The glory and tragedy of the brilliant detective: Why the head of the criminal investigation department of the Russian Empire was considered the Russian Sherlock Holmes

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

At the beginning of the last century, even one mention of the name of this detective brought fear and horror to the entire underworld. And the Moscow detective police, headed by him, was rightfully considered the best in the world. He, a native of a Belarusian town, made a dizzying career. But life sometimes throws up unexpected surprises …

The future brilliant detective was born in 1867 near Minsk. As a hereditary nobleman, he entered a military school, after which he was sent to serve in Simbirsk. However, the military career did not appeal to the young cadet, who from childhood was fond of reading detective stories. And in 1894, realizing that solving crimes was his vocation, he left military service without regret and went into the search. His family and many relatives did not approve of his decision, many even stopped communicating with him, but the young man was adamant.

Having moved with his family to Riga, he joined the police and began it as an assistant inspector. At this time, a series of brutal murders began in the city, and Arkady enthusiastically immediately joined the work, because catching criminals was his dream. At the same time, he often used the techniques of his favorite literary character - the detective Lecoq. Just like Lecoq, Arkady, disguised in shabby clothes and putting on makeup, wandered the streets of the city, its markets, brothels and taverns, and through conversations he obtained information, got to know the right people and recruited agents.

Crime detection rates began to grow. His diligence in work and ability to unravel even seemingly hopeless cases were noticed and appreciated. Already after six years, Arkady Koshko became the head of the Riga police, and five years later the talented detective was transferred to St. Petersburg, where he headed the police in Tsarskoe Selo, and there he also showed his best side.

And soon, at the insistence of Prime Minister Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin himself, Koshko became the head of the Moscow investigation.

At that time, crime was flourishing in the capital, and only a very small part of the crime was solved. Serious violations were also exposed in the work of the police itself. This appointment became a real challenge for Koshko, and he accepted it.

Having become the boss, Koshko devoted a lot of time to establishing iron order and discipline, almost every employee was under his control. In the first three years of his work, corruption in the ranks of the police was completely eradicated. Crime detection rates began to rise and soon became the best in the world.

They say that it was then that Moscow detectives began to wear the badges "ICC" (Moscow Criminal Investigation), hence their nickname - "garbage" later arose.

The police were greatly helped by the developments of Koshko concerning personal identification on the basis of anthropology and fingerprinting, which he successfully tested back in Riga. Now at the disposal of Moscow detectives was a thorough and constantly updated card index of criminals. Many of Koshko's developments subsequently began to be successfully applied in other countries, including the famous Scotland Yard.

On the door of his office, along with information about the opening hours, there was a postscript - "For urgent matters, reception at any time of the day or night."

But it was difficult to find the boss himself in the office, despite his high rank, he undertook to solve many crimes, while personally participating in the detentions.

Even as a boss, Koshko continued to practice his favorite method of dressing up, often going out into the city to meet with his agents or appearing in the den of criminals either in the guise of a dissolute reveler, or in the guise of a criminal. For these purposes, the police had a whole wardrobe and a make-up artist.

Several high-profile cases, uncovered with his personal participation, brought Koshko all-Russian glory, and even Emperor Nicholas II noted his services to the fatherland.

Soon, Koshko was appointed head of the criminal investigation department of the entire Russian Empire, and he again moved to St. Petersburg, and in 1917 he was awarded the rank corresponding to the rank of general.

But his brilliant ascent was interrupted by the October Revolution. Not accepting the power of the Bolsheviks, Koshko went first to Kiev, then to Odessa. But because of the repressions that began, he had to leave his native country forever and flee to Constantinople.

In the beginning, life in a foreign, unfamiliar country was very difficult. But using his past experience, Koshko tried to open a private detective bureau. Soon he had clients and the first orders, and things slowly began to improve.

But talk began that Turkey would send all escaped emigrants back to Russia. And again I had to drop everything and leave, this time to France, where his brother and his family had already settled. There, the famous detective began to receive tempting offers to move to England to work at Scotland Yard, but he refused both positions and citizenship, hoping that soon everything would be fine in Russia and he would be able to return there. But he did not wait ….

In France, Koshko began to write his memoirs - "", in which he very captivatingly described his work in the detective police. In their amusement, these stories, describing the ingenious schemes he invented to solve crimes, were not inferior to the stories of Conan Doyle.

The preface to the memoir said:

«»

The first volume was published in 1926, the rest were published only after his death. The Russian general died in Paris, where he was buried. It happened in 1928, on December 24.

In Russia, the memoirs written by this talented man were reprinted only in the 90s, only then did many people learn about this tireless and brilliant detective who passionately dreamed of returning to his homeland.

In 2007, the Arkady Frantsevich Koshko Order was established in Russia.

And in the city of Bobruisk, a monument to Arkady Frantsevich Koshko and his brother was erected.

The author of Soviet hits and a major general of the police went down in history. Two professional fates of Alexey Hekimyan seem like a literary novel.