Timofei Mikhailov
Encyclopedia
Timofey Mikhaylovich Mikhaylov 1859 in Smolensk
- died April 3, 1881 in Saint Petersburg
) was a Russian
boiler maker who participated in the assassination of Tsar
Alexander II
.
where he found work in a factory. Mikhaylov became involved in revolutionary politics and joined the Workers' Section of Narodnaya Volya.
On March 1, 1881, Mikhaylov was one of the plotters but when the Tsar decided to pay a brief visit to his cousin, the Grand Duchess Catherine, Mikhaylov lost his nerve, took his missile back to Headquarters, and went home.
That very day Nikolai Rysakov
began to inform against his erstwhile comrades. What he said enabled the police to raid the Telezhnaya quarters the next night. Gesya Gelfman
was arrested and Sablin committed suicide. The following morning Timofey Mikhailov was seized after he had wounded three police officers. Rysakov identified both prisoners.
The trial reached its expected denouement at 3 a.m., 29 March, when all the defendants were found guilty, and at 6:30 a.m. they were sentenced to be hanged.
On April 3, Andrei Zhelyabov
, Sophia Perovskaya, Nikolai Rysakov
, Nikolai Kibalchich
, and Mikhaylov were hanged.
Mikhaylov was the second to be hanged. Twice the rope broke under the weight of his big body and he crashed to the floor of the scaffold with a thud.
The crowd that had been so hostile to the regicides a few minutes earlier was now buzzing with indignation and saying that it was a sign from heaven that the man should be pardoned. As the rope was about to break the third time, the executioner hastily reinforced it with another noose. It worked. The hanging of the remaining three prisoners went off without a hitch.
The bodies were cut down from the gallows and they were buried in a nameless common grave.
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...
- died April 3, 1881 in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
) was a Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
boiler maker who participated in the assassination of Tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
Alexander II
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
.
Early life
Mikhaylov was the son of a peasant, born in Smolensk in 1860; he later moved to Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
where he found work in a factory. Mikhaylov became involved in revolutionary politics and joined the Workers' Section of Narodnaya Volya.
Revolutionary life
In the mid-1870s, Mikhaylov worked as a laborer and a steam-boiler operator in a few factories of Saint Petersburg. He attended one of the groups of Zemlya i volya. In 1880, Mikhaylov became a member of Narodnaya Volya.Assassination of the Tsar
In January 1881, he joined the bomb-thrower unit, created for the purpose of assassinating Tsar Alexander II.On March 1, 1881, Mikhaylov was one of the plotters but when the Tsar decided to pay a brief visit to his cousin, the Grand Duchess Catherine, Mikhaylov lost his nerve, took his missile back to Headquarters, and went home.
That very day Nikolai Rysakov
Nikolai Rysakov
Nikolai Rysakov was a Russian revolutionary and a member of Narodnaya Volya. He personally took part in the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, throwing a bomb that disabled the Tsar's carriage. A second bomb by an accomplice, Ignacy Hryniewiecki, was fatal to the Tsar...
began to inform against his erstwhile comrades. What he said enabled the police to raid the Telezhnaya quarters the next night. Gesya Gelfman
Gesya Gelfman
Gesya Mirokhovna Gelfman ; , Russian revolutionary, member of Narodnaya Volya,...
was arrested and Sablin committed suicide. The following morning Timofey Mikhailov was seized after he had wounded three police officers. Rysakov identified both prisoners.
The trial reached its expected denouement at 3 a.m., 29 March, when all the defendants were found guilty, and at 6:30 a.m. they were sentenced to be hanged.
On April 3, Andrei Zhelyabov
Andrei Zhelyabov
Andrey Ivanovich Zhelyabov , Russian revolutionary, member of the Executive Committee of Narodnaya Volya....
, Sophia Perovskaya, Nikolai Rysakov
Nikolai Rysakov
Nikolai Rysakov was a Russian revolutionary and a member of Narodnaya Volya. He personally took part in the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, throwing a bomb that disabled the Tsar's carriage. A second bomb by an accomplice, Ignacy Hryniewiecki, was fatal to the Tsar...
, Nikolai Kibalchich
Nikolai Kibalchich
Nikolai Ivanovich Kibalchich was a Russian revolutionary, taking part in the assassination of Tsar Alexander II as the main explosive expert for Narodnaya Volya , and also a rocket pioneer...
, and Mikhaylov were hanged.
Mikhaylov was the second to be hanged. Twice the rope broke under the weight of his big body and he crashed to the floor of the scaffold with a thud.
The crowd that had been so hostile to the regicides a few minutes earlier was now buzzing with indignation and saying that it was a sign from heaven that the man should be pardoned. As the rope was about to break the third time, the executioner hastily reinforced it with another noose. It worked. The hanging of the remaining three prisoners went off without a hitch.
The bodies were cut down from the gallows and they were buried in a nameless common grave.