At the beginning of the 20th century, prisoners' shoots became common. Although, of course, prisons have never been 100 percent reliable. We present you the ten loudest escapes.
Escape of the White Generals
(1917, Bykhov)
After an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Provisional Government, in August 1917, General Kornilov and the senior officers who supported him were arrested and placed in a prison in the city of Bykhov, created on the site of a Catholic monastery. A special commission conducted an investigation, but by November 1917 only five generals remained in prison: Kornilov, Denikin, Markov, Lukomsky and Romanovsky. After the Bolshevik coup, Kornilov entered into correspondence with one of the investigators and asked to arrange an escape. Colonel Raupakh forged the decision to release the prisoners and passed it with the military investigator Kolokolov to the prison commandant, Colonel Ebert.
He suspected a fake and refused to release the generals. However, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General Dukhonin, fearing the arbitrariness of the revolutionary soldiers, on November 18 ordered to change the guards and not interfere with the escape. All five generals managed to get to the Don, where they became the leaders of the White movement.
Ivan Strelnikov
Promotional video:
(1401, Veliky Novgorod)
In 1401, the first prison in Russia was opened in Veliky Novgorod (it worked as intended until 1829). In the basement there were a punishment cell and torture chamber, on the first and second floors - cells for prisoners. The first prisoner was Ivashka Strelnikov, accused of double murder. He fled on the very first night, although the prison had bars on the windows, and warders on the floors, and guards at the entrance and in the yard. But Strelnikov loosened the grate, which was poorly fixed in the wooden frame of the window, and then jumped into the street.
Mikhail Zhukov
(1768, Solovki)
The landowner Zhukov was imprisoned for life in the prison of the Solovetsky Monastery for the murder of his sister-in-law and mother-in-law. With him, two of his serfs were sent to the place of confinement. After some time, the commandant considered their presence with the landowner "inconvenient." Zhukov sold them "at ten rubles apiece" to a merchant who came to Solovki on supply issues. Posing as one of his serfs, Zhukov left the prison. In Arkhangelsk, he fled from the merchant and hid abroad.
Richard von Brinken
(1833, Shlisselburg)
Courland nobleman, second lieutenant of the Semenovsky regiment. Got caught stealing from shops in the capital. Nicholas I ordered him to be sent to the fortress, and offered to choose the measure of punishment for the Courland nobility at a special court. Brinken learned about this from his fellow countryman, who served as the chief of the guard. The prisoner signed off his estate to him, and in return was transferred to a cell without bars. The next morning he descended the rope, swam across the canal, but was soon captured in Courland and forever given to the soldier.
Sophia Bluestein
(1885, Smolensk)
The famous thief Sonya the Golden Hand. Arrested for the first time in 1880 and exiled to Irkutsk. She ran away, committed a series of high-profile robberies. In 1885 she was arrested in Smolensk and placed in a newly built local prison. On the eve of the stage to Sakhalin, she seduced the warden, who poured sleeping pills to the entire change of guards, after which he fled with the prisoner. She was again captured four months later in Nizhny Novgorod, sent to hard labor on Sakhalin. I tried to escape from there three times.
Grigory Gershuni
(1906, Akatui)
Founder of the fighting organization of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and placed in the Akatui convict prison. In it, prisoners salted cabbage, including for sale. Gershuni climbed into one of the barrels, a breathing tube was brought out. He covered his head with a copper dish in case the warders checked the contents with a sharp probe. Gershuni sat in a barrel for almost a day. Having got out in the agreed place, he received new documents and was able to escape to America.
Mikhail Tsereteli
(1900, Kiev)
From the Georgian princely family. After serving time for embezzlement, he took up banking scams. In 1900 he was arrested in Kiev for an attempt to steal 45 thousand rubles under a forged document. Placed in the general cell of the city's preliminary prison. When the warder summoned Tsereteli to go to court, he changed his clothes and introduced himself as a tradesman Yakov Golovastikov, who was threatened with a small fine for petty theft. He was escorted to court, was fined 15 rubles and released from custody.
Boris Savinkov
(1906, Sevastopol)
In 1903 he joined the fighting organization of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. He took part in the preparation of attempts on the life of several ministers, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Nicholas II. In 1906 he was preparing the assassination of the commander of the Black Sea Fleet Chukhnin. He was arrested, while awaiting the death sentence, he was in the main garrison guardhouse. One of the soldiers of the convoy turned out to be a Social Revolutionary. He made four attempts to free Savinkov, in the end he was able to take him out, disguised in a military uniform.
Simon Ter-Petrosyan
(1905, Tiflis)
Professional revolutionary known as Kamo. He became famous for his ability to escape from prison and organize escapes. During the revolutionary events of 1905, he was wounded, arrested and placed in the Metekhi castle in Tiflis. After spending two months there, he exchanged prison clothes with a Georgian prisoner who was allowed to walk, and during one of them he fled. Two weeks later, he organized the escape of 32 more prisoners of the Metekhi Castle.
Escape the Devil's Dozen
(1909, Moscow)
The Novinsky women's convict prison was considered the most reliable in the country. However, all the prisoners were released in a crowd for a walk into the yard. The courtyard was separated from the Krivovvedensky lane by a high lattice with barbed wire. Bushes were planted along it inside the courtyard. Because of this, no one noticed that the workers had removed the wire. 13 prisoners climbed over the bars and fled. Only three were detained.