Joel Vikentievich Davidovich

(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

A beautiful legend about Davidovich

As a regular reader of the newspaper “Zavety Lenin” remembers, the Nizmenny lighthouse in September 2003 celebrated its 100th anniversary from the date of its commissioning.

Covering this event, the head of the lighthouse, M.G. Sarukhanov, in the article “Nizmny Lighthouse is 100 years old” (“Testaments of Lenin” dated September 18, 2003) told the history of the lighthouse. He also talked about its technical means, named the names of those who previously worked at the lighthouse and who now continue to keep a labor watch. M.G. Sarukhanov also mentioned the name of the first lighthouse keeper. It was a man named Konovalov. Before his appointment as a lighthouse keeper, he worked there as a construction foreman.

Earlier, in 2000, in volume 34 of the “Notes of the Society for the Study of the Amur Bay” (Vladivostok, 2000), local historian V.G. Kvashin published the article “Lowland Lighthouse”, According to V.G. Kvashin, who visited the Nizhny lighthouse during his 260-kilometer solo journey through the inaccessible areas of Primorye in 1999, lighthouse workers at that time believed that the first lighthouse keeper was a certain Davidovich, buried near the lighthouse in 1907. V.G. Kvashin also heard from the lips of the lighthouse workers the tragic story that led to the death of Davidovich. According to them, in 1907, Davidovich carried with him a bill of exchange for one million rubles, intended to pay for the installed equipment of the lighthouse. The Chinese Honghuz, who somehow found out about this, decided that Davidovich was carrying clean money with him, and killed him along the way. Having become interested in this story, V.G. Kvashin, upon returning to Vladivostok, decided to begin searching for information about Davidovich, and his search was crowned with success.

In the newspaper "Far East" dated August 4, 1907, in the section "Diary of Incidents", he found a note about the death of the head of the Milogradov telegraph office, Yoil Vikentyevich Davidovich, from his own weapon on the way to the Nizhnyny lighthouse. This message refuted the beautiful legend about the fate of the first lighthouse keeper. Davidovich was an official of a completely different department and no hunghuz against him didn't attack.

The curious reader will probably be interested to know how it could happen that a man who had no desire to deliberately shoot himself suddenly died from his weapon? We will find the answer to this question in the story of an old-timer who passed away in 1972, Nester Semenovich Solomonyuk, recorded by the author of these lines in February 1964 in Olga. This is what he said then: “From 1904 to 1908, I served as a clerk at the Dargomyzhskaya postal station, located 21 versts north of Margaritovo along the highway. The owner of the station was Timofey Izmailovich Vasilyev. In addition to me, the owner and his wife Maria, there were two coachmen at the station - Mikhail Polishchuk and the baptized Chinese Mikhail Olginsky. The station had two troikas of horses and there was also one horse for transporting various household goods. One day in the middle of the summer of 1907, the head of the Milogradov telegraph office, Davidovich, demanded that he be presented with a troika in a tarantass for a trip to the Nizmny lighthouse at that moment, besides me, there was Timofey Izmailovich’s wife and the coachman Mikhail Olginsky.

According to the open sheet, Davidovich was supposed to present only a couple of horses and only along the highway, and not somewhere to the side, at least a mile away. I, referring to the instructions, refused to fulfill his demand. But since my master and Davidovich were persons who served in the same department, I offered, instead of the troika in the tarantass, a riding horse under saddle, accompanied by a coachman. This was all that I could decide with my own power in the absence of the owner. Davidovich was not satisfied with my proposal, and he demanded to see the complaint book. This book was always on our table. All its sheets were numbered and laced. The end of the cord on the last sheet was filled with sealing wax and had a departmental seal on it. The second end of the cord was nailed to the window sill and had the same seal. Davidovich sat down to write a complaint, and I went to the hostess with a report. After listening to me, Maria said: “Give Davidovich one riding horse and let him and Olginsky go to the lighthouse.” I replied: “That’s what I suggested to him, but he demanded a complaint book and sat down to write a complaint.” The hostess angrily said: “Well, to hell with him. Let him write and sit until the evening, until Timofey returns.”

Returning to Davidovich, I found him sitting at the table with his back to the entrance to the room. On the table lay an open complaint book with a written complaint. Now I don’t remember the contents of the complaint. I remember that the text of the complaint was crossed out twice from corner to corner. I also remember the unusual color of the ink that Davidovich wrote with - golden. I have never seen such ink in my life, although I had to serve as a senior clerk in the tsarist army. Without turning to me, Davidovich briefly said: “Give me a riding horse.” I went to the coachman Mishka Olginsky and told him to prepare the horses for the trip to the lighthouse.

After listening to me, Mikhail said: “Let’s saddle Mandzik for Davidovich. Davidovich is nasty, he weighs six pounds. He loves fast riding, does not spare horses. I know him well. When riding a horse, he will never get off it at the pass. Mandzik is a tall horse and will definitely throw him off at the pass.” I agreed. While Davidovich was mounting his horse, I was holding Mandzik by the bridle, and as soon as I removed my hands, Mandzik rushed to gallop along the road. Behind Davidovich's back dangled a travel bag and his constant companion - a cavalry-type Berdan. (For the information of the uninitiated reader. Berdana or Berdanka is a single-shot rifle of the system of the American inventor H. Berdan, improved in the 60s of the nineteenth century by Russian engineers A.P. Gorlov and K.I. Ginnus. It was in service with the Russian army in 1868-1891. It had two modifications. Cavalry-type Berdans were with a shortened barrel. Instead of a trigger, they had a trigger button, not covered with a protective guard. The Berdans, which were in service with the infantry troops, had an elongated barrel, covered with a protective guard). About 15-20 minutes after Davidovich’s departure Mandzik b rode up

without a rider.

Soon Mishka also galloped up and said that Mandzik had thrown Davidovich off of him. I asked Mikhail if Davidovich demanded that his horse be replaced. Mishka replied that no, and went to Davidovich, who was waiting for him on the highway.

On the second day, coachman Mikhail Polishchuk went into the field in the morning to look for horses and saw Mandzik under saddle grazing in a herd. At the station we suspected something was wrong. By the evening of the same day, Olginsky returned and told us the following. As usual, approaching the pass, Davidovich did not get off his horse. In the middle of the second pass, Mandzik began to struggle and tried to throw off his rider, but Davidovich was alert and stayed in the saddle. At the top of the second pass, Mandzik again showed his violent character. He lowered his head between his front legs, and his hind legs began to throw up strongly. Davidovich held his own this time too. But when the horse began to calm down, the unexpected happened: the belt on the berdana broke and it began to fall from the owner’s shoulder. Davidovich caught it by the barrel and pulled the safety catch; the release button apparently fell under the stirrup and hit the sole of the shoe. A shot rang out and Davidovich fell from his horse to the ground. The bullet hit him in the right side and exited under the left shoulder. Mishka tore his undershirt and bandaged the victim as best he could. Davidovich asked Mikhail to convey his request to the head of the lighthouse so that he would transport him to his place. After being wounded, Davidovich lived for another six hours and died at the lighthouse, where he was buried,

since he had no relatives in Milogradov. As we later learned from the lighthouse employees, a young widow came to see Davidovich. She was taken from a warship passing north on a boat with luggage to Nizmny. After Davidovich’s funeral, she lived for some time at the lighthouse, and then returned to Vladivostok by sea.

A year and a half or two later, we learned that she had brought a rich monument to Davidovich’s grave. Soon after this tragic incident, the head of the district postal and telegraph office, Strutinsky, came to Dargomyzhskaya to investigate all the circumstances. Mishka Olginsky, seizing the moment, said to me: “Look, clerk, don’t tell Strutinsky that we deliberately gave the obstinate horse to Davidovich, otherwise they will sue you and me.” So I remained silent for many years.

At the end of our conversation, I asked Nester Semenovich: “Don’t you feel guilty?”

“Of course, we are all to blame to some extent that the life of a young man was cut short so absurdly,” my interlocutor answered, “but mostly Davidovich himself was to blame for his death; he did not put the safety lock on the Berdana and paid for it with his life. By nature, he was a rude, arrogant person. He looked down on everyone. No one respected him. Every time, driving through Dargomyzhskaya, he made some kind of claim. All demanded fast, hardy horses. He shouted: “Why are you harnessing the bulls for me again?!” If he had been a person of a different character, he would not have demanded a triple from me in the tarantass, but would have gone to the owner and explained everything clearly. Maria Vasilyeva was a kind-hearted person, and I am sure that she would not have refused his request.” Nester Semenovich ended his story with these words.

Source: newspaper “Testaments of Lenin” (p. Olga), No. 44, Monday, June 7, 2004. – P. 3.

Kovalyov G., full member of the Society for the Study of the Amur Region