Sergey Degayev
Encyclopedia
Sergey Petrovich Degayev (also spelled Degaev; ; 1857 in Moscow
– 1921 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
) was a Russia
n terrorist, an agent of the Okhrana, and the murderer of inspector of secret police Georgy Sudeykin
. After emigrating to the United States
, Degayev took the name, Alexander Pell, and became a prominent American mathematician, the founder of school of Engineering at the University of South Dakota
. The Dr. Alexander Pell scholarship is named in his honor.
to the family of a military physician, state counsellor Peter Degayev. His maternal grandfather was a prominent Russian writer, Nikolai Polevoy
. His father died in the 1860s, and Degayev's mother became the head of the family; she was, for her time, a well-educated woman, whose interests included reading and learning foreign languages. When the court sentenced pregnant revolutionary Gesya Gelfman
to death, she tried, unsuccessfully, to adopt the baby, despite a possible conflict with the authorities.
Degayev had three sisters—Marie, Nathalie, and Elizabeth—and a brother Vladimir, who was seven years his junior. While Marie was much older than Sergey, married early and did not play a large role in the life of the family, Nathalie (after marriage Makletsova) and Elizabeth (Liz) were very close to him. Natalie was a musician
, while Elizabeth was a poet
. Both sisters were involved in the Narodnaya Volya revolutionary movement. Vladimir was also deeply involved with Narodnaya Volya. As the oldest son, Sergey had to provide financial support for the family.
. After graduation, Sergey entered the Mikhailovskaya Artillery Academy in Saint Petersburg
. He was accused of organizing anti-government underground "circles" in Saint Petersburg and Kronstadt
. The accusations were never proven, but in 1879, Degayev was nevertheless expelled from the Academia. He briefly served as a military officer and was discharged from the Army with the rank of Staff captain in the same year.
Degayev was enrolled to the Saint Petersburg Institute for Rail Road Engineering in 1880. During his studies, he became acquainted with Andrei Zhelyabov
and members of his circle; and in 1880, he became a full-fledged member of Narodnaya Volya, a revolutionary organization that turned to terrorist methods. After the 1879 Lipetsk Congress of Narodnaya Volya, which "sentenced" tsar Alexander II
to death, most of the organization's resources were directed to the tsar's assassination. Degayev took an active part in an unsuccessful assassination attempt by digging and mining a tunnel under Malaya Sadovaya Street
in Saint Petersburg. Some sources also suggest that Degayev had a role in the successful assassination of the tsar on 1 March 1881 and even observed the explosion that killed him. Degayev was among those arrested in connection with the assassination, but his guilt was not proven; he returned to his institute and received his degree in June 1881.
After graduating Degayev obtained an engineering position in Arkhangelsk
. There he met Lyubov Ivanova, a young woman who shared his political views; he fell in love and married her on their trip to Saint Petersburg in November 1881.
Lieutenant Colonel
Georgy Sudeykin
was among the most dangerous enemies of Narodnaya Volya. He had eliminated the Kiev
division of Narodnaya Volya almost entirely and was appointed the Head of the Secret Department of police of Saint Petersburg, responsible for coordination of all the secret agents in the capital of the Russian Empire
. Later he would be appointed a special position of the Inspector of the Secret Police, a post specially created for him. As the primary hunter of Narodnaya Volya, he was also a main target of their assassination attempts. Sudeykin rarely lived in the same place for more than a few weeks; he used several passports and several uniforms of different governmental departments. He even temporarily lodged his wife and children in a Saint Petersburg prison, given that he felt it was the only safe place in the whole Empire.
Sudeykin was an avid supporter of using agent provocateur
s inside the revolutionary movements not only to catch the active members but also to instigate quarrels and disputes, spread false rumours, and transmit the opinion that all the leading revolutionaries were spies or provocateurs. He was proud of his successes in recruiting his agents among the revolutionaries claiming that every member of an anti-government movement is either corrupt or naive: the corrupt can always be recruited by promise of money or by threats while the naive can always be recruited by appeal to their idealism.
Around November 1881 Vladimir, the younger brother of Degayev, was arrested for his participation in the Narodnaya Volya movement. He was interrogated by Sudeykin, who offered Vladimir freedom in exchange for collaboration with the Okhrana. Vladimir managed to inform the Executive Committee of Narodnaya Volya about the offer. Degayev participated in the discussions and proposed a plan: that Vladimir should accept Sudeikin's offer, and after becoming a police informer should arrange a secret meeting with Sudeykin at which Narodnaya Volya would kill Sudeykin. In March 1882 the plan was adopted by the Executive Commission of Narodnaya Volya. Vladimir gave his agreement to work as an Okhrana agent, was released from prison and arranged a few meetings between Sudeykin and Sergey Degaev, who was charged with preparation of the assassination. However, soon most of Petersburg's Narodnaya Volya members were arrested. Sergey Degayev moved to Tiflis to avoid the arrests and work on the Tiflis-Baku
railway. Vladimir Degayev abandoned the plan of killing Sudeykin and was soon removed from the list of Okhrana agents "for inactivity"
to move to Odessa
and organize an underground typography
there. On 18 December 1883 Degayev and the whole of his group was arrested.
After interrogation by Georgy Sudeykin, Degayev agreed to become an Okhrana informant. Almost all information about the deal came from Degayev himself: in his explanation to his sister Natalia and to a Narodnaya Volya "court". According to Degayev, Sudeykin had appealed to his vanity and idealism. Sudeykin promised that in a few years they both would be de-facto rulers of the Russian Empire removing Degayev's Narodnaya Volya superiors using the Okhrana and removing Sudeykin's superiors using Narodnaya Volya. He also promised Degayev secret meetings with tsar Alexander III
, the police chief Vyacheslav von Plehve
and the influential Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod Konstantin Pobedonostsev
so that Degayev could present to them his plan of state reforms. According to Degayev, he indeed met Plehve and Pobedonostsev but not the tsar. On the other hand research in the Soviet Union
suggested that Degayev started to work as an Okhrana informant a few years earlier purely for financial reasons. Researcher Yu.F. Ovchenko states that Degayev started to work as an Okrana informant in 1882 after his wife was arrested by Sudeykin. His cooperation with the Okhrana was a condition of Lyubov's release At any rate the agreement with Sudeykin provided a significant monetary compensation for Degayev: 300 Russian roubles monthly plus 1000 roubles per each trip abroad.
Sudeykin staged Degayev's escape from prison. Information obtained from Degayev allowed the Okhrana to arrest the leader of Narodnaya Volya Vera Figner
, to almost completely destroy the military wing of the organization, to arrest almost all members in the Tiflis, Nikolaev, and Kharkov organizations. After those arrests Degayev became a de facto leader of Narodnaya Volya. Information obtained from Degayev and from subsequent arrests allowed police to advise tsar that coronation
ceremony was safe. Alexander III was crowned on 27 May 1883.
Inspired by Alexandre Dumas
The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later Sudeykin sent Degayev to Switzerland
to lure two remaining Narodnaya Volya leaders Lev Tikhomirov
and Peter Lavrov to Russia
there to be arrested. Tikhomirov and Lavrov suspected foul play and refused to move but kept their suspicions to themselves for a while. Trying to deflect suspicions from Degayev, Sudeykin decided to sacrifice police informer Fyodor Shkryaba: a member of Narodnaya Volya recruited by the Okhrana who still provided information of low interest to the Okhrana. Sudeykin planted evidence of Shkryaba being an informant and Narodnaya Volya blamed all the recent arrests on Shkryaba. Subsequently Degayev organized the assassination of Shkryaba.
In June 1883 Narodnaya Volya resumed publication of the underground Listok Narodnoy Voly newspaper as a demonstration that the organization was alive. Degayev published an article praising Jewish pogrom
s and urging the members to incite more pogroms. At the time Narodnaya Volya had an ambiguous opinion about Antisemitism. Some theoreticians applied Marxist analysis and saw pogroms as a manifestation of the class struggle
between oppressed peasants and oppressive Jewish petite bourgeoisie
. On the other hand, many Narodnaya Volya members saw Jewish pogroms as incited by tsarist Government and one of the most revolting of their crimes. The question of antisemitism was even more divisive as many members were ethnic Jews. Richard Pipes
speculated that the article might be a part of Sudeykin's plan to transform Narodnaya Volya from an anti-government to an ultra-nationalist organisation similar to the later Black Hundreds.
Toward the mid 1883 Sudeykin and Degayev established quite friendly relations. Sudeykin regularly visited the apartment of his agent and even used the apartment for his extramarital affairs. Sometimes they had wagers: once, Degayev announced that there was a person of interest to police in Saint Petersburg at the moment and claimed that Sudeykin would not be able to catch him without Degayev's help. Sudeykin answered that he had enough agents besides Degayev. The pair had a monetary bet that Sudeykin would not be able to effect an arrest: Sudeykin lost.
At that time Sudeykin was frustrated with his superiors. He did not like their attempts to put legal constraints on the actions of his secret police. He also considered his rank of Lieutenant Colonel
(the seventh in the Table of Ranks) to be absurdly low for a person of his importance within the state security apparatus. Sudeykin proposed to Degayev a plan. Sudeykin would resign from his position, stating that he did not have enough powers to do his job properly. Soon Narodnaya Volya would assassinate the tsar's brother Grand Duke Vladimir
and the tsar's aide Konstantin Pobedonostsev
. The double assassination would frighten the tsar into accepting all Sudeykin's demands over the powers of secret police and might, too, make the tsar more responsive to Degayev's suggestions about government reforms. Sudeykin also gave Degayev information about the movements of Sudeykin's own boss, the Minister of Interior Dmitry Tolstoy
considering that the killing might free a deserved position for Sudeykin. Unexpectedly the tsar refused Sudeykin's letter of resignation causing the pair to postpone assassination plans to 1884.
, an experienced escapee from prisons himself. Lopatin found a lot of inconsistencies in Degayev's story about his escape from Odessa prison. Being interrogated by Lev Tikhomirov
, Degayev confessed that he was an Okhrana agent and offered his help in killing Sudeykin. On 17 October – 19 October 1883 the Executive Committee of Narodnaya Volya (that at that time consisted of eight Russians and three Poles) decided to spare Degayev's life if he would kill Sudeykin. They appointed two young Narodnaya Volya members, V.P. Konashevich and N.P. Starodvorsky to assist Degayev and to ensure that Degayev would not renege on his promise.
The conspirators planned to get Sudeykin to visit Degayev's apartment, and to kill Sudeykin there. Degayev insisted that because of the great physical strength of Sudeykin and his great abilities with guns their only chance was to use guns and to shoot Sudeykin unexpectedly. For some reason Sudeykin twice missed his appointed meetings (6 December 1883 and 13 December 1883). To lure Sudeykin to the next meeting Degayev told him a story that he had a lady from Narodnaya Volya staying in his apartment who had planned to assassinate the tsar but who could possibly be persuaded to become an Okhrana agent. Sudeykin came on December 16 accompanied by his nephew, another secret police officer Nikolay (Koka) Sudovsky. Degayev invited Sudeykin to the bedroom to be introduced to the lady and in the passageway between the dining room and the bedroom near the watercloset, shot him in the back. Mortally wounded, Sudeykin cried to his nephew: "Koka, take your gun and help me!" But Koka ran out of the apartment. While he was struggling with the locks trying to open the door Konashevich came from behind and with several blows with a crowbar cracked Sudovsky's skull. Unexpectedly Sudeykin was able to stand up and walk to the dining room. There he was shot by Starodvorsky. Degayev (and later Konashevich) ran away from the apartment without waiting for the end of the ordeal. Degayev was sure that his accomplices had had an order to kill him after Sudeykin was killed. The gunshots and cries were heard all across the building; however, when the concierge reported to the local police they told him that they had instructions not to interfere with the apartment whatever happened there. The apartment was searched only the next day after Sudeykin's servant reported that his master had not returned at the expected hour. Rushing to the apartment police found the dying Koka and dead Sudeykin.
All the posts in the Empire were plastered with posters showing Degayev's photographs and announcing 5000 roubles for information as to his whereabouts and 10000 roubles for help in catching him. Still the conspirators had a good headway over their hunters and successfully arrived in Paris
. A winter 1884 meeting of Narodnaya Volya (of V.A. Karaulov, Lev Tikhomirov and German Lopatin) fulfilled their promise and granted Degayev his life on the condition that he never again appeared in the Russian Empire
. Lev Tikhomirov personally checked that he got on a steamship directed to South America
.
, discouraging searches for him by both Russian police and Russian revolutionaries.
Both Vladimir and Sergey Degayevs were registered in the USA under the name Polevoi after their maternal grandfather Nikolai Polevoy
. After his naturalization
Alexander (Sergey) took the name Alexander Pell and his wife took the name Emma Pell. At first they were poor; Sergey worked as a stevedore
and as an unskilled labourer while his wife worked as a cook and a laundress. In 1895 Alexander was enrolled into a Ph.D. program in Johns Hopkins University
with majors in mathematics
and astronomy
and a minor in English
. During his study he was financially supported by his wife who continued to work as a cook. He received his doctorate in 1897 for the dissertation On the Focal Surfaces
of the Congruences of Tangents to a Given Surface.
The University of South Dakota
was established in the frontier town of Vermillion
and started its classes in 1882. In 1897 they decided that they needed a professor of mathematics. They asked Professor L S Hulburt from John Hopkins if he could suggest a suitable candidate. He replied that he "could suggest a first class mathematician who had the disadvantage of having a strong Russian brogue". The reply from South Dakota was "Send your Russian mathematician along, brogue and all".
Alexander Pell was immensely popular among his students who referred to him as the "class father" and "Jolly Little Pell" (who could "crack jokes faster than the freshmen could crack nuts"). He was a good researcher, a member of the American Mathematical Society
and the author of many journal publications. He was also an accomplished administrator who organized the School of Engineering of the University of South Dakota and became its first Dean (1905).
Alexander Pell had a habit of providing financial support from his own resources, and providing accommodation in his house to a few of his students. One such student was Anna Johnson, the future accomplished mathematician Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler
. Anna Johnson received her A.B. degree under Pell's supervision in 1903 and continued her study at the University of Iowa
and then at the University of Göttingen. In 1904 Emma Pell died. Three years later Alexander Pell went to Göttingen
and married Anna in July 1907. They both returned to Vermillion where Anna taught classes in the theory of function
s and differential equations and Alexander was the Dean of Engineering. In 1908 Pell resigned from the University of South Dakota and went with Anna to Chicago
. There Anna completed her doctorate under E. H. Moore
, while Pell took a position at the Armour Institute of Engineering (currently Illinois Institute of Technology
). In 1911 Pell suffered a stroke
and was unable to work thereafter. The same year the Pells moved to South Hadley, Massachusetts
where Anna taught at Mount Holyoke College
. In 1918 they moved again to Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
where Anna taught at Bryn Mawr College
. Alexander Pell died in Bryn Mawr in 1921.
Despite his past as a political activist Alexander Pell was not much involved in American politics although he always voted for the Republican Party
(his former comrades from Narodnaya Volya considered Republicans "ultra-bourgeois"). His opinion about his former country was strongly negative. He never spoke Russian at home. During the Russo-Japanese War
he supported Japan
. After the October Revolution
and beginning of the Red Terror
he wrote: "Accursed Russia: even after liberating herself, she does not let people live".
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
– 1921 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr from Welsh for "big hill") is a census-designated place in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue and the border with Delaware County...
) was a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n terrorist, an agent of the Okhrana, and the murderer of inspector of secret police Georgy Sudeykin
Georgy Sudeykin
Georgy Porfiryevich Sudeykin was a Russian Gendarme colonel, the inspector of the Saint Petersburg Department for Protection of Communal Security and Order. He was killed by his own double agent, Sergey Degayev....
. After emigrating to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Degayev took the name, Alexander Pell, and became a prominent American mathematician, the founder of school of Engineering at the University of South Dakota
University of South Dakota
The University of South Dakota ', the state’s oldest university, was founded in 1862 and classes began in 1882. Located in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States, USD is home to South Dakota's only medical school and law school. USD is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents, and its current...
. The Dr. Alexander Pell scholarship is named in his honor.
Family
Sergey Degayev was born in MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
to the family of a military physician, state counsellor Peter Degayev. His maternal grandfather was a prominent Russian writer, Nikolai Polevoy
Nikolai Polevoy
Nikolai Alekseevich Polevoy was a controversial Russian editor, writer, translator, and historian; his brother was the critic and journalist Ksenofont Polevoy and his sister the writer and publisher of folktales Ekaterina Avdeeva.Polevoy was from an old merchant family from Kursk but was born in...
. His father died in the 1860s, and Degayev's mother became the head of the family; she was, for her time, a well-educated woman, whose interests included reading and learning foreign languages. When the court sentenced pregnant revolutionary Gesya Gelfman
Gesya Gelfman
Gesya Mirokhovna Gelfman ; , Russian revolutionary, member of Narodnaya Volya,...
to death, she tried, unsuccessfully, to adopt the baby, despite a possible conflict with the authorities.
Degayev had three sisters—Marie, Nathalie, and Elizabeth—and a brother Vladimir, who was seven years his junior. While Marie was much older than Sergey, married early and did not play a large role in the life of the family, Nathalie (after marriage Makletsova) and Elizabeth (Liz) were very close to him. Natalie was a musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, while Elizabeth was a poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
. Both sisters were involved in the Narodnaya Volya revolutionary movement. Vladimir was also deeply involved with Narodnaya Volya. As the oldest son, Sergey had to provide financial support for the family.
Military officer, student and engineer
At the age of nine, Sergey entered a Moscow Cadet schoolCadet Corps (Russia)
The Cadet Corps is an admissions-based all boys military academy which prepared boys to become commissioned officers. Boys between the ages of 8 and 15 were enrolled. It was founded in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire in 1731 by Tsarina Anne. The term of education was seven years...
. After graduation, Sergey entered the Mikhailovskaya Artillery Academy 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...
. He was accused of organizing anti-government underground "circles" in Saint Petersburg and Kronstadt
Kronstadt
Kronstadt , also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt |crown]]" and Stadt for "city"); is a municipal town in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg proper near the head of the Gulf of Finland. Population: It is also...
. The accusations were never proven, but in 1879, Degayev was nevertheless expelled from the Academia. He briefly served as a military officer and was discharged from the Army with the rank of Staff captain in the same year.
Degayev was enrolled to the Saint Petersburg Institute for Rail Road Engineering in 1880. During his studies, he became acquainted with Andrei Zhelyabov
Andrei Zhelyabov
Andrey Ivanovich Zhelyabov , Russian revolutionary, member of the Executive Committee of Narodnaya Volya....
and members of his circle; and in 1880, he became a full-fledged member of Narodnaya Volya, a revolutionary organization that turned to terrorist methods. After the 1879 Lipetsk Congress of Narodnaya Volya, which "sentenced" tsar 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...
to death, most of the organization's resources were directed to the tsar's assassination. Degayev took an active part in an unsuccessful assassination attempt by digging and mining a tunnel under Malaya Sadovaya Street
Malaya Sadovaya Street
Malaya Sadovaya Street is a pedestrian street of cafes, terraces, and fountains in the heart of St. Petersburg. It runs between Italyanskaya Street and the Nevsky Prospect. At about , it is St...
in Saint Petersburg. Some sources also suggest that Degayev had a role in the successful assassination of the tsar on 1 March 1881 and even observed the explosion that killed him. Degayev was among those arrested in connection with the assassination, but his guilt was not proven; he returned to his institute and received his degree in June 1881.
After graduating Degayev obtained an engineering position in Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...
. There he met Lyubov Ivanova, a young woman who shared his political views; he fell in love and married her on their trip to Saint Petersburg in November 1881.
Georgy Sudeykin and Vladimir Degayev
At that time, GendarmeGendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
Georgy Sudeykin
Georgy Sudeykin
Georgy Porfiryevich Sudeykin was a Russian Gendarme colonel, the inspector of the Saint Petersburg Department for Protection of Communal Security and Order. He was killed by his own double agent, Sergey Degayev....
was among the most dangerous enemies of Narodnaya Volya. He had eliminated the Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
division of Narodnaya Volya almost entirely and was appointed the Head of the Secret Department of police of Saint Petersburg, responsible for coordination of all the secret agents in the capital of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. Later he would be appointed a special position of the Inspector of the Secret Police, a post specially created for him. As the primary hunter of Narodnaya Volya, he was also a main target of their assassination attempts. Sudeykin rarely lived in the same place for more than a few weeks; he used several passports and several uniforms of different governmental departments. He even temporarily lodged his wife and children in a Saint Petersburg prison, given that he felt it was the only safe place in the whole Empire.
Sudeykin was an avid supporter of using agent provocateur
Agent provocateur
Traditionally, an agent provocateur is a person employed by the police or other entity to act undercover to entice or provoke another person to commit an illegal act...
s inside the revolutionary movements not only to catch the active members but also to instigate quarrels and disputes, spread false rumours, and transmit the opinion that all the leading revolutionaries were spies or provocateurs. He was proud of his successes in recruiting his agents among the revolutionaries claiming that every member of an anti-government movement is either corrupt or naive: the corrupt can always be recruited by promise of money or by threats while the naive can always be recruited by appeal to their idealism.
Around November 1881 Vladimir, the younger brother of Degayev, was arrested for his participation in the Narodnaya Volya movement. He was interrogated by Sudeykin, who offered Vladimir freedom in exchange for collaboration with the Okhrana. Vladimir managed to inform the Executive Committee of Narodnaya Volya about the offer. Degayev participated in the discussions and proposed a plan: that Vladimir should accept Sudeikin's offer, and after becoming a police informer should arrange a secret meeting with Sudeykin at which Narodnaya Volya would kill Sudeykin. In March 1882 the plan was adopted by the Executive Commission of Narodnaya Volya. Vladimir gave his agreement to work as an Okhrana agent, was released from prison and arranged a few meetings between Sudeykin and Sergey Degaev, who was charged with preparation of the assassination. However, soon most of Petersburg's Narodnaya Volya members were arrested. Sergey Degayev moved to Tiflis to avoid the arrests and work on the Tiflis-Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
railway. Vladimir Degayev abandoned the plan of killing Sudeykin and was soon removed from the list of Okhrana agents "for inactivity"
Leader of Narodnaya Volya and Okhrana Agent
In summer 1882 Degayev worked in Tiflis as a rail road engineer and organized Narodnaya Volya circles among Tiflis military officers. He presented himself as a member of the Executive Committee of Narodnaya Volya although he was not a member at that time. In the autumn 1882 most of the Narodnaya Volya members in Tiflis were arrested and Degayev was ordered by the Narodnaya Volya leader Vera FignerVera Figner
Vera Nikolayevna Figner was a Russian revolutionary and narodnik born in Kazan, Russia.-Biography:...
to move to Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
and organize an underground typography
Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
there. On 18 December 1883 Degayev and the whole of his group was arrested.
After interrogation by Georgy Sudeykin, Degayev agreed to become an Okhrana informant. Almost all information about the deal came from Degayev himself: in his explanation to his sister Natalia and to a Narodnaya Volya "court". According to Degayev, Sudeykin had appealed to his vanity and idealism. Sudeykin promised that in a few years they both would be de-facto rulers of the Russian Empire removing Degayev's Narodnaya Volya superiors using the Okhrana and removing Sudeykin's superiors using Narodnaya Volya. He also promised Degayev secret meetings with tsar Alexander III
Alexander III of Russia
Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov , historically remembered as Alexander III or Alexander the Peacemaker reigned as Emperor of Russia from until his death on .-Disposition:...
, the police chief Vyacheslav von Plehve
Vyacheslav von Plehve
Vyacheslav Konstantinovich von Plehve , also Pléhve, or Pleve was the director of Imperial Russia's police and later Minister of the Interior.- Biography :...
and the influential Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod Konstantin Pobedonostsev
Konstantin Pobedonostsev
Konstantin Petrovich Pobyedonostsyev was a Russian jurist, statesman, and adviser to three Tsars...
so that Degayev could present to them his plan of state reforms. According to Degayev, he indeed met Plehve and Pobedonostsev but not the tsar. On the other hand research in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
suggested that Degayev started to work as an Okhrana informant a few years earlier purely for financial reasons. Researcher Yu.F. Ovchenko states that Degayev started to work as an Okrana informant in 1882 after his wife was arrested by Sudeykin. His cooperation with the Okhrana was a condition of Lyubov's release At any rate the agreement with Sudeykin provided a significant monetary compensation for Degayev: 300 Russian roubles monthly plus 1000 roubles per each trip abroad.
Sudeykin staged Degayev's escape from prison. Information obtained from Degayev allowed the Okhrana to arrest the leader of Narodnaya Volya Vera Figner
Vera Figner
Vera Nikolayevna Figner was a Russian revolutionary and narodnik born in Kazan, Russia.-Biography:...
, to almost completely destroy the military wing of the organization, to arrest almost all members in the Tiflis, Nikolaev, and Kharkov organizations. After those arrests Degayev became a de facto leader of Narodnaya Volya. Information obtained from Degayev and from subsequent arrests allowed police to advise tsar that coronation
Coronation
A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...
ceremony was safe. Alexander III was crowned on 27 May 1883.
Inspired by Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later Sudeykin sent Degayev to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
to lure two remaining Narodnaya Volya leaders Lev Tikhomirov
Lev Tikhomirov
Lev Alexandrovich Tikhomirov , originally a Russian revolutionary and one of the members of the Executive Committee of the Narodnaya Volya, following his disenchantment with violent revolution became one of the leading conservative thinkers in Russia...
and Peter Lavrov to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
there to be arrested. Tikhomirov and Lavrov suspected foul play and refused to move but kept their suspicions to themselves for a while. Trying to deflect suspicions from Degayev, Sudeykin decided to sacrifice police informer Fyodor Shkryaba: a member of Narodnaya Volya recruited by the Okhrana who still provided information of low interest to the Okhrana. Sudeykin planted evidence of Shkryaba being an informant and Narodnaya Volya blamed all the recent arrests on Shkryaba. Subsequently Degayev organized the assassination of Shkryaba.
In June 1883 Narodnaya Volya resumed publication of the underground Listok Narodnoy Voly newspaper as a demonstration that the organization was alive. Degayev published an article praising Jewish pogrom
Pogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
s and urging the members to incite more pogroms. At the time Narodnaya Volya had an ambiguous opinion about Antisemitism. Some theoreticians applied Marxist analysis and saw pogroms as a manifestation of the class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
between oppressed peasants and oppressive Jewish petite bourgeoisie
Petite bourgeoisie
Petit-bourgeois or petty bourgeois is a term that originally referred to the members of the lower middle social classes in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
. On the other hand, many Narodnaya Volya members saw Jewish pogroms as incited by tsarist Government and one of the most revolting of their crimes. The question of antisemitism was even more divisive as many members were ethnic Jews. Richard Pipes
Richard Pipes
Richard Edgar Pipes is an American academic who specializes in Russian history, particularly with respect to the Soviet Union...
speculated that the article might be a part of Sudeykin's plan to transform Narodnaya Volya from an anti-government to an ultra-nationalist organisation similar to the later Black Hundreds.
Toward the mid 1883 Sudeykin and Degayev established quite friendly relations. Sudeykin regularly visited the apartment of his agent and even used the apartment for his extramarital affairs. Sometimes they had wagers: once, Degayev announced that there was a person of interest to police in Saint Petersburg at the moment and claimed that Sudeykin would not be able to catch him without Degayev's help. Sudeykin answered that he had enough agents besides Degayev. The pair had a monetary bet that Sudeykin would not be able to effect an arrest: Sudeykin lost.
At that time Sudeykin was frustrated with his superiors. He did not like their attempts to put legal constraints on the actions of his secret police. He also considered his rank of Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
(the seventh in the Table of Ranks) to be absurdly low for a person of his importance within the state security apparatus. Sudeykin proposed to Degayev a plan. Sudeykin would resign from his position, stating that he did not have enough powers to do his job properly. Soon Narodnaya Volya would assassinate the tsar's brother Grand Duke Vladimir
Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia
Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia ) was a son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia...
and the tsar's aide Konstantin Pobedonostsev
Konstantin Pobedonostsev
Konstantin Petrovich Pobyedonostsyev was a Russian jurist, statesman, and adviser to three Tsars...
. The double assassination would frighten the tsar into accepting all Sudeykin's demands over the powers of secret police and might, too, make the tsar more responsive to Degayev's suggestions about government reforms. Sudeykin also gave Degayev information about the movements of Sudeykin's own boss, the Minister of Interior Dmitry Tolstoy
Dmitry Tolstoy
Count Dmitry Andreyevich Tolstoy was a Russian statesman, a member of the State Council of Imperial Russia . He belonged to the comital branch of the Tolstoy family....
considering that the killing might free a deserved position for Sudeykin. Unexpectedly the tsar refused Sudeykin's letter of resignation causing the pair to postpone assassination plans to 1884.
Assassination of Georgy Sudeykin
Suspicions that some immigrant members of Narodnaya Volya felt about Degayev were confirmed after Degayev talked with another prominent Narodnaya Volya member German LopatinGerman Lopatin
German Lopatin was a Russian revolutionary, journalist and writer.-Biography:...
, an experienced escapee from prisons himself. Lopatin found a lot of inconsistencies in Degayev's story about his escape from Odessa prison. Being interrogated by Lev Tikhomirov
Lev Tikhomirov
Lev Alexandrovich Tikhomirov , originally a Russian revolutionary and one of the members of the Executive Committee of the Narodnaya Volya, following his disenchantment with violent revolution became one of the leading conservative thinkers in Russia...
, Degayev confessed that he was an Okhrana agent and offered his help in killing Sudeykin. On 17 October – 19 October 1883 the Executive Committee of Narodnaya Volya (that at that time consisted of eight Russians and three Poles) decided to spare Degayev's life if he would kill Sudeykin. They appointed two young Narodnaya Volya members, V.P. Konashevich and N.P. Starodvorsky to assist Degayev and to ensure that Degayev would not renege on his promise.
The conspirators planned to get Sudeykin to visit Degayev's apartment, and to kill Sudeykin there. Degayev insisted that because of the great physical strength of Sudeykin and his great abilities with guns their only chance was to use guns and to shoot Sudeykin unexpectedly. For some reason Sudeykin twice missed his appointed meetings (6 December 1883 and 13 December 1883). To lure Sudeykin to the next meeting Degayev told him a story that he had a lady from Narodnaya Volya staying in his apartment who had planned to assassinate the tsar but who could possibly be persuaded to become an Okhrana agent. Sudeykin came on December 16 accompanied by his nephew, another secret police officer Nikolay (Koka) Sudovsky. Degayev invited Sudeykin to the bedroom to be introduced to the lady and in the passageway between the dining room and the bedroom near the watercloset, shot him in the back. Mortally wounded, Sudeykin cried to his nephew: "Koka, take your gun and help me!" But Koka ran out of the apartment. While he was struggling with the locks trying to open the door Konashevich came from behind and with several blows with a crowbar cracked Sudovsky's skull. Unexpectedly Sudeykin was able to stand up and walk to the dining room. There he was shot by Starodvorsky. Degayev (and later Konashevich) ran away from the apartment without waiting for the end of the ordeal. Degayev was sure that his accomplices had had an order to kill him after Sudeykin was killed. The gunshots and cries were heard all across the building; however, when the concierge reported to the local police they told him that they had instructions not to interfere with the apartment whatever happened there. The apartment was searched only the next day after Sudeykin's servant reported that his master had not returned at the expected hour. Rushing to the apartment police found the dying Koka and dead Sudeykin.
All the posts in the Empire were plastered with posters showing Degayev's photographs and announcing 5000 roubles for information as to his whereabouts and 10000 roubles for help in catching him. Still the conspirators had a good headway over their hunters and successfully arrived in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. A winter 1884 meeting of Narodnaya Volya (of V.A. Karaulov, Lev Tikhomirov and German Lopatin) fulfilled their promise and granted Degayev his life on the condition that he never again appeared in the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. Lev Tikhomirov personally checked that he got on a steamship directed to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
.
American mathematician
From South America Degayev moved to the United States; there he joined his wife, Lyubov Degayeva. His brother, Vladimir Degayev, who worked at the time in a Russian consulate in the United States and moonlighted as a foreign correspondent for a few Russian publications printed an article claiming that Sergey Degayev was killed in New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, discouraging searches for him by both Russian police and Russian revolutionaries.
Both Vladimir and Sergey Degayevs were registered in the USA under the name Polevoi after their maternal grandfather Nikolai Polevoy
Nikolai Polevoy
Nikolai Alekseevich Polevoy was a controversial Russian editor, writer, translator, and historian; his brother was the critic and journalist Ksenofont Polevoy and his sister the writer and publisher of folktales Ekaterina Avdeeva.Polevoy was from an old merchant family from Kursk but was born in...
. After his naturalization
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
Alexander (Sergey) took the name Alexander Pell and his wife took the name Emma Pell. At first they were poor; Sergey worked as a stevedore
Stevedore
Stevedore, dockworker, docker, dock labourer, wharfie and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country....
and as an unskilled labourer while his wife worked as a cook and a laundress. In 1895 Alexander was enrolled into a Ph.D. program in Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
with majors in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
and a minor in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. During his study he was financially supported by his wife who continued to work as a cook. He received his doctorate in 1897 for the dissertation On the Focal Surfaces
Focal surface
For a surface in three dimension the focal surface, surface of centers or evolute is formed by taking the centers of the curvature spheres, which are the tangential spheres whose radii are the reciprocals of one of the principal curvatures at the point of tangency...
of the Congruences of Tangents to a Given Surface.
The University of South Dakota
University of South Dakota
The University of South Dakota ', the state’s oldest university, was founded in 1862 and classes began in 1882. Located in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States, USD is home to South Dakota's only medical school and law school. USD is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents, and its current...
was established in the frontier town of Vermillion
Vermillion, South Dakota
Vermillion is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of South Dakota, and the tenth largest city in the state. According to the 2010 Census, the population was 10,571. Vermillion lies atop a bluff near the Missouri River.The area has been home to...
and started its classes in 1882. In 1897 they decided that they needed a professor of mathematics. They asked Professor L S Hulburt from John Hopkins if he could suggest a suitable candidate. He replied that he "could suggest a first class mathematician who had the disadvantage of having a strong Russian brogue". The reply from South Dakota was "Send your Russian mathematician along, brogue and all".
Alexander Pell was immensely popular among his students who referred to him as the "class father" and "Jolly Little Pell" (who could "crack jokes faster than the freshmen could crack nuts"). He was a good researcher, a member of the American Mathematical Society
American Mathematical Society
The American Mathematical Society is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, which it does with various publications and conferences as well as annual monetary awards and prizes to mathematicians.The society is one of the...
and the author of many journal publications. He was also an accomplished administrator who organized the School of Engineering of the University of South Dakota and became its first Dean (1905).
Alexander Pell had a habit of providing financial support from his own resources, and providing accommodation in his house to a few of his students. One such student was Anna Johnson, the future accomplished mathematician Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler
Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler
Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler was an American mathematician. She is best known for early work on linear algebra in infinite dimension, which has later become a part of functional analysis.-Biography:...
. Anna Johnson received her A.B. degree under Pell's supervision in 1903 and continued her study at the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
and then at the University of Göttingen. In 1904 Emma Pell died. Three years later Alexander Pell went to Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
and married Anna in July 1907. They both returned to Vermillion where Anna taught classes in the theory of function
Function (mathematics)
In mathematics, a function associates one quantity, the argument of the function, also known as the input, with another quantity, the value of the function, also known as the output. A function assigns exactly one output to each input. The argument and the value may be real numbers, but they can...
s and differential equations and Alexander was the Dean of Engineering. In 1908 Pell resigned from the University of South Dakota and went with Anna to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. There Anna completed her doctorate under E. H. Moore
E. H. Moore
Eliakim Hastings Moore was an American mathematician.-Life:Moore, the son of a Methodist minister and grandson of US Congressman Eliakim H. Moore, discovered mathematics through a summer job at the Cincinnati Observatory while in high school. He learned mathematics at Yale University, where he was...
, while Pell took a position at the Armour Institute of Engineering (currently Illinois Institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly called Illinois Tech or IIT, is a private Ph.D.-granting university located in Chicago, Illinois, with programs in engineering, science, psychology, architecture, business, communications, industrial technology, information technology, design, and law...
). In 1911 Pell suffered a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
and was unable to work thereafter. The same year the Pells moved to South Hadley, Massachusetts
South Hadley, Massachusetts
South Hadley is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 17,514 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area....
where Anna taught at Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was the first member of the Seven Sisters colleges, and served as a model for some of the others...
. In 1918 they moved again to Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr from Welsh for "big hill") is a census-designated place in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue and the border with Delaware County...
where Anna taught at Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
. Alexander Pell died in Bryn Mawr in 1921.
Despite his past as a political activist Alexander Pell was not much involved in American politics although he always voted for the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
(his former comrades from Narodnaya Volya considered Republicans "ultra-bourgeois"). His opinion about his former country was strongly negative. He never spoke Russian at home. During the Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
he supported Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. After the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
and beginning of the Red Terror
Red Terror
The Red Terror in Soviet Russia was the campaign of mass arrests and executions conducted by the Bolshevik government. In Soviet historiography, the Red Terror is described as having been officially announced on September 2, 1918 by Yakov Sverdlov and ended about October 1918...
he wrote: "Accursed Russia: even after liberating herself, she does not let people live".