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research development
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Planson believes that the crowd was hostile to the convicts. He (by the way, says:
Approaching the corner of Nadezhdinskaya and Spasskaya, we noticed some middle-aged woman standing on a pedestal near the lamp, but in a hat and of an intelligent appearance.
When the platforms with the regicides reached the place where she was standing, and even passed it, so that the criminals could see this woman, she took out a white handkerchief and managed to wave it twice in the air. It was necessary to see with what wild frenzy the crowd immediately tore the unfortunate woman from her dais, immediately crumpled her hat, tore her coat and even, it seems, bloodied her face.
The second, completely analogous incident took place not far from the place of execution... In the same way, this time some young woman, standing on a pedestal and holding on to a pillar at the entrance with one hand, decided to wave with one hand in the form of a greeting to the passing regicides. In the same way, in the blink of an eye, she found herself in the hands of the crowd ... Also, not without difficulty, she managed to snatch her from the hands of the crowd-beast ... 1
1 "Historical Bulletin", 1913 No. 2.
Did the suicide bombers manage to see the last, farewell greetings from their friends, the furious janitors who were not afraid, the fellows from the Sennoy market, the labazniks and Okurovsky patriots?...
The writer Dmitrieva also saw a glimpse of the First March people.
Crowds of people kept coming. In total, up to 100 thousand people and 10-: 12 thousand troops gathered for the execution.
From the report:
Starting from 8 o'clock. in the morning, the sun brightly poured its rays on the huge Semyonovsky parade ground, still covered with snow with large melting places and puddles. A myriad of spectators of both sexes and all classes filled the vast place of execution, crowding in a tight, impenetrable wall behind the tapestries of the troops. A wonderful silence reigned on the parade ground. The parade ground was in places surrounded by a chain of Cossacks and cavalry. Closer to the scaffold, at a distance of 2-3 sazhens. from the gallows, infantry of the Life Guards of the Izmailovsky Regiment.
At the beginning of 9 o'clock, the mayor, Major General Baranov, arrived at the parade ground, and soon after him the judicial authorities and persons from the prosecutor's office; Plehve, Prosecutor of the Judicial Chamber, Plyushchik-Plyushchevsky, Acting Prosecutor of the District Court, and comrades of the Prosecutor Postavsky and Myasoedov, Chief Secretary Semyakin.
Here is a description of the scaffold: black, almost square, platform, 2 ars. heights, surrounded by small, painted, black paint, railings. The length of the platform is 12 arches, the width is 9g/2. There were 6 steps leading to this platform. Opposite the only entrance, in a recess, there were 3 pillars of shame with chains on them and handcuffs. These pillars had a small elevation, which was reached by 2 steps. In the middle of the common platform was a stand necessary in these cases for the executed. On the sides of the platform there were 2 high pillars, on which a crossbar was laid, with 6 iron rings for ropes on it. On the side pillars, 3 iron rings were also screwed. Two side posts and a crossbar for 5 regicides. Behind the scaffold were 5 black wooden coffins, with shavings in them and canvas shrouds for criminals sentenced to death. There was also a wooden simple dummy ladder. At the scaffold, long before the arrival of the executioner, there were 4 prisoners, Frolov's assistants in unsheathed sheepskin coats ...
Behind the scaffold were 2 prison wagons, in which the executioner and his assistants were brought from the prison castle, as well as 2 carts with 5 black coffins.
Shortly after arriving at the parade ground of the mayor, the executioner Frolov, standing on a new wooden unpainted staircase, began to attach ropes with loops to 5 hooks. The executioner was dressed in a blue undershirt, as were 2 of his assistants ...
... Executioner Frolov ... In Heine's "Memoirs" there is a romantic story about executioners. Rejected by society, they keep a strong bond with each other, from time to time going to congresses. They have their own ancient, age-old customs. After 100 executions, the sword is solemnly buried in the grave: according to legend, it acquires magical and terrible power from the blood. You can't tell anything romantic about the royal "shoulder masters", and in particular about the executioner Ivan Frolov. "Tales" about him are prosaic: - for the construction of the scaffold and disassembly of it - 205 rubles. 50 kopecks, for the burial of the bodies of the executed - 44 rubles. 90 kopecks; to send a shoulder master to Moscow and to reward him with 81 rubles; for various small expenses; -19 rubles; total-350 rubles. 20 kopecks - (The cost of the execution of Presnyakov and Kvyatkovsky.) The "truly Russian" clothes of our executioner also do not favor romance: a coachman's blue caftan, a red shirt, a black waistcoat, a "golden" chain on his belly. It must be admitted, however, that Frolov "worked" quite a bit. Frolov began his "career" as an executioner with Vladimir Dubrovin, a landowning officer. Then Frolov strangled: Valerian Osinsky, Ludwig Brantner, Antonov-Sviridenko, Solovyov, Dmitry Lizogub, Chubarov, Davidenko, Wittenberg, Logovenko, Maidansky, Malinka, Drobyazgin, Mlodetsky, Lozinsky, Rozovsky, Presnyakov, Kvyatkovsky. Frolov, tired of "work", once tried to refuse the post of executioner, but he was quickly "reasoned". Sometimes Frolov was discharged even before the trial "foreseeing the execution."
Tall, blond-bearded, with red, twisted eyelids and deeply sunken eyes, Frolov was convicted of robberies in the past. Even before the execution of the First Marchers, he received "forgiveness", lived near Moscow.
The executioner and his assistants "worked", "refueling" "vodka. Takav was a custom. They poisoned the last breaths of the condemned with wine fumes.
From the report:
A small platform for persons of the judicial and police departments was located at 1 -1 1/2 sazhens. from the scaffold...
The chariots with the condemned arrived at the parade ground at 8 o'clock. 50 min. When criminals appeared on the parade ground under a strong escort of Cossacks and gendarmes, a dense crowd of people visibly swayed. A dull and prolonged rumble was heard, which stopped only when 2 shameful chariots drove up to the very scaffold and stopped, one after the other, between the scaffolding, where the gallows was built and the platform on which the authorities were. Somewhat before the arrival of the criminals, a carriage with 5 priests drove up to the scaffold.
Upon the arrival of the chariots, the authorities and members of the prosecution took their places on the platform. When the chariot stopped, the executioner Frolov climbed onto the first chariot, where they sat (together next to Zhelyabov and Rysakov tied up. Having first untied Zhelyabov, then Rysakov, the executioner's assistants led them by the arms (leaving them still twisted A.V.) up the steps to the scaffold, where Kibalchich, Perovskaya and Mikhailov were removed from the second chariot in the same order, I was brought to the scaffold. Zhelyabov, Perovskaya and Mikhailov were placed at pillory; Rysakov and Kibalchich remained standing at the extreme near the railing of the scaffold, next to other regicides. the criminals seemed rather calm, especially Perovskaya, Kibalchich and Zhelyabov, less Rysakov and Mikhailov: they were deathly pale. Mikhailov's apathetic and lifeless, as if petrified physiognomy stood out in particular. often turned his head towards Perovskaya, standing next to her, and once or twice towards Rysakov, being between the first and second. There was a slight blush on Perovskaya's calm yellowish-pale face; when they rode up to the scaffold, her eyes wandered, feverishly gliding through the crowd, and then when, without moving a single muscle of her face, she gazed at the platform, standing at the pillory. When Rysakov was brought closer to the scaffold, he turned around to face the gallows and made an unpleasant grimace, which twisted his wide mouth for a moment. The criminal's light-reddish, long hair fluttered over his broad, full face, breaking out from under a flat black cap of a prisoner. All the criminals were dressed in long prison black coats.
Shortly after the criminals were tied to the pillory, a military order "on guard" was heard, after which the mayor informed the prosecutor of the court chamber, Mr. Plehve, that everything was ready for the last act of earthly justice.
Petr Frolov
Confessions of an executioner from the Lubyanka. Bloody Secrets 1937
Introduction
The manuscript found on the mezzanine
On the morning of December 20, I was sitting in the studio of a popular Moscow radio station. On this day, our country celebrates the professional holiday of employees of state security agencies and foreign intelligence - the Day of the Chekist. In the past, the infamous TV presenter, and now the program director of this FM station, decided to celebrate this holiday of the "heirs of Dzerzhinsky" in an original way. Live for an hour, I had to prove to radio listeners that the NKVD officers were not only executioners, but also defenders of the Motherland. What else can be discussed within the framework of the topic: "The repressions of 1937 and the state security agencies."
The presenter, a charming lady, warned me before the live broadcast: despite the fact that her father was a foreign intelligence officer, she was sharply negative towards domestic special services. However, she promised not to arrange debates in the studio - radio listeners will perfectly cope with this role. The woman was mistaken - all the callers praised Stalin. As they say, we wanted the best, but it turned out as always.
After the end of the transfer, I went out into the corridor. A new guest took my place. The editor jumped up to me and handed me a piece of paper, chattering:
The pensioner called. She asked not to be aired. Left my phone. I asked you to call back. She said she had interesting material. Father's Memoirs...
The editor said the last words, turning her back to me: she was in a hurry to return to her workplace - to receive calls from radio listeners. I glanced down at the paper and slipped it into my pocket.
Toward evening, I called the specified number and arranged a meeting. To be honest, I did not want to go - I did not believe that this visit would be productive. The memoirs, most likely, were written in an illegible old hand. It will take at least a month, or even more, to decipher the text. All the torment in order to read a set of toasts in honor of Stalin and scenes from the life of the writer. It is possible that the author is actually not a former Chekist, but an ordinary graphomaniac.
Brick "Stalinist" house in the Frunzenskaya metro area. A vigilant old concierge who spent a long time figuring out to whom and why I came. The apartment is on the fifth floor. The door was opened by an old lady. Invited to enter. A few minutes later we were sitting at a table in the living room, drinking coffee with cognac and chatting about life. More precisely, she mostly spoke, and I listened more.
- I confess that I have read almost nothing from your books, except for Stalin's Anti-Corruption Committee and a book about Beria. A friend recommended. She is an activist of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and we often argue about this. But with my father, they discussed for hours how good it was to live under Soviet rule. It's just that she has not been abroad and does not know that it is possible to live differently. My husband and I, unfortunately deceased,” she sighed sadly, “have lived abroad for many years. Serezha was a diplomat. However, this is not the topic of our conversation. My father served in the Lubyanka from 1938 to 1954. And until his death, he believed that under Stalin there was order in the country, and all the victims of political repression suffered for real - and not mythical - anti-Soviet activities. If the Chekists had not eliminated the "fifth column" in 1937, the USSR could not have won the war. My father said that he was present at the executions. He didn’t shoot himself,” she hastened to add, “only drew up the documents together with the doctor and the prosecutor. Doesn't this shock you? she asked with concern in her voice.
- What exactly? I said carefully, choosing my words carefully. - That he was present at the executions? He didn't sign the death warrants. And my attitude towards the majority of security officers - those who did not stain themselves by beating the defendants during interrogations - you know from my books.
“That’s good,” the interlocutor said with relief. - It's just that many of my friends negatively perceived my father only because he served in the NKVD. They considered this organization to be criminal and often compared it to the Gestapo. And if they knew that he was present at the executions ... - She fell silent.
- An immodest question: how do these people feel about Nikita Khrushchev? As a whistleblower of the "cult of personality" or as a person who signed tens of thousands of death warrants for residents of Moscow in 1937-1938, when he was secretary of the capital's city committee? Probably, as the initiator of the "thaw" and the opponent of totalitarianism. For them, he is a hero, and your father is a bad person. Although logically it should be the opposite, or at least Khrushchev is guilty of repression in the same way as Stalin. Your father was just a performer and, probably, sincerely believed that all those executed had committed real crimes and were dangerous for the country. What can not be said about Khrushchev.
“I don’t know…” she said confusedly. - I didn’t even think about it ... Do you want to say that my father was a simple performer, and Khrushchev acted consciously, and then became an anti-Stalinist for the sake of the struggle for power?
- Not so simple. Your father and Khrushchev acted within the framework of the situation that existed at that time. And both sincerely believed that they were doing the right thing. Another thing is that one of them kept his faith in this for the rest of his life, while the other did not. To be honest, I treat people who did not change their views for the sake of the political situation better than political “shifters”.
- You and your father, probably, could communicate. You have a detached-neutral view of the past. He liked such people. It is difficult to call him a fanatical Stalinist. Rather, a pragmatist who in 1954 sensed a change in the situation and left the organs. He taught history at a military university. After the war, he graduated from the Pedagogical Institute in absentia, then defended his dissertation and in the Khrushchev "thaw", and then in the Brezhnev "stagnation" sowed great and valuable things into the minds of the officers of the Soviet army.
- And how did you get into the military from the Chekists? I was surprised.
- A long and complicated story. After graduating from the border guard school, he was assigned to the Far East. From there he was transferred to Moscow - to the central apparatus of the NKVD. My father joked that he served as a "clerical rat in a cap" - in the archive department. All the investigation files of the convicts, including those sentenced to death, were kept there. When a person was executed, the father wrote a corresponding certificate and filed it in the case of the repressed. During the war, my father served in Smersh. As he himself said, military counterintelligence was constantly experiencing a shortage of personnel due to high losses on the front line. So he was transferred from the archival department to the operational unit. At the same time, he began teaching at courses where military security officers were trained. It was then that he realized that his true calling was to teach the youth. So he explained his decision to first graduate from the institute, and then go to teaching.
“And he taught history?” I was surprised.
“I don’t know,” she admitted honestly. My father never talked about his work at home. In all questionnaires, I indicated a military university and a position - a teacher. That was enough for the KGB to let me go abroad with my husband...
“You were talking about the manuscript,” I gently reminded him of the reason for my visit. Several times I had to communicate with the children of high-ranking Chekists. Service in the organs in the era of Stalin imposed a vow of silence on these people. Most of them not only did not write memoirs, but also did not tell their relatives anything. And now, after the conversation, I risked leaving home empty-handed.
“Yes, yes, I’m completely chattering,” the interlocutor exclaimed. - In the early nineties, when they were allowed to tell the truth about Stalin, my father decided to write memoirs. He was annoyed by the political bias and subjectivity of most of the books published at that time.
Did he read them all? I asked incredulously, calculating in my mind that at that time he must have been at least ninety years old. Few people at this age retain a bright mind.
- Of course, not all. Very little. Most just looked. He almost every day in "Leninka" (Russian State Library. - Note. auth.) went to work. He decided to write his memoirs. Worked for three years, if not more. I typed them myself on a typewriter. Have you ever had to use a typewriter? she asked suspiciously.
– Yes, in my distant youth, when there were no computers yet. And it is still a mystery to me how people wrote monographs and novels using a typewriter - after all, this is such hard labor, - I admitted.
- For me as well. But my father did it,” she said proudly. – In 1997, he took the manuscript to a Moscow publishing house. The office was located in the Tverskaya street area. There, my father met, as he himself later said, a colleague from intelligence and an interesting interlocutor. The two of them fiddled with the text for a long time, trying to make it interesting for readers ... His new friend, and they became friends, was a professional journalist and worked for TASS in Soviet times ... The book was never published ... Within one month I lost my father and husband ... About two years later, when I almost came to my senses, I tried to find the manuscript so that I could still print it as a memory. It was very important for my father to publish his memoirs. He was not interested in money. The editor immediately warned that there was no need to count on a fee. Maybe they'll pay, maybe they won't. His military pension was enough for his father ... In his notebook, I found the editor's phone number - home. I called and they told me he was dead. The publishing house also disappeared. Only the books he published remained. Then I decided that it was fate that my father’s manuscript should not be published ... And about a month ago, when my son was sorting things out on the mezzanine, I discovered this ...
The assistant and confidant of Loris-Melikov was Benedikt Karlovich Millers, a court adviser. About forty-five years old, with gray tousled hair and an intelligent, dry face, he settled himself comfortably in a small, dimly lit office: the windows there were hung with heavy burgundy curtains and weakly hissing coal lamps shone, despite noon.
“If you please, sit down, Mr. Ryazanov,” said Millers, sorting through a pile of papers on the table.
There were two armchairs in front of the table, but on both lay the same papers, and Ivan Ivanovich, not without difficulty, vacated the space he needed.
“Wait a minute, or I'll forget what I was looking for,” Millers said, continuing to dig through the documents.
Out of boredom, Ryazanov began to look at books lying in complete disarray on the edge of the table, most of them familiar at least with their names: the first volume of the Proceedings of an Ethnographic Statistical Expedition to the Western Russian Territory, the Penal Code of 1846, the Collection of the Kharkov Historical and Philological Society, scattered numbers of the Week and Kievan, as well as in German and English: Jansen's History of the German People, Blount's reprint of Glossography, Mayo's On the Truth Contained in Popular Superstitions, Lam's Essays on Elia, On Crimes and punishments ”Ludovico Sinistrari - however, this one is already in Italian. The Leaf of Land and Freedom and the twenty-year-old Polar Star of the London edition, stained either with wine or with blood, looked rather wild here.
There was also a variety of literature on spiritualism - a very sensible and complete selection, in which Ivan Ivanovich noted Mendeleev's well-known "Materials for Judgments on Spiritualism", the St. Petersburg edition of William Crookes "Spiritism and Science. An Experimental Study of Psychic Power”, the books “Mesmerism, Odilism, Table-turning and Spiritualism” by Carpenter and “Spiritism” by Hartmann, as well as the journals: Aksakov’s “Psychische Studien”, published in Leipzig, and the Russian “Rebus”.
- Are you curious? Millers asked, finally freed. He took a small sheet of paper, which he immediately tore up carefully and threw it into a basket under the table.
An interesting selection of books, your honor. I did not expect to see such people in the Commission of Mikhail Tarielovich, - Ryazanov boldly remarked. - Except for this one. And he tapped his finger on the Leaflet of Land and Freedom.
Much can be seen in Mikhail Tarielovich's Commission, although almost all of these books are my personal property. I beg your pardon for keeping you waiting, Mr. Ryazanov. Do not be surprised at the confusion on my desktop, because it is not a confusion, but only I know the order. It's much more convenient, I assure you ... Well, let's get down to business. Do not be offended if the questions I ask remind you, albeit again chaotic, but interrogation: such is my style, what to do, such a system.
“I am not touchy, your honor,” Ryazanov assured.
- I know, I know ... I know much more about you than you think, Mr. Ryazanov. Do you really think that the count invited you without bothering to make all sorts of inquiries?
“He told me… and even revealed that someone was trying to dissuade him from inviting me to the Commission.
“Strictly speaking, you are not invited to the Commission,” Millers said, again moving his hands in the papers. - In the positive case, you will be hired by the Commission - such a practice is extremely convenient, and you will work under my direct supervision. The Commission is too conspicuous an institution for some cases... But back to the questions I have prepared for you. Please answer in detail and without concealment, Mr. Ryazanov. For starters, what languages do you speak and to what extent?
- French and German - excellent, Latin and English - fairly.
– You forgot Romanian.
- Oh, your honor, I speak Romanian to a fairly modest extent ... I could just as well talk about Italian and Hungarian.
- Great. And leave, please, the title. We are alone, we will not be repaired ... What made you break off relations with your bride, Mrs. Mamaeva?
- What does this have to do with my possible work, Mr. Millers? ...
“No one is forcing you, Mr. Ryazanov. You can leave immediately if you don't want to answer. I think a career in law suits you perfectly, and I wouldn't want to...
- No, no, let's continue! Ryazanov said quickly.
Indeed, who is Aglaya to him now? What's wrong with the fact that Millers wants to know about their relationship and the reasons for the break - given that Aglaya is clearly on the secret watchlists of the gendarme department, to which Millers has undoubted access.
“As you probably know,” Ivan Ivanovich said, “Mrs. Mamaeva has been convicted of having links with an organization called Narodnaya Volya; with such gentlemen as Voinoralsky, Kovalik, Myshkin... After I learned this, we had a rather unpleasant conversation, and then a break. I can assure you that for more than three months I have not maintained any relationship with Mrs. Mamaeva. At the same time, I see no reason for her arrest: Mrs. Mamaeva's interest in famous personalities is the same as that of most representatives of Russian students and the intelligentsia, that is, contemplatively enthusiastic. No danger Mrs. Mamaeva...
“…It's gratifying, it's gratifying. I do not need to listen to a defensive speech, Mr. Ryazanov, I only asked for an answer to my question, which you did. Do you know Mr. Wagner, a spiritualist?
- Familiar, and close enough. I have visited his salon many times. Saw him no more than the day before yesterday, if that's what you're interested in.
“Do you seriously believe in spiritualism?”
“Let's put it this way: it's the unknown, Mr. Millers. Although I can reasonably prove to you with equal success both the reality of communication with the world of spirits and the fact that this is a hoax. However, I have known some cases after which I cannot easily dismiss spiritualism. By the way, you have books and magazines on your table, from which you can draw polar opposite conclusions on this matter.
But the Church...
“I don't believe in the Lord, Mr. Millers. I'm an atheist. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but if this is an obstacle...
“Nothing terrible, Mr. Ryazanov, nothing terrible. Now, Mr. Ryazanov, I would like to hear from you in more detail about your trip to the Rumanian Principality. Please take your time, this is a very important piece of your biography that I would like to know almost everything about.
Why him, I would like to ask? I expected you to be interested in practicing in Surte.
- Because you, Mr. Ryazanov, visited very curious places - such as the island of Snagov, Sighisoara and Targovishte. Each separately this place seems to be of no interest - for an outsider, but in a similar combination ... Surte also interests me, no doubt, but first I want to hear about the Romanian voyage.
“The selection of books on your table is beginning to become clearer to me, Mr. Millers,” Ryazanov said, tapping his finger on the hard cover of Mayo.
“Well, little by little we will understand each other,” Millers smiled. - Let's start with Sighisoara, the first stage of your most curious journey through the Romanian lands ...
2
On February 20, at the corner of Bolshaya Morskaya and Pochtamtskaya, near the house where the count lodged, the Slutsk Jew Ippolit Mlodetsky almost killed the Chief Head of the Supreme Administrative Commission, Mikhail Tarielovich Loris-Melikov. His “lefoshe” was aimed at the general right in the side, and only by a miracle Mlodetsky did not hit.
"These Jews don't know how to do anything right," Loris said in his heart. At least that's what they told Ivan Ivanovich. He himself learned with bewilderment that the attempt on Loris-Melikov had not been sanctioned by Narodnaya Volya. It happened in the presence of two sentries standing at the entrance, two mounted Cossacks escorting the carriage, and, of course, in the mind of the policemen sticking out right there.
Two days later, from the earliest hour, the people gathered on the Semyonovsky parade ground. Ryazanov later became interested in police calculations - he was told that a little less than half a hundred thousand had gathered, the newspapers wrote that all sixty, which was not difficult to believe: on the parade ground itself, which was quite extensive, everyone did not fit, although they dragged barrels, boxes and other elevations, therefore the roofs of the surrounding houses, and the large beds of the targets of the shooting range, and even the carriages of the Tsarskoye Selo road, standing in rows at a distance, were black from people. Ryazanov saw how a curious woman fell from one carriage into the crowd, onto something soft, and either relatives or just kind people began to raise her back with a curse.
A simple gallows, knocked together from three beams, was painted black, like the pillory dug beside it. Representatives of the authorities had already gathered on a special wooden platform, also freshly built, among which Ryazanov made out the mayor Zurov and two familiar officials from the military district court.
Four battalions of guards infantry were lined up in a square around the gallows, with a detachment of drummers in front, and a gendarmerie squadron was located on the outside of the square.
Could the ill-fated Jew-philistine from the God-forgotten Slutsk think that such splendor would be gathered in honor of him - even if dying?
Could he hope that tens of thousands of people would see his death and hundreds of thousands more, if not millions, would read about it in the newspapers?!
“Would you believe it, Ivan Ivanovich, places from fifty kopecks to ten rubles,” said Kuzminsky, rubbing his hands chillily.
Stepan Mikhailovich Kuzminsky was also a lawyer, three years older than Ryazanov, and was engaged in advocacy; and even if he did not win the laurels of Koni or Spasovich, he lived well. They met by chance, having already arrived from different sides to the Semyonovsky parade ground.
- What? asked Ivan Ivanovich, distracted.
- From fifty kopecks to ten rubles a place, I say, as if in an opera. Would you like to buy?
“I can see perfectly well from here,” Ryazanov replied with irritation.
- And in the forty-ninth year, the frost was, by the way, forty degrees, - said a man who was standing next to them and, obviously, listening to the conversation. He spoke in an undertone, almost a whisper, but no doubt in public.
Ryazanov looked at his neighbor carefully. Short, thin, but rather broad-shouldered at the same time, with a sallow and sickly face, with a small blond beard, he was quite old - and his sunken, dull eyes looked especially old. It seems that somewhere Ivan Ivanovich had already seen this man, but could not unearth in his memory who he was.
“They called in threes,” he muttered in the same dull voice, “and I was in the third line, and I had no more than a minute to live ... For fifteen steps - fifteen privates with non-commissioned officers, with loaded guns ...
- Excuse me, are you talking about the execution of the Petrashevites? Kuzminsky asked with interest, continuing to squeeze his frozen palms.
The old man was already about to answer something, as if nodding in the affirmative, but then the crowd began to chatter:
- They're taking it! They're taking it!
A tall cart appeared, on which Mlodetsky was sitting with his back to the coachman. His hands were tied to the bench with straps, and a sign was attached to his chest, on which it was clearly read: "State criminal."
Mlodetsky was to be hanged by the famous executioner Ivan Frolov, a man of great strength and - contrary to popular belief about executioners - not devoid of outward pleasantness. Having untied the unfortunate man, but not freeing his hands, Frolov literally pushed Mlodetsky to the pillory, where he dutifully - together with the crowd of people - listened to the sentence. Then the priest appeared, extremely agitated, and quietly said something to the criminal, after which he held out a cross for kissing.
- Kissed! Kissed! whispered in the crowd.
- Excuse me, but he's a Jew! exclaimed Kuzminsky. - A purely Jewish type of the most nondescript warehouse ...
“I think they said that he had recently converted to Orthodoxy,” Ryazanov remarked.
“What is happening to the soul at this moment, what convulsions it is brought to? ...” said the old man, who looked at the preparations for the execution with great sorrow. His eyes seemed to sink even deeper, and his thin, bloodless lips twitched nervously.
Frolov, with the help of an assistant, put a white cap and a canvas robe on the executed man, deftly tying the latter with his sleeves at the back, then deftly threw a noose over his head and, without any effort, put Mlodetsky on a bench. The drums beat out, the rope taut, and Mlodetsky thrashed in agony. This was far from the first hanging that Ivan Ivanovich saw, but right now he suddenly felt terribly and cold inside.
- ... Do not scold them so much as their fathers. Carry out this thought, for the root of nihilism is not only in fathers, but fathers are even more nihilist than children. The villains of our underground have at least some vile fever, and in the fathers - the same feelings, but cynicism and indifference, which is even meaner, - the old man muttered, like a prayer. This is what people usually say who are accustomed to being listened to, or, conversely, who are inclined to listen only to themselves, perhaps crazy.
Silence hung over the parade ground, only crows screaming in the distance and the engine buzzed on the outskirts, as if saluting the hanged man. His body first arched, then hung relaxed, but as soon as it seemed that everything was over, it beat again in deathly languor. The executioner Frolov looked anxiously at the hanged man, but did nothing, although Ryazanov knew that in such cases it was customary to “humble” the executed, grabbing his legs and pulling him down hard.
“God knows what! exclaimed Kuzminsky at last, taking out his watch and peering at it. - Ten minutes! No, I can't see it anymore. Let's go and have a drink, Ivan Ivanovich.
“Yes, it will come in very handy,” agreed Ryazanov. “Would you like to keep us company, sir?” – unexpectedly for himself, he asked an old neighbor.
To kill for murder is a disproportionately greater punishment than the crime itself,” he said, looking ahead of him, as if he had not heard the proposal. “Murder by sentence is disproportionately worse than murder by robbers. The one who is killed by robbers, slaughtered at night, in the forest, certainly still hopes that he will be saved, until the very last moment ... And then all this last hope, with which it is ten times easier to die, is probably taken away! Here is the verdict, and in the fact that you certainly cannot escape, all the terrible torment sits, and there is no stronger torment in the world. “Here are ten thousand of them, and they don’t execute anyone, but they execute me!” he thinks...
“Old man, go crazy,” Kuzminsky whispered, lightly pushing Ryazanov in the side. - Leave him alone! He doesn’t drink, most likely due to illness, but eats one haber soup.
“Let me ask you one more question,” Ivan Ivanovich again turned to the old Petrashevsky man, ignoring the lawyer. - Where could I see you? For some reason, your face seems very familiar to me.
- Don't you know? the old man asked with hidden joy. “You won’t know… That’s right: why do you, a young blooming man… No, no. No need. Even though it's sad, it's sad.
And, waving his hand, he walked away. Ryazanov looked after him in confusion and turned to Kuzminsky:
- Stepan Mikhailovich, who was it? Didn't his face look familiar to you?
“He was talking about the execution of the Petrashevites,” Kuzminsky shrugged his shoulders, “perhaps one of them… One hundred and twenty-three people were under investigation, but only twenty-one were executed. Maybe even one of the leaders of the circle - Mombelli, Kashkin. Yes, let him, Ivan Ivanovich; Let's go, it's too cold here, and it's not good at heart.
And they really went to a restaurant, where, to the sounds of the French orchestra, they warmed up with meat and alcohol.
3
The hall shone with splendor - the portraits of the now living sovereign, Alexander the First and Catherine the Second were literally buried in flowers, garlands and greenery, just like the huge bust of Pushkin was buried in them. The Moscow City Duma held a reception of deputations, and Ivan Ivanovich Ryazanov arrived at it, frankly speaking, completely undeservedly, for he did not enter into a single deputation and could not enter. He arrived on official duty, insofar as he had such a task.
The task was very strange: to go to the reception and participate in it, observing and not interfering in anything, even if something unforeseen happens. When asked who or what should be watched, Millers answered cryptically: “Yes, for anyone, if something happens, you will understand for yourself. And don't neglect casual conversations."
Meanwhile, the hall was filled with many familiar and semi-familiar faces. A little further away, in a snow-white dress - without any mourning, which should be present as a sign of grief for the Empress Maria Alexandrovna, who died, barely returning from the Cote d'Azur - stood Mrs. Evreinova, a doctor of law from the University of Leipzig, Ryazanov's acquaintance from his German voyage. She doesn't seem to recognize him now, which is for the best. Prince Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg did not recognize Ryazanov either, but Ivan Ivanovich was introduced to him in his distant youth.
Ryazanov was mistaken for some deputy from newspapers or magazines, or even a foreign guest - of course, those who did not know Ryazanov at all. But Alexander Alexandrovich Pushkin, the son of the poet, commander of the Narva Hussars, eagerly approached him. He bowed extremely politely, asked a few ordinary, meaningless questions, as befits a well-bred person who met the same random order, and with apologies he retired, saying that it was fitting for him to be near his sisters and brother.
Ryazanov, however, did not notice Grigory Pushkin, but Natalya Alexandrovna, Countess Merenberg, and Maria Alexandrovna Hartung really stood at the column, talking about something barely audible. Ryazanov saw Natalya Alexandrovna for the first time and found her a perfect beauty, but her sister looked sad and ugly. I recalled the story of her late husband, Major General Hartung, who shot himself three years ago after a jury found him guilty of forgery and fraud. Whether it was true or whether Hartung was slandered, now it was no longer possible to find out, but his widow was sad to this day.
Two gentlemen in black tailcoats with white boutonnieres, on which, as expected, stood the gold initials "A. P., rather loudly discussed the composition of the deputations, and one, with a well-groomed black beard, emphasized that not a single person came from the Orthodox clergy, and only the Moscow rabbi arrived from all the heterodox confessions.
End of Free Trial
From the materials of the criminal case:
“... A black, almost square platform two arshins high, surrounded by small, black-painted railings. The length of the platform is 12 arshins2, the width is 9 ½. Six steps led to this platform. Opposite the only entrance, in a recess, stood three pillars of pillory with chains on them and handcuffs. These pillars had a small elevation, which was reached by two steps. In the middle of the common platform was a stand necessary in these cases for the executed. On the sides of the platform were two high pillars, on which there was a crossbar with six iron rings for ropes on it. Three iron rings were also screwed on the side pillars. Two side pillars and a crossbar on them depicted the letter P. These were the common gallows for five regicides. Behind the scaffold were five black wooden coffins with shavings in them and canvas shrouds for criminals sentenced to death. There was also a wooden, simple dummy ladder. At the scaffold, long before the arrival of the executioner, there were four prisoners, in unsheathed sheepskin coats - Frolov's assistants ...
... Shortly after arriving at the parade ground of the mayor, the executioner Frolov, standing on a new wooden unpainted staircase, began to attach ropes with loops to its five hooks. The executioner was dressed in a blue undercoat, and so were his two assistants. The execution of the criminals was carried out by Frolov with the help of four soldiers of the convict companies, dressed in gray caps and unsheathed sheepskin coats.
A small platform for the judicial and police department was located 1 ½ fathoms3 from the scaffold. On this platform, during the execution, there were representatives of the highest military and judicial world, as well as representatives of Russian and foreign newspapers, a military agent of the Italian embassy and some junior ranks of the embassy missions. Behind the platform, on the left side of the scaffold, there is a circle of various military weapons…”.
Carriages with priests drove up to the scaffold. Behind them, the "shameful chariots" drove in, standing between the gallows and a special platform on which officials sat.
When the "shameful chariots" stopped, the executioner Frolov descended from the scaffold and climbed onto the first chariot, on which Zhelyabov and Rysakov sat. Slowly, as if stretching out the pleasure, he first untied Zhelyabov, then Rysakov. After that, the executioner's assistants took Zhelyabov and Rysakov by the arms and carried them up the steps to the scaffold. Then, in the same order, Kibalchich, Perovskaya and Mikhailov were raised to the scaffold. Perovskaya, Zhelyabov and Mikhailov were chained to pillory. Kibalchich and Rysakov were left standing near the railing, on a par with other regicides sentenced to death.
When all the criminals climbed the scaffold, the rumble of the crowd immediately stopped. Two rows of drummers stood between the scaffold and the platform, turning to face the condemned, forming a living wall. This was followed by a command “on guard”, after which the mayor of the capital, Major General Baranov, informed the prosecutor of the Plehve court chamber that everything was ready for the verdict. Then the drummers beat a small fraction, and the chief secretary Popov began to read out the verdict, the announcement of which took several minutes.
During the announcement of the verdict, all those present, except for convicted criminals, bared their heads. Showing complete imperturbability, they stood straight, fixing their eyes on the chief secretary. Perovskaya, Zhelyabov and Kibalchich showed the greatest calmness. Mikhailov and Rysakov were deathly pale. One would think that their faces were carved from white marble. Zhelyabov was somewhat excited, standing between Kibalchich and Perovskaya, he turned his head every now and then, as if saying goodbye to his comrades at the last minute. Perovskaya, standing at the pillory, wandered around the frozen crowd. There was even a slight blush on her face. At some point, she barely perceptibly smiled, showing everyone around her disdain for imminent death. Kibalchich's face reflected complete spiritual submission to fate.
At the end of the announcement of the verdict, five priests, in full vestments, with crosses in their hands, climbed the scaffold and approached those condemned to death. All the condemned kissed the cross. Andrei Zhelyabov, touching his lips to the cross, said something in the ear of the priest, after which, kneeling down, he kissed the cross again passionately. After that, the priests descended from the scaffold, making the sign of the cross over them, giving way to the executioners.
Frolov and his assistants alternately put on the suicide bombers the long white shrouds of hangmen. Until that moment, Zhelyabov, Perovskaya, Kibalchich and Mikhailov tried not to lose their presence of mind. A few seconds before they were dressed in shrouds, Zhelyabov and Mikhailov approached Perovskaya and kissed her goodbye. The last white shroud was thrown over Rysakov. Watching his comrades put on the shrouds of the gallows, he completely lost the last of his strength. His knees buckled, and if it weren't for Frolov, Rysakov would certainly have fallen onto the wooden platform.
Then, special hoodie bags were thrown over all the convicts, hiding the heads of the criminals, but having horizontal cuts in the neck area, which made it possible to freely throw a noose around the neck and then tighten it tightly. After this last procedure, the most terrible thing began. What happened later is not given any description.
Times correspondent:
“... All those present speak of this execution as the most ugly sight that has ever been seen ...”.
Correspondent of Kolnische Zeitung:
“... I attended a dozen executions in the East, but I have never seen such a flayer ...”.
The criminals, standing in one row in white shrouds, with hooded sacks on their heads, made a painful spectacle. At about 9:20 a.m., Frolov completed the last preparations and proceeded to the actual execution.
The first to be executed was Nikolai Kibalchich. Frolov went up to him and led him to a low black bench. The executioner's assistants, taking Nikolai Kibalchich by the arms, helped him up the steps. The executioner threw a rope around his neck and tightened the noose around his neck, after which, with one blow, he knocked the bench out from under his feet. His body hung in the air, without any movement or convulsions. Nikolai Kibalchich suffered instant death. There was no agony, no torment.
Then Frolov approached Timofey Mikhailov. His execution was more like a long, painful torture than the execution of a sentence pronounced by the highest court of one of the most powerful and advanced European powers. He was tall and had a fairly large build. Even before the execution began, the officers standing near the scaffold expressed doubt that the too thin ropes prepared for the execution were unlikely to be able to support the weight of his huge body.
When Frolov and his assistants approached Timofey Mikhailov, he pushed them away with disgust. Then, despite the fact that his head was covered with a hoodie bag, he independently ascended the upper platform, guided by the elbow by one of the executioners. It seemed that his decisive act expressed the last challenge to the authorities. As soon as the noose was tightened around his neck, Frolov knocked out a stepped bench from under his feet. At that moment, his torment began. After a couple of seconds, after the bench was knocked out from under his feet, the rope broke, unable to withstand the weight of the body. Huge, overweight Mikhailov collapsed with a noise onto the scaffold platform. A rumble swept through the crowd, which until now had maintained complete silence, like a wave of the sea, which grew into cries of horror.
From the memoirs of L. Planson, who witnessed the execution of the First Marchers.
“... Shouts were heard from all sides:
- We must pardon him!
- He needs to be forgiven. There is no such law as to hang a broken one! ..
- Here is the Persian of God!
- The king always has mercy on such people! He will send his adjutant wing!..”
From ancient times in Rus' it was customary to pardon a person sentenced to hanging if a rope was torn during the execution.
Discouraged by this turn of events, the executioners quickly came to their senses. Frolov's assistants got a new rope, quickly threw it over the ring on the upper beam and built a new loop, which took no more than 3 minutes. All this time, Timofey Mikhailov lay helplessly on the platform. Having finished the preparations, the executioners approached Mikhailov, but what was their shock when it turned out that he was not only alive, but also fully conscious. Despite his hands tied behind his back, a hoodie bag on his head and a hangman's shroud that fettered movement, Timofey Mikhailov found in himself the physical and moral strength to independently rise from the platform. He, like the previous time, pushed the executioners away and on his own, without outside help, only slightly supported by one of Frolov's assistants, climbed the steps to the bench. After the noose was once again tightened around his neck, Frolov again knocked the bench out from under his feet. The rope stretched like a string and ... broke a second time. The body of Timofey Mikhailov again collapsed onto the platform, from which the entire scaffold shuddered, echoing with a dull roar throughout the Semyonovsky parade ground.
It is impossible to describe the outburst of indignation of the crowd, which, a few minutes ago, was ready to tear the regicide to pieces. Now a wave of indignation, curses, cries of protest was directed towards his executioners, including representatives of the authorities. If it were not for the impressive number of troops gathered on the parade ground, ready to open fire from rifles at the first order, the angry crowd would have broken through the cordon and themselves would have torn apart his executioners and other executors of the sentence.
It is worth noting that confusion and indignation reigned among the military personnel who were on the Semyonovsky parade ground. Part of the soldiers joined the crowd, and began to loudly demand the pardon of Mikhailov, however, the same command followed - “to the left, around the march” - and was sent under arrest.
Meanwhile, Frolov, out of nowhere, got a third, stronger rope and hastily built another loop. The second time, Timofey Mikhailov, was no longer able to get up from the platform. Frolov's assistants with difficulty lifted the heavy body of Timofey Mikhailov, and the chief executioner hastily stuck his head into the noose. This time the rope did not break. The body slowly swayed and spun around its axis. And at that moment, something happened that the executioners feared most of all. The rope began to fray at the very ring and quickly unwind. People standing near the scaffold began to shout that the rope was about to break for the third time. Hearing the screams, Frolov quickly got his bearings in the situation and pulled up the neighboring loop, which was originally intended for Gesi Gelfman. He stood on the bench and threw another noose around the neck of the hanging Timofey Mikhailov, whom the executioner's assistants had to lift in their arms. This time it was all over, his torment ended. Timofey Mikhailov remained hanging on two ropes. Thus, it can be considered that Mikhailov was hanged four times.
The third in line was Sofia Perovskaya. She, like her two comrades, was placed under the arms on a stepped bench. Frolov tightened the noose around her neck and tried to knock the bench out from under her feet. However, Sofya Perovskaya grabbed the protruding part with such force that Frolov's assistants with great difficulty managed to tear it off. After that, her body jerked off the bench, and for a long time, like a pendulum swinging on the gallows. She did not convulse, only her thin legs, peeking out from under the shroud, were still trembling for a few seconds. Half a minute later, she completely froze.
Andrey Zhelyabov was executed fourth. Frolov felt a special hatred for him. Perhaps for this reason, he, as far as he could, prolonged Zhelyabov's torment. The noose was pulled too high, in a knot at the chin, which shed much of the agony. This fact so outraged the doctor who was present at the execution that he, unable to stand it, attacked Frolov with rude abuse, to which the latter angrily replied:
- When I hang you, I will pull it off properly.
Andrei Zhelyabov convulsed for a long time, describing volts in the air. There was another murmur from the crowd. Frolov had to lower Zhelyabov and again, this time properly, tighten the noose, turning the knot towards the cervical vertebrae. Only the field of this body of Andrey Zhelyabov froze motionless.
The last to be executed was Nikolai Rysakov. From everything he had experienced, he was in a state of shock and, without outside help, he could not only climb the stairs, but even move around. Frolov himself was so shocked by the failure with Timofey Mikhailov that he mistakenly threw a noose on Rysakov, too high, with a knot to the chin. Rysakov tried at the last moment to resist and, so strongly clung to the bench with his feet that the assistants of the executioner literally had to pull it out from under his feet. At the same time, the executioner Frolov gave a strong push to Rysakov in the chest, after which his body hung on a rope, writhing in terrible agony.
At 9:30 it was all over. Frolov with his henchmen descended from the scaffold, standing next to the platform, waiting for further orders. The drum roll subsided and the "pause" was immediately filled with the noise of the crowd. The corpses were left hanging for another 20 minutes. After that, the military doctor, in the presence of two members of the prosecutor's office, examined the executed people pulled out of the noose and examined the fact of death. Then five black coffins were raised onto the scaffold, in which the executed were laid. The coffins were immediately boarded up, stacked in two carts and covered with tarpaulins. Under a strong escort, carts with coffins were taken to the railway station, for burial in a common grave at the Preobrazhensky cemetery.
At exactly 9:58 the whole procedure was completed. At 10:00 am, the mayor of the capital, Lieutenant-General Baranov, gave the order to dismantle the scaffold. The carpenters waiting on the side immediately set to work. By 11:00 a.m., the work of dismantling the scaffold was completed. The army units that were on the Semyonovsky parade ground were sent to the barracks. And the executioners, taking advantage of human stupidity and superstition, began a brisk trade in ropes taken from the gallows. For the benefit of the villains, this time there were quite a lot of them.
On the same day, at the Obukhovo station, accompanied by the bailiff of the Alexander Nevsky unit and several civilians, a steam locomotive arrived with a single carriage, in which there were coffins with the executed. In the presence of the bailiff of the Shlisselburg section of Agafonov, the car was opened, and the workers removed from it five roughly knocked together coffins smeared in black paint. Cemetery workers laid them on carts and, accompanied by hundreds of Cossacks, took them to the cemetery church. However, the bailiff Agafonov immediately warned the caretaker of the Preobrazhensky cemetery Sagovsky that the funeral of state criminals was strictly prohibited. The coffins were brought to a pre-dug grave and began to be lowered. They looked like ordinary boxes and were knocked down so carelessly that when lowered into the pit, several of them literally began to crumble. One of the boxes broke through and the corpse of Sofya Perovskaya partially fell out. However, none of those present at the burial had a desire to go down into the pit and put her corpse back into the coffin. So they covered it with earth, without a funeral service, without any formal burial procedures. In order not to turn the mass grave of the “First Marchers” into a place of “pilgrimage”, its exact location, by order of the authorities, was kept in the strictest confidence. To this day, no one can indicate the burial place of Andrei Zhelyabov, Sofya Perovskaya, Nikolai Kibalchich, Timofey Mikhailov and Nikolai Rysakov.
The reaction of the Executive Committee of the Narodnaya Volya party was not long in coming. A few days after the execution, the Executive Committee printed in its underground printing house and distributed an open letter in which it promised to toughen the fight against the autocracy.
“FROM THE EXECUTIVE BOARD.
On April 3, between 9 and 10 o’clock in the morning, socialists received a martyr’s crown on Semenovsky Parade in St. Petersburg: the peasant Andrey Zhelyabov, the noblewoman Sofya Perovskaya, the priest’s son Nikolai Kibalchich, the peasant Timofey Mikhailov and the tradesman Nikolai Rysakov.
The trial of the martyrs was carried out by the tsarist senators, the verdict was dictated by the Emperor Alexander III, who also approved it.
So, a new reign was marked. The first act of the autocratic will of Alexander III was the order to hang women. Unable to withstand the coronation, he watered the throne with the blood of fighters for people's rights.
Let it be!
For our part, over the fresh grave of our dear comrades, we reaffirm publicly that we will continue the cause of people's liberation. The gallows will not stop us on this path, just as they did not stop a number of fighters in the last reign, starting with Solovyov, continuing with Kovalsky, Wittenberg, Logovenko, Lizogub, Chubarov, Davidenko, Osinsky, Antonov, Brandtner, Gorsky, Bilchansky, Fedorov, Dubovsky, Drobyazgin, Malinka, Maidansky, Rozovsky, Lozinsky and ending with Mlodetsky, Kvyatkovsky and Presenyakov.
Immediately after March 1, the Executive Committee published a message to Emperor Alexander III, in which it proved that the only way to return Russia to the path of correct and peaceful development was the appeal of the Supreme Power to the People.
Judging by the events of April 3, the Supreme Power chose a different path - the path of appealing to Frolov, the famous associate in Bose of the late Alexander II.
Let it be!
Postponing the assessment of the general policy of Alexander III to the near future, the Executive Committee now declares that the reactionary policy in the tradition of Alexander II will inevitably lead to consequences even more disastrous for the government than March 1, preceded by the conspiracies of Nicholas, Odessa, Alexander, Moscow and two St. Petersburg.
The Executive Committee appeals to all who do not feel the instincts of a slave in themselves, who are aware of their duty to the suffering Motherland, to unite their forces for the forthcoming struggle for the freedom and well-being of the Russian land.
