In Dostoevsky's novel "The Idiot," a merchant named Zhemarin and the horrific murder of his family are mentioned. This is not fiction: Fyodor Mikhailovich took this episode from real life. What actually happened?

On March 1, 1868, Tambov merchant Ivan Sergeyevich Zhemarin returned home late in the evening. Despite knocking on the door, no one answered. He then entered through the back door and discovered six corpses in the adjacent room: a child, his wife, his mother, the cook, the janitor, and the maid. Zhemarin immediately called the police. Upon inspection, it became clear that the murderer had spent a significant amount of time inside the house: he lowered the curtains, tried to hide the traces, and even moved the cook's body to a less noticeable place. However, all valuable items remained untouched. Why did the criminal kill the merchant's family?

Investigators considered various versions and eventually suspected the tutor Witold Gorski. Witnesses saw him leaving the house last and heard noise. A local blacksmith reported that shortly before the murder, Gorski had asked to repair a revolver and sell him ammunition. Under pressure from the evidence, Gorski confessed. He planned a robbery but did not intend to kill six people.

First, he cold-bloodedly killed the little son, then the mother, and was about to take the jewelry and money when Zhemarin's wife returned with the maid. He had to kill them too. The revolver jammed on the maid, and he finished her off with a log. He did not have time to steal what he intended; he was scared off by the nanny and the coachman. The court sentenced Gorski to death, but Alexander II commuted it to life imprisonment. This is the story of the gruesome murder mentioned in the novel "The Idiot."