“In consequence of an order from the Imperial Attorney, I, Nicolas
Petrovitch Polechko, Captain Isprawnik of the District Oustiaje, went on
the 26th of the month to the village of Trehmiria, where I proceeded to
the inquiry in the following order:
“The first person I examined was Ivan Prokovitch Semenov, who declared
himself to be 28 years of age, son of Prokop Karlovitch Semenov, a
merchant of Kostroma, who possessed a factory in that neighborhood,
where he manufactured much linen, which formed the principal part of his
commerce.
“Semenov entered the military service in 1830, in the regiment of the
Lancers of Archanguelk. He was appointed cornet of the said regiment in
1836. He commanded the second division of the third squadron, in which
Hortinja was quarter-master, and Tsaryna a common soldier. In 1836, the
division of Cornet Semenov was cantoned in the village of Trehmiria. In
1837, he handed in his resignation that he might return home to his
father. On the 12th of November, 1838, Hortinja and Tsaryna came to
Kostroma, to the house of Prokop Semenov. The former said he had left
the army, the latter that he had obtained a six months’ leave of
absence. The Cornet Semenov welcomed them as old comrades. He engaged
Hortinja in the service of his father, and gave Tsaryna a handsome
present to enable him to pass the six months amongst his relations.
Hortinja behaved so well that he gained the confidence of old Semenov,
who sent him twice in the spring to Rybinsk with linen. After having
sold the cargo and the boat, he brought back the money with the greatest
exactness. On the 15th of April, another cargo of linen was ready to go
to Rybinsk, and this time young Semenov was to go with him to that city,
and from there make a voyage to Astracan. On the evening before their
departure Tsaryna arrived, and as he had been a sailor before he entered
the army, he begged the Cornet Semenov to employ him instead of engaging
another sailor, telling him that it was time he was on his way to rejoin
his regiment, which he said was cantoned at Novogorod-la-Grande. Semenov
consented, and set out next day in the boat with Hortinja, Tsaryna, a
peasant sailor, and a servant. On the second day the sailor and servant
were both taken so violently ill with the cholic, that they were obliged
to leave the boat and remain behind at the village of Bahorka.
“On the 19th, Semenov remarked that Hortinja and Tsaryna had secret
conferences, and seemed to be concerting something. At night, after
having in vain tried to sleep, he left the cabin and took a seat on the
prow of the vessel. He had scarcely done so when he saw a light at some
distance, and said to his companions, “My friends, we are near
Trehmiria, and I bet that is old Yakov spreading his nets.” The two men
did not reply, and Semenov continued “By God, if the old fisherman’s
nets attracted fishes as well as the eyes of Nadiejda did the lancers of
Archanguelk, he would be rich in a short time.” Hardly had he spoken
these words when he was struck in the back with a knife. He tried to
turn round, but was knocked down by his assassins. He still struggled,
but was wounded repeatedly. He called for assistance, and thought he
heard a voice which replied. He was then thrown into the river. This was
all he remembered, he could not tell how he got into the bark of
Nadiejda. After the wounded man had given the above deposition, I put to
him the following questions:
Q. “Have you inflicted military punishment on Hortinja and Tsaryna?”
R. “You know captain, it is impossible to get along in the army without
making use of the baton; during the year of my command, Hortinja was
beaten nine or ten times, and Tsaryna from forty to fifty, but I never
ordered more than a hundred blows of the baton at once; so that the
officers of the regiment laughed at my moderation, and called me
scholar, and French officer.”
Q. “Have you not excited the jealousy of some comrade?”
R. “Not that I am aware of.”
Q. “Were you not acquainted with this Nadiejda who saved your life?”
R. “I knew her to be the most beautiful girl of Trehmiria, and of
irreproachable virtue; my lancers told me this, Hortinja one of the
first. I could not hope to have her for a mistress—and for a wife.—”
Q. “That is sufficient. Knew you not that Hortinja paid his court to
her?”
R. “I did not; all the lancers found her beautiful and attractive.”
Q. “Do you suffer much from your wounds?”
R. “No, captain, I feel much better, and hope I shall soon be well; the
guilty man’s hand struck feebly, therefore I hope he will not be
punished severely.”
Thus closed the examination of Semenov. I then proceeded to that of the
quarter-master Hortinja.
Paul Ivanovitch Hortinja was born in 1787 in the city of
Smolensk—entered the army in 1806 in which he remained thirty-two years
and a half—was quarter-master 15 years and four months. He has made
eighteen campaigns, been engaged in forty-nine battles, and a hundred
and thirty-seven combats—has received the cross of Saint George, and
five medals. He left the service in the month of October 1838. His
discharge and certificates give him a very high character.
Q. “What cause had you for disliking Cornet Semenov?”
R. “Not any. I always found him good and kind as a father. I have said
so to my soldiers. We had no better officer.”
Q. “And what then caused you to commit so abominable a crime?”
R. “O father! (a common expression of the Russian soldier) my crime is
abominable, but harken, I will tell you every thing. I, an old
man—having attained my fiftieth year, I loved for the first time—a
child—this Nadiejda; I loved her as our fathers loved the glorious
empress Catharine (here he made the sign of the cross.) I was
quarter-master, and had saved something—she was a poor peasant slave, I
wished to marry her, and offered to buy her of her master Count
Strogonof—I was to pay him 500 roubles. Her father consented to it, but
she refused me disdainfully, without my being able to comprehend why. In
the mean time Tsaryna came to see me, and said, thou art sorrowful
comrade, but thou should’st not be so. Nadiejda is the mistress of the
cornet; she is almost always at the house where he lodges; this is well
known—thou only appearest to doubt it. My heart died within me at these
words—my head turned round, but I said nothing, for the Cornet Semenov
was my officer. I began to watch Nadiejda closely, and I saw that she
did often go to the house where he lodged. I thought not then of
revenge. It was at this time that the cornet gave in his resignation,
and returned to Kostroma. I then saw the tears of Nadiejda. I saw that
grief undermined her health and tarnished the lustre of her cheek, but I
loved her still. A year passed thus—I repeated my offer of marriage,
she refused me again, and this time she told me she loved young Semenov,
and swore she would never marry any one.
“At this time Tsaryna became my friend and confidant; he represented the
cornet as the seducer of this young girl, and I resolved to avenge her.
I obtained my discharge—he, his leave of absence, and we went to
Kostroma.
“The kind reception the cornet gave us, joined to his confidence and
frankness, disarmed me, and I determined to abandon my criminal project.
Things were in this state, when young Semenov resolved to go to
Astracan. Tsaryna requested that he might fill the place of the second
sailor, and his request was complied with. The evening before our
departure he spoke to me of our old project—I was angry—he praised the
beauty of Nadiejda—spoke to me of her misfortune—of my shame; I said
nothing, but God only knows what infernal tortures my poor heart
sustained; (here he paused a moment in great emotion) we set out; on the
second day of our navigation, the first sailor and the servant were
taken sick, but as truly as I pray God to save my soul and pardon my
crime, I am ignorant of the cause of their malady. I advised the cornet
to employ another sailor, but he thought it unnecessary, for the
navigation was easy and the current rapid.
“Tsaryna was constantly speaking to me of Nadiejda; when we came in
sight of the village of Trehmiria I was moved, troubled, and when the
cornet spoke of her I was no longer master of myself, I drew my knife
and struck him.”
Q. “Did you strike him once, or several times?”
R. “I do not know, I had lost my reason.”
Q. “Did Tsaryna aid you to commit the crime?”
R. “I cannot tell, I only remember that he cried out. Some one is
coming! a bark, a bark!”
Q. “And what did you do then?”
R. “I was furious, desperate, distracted. When the day dawned, I saw the
shores, the river, but I saw neither the cornet, nor the village of
Trehmiria. I wished to throw myself into the water, but had not
sufficient energy, and suffered myself to be persuaded to live, and seek
my safety in flight.”
Q. “When you arrived at Rybinsk, how did you manage to sell your cargo
so quickly?”
R. “I knew Jerome Smilabej, and to him I confided my crime. He consented
to save us, provided we abandoned the cargo to him, and he promised to
arrange every thing for us, and conduct us to a place of safety.”
Q. “Why didst thou attack me?”
R. “I had promised the Armenian in case of unforeseen danger to defend
his life as my own. The moment of danger had come, and I fulfilled my
promise.”
Q. “Thou sayest that Tsaryna urged thee to commit crime, and aided thee
to execute it—that the Armenian protected criminals, and appropriated
to himself wealth which did not belong to him?”
R. “I neither denounce nor accuse any one. I have spoken the truth. I
seek not to deny my crime nor to cast the consequences upon others. I am
a great criminal!”
EXAMINATION OF PIERRE ALEXIECIVITCH TSARYNA, SON OF A CITIZEN OF
KOSTROMA.
He is thirty-two years of age; entered the military service in 1828 as a
recruit in the lancers of Archanguelk. He denies any participation in
the crime.
Q. “Yet you were the first to tell the quarter-master Hortinja that a
great intimacy existed between the Cornet Semenov and the girl
Nadiejda.”
R. “I was joking when I said Semenov and Nadiejda were too intimate. The
quarter-master was wicked as the devil; he pounded our very bones with
the baton. I revenged myself by contradicting his ridiculous passion for
a girl young enough to be his grand-daughter.”
Q. “Why did you rejoin Hortinja at Kostroma?”
R. “I met him there by chance.”
Q. “And why did you choose to return at the time that Semenov was going
to Rybinsk?”
R. “In order to save my money.”
Q. “Why did you give to the servant of Semenov, and to the first sailor,
a poison, which produced cholic and vomiting?”
R. “They were very fond of brandy—they were like a cask without bottom;
to play them a trick I put snuff into the liquor: is it my fault they
have such delicate stomachs?”
Q. “Why did you provoke Hortinja to assassinate the cornet?”
R. “I did not. The quarter-master is subject to visions, he dreams so
many other things, that he may have dreamed that also.”
Q. “Why, then, did you not defend him?”
R. “The cornet was in citizen’s dress, the quarter-master in uniform,
and I am a soldier.”
Q. “What do you mean by that?”
R. “That the soldier must respect the uniform more than the citizen’s
dress.”
Q. “Why did you throw the cornet into the water?”
R. “To save him from the fury of the quarter-master. I also saw a boat
coming towards us.”
Q. “Why did you apprize Hortinja of its coming?”
R. “From joy that I could save the cornet.”
Q. “And why did you not denounce the crime of Hortinja when you arrived
at Rybinsk?”
R. “Because I am a soldier, and he is a quarter-master.”
All my questions, all my expedients, the bastinado included, drew no
other confession from him. Confronted with Hortinja, he replied to his
indignation by sneers; in the presence of soldiers who had heard his
provocations he denied them: only at the sight of Nadiejda did he turn
pale, grind his teeth, and reply nothing, absolutely nothing!