Сорок лет среди грабителей и убийц

Vospominanii͡a glavnogo syshchika Rossiĭskoĭ imperii - o rabote pod prikrytiem, nochnykh oblavakh i prestuplenii͡akh, potri͡asavshikh Peterburg.Ivan Dmitrievich Putilin - glavnyĭ syshchik Rossiĭskoĭ imperii, pervyĭ nachalʹnik peterburgskoĭ sysknoĭ polit͡sii i chelovek, kotorogo segodni͡a nazvali by russkim Sherlokom Kholmsom. Tolʹko v otlichie ot geroi͡a Konan Doĭla Putilin ne byl vyduman: bolʹshe tridt͡sati let on pereodevalsi͡a oborvant͡sem, chtoby vteretʹsi͡a v doverie k voram, nocheval v tovarnykh vagonakh, podslushivai͡a nuzhnye razgovory i ustraival fiktivnye pobegi arestantok iz-pod strazhi, chtoby vyĭti na sled ikh soobshchnikov. On raskryl sotni prestupleniĭ, a vyĭdi͡a v otstavku, sam rasskazal o samykh primechatelʹnykh iz nikh.Vospominanii͡a Putilina t͡senny ne tolʹko kak sobranie kriminalʹnykh istoriĭ, no i kak podrobnai͡a panorama Peterburga vtoroĭ poloviny XIX veka. Na ikh stranit͡sakh deĭstvui͡ut okolotochnye i kvartalʹnye nadzirateli, izvozchiki, traktirnye slugi, soderzhateli meblirovannykh komnat, melkie chinovniki, vory i professionalʹnye moshenniki; geroi pʹi͡ut kosushki, zakazyvai͡ut peklevanniki, vstrechai͡utsi͡a v pitiĭnykh pogrebakh i snimai͡ut nomera - dorogie dli͡a taĭnogo svidanii͡a, deshevye dli͡a sluchaĭnogo nochlega. Istoricheskie realii, bez kotorykh mnogie detali rasskazov segodni͡a trudno poni͡atʹ, raskryvai͡utsi͡a v podrobnykh kommentarii͡akh: ot ustroĭstva sysknoĭ polit͡sii i chinov Tabeli o rangakh do gorodskogo byta, t͡sen i pokupatelʹnoĭ sposobnosti rubli͡a.

The memoirs of the chief detective of the Russian Empire are about undercover work, night raids and crimes that rocked St. Petersburg.Ivan Dmitrievich Putilin is the chief detective of the Russian Empire, the first chief of the St. Petersburg detective police and a man who today would be called the Russian Sherlock Holmes. But unlike Conan Doyle's hero, Putilin was not made up: for more than thirty years he disguised himself as a ragamuffin to ingratiate himself with thieves, spent the night in freight wagons, eavesdropping on necessary conversations and arranging fictitious escapes of female prisoners from custody in order to get on the trail of their accomplices. He solved hundreds of crimes, and after retiring, he told about the most notable of them.Putilin's memoirs are valuable not only as a collection of criminal stories, but also as a detailed panorama of St. Petersburg in the second half of the 19th century. On their pages there are neighborhood and neighborhood supervisors, cabmen, tavern servants, rooming house keepers, petty officials, thieves and professional swindlers; the characters drink kosushki, order bakers, meet in drinking cellars and rent rooms — expensive for a secret rendezvous, cheap for a casual overnight stay. Historical realities, without which many details of the stories are difficult to understand today, are revealed in detailed comments: from the structure of the detective police and the ranks of the Table of Ranks to urban life, prices and the purchasing power of the ruble.