The committee appointed to investigate the cases of incendiarism was investigating, that is, thrashing, for six months in a row, and had thrashed out nothing in the end. The Tsar was annoyed and ordered that the thing was to be finished in three days. The thing was finished in three days. Culprits were found and condemned to punishment by the knout, by branding, and by exile to penal servitude. The porters from all the houses were assembled to watch the terrible punishment of 'the incendiaries.'
By then it was winter and at that time I was being held at the Krutitsky Barracks. The captain of gendarmes, a good-natured old man who had been present at the punishment, told me the details, which I pass on. The first man condemned to the knout told the crowd in a loud voice that he swore he was innocent, that he did not know himself what the pain had forced him to answer; then taking off his shirt he turned his back to the crowd and said: 'Look, good Christians!'
A groan of horror ran through the crowd : his back was a darkblue striped wound, and on that wound he was to be beaten with the knout. The murmurs and gloomy aspect of the assembled people made the police hurry. The executioners dealt the legal number of blows, while others did the branding and others riveted fetters, and the business seemed to be finished. But thi s scene had impressed the inhabitants; in every circle in Moscow people were talking about it. The Governor-General reported upon it to the Tsar. The Tsar ordered a new trial to be held, and the case of the incendiary who had protested before his punishment to be particularly inquired into.
Several months aftenvards, I read in the papers that the Tsar, wishing to compensate two men
had been punished by the
knout, though innocent, ordered them to be given two hundred roubles a lash, and to be provided with a special passport testify-2 A character in Gogol's Dead Souls. ( Tr.)
M Y P A S T A :\" 0 T H O U G H T S
144
ing to their i nnocence in spi te of the branding. These two were the incendiary who had spoken to the crowd and one of his companions.
The affair of the fires in Moscovv in 1 8H, cases similar to
\vhich occurred ten years later in various provinces, remains a mystery. That the fires were caused by arson there i s no doubt; fi re, 'the red cock,' is in general a very national means of revenge among us. One is continually hearing of the burning by peasants of their owners· houses, barns, and granaries. but what· was the cause of the incendiarism in :\Iosco\v in 1 834 no one knows, and least of all the members of the commission of inquiry.
Before 22nd August, Coronation Day, some practical jokers dropped letters in various places in which they informed the inhabitants that they need not bother about illuminations, that the place would be lit up.
The cowardly lVIoscow authorities \vere in a great fluster. The polic(' station was filled with soldi('rs from early morning and a squadron of Uhlans \Wre stationed in the yard. In the evening patrols on horsPback anrl on foot were incessantly moving about the streets. Artillery was kept in r('arliness in the drill-shed.
Politsmcntcrs gal loped up and down with Cossacks and gendarmes. Prince Golitsvn himself rode about the town with his aidPs-de-camp. This �ilitar:v look of modest :\1oscow was odd, and affected the n('rws. Till late at night J lay by the window under mv
-
\Vatch- tower and look('d into thP vanl.
.
. . . ThP
Uhlans who hud bl•('n hurri('(] to the place were sitting in groups, near th('ir horses. and oth!'rs were mounting. Officers W!'re \valking about, looking disdainfull�· at the police; aides-decamp wi th yellow collars arrived continually. looking anxious and, a fter doing nothing, rode away aga in .
There were n o fires.
After this the Tsar himself came to l\1oscow. He was displeased with thP inquiry i n to our case which was only beginning. \vas displeas('d that we \Wre l('ft in the hands of the ordinar�· pol ic<', \vas displ('ased that the incendiaries had not be!'n found-in a word, h(' \Vas displeased with everything and ev<'rvone.
\\'p soon [('It His ;\lajesty's proximity.
Prison and Exile
1 45
/{J ·zttitskJ· B{ll 'l '{tcks
TniiEE DAYS after the Tsar's arrival, late in the evening-all these things are done in darkness to avoid disturbing the publ ic-a polic!' offic!'r came to me with ordPrs to collect my belongings and go with him.
'Where to? ' I asked.
'You will see,' \vas th<' policeman's witty and polite reply.
After this, of cours!', I did not continue the conversation, but collPCt<'d my things and set off.
vVP drov<' on and on for an hour and a half. and at kngth we passed tht> Simonov l\1onastpry and stopped at a heavy stone gate, bdorp which two gendarnws \vith carbines were pacing up and down. This was the Krutitsky l\Ionastery, converted into a barracks for gendarmes.
I was led into a small office. Th<' clerks, th<' adjutants, the officprs \Yer!' all in light blue. The officer on duty, in a helmet and full uniform, asked me to wait a little and even suggested that I should l ight the pip<' I held in my hand. After this he proceeded to \\Tite a recPipt of having received a prisoner; gh·ing it to the policeman he \Wilt away and returned \vith another officer.
'Your room is rrady,' said th<' lattrr, 'let us go.'
A grndarme held a candl0 for us, and WC' \Writ down some sta irs and took a few stPps across th0 courtyard and passed through a small door into a long corridor lit by a single lantern; on both sides w0r0 littlP doors, one of which th0 officer on duty opPnrd; it l0d into a tiny guardroom b('y"ond which was a small, damp, cold room that sm<'l t like a cellar. The officer ·,vith an aiguill('ttC' who had conducted m<' then turnrd to me, saying in French that he was 'dcsolc d'arc dans Ia ncccssitr' of s('arching my pockets, but military· S('n·ic(', duty, obedience . . . . After this 0loqu('nt introduction. hr very simply turnrd to the grndarmr and indicated me with his eyes. The gendarme at onc('
thrust an incredibly large and hairy hand into my pocket. I obsrrvrd to thr court0ous officer that this was quite unnecessary, and that I would myself, if he liked, turn my pockets inside out without such violrnt measures; moreover, what could I have after six w('eks' imprisonment?
M Y P A S T A N D T H O U G H T S
146
'We know,' said the polite officer with an aiguillette, with a smile of inimitable self-complacency, 'how things are done at police stations.'
The officer on duty also smiled sarcastically. However, they told the gendarme he need only look. I pulled out everything I had.