Trial began today in the district court of Szolnok of seven Hungarians accused of throwing a bomb during a charity ball held in the main hall of the largest hotel in the city of Scongrad, resulting in the death of three persons and the wounding of scores of others.
The ball, which took place on December 26, 1923, was arranged for charitable purposes by the Jewish Women’s Society of Scongrad at the Hotel Koenig von Ungarn. Several hundred guests were present, celebrating the carnival season.
The dancing went along smoothly, when suddenly, at the stroke of midnight, during the opening of the quadrille, a hand grenade came flying through the window. The ball-room was destroyed; the building practically collapsed.
The outrage held the attention of the Hungarian authorities for a long time and was the subject of several interpolations in the Hungarian Parliament. It was charged that the throwing of the bomb was a part of the anti-Semitic bomb conspiracy organized at that time in Hungary. The investigation discovered a connection between this conspiracy and the society of Awakening Mayjars. Acting First Lieutenant Georg Pirosko and a twenty year old farmer, Ladislaws Simko, were charged with having organized and executed the bomb outrage. The latter was the one to throw the bomb, according to his own confession before the police. Other persons accused are Nicholas Zoloaenyi, Andor Fuelcep, Johann Pirosko, Johann Saghy and Rochas Saghy, supposedly also members of the anti-Semitic society of Awakening Mayjars.
At the first session of the court Ladislaws Simko withdrew his former confession, declaring that it was extracted from him by the police under torture.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
