ABSTRACT

In November of 1913, a 47-year-old Icelandic woman poisoned her brother for financial gain; she was convicted of murder, but her death sentence was commuted to a prison term by the Danish king. It was dark November again, 16 years later, when a 19-year-old burglar was surprised at his work, and beat to death the man who interrupted him. The reason why these two cases are noteworthy is that they are the only two homicides known to have taken place in the little island nation of Iceland in the first 40 years of this century (G.H. Gudjonsson, 1986, personal communication).