History knows many examples of sophisticated sadism. The deeds of serial killers are freezing. And when a woman acts as a murderer, it is doubly scary. Daria Saltykova, known as Saltychikha, brutally killed about 138 serfs in 5 years and even attempted the life of her grandfather Fyodor Tyutchev. The Saltykova case marked the beginning of a new era of legality, in which high status no longer gave the right to lawlessness.
Everything is as usual
Daria Nikolaevna Saltykova was born in March 1730 in the family of the Moscow nobleman Ivanov. The relatives of the future sadist were famous people such as the Davydovs, Stroganovs, Tolstoy, Musin-Pushkins, and others. Almost nothing is known about her childhood, therefore it remains a mystery why an ordinary girl turned into a cruel gas chamber.
Daria Nikolaevna did not stay too long in brides, she married on time the captain of the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment Gleb Saltykov, a fairly wealthy person. In marriage, two sons were born, and already at the age of 26, Saltykova became a widow, inheriting from her husband 1,000 serf souls and a large amount of land in the south-west of Moscow. The most beloved estate of Saltykova, in which she spent most of her time, was Troitskoye.
Daria was a very pious woman and every year she made a pilgrimage to Orthodox shrines, even got to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. She did not skimp on donations and alms.
And against the background of this grandeur and piety, a terrible tragedy suddenly began to develop. At first, everything was at the level of rumors that a certain landowner was beating peasants to death with her own hands. And then people began to notice the carts with the dead bodies slightly covered with mat. Serfs who had allegedly died of natural death were taken to the police office to obtain a certificate. But sometimes the wind lifted the matting, and then a terrible sight opened up - burnt skin, torn hair, many different wounds.
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Since Troitskoye was Salty-chikhi's favorite estate, it was there that most of the murders took place. The sadist punished the serfs for the slightest offense, especially women and girls from her. Some psychologists believe that in the actions of Saltychikha, a sexual background is clearly visible. More often than not, the landowner went into a rage when the serf in her presence washed the floor, being in a certain position, and attacked her unexpectedly, from behind. She threw herself at the victim with a log, a red-hot iron, with any object that came to hand, and then passed it to the grooms, who flogged the unfortunate woman to death. She herself ran around and shouted: "Hit to death, hit harder!"
The sophisticated mind of this monster in a skirt came up with the most painful punishments. While killing the peasant Larionova, the sadist brought a burning candle to the girl's hair, the peasant Petrova, by her order, was driven up to her neck into a reservoir and left there for several hours, and this was in November. Saltychikha kicked pregnant serfs in the stomach, and then left the baby to die in the cold, putting it on the mother's body.
There were also casualties among men. The serf Andreev was held for several hours in the cold, then dragged into the house, where the landowner beat him with a stick, then tore out the victim's ears with red-hot tongs, splashed boiling water in his face and kicked him at the same time.
For a long time, her atrocities remained unpunished, she had too many influential relatives, and she did not spare money for bribes. Therefore, it was not the gas chamber that was punished, but those who dared to file a complaint with Empress Catherine II. Nevertheless, in 1762, two peasants, Martynov and Ilyina, whose wives were killed by Saltychikha, managed to submit "written assault" in 1762. To do this, they had to get to St. Petersburg.
Most likely, they found a person through whom they were able to convey a complaint to the empress, perhaps they gave him a bribe. One way or another, Catherine received a statement from Ilyin and Martynov, in which the authors reported on the atrocities committed by the landowner, asked to protect the peasants from bullying and not to give them to Saltykova.
Perhaps the empress, as usual, would have disregarded this paper, but it spoke of too many victims. And the denunciation went to the authorities. On October 1, 1762, the Moscow Justice College took it into production. And again Ilyin and Martynov were lucky, their case was entrusted to Stepan Volkov, a man without connections, a workhorse. Prince Dmitry Tsitsianov was appointed to help Volkov. The choice fell on Volkov not by chance, it was a very controversial and risky business, no one wanted to do it. On the one hand, the empress was aware, and on the other, Saltykova had numerous influential relatives.
For a whole year, the investigators interrogated witnesses and studied the landowner's accounting books. This made it possible, at the same time, to identify officials feeding from the hand of Saltykova.
This is where the fun began. Investigators immediately noticed that the percentage of official deaths of serfs was very high, and they were mostly women. In addition, for many of the episodes, the corpus delicti was observed, but no investigation was carried out. For example, in 1759, the body of the serf Andreev with obvious traces of violent death was presented for examination, but gross violations were traced in the documents, the dates were confused, etc., which indicated forgery.
Also, investigators were alarmed by such a tendency: a young healthy woman, once in Saltychikha's house, died without even living there for two weeks. Yes, and Yermolai Ilyin himself, three wives died in the same way within 3 years. And this is for a person who was especially close to the landowner (he was Saltykova's personal groom).
Despite the mention in the house books of Saltykova of serfs released by her to their villages, no one saw these people, or they died immediately upon arrival in their homes.
During the investigation, it was found out that from 1756 to 1762 peasants filed 21 complaints against Saltykov, even at that time it was a lot. But all these complainants were returned to the landowner, where she dealt with them in her own way. At best, they were exiled to hard labor, and at worst, they were kept in their own prison with torture rooms, shackles and other attributes of prison life.
Arrest
The work of investigators with witnesses was hampered by the fact that Saltykova was at large and could severely punish those who helped the investigation. And people were afraid to be frank. Therefore, the Senate allowed the investigation to use torture against Saltychikha. In addition, she was removed from property management and a general search was conducted on all estates.
As for the torture, the Empress did not give her permission. She believed that it was possible to intimidate with torture in order to obtain the necessary information, but it should not be used. She even issued a special decree on this matter. The document was classified as "secret"; they should not have known about it for the threat of torture to be effective. However, when Volkov told Darya Saltykova about the impending torture during the inquiry, she continued to deny her guilt and "did not want to incriminate herself." Most likely, the point here is not in the strong spirit of Saltychikha, but in her awareness, because the landowner had many friends, including among the police.
Then the investigator again turned to the Senate with a request to allow him not only intimidation, but also the use of torture in practice. But in response, he was forbidden to use both torture and threats.
Tyutchev's mistress
In the course of the investigation, another episode emerged.
The young captain Nikolai Andreevich Tyutchev (the grandfather of the famous poet) in 1760 was engaged in land surveying in the Saltykova estate. Then he became the lover of a 30-year-old widow. And all would be fine, but in 1762 the captain decided to marry a young girl.
The rejected mistress decided to take revenge and ordered her groom to make a bomb from gunpowder and sulfur. Several attempts were made to blow up Tyutchev's Moscow house, where he lived with his bride. But they all broke off - the groom was afraid to commit this act of terrorism.
The restless Saltychikha came up with the idea of organizing an ambush of 12 men on the way of the train, which the captain was traveling to Tambov on official business. However, such an action threatened the participants not even with hard labor, but with execution. Therefore, they again chickened out, tossing a letter to Tyutchev with a warning about the attempt. He took action, informing the authorities about the alleged attack, and received protection. Upon learning of this, Saltychikha canceled the operation.
Nevertheless, the suspect was found guilty, including of "an attack on the life of Captain Tyutchev."
Call this monster Muschinoy
Only in the spring of 1765 did the investigators complete their work and referred the case to the Senate for further consideration. No one doubted that the verdict would be guilty. However, it took the Senate 3 years to find Saltykov guilty. But the senators did not pass the verdict, leaving it to the empress. Catherine II was at a crossroads. All over the sadist should have been sent to execution, but what about her own image of the "humane and child-loving" ruler? Only at the beginning of October 1768, she signed a decree, which described the punishment assigned to Saltychikha and the procedure for its execution. The landowner was deprived of the title of nobility, forbidden to bear the names of her father and husband, sentenced to serve for an hour at a pillory with the inscription above her head: "Tormentor and murderer" - and to life imprisonment in an underground prison, without light and communication. In addition, by the same decree, the Empress decided henceforth "to call this monster Muschina."
On the day of the punishment, Saltykova was brought to the square under the escort of horse hussars. The criminal climbed the scaffold, she was tied to the pillory with chains and the empress's decree was read. An hour later, she was put in a black cart and sent to the Ivanovo convent. There she was waiting for an underground "penitential" chamber, into which no light penetrated at all. This content of Saltykova symbolized the burial alive. Only during dinner was a candle stub brought. Only the abbess of the monastery had access to it. But it is still unknown what they talked about and how the prisoner behaved.
In these conditions, Saltykova spent 11 years. In 1779, the regime was slightly weakened. The prisoner was moved to the stone annex of the cathedral church of the same monastery. There was a small barred window through which visitors could watch the prisoner and even talk to her.
It was rumored that she gave birth to a child with a security guard, despite her 50 years.
Saltykova died on November 27, 1801 at the age of 71, having served more than 30 years for her atrocities. But she hardly repented.
Diagnosis
It is not known for certain whether Saltykova suffered from mental disorders or was aware of her actions. It remains only to reason logically or to guess.
It is believed that she may have had "epileptoid psychopathy." This diagnosis is supported by attacks of unmotivated aggression leading to murders. People suffering from this disease are gloomy and sullen, they are cruel to animals and people, unable to control anger, even if its consequences are dangerous for their own lives. They are sexually inactive, jealous to the point of insanity, and also tend to hoard. All the described manifestations of the disease can be found in Saltykova. In the memoirs of contemporaries, she remained as a woman in constant melancholy and bad mood. Well, the materials of the investigation speak about sadistic inclinations.
Some criminologists believe that Saltychikha was a latent homosexual. It's not for nothing that her victims are mostly young and attractive women. By the way, epileptoid psychopaths manifest their homosexual interests in this way - through humiliation and beating of desired objects.
However, the diagnosis is not so important. It is important that the case ended with the punishment of the landowner - and this was the first time in the history of Russian justice.
Galina Belysheva