Nikolai Rysakov

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (March 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Nikolai Rysakov
Born	1861 Russia
Died	1881 Russia

Nikolai Rysakov (Рысаков, Николай Иванович in Russian)(1861 – 1881) was a Russian revolutionary and a member of Narodnaya Volya.

Rysakov joined the movement in 1879, when he was a student at Institute of Mining Engineering in St.Petersburg.

In February of 1881 he became a member of a 'fighting squad' formed for the purpose of the assassination of the Tsar.

On March 1, 1881 he threw the first bomb at Alexander II of Russia. When Rysakov threw his bomb there was a loud explosion, a spray of snow, earth and splinters fanned out from a spot on the pavement, and the scene was filled with bluish smoke. One of the escorts Cossacks lay motionless on the ground, and nearby a butcher's boy, who had been on his way to deliver an order, was writhing and groaning. Both of them had been severely wounded and soon died. It was then two-fifteen p.m.

"After a moment's hesitation I threw the bomb. I sent it under the horses' hooves in the supposition that it would blow up under the carriage...The explosion knocked me into the fence."

Rysakov was immediately arrested on the spot.

After Hryniewiecki threw his bomb, Rysakov saw that the Czar was hurt and he expressed satisfaction, which earned him a punch in the head from one of the soldiers holding him. But he was turned over to the authorities unharmed.

Later on in court, in order to save his life, he tried to cooperate with the investigators by giving them valuable information about his accomplices.

He was hanged with the rest of the Pervomartovtsi. Before they were hanged, they kissed each other good-bye, but Perovskaya turned away from Rysakov.

The first to be hanged was Kibalchich. Mikhailov was second. Rysakov had to witness the execution of all his companions before being dispatched to his own death.

At nine-fifty the bodies were cut down from the gallows and placed in the black wooden coffins that had been waiting for them. They were buried in a nameless common grave.