Az Est, 16 January 1914.

Background to film report:

Date:
Between 10 January 1914 (discovery of the travelling trunk, photographs of the body and the trunk) and 15 January 1914 (burial).
“Cameras clattered for two whole days, the crew followed detectives here and there by car thus every single moment was captured on this fascinating film,” papers of the day wrote.

Location:
Close to Margit (today Bem) rakpart 46 in Budapest on the Danube embankment (raising the travelling trunk at the scene close to the apartment of the victim); Szent János hospital (chapel of rest); Ferenc József (today Széchenyi István) tér 7 (police HQ); Óbuda cemetery

Event:
The body of a woman was discovered hidden in a travelling trunk on the Danube embankment. The police mobilized 120 detectives to track down the identity of the murder victim. Finally, a staffer on the paper Az Est identified the body. It transpired that the murdered woman was Emília Turcsányi, known in nightlife circles as Elza Mágnás, girlfriend of the wealthy furniture manufacturer Miksa Schmidt. The murderers were quickly apprehended: her housekeeper, Róza Kóbory, and her lover, a baker named Gusztáv Nick, were the murderers of Emília Turcsányi, who had also been robbed. More than 15,000 people attended the funeral of the victim.

Cameraman:
József Bécsi

Kino-Riport footage:

“Comprising the following clear and sharp motion pictures: The crime scene, in the mortuary, arrest of the murderers, jewellery of the demimonde, at police HQ, the funeral etc.” Az Est, 16 January 1914

Surviving description on the text poster of the Apolló Theatre, Nyíregyháza:

“Content of film footage of the tragedy of Emilia Turcsányi: The mysterious trunk and its contents. The morgue. (Népvándorlás) Identification (Nyomozás) Budapest in uproar! Murderers arrested. Interrogation. Elza Mágnás’s apartment. Furniture, clothes and jewellery. Uncle Fabrik and wreathes. The enormous funeral.” (script and pictures: hangosfilm.hu)

1. The victim in the autopsy institute.
2. The police commission attends the scene of the crime.
3. Rózsi Kóbor and her step-brother being taken into custody.
4. Police chief.
5. Portrait of Rózsi Kóbor and Gusztáv Nick.
6. Last portrait of Elza Turcsányi.
7. Evidence: bracelet and other jewellery.
8. Elza Turcsányi on the bier.
9. The funeral attended by 20,000 people.

(source: hangosfilm.hu)

Photographs and illustrations relevant to the event: