Abstract

This article addresses the cases of criminal poisonings of men performed by women in the 19th century. This theme was not popular in crime novels because evidence was established in chemical laboratories rather than by detectives. Daily newspapers, as well as medical and court press in the 19th century, frequently commented on poisoning trials. Analyses show that the most frequent cases concerned unhappily married wives. The women were mistreated by their husbands, and the law did not allow them to divorce them. The poisoning of the husband was a rebellion and a call for the right to freedom. Crime columns depicted the real-life events drastically, whereas literature depicted the same cases in a moderate way.