at the place called Keresztúr.
    Seventh question: Where did they bury the dead bodies; who hid the bodies . . . and how were they hidden?
    Response: These old women hid and buried the girls here in Č achtice. He himself, the accused, helped to bury four of them: two in the place called LeÅ¡etice, one in the place called Keresztúr and also one in the place called Sárvár. The others were all buried inSárvár, accompanied by singing, and also in Keresztúr and LeÅ¡etice. When these old women killed one of the girls, the Mistress gave them presents. She herself tore the faces and other parts of the bodies of these girls and pricked them under their nails. And after that the tortured girl was taken into the frost-covered field and cold water was poured over her with the help of these old women. She herself also poured water over the girl. The girl froze and died. Here at Byt č a when he was leaving, at the place called Predmier, one of the girls was put up to her throat in water and had water poured over her – the girl who escaped from her at Illava and who was found and then she died in Č achtice.
    Eighth question: Did the woman herself torture them and what precisely did she do when she tortured them and had them killed?
[Another version of this question runs:
What did she do then if she did not torture and did not have these unfortunate beings killed?
– this might lead us to think either that the transcribers were recording loosely, or that the wording of the questions was changed for the final versions.]
    Response: When she herself did not torture, just left this work to the old women, she was in the laundry-house. She did not give the girls anything to eat for a week, and if someone secretly gave them food, that person would immediately be punished.
    Ninth question: In Č achtice, in Sárvár, in Keresztúr, in Beckov and in other locations, in which places did she have these poor ones tortured and killed?
    Response: In Beckov in the chamber. Inside the furnace-house she had the girls tortured. In Sárvár they were torturing in the inner part of the castle, where no one was allowed to go. In Keresztúr they were torturing in the privy. In Č achtice they were torturing inside in the furnace-house. When they were on a journey, at that time she herself tortured in the carriage. She was beating them and pinching and pricking the girls’ mouths with a needle.
    Tenth question: Of important personages, who was there, and who was aware of the deeds of the woman, and who saw the woman’s actions?
    Response: The steward Benedict Dezsö [more usually ‘Dese ő ’] was aware of most things; he was more involved than the others, but he [presumably the accused] did not hear that this Benedict addressed the Mistress about these matters. It was also common knowledge among the servants, and the apprentices were also aware. There was also a person who was called ‘Ironhead Steve’ who had recently left the woman for Transdanubia: he was aware of everything – much betterinformed than this witness himself – and he had been playing freely with the woman [this tantalising comment could have a sexual sense, or mean that they literally played/gamed together, or that some power allowed him to toy with or behave over-familiarly with his mistress]. This man had carried more to be buried, but the witness does not know whither.
    Eleventh question: For how long were they aware of the woman’s terrible deeds and when did these date