In the center of the story is the murder of the Minister of Internal Affairs Dmitry Sergeevich Sipyagin (1853 - 1902), committed by a Saratov student, Socialist Revolutionary Stepan Valerianovich Balmashev (1881 - 1902) on April 2, 1902 in St. Petersburg. The details of what happened basically coincide with the documentary version, partially set out by A. S. Suvorin in his “Diary” (M., 1992). The author of the story was familiar with Balmashev (he is also mentioned in “The Peasant Sphinx”), the outline of the work is autobiographical.