Dvortsovaya Sq., 1a, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191186
In February 1880, disaster literally came to the home of the Russian emperor. Sofya Perovskaya learned that the cellars of the Winter Palace were being repaired, including the wine cellar located directly beneath the dining room. On September 20, 1879, a carpenter named Batyshkov was hired to work in the Winter Palace. In reality, this name concealed Stepan Khalturin, the son of a Vyatka peasant, one of the founders of the "Northern Union of Russian Workers," who later joined the "People's Will." He believed that the tsar should die by the hand of a worker—a representative of the people. His and his partner’s room was located in the palace’s basement. Directly above it was the guardroom, and higher still, on the second floor, were the sovereign’s chambers.
Khalturin-Batyshkov’s personal property was a huge chest in the corner of the basement, and for some reason, the palace guards never once bothered to look inside it. The terrorist brought dynamite into the palace in small batches. When about 3 poods (approximately 49 kg) of explosives had accumulated, Khalturin attempted to assassinate the tsar. On February 5, he detonated a mine under the dining room, where the royal family was supposed to be. The lights in the Winter Palace went out, and the frightened guards ran about.
Fortunately, Alexander II did not come out to the dining room at the usual time because he was meeting a guest—the Prince of Hesse, whose train was delayed by 20 minutes. As a result of the terrorist attack, nineteen soldiers died and forty-eight were injured. Khalturin managed to escape. From the diary of the heir to the throne, Alexander Alexandrovich:
“We went to the Winter Palace for lunch, and just as we reached the beginning of the large corridor... a terrible roar sounded, the floor shook beneath our feet, and in an instant all the gas went out everywhere... When we ran to the main guardroom, we found a terrible scene; the entire large guardroom, where people were stationed, had exploded and collapsed more than a sazhen deep (about 2.13 meters), and in this heap of bricks, lime, slabs, and huge chunks of vaults and walls lay more than 50 soldiers, mostly wounded, covered with dust and blood.”
The assassination attempt on February 5 made the "People’s Will" world-famous.
That same year, the police and gendarmes finally managed to reach the "People’s Will." Sixteen active members of the movement were arrested. The trial became known as the "Trial of the Sixteen." Two people were sentenced to death—Kvyatkovsky (son of a wealthy gold miner), who prepared the explosion in the Winter Palace (during a search, false passports, dynamite, and palace plans were found on him), and Presnyakov (son of a palace guard). Presnyakov had recently arrived from London but had already participated in numerous actions—the assassination of Sharashkin, whom he considered an agent of the Security Department; the murder of Zharkov, who printed leaflets and proclamations for the People's Will and revealed the printing house’s address during interrogation. In addition, Presnyakov took part in an assassination attempt on the railway and transported dynamite for the terrorists.
Shiryaev (formerly working in Yablochkov’s workshop in Paris), the direct executor of the railway terrorist act and organizer of several dynamite workshops for the People's Will, was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to life hard labor.
Testimony was given by Grigory Goldenberg, son of a wealthy Jewish merchant from Berdichev. He himself participated in the assassination of the Kharkov governor Kropotkin (a cousin of the famous anarchist Kropotkin) and helped blow up a train. Goldenberg was caught with a huge suitcase of dynamite and soon honestly revealed all his acquaintances among the People's Will members.
Sources:
https://sputnikipogrom.com/history/52094/the-emperor-hunt/
https://www.bbc.com/russian/russia/2014/04/140417_russian_empire_terror
