Cases tried before juries

From the second half of the 19th century, the most serious criminal cases in Kraków were decided by jury courts, and the press followed them closely. The cases below are known mainly from newspaper reports and from the "Z dawnego Krakowa" (From Old Kraków) series on the city's website, together with local portals that repeat its material. We record only what the courts established, and the names of people whom historical sources give as convicted or as victims.

The Pod Rakiem tenement house, 1867

On the night of 2 to 3 October 1867, in the Pod Rakiem tenement house at Szpitalna 7, an 83-year-old widow, Agnieszka Żychowiczowa, was killed. She was known for her wealth, although she lived modestly as a lodger with the Korytowski family. The investigation concluded that the perpetrator must have known the house: one of the two entrances to her room was locked from the inside, and the signs of a break-in looked staged.

Suspicion fell on Mieczysław Korytowski, the son of the household. His account of noises in the night did not agree with the findings of the investigators, and after the crime he began paying off debts, explaining it as gifts. The trial, based on circumstantial evidence, began in February 1868. The court sentenced him to 20 years of hard labour, and the Supreme Court of Justice in Vienna upheld the sentence in September of the same year. Two local portals describe this case almost identically and both cite material from the Kraków City Hall, so it should be treated as the account of a single source.

The Municipal Savings Bank, 1882

In December 1882, in the building of the Municipal Savings Bank at Sienna 16, the body of the caretaker Antoni Słowik was found. Among other things, a sheepskin coat, a watch and a bag had disappeared from his flat. The police first detained the wrong person, whom they had to release because of an alibi. A trail leading through a cab driver and an inn in Tarnów took the Kraków policeman Władysław Swolkień to Nowy Sącz, where Roman Czarnomski was detained. He named an accomplice, Aleksander Wasilewski, the owner of a carousel.

The trial began on 25 June 1883. The jury court found both men guilty: Wasilewski was sentenced to death and Czarnomski to 18 years in prison. Wasilewski maintained to the end that he was innocent. The source does not say whether the sentence was carried out.

Kącik Street in Podgórze, 1904

On the morning of 4 May 1904, in a small house on Kącik Street, in what was then Podgórze, it was discovered that Józef Kleszcz was dead and his wife Maria was seriously wounded. Neighbours who had gathered in the flat questioned the unconscious woman themselves and pointed the police to the blacksmith Michał Wolujczyk. When the injured woman regained consciousness, she stated that she did not know who had attacked her. Jan Mrowiec was also arrested, and was released after a month. The indictment later admitted that the zeal of the neighbours had obliterated traces and led to the brief arrest of two innocent people.

The breakthrough came on the night of 3 to 4 June 1904, when the police detained three young burglars of a draper's shop in the Matejko House. Jan Gregorski, aged 22, admitted to taking part in the killing. The trial began on 30 June 1904. The jury found Gregorski and Jan Sobol guilty, and the court sentenced them to death by hanging. In December 1904 in Vienna the sentences were commuted by imperial pardon: Sobol received life imprisonment with hard labour, and Gregorski 20 years. The district where this took place is described in the entry on Podgórze.

Na Groblach Square, 1904

On 1 June 1904, in a tenement house at Na Groblach 18, a Mrs Bogucka died, and according to her last words she had been wounded by the maid Anna Batkówna. The maid fled Kraków; the trail led the police through Mysłowice to Ostrava, where she worked as a servant, and the trail was found by the detective Bronisław Karcz, called the Kraków Sherlock Holmes in the press.

The trial began only in October, more than four months after the event. The accused claimed that she had been attacked first, but the experts found no injuries on her that would confirm this version. The jurors were divided on the charge of murder, 7 to 5, but unanimously found her guilty of manslaughter and theft. The court sentenced her to ten years of hard prison, taking into account her young age, neglected upbringing and partial confession.

Westerplatte Street and Kościuszko Mound, 1934

In this case Kościuszko Mound is not the scene of a crime, but a hiding place for the loot. On 14 May 1934, in a tenement house at Westerplatte 12, Anna Garncarzówna was killed, and property then estimated at 90,000 złoty was stolen from the flat of the physician Dr Józef Nüssenfeld. The perpetrators packed the loot into a leather briefcase and hid it in the area of Kościuszko Mound, hoping the case would die down. The police detained Jan Doniec and Henryk Wanat, and Doniec gave extensive testimony. He named Kazimierz Schenkirzyk and the brothers Władysław and Stanisław Bobrzecki.

In the first trial the jurors acquitted the accused of premeditated murder, but the court did not accept this decision and a new hearing with a new jury was necessary. The defence counsel, Zygmunt Hofmolk-Ostrowski, argued among other things against the death penalty. Stanisław Bobrzecki, who had spent more than two months in custody, was acquitted in August 1934. The further course and the outcome of the retrial of the main defendants do not follow from the source we use.

Thefts, fingerprints and safe-crackers

Reports of the State Police from 1920-1921 show an everyday life dominated by thefts: in 1921 alone 352 were recorded, while in those two years three killings took place. In 1921 burglars of the Czapski Museum left fingerprints and traces of blood on a broken window pane; photographs were sent to the fingerprint laboratory at the Police Headquarters, which identified one of the perpetrators, while the other remained unknown.

In 1931, as a member of a gang of safe-crackers, Roman Michalski, was being escorted, an attempt to free the prisoner was made on the corner of Senacka Street. The attackers opened fire, the policeman Kazimierz Witkowski was wounded, and one of the attackers, Franciszek Mikołajczyk, was killed. Michalski and Gustaw Makowicz were detained after a short chase.