Contents
😉 Welcome new and regular readers! Thank you for choosing the article “Sonya the Golden Handle: biography of the Queen of Thieves” on this site!
Who is Sonya Golden Handle
There are many women in history who have left their mark in various fields of human activity. They can also be found in the criminal world. One of them, Sonya Zolotaya Ruchka, is a thief and swindler in Russia. There are many legends and stories about her, so it is difficult to separate truth from fiction.
Undoubtedly, the Jewish girl had the talent of an actress, and also the desire to live richly and beautifully. This helped her to climb to the top in the criminal world of Russia.
Sonya was a skilled swindler, she could steal a fortune and came up with all the new sophisticated moves. She possessed extraordinary charm and many men were crazy about her, but one of them handed her over to the police … So, Sonya Golden Hand: biography
Sofia Ivanovna Bluestein
Sofia Ivanovna (Sheindlya-Sura Leibovna) Bluestein (nee Solomoniak), according to various versions, was born in 1846/1851 in the village. Powazki near Warsaw, in the family of Leiba Solomoniak.
My father worked as a barber and was quietly engaged in usury and buying up stolen goods. At home they always had a lot of dubious personalities, mostly foreigners.
Sheindlya was not a shy child from childhood, and the guests willingly talked with a beautiful girl. So she learned to speak five languages, which later came in handy in her scams when she pretended to be a foreigner or aristocrat.
The girl lost her mother in early childhood and hardly remembered her. The house needed a mistress, and the girl had to be looked after, so Leiba did not have much time to grieve over the death of his wife. He married a second time, and three years later fell ill and died.
Sheindle and her sister Feiga stayed with their stepmother. She was a woman with a tough character, but Leiba did not abandon the girls. She moved with them to Odessa and tried to give them a good education. The girls also attended a music school and studied well. However, at the age of 12, Sheindlya ran away from home and joined a traveling circus.
She helped Julia Pastrana, who was suffering from hypertrichosis, her body and face were covered with thick hair. Circus patrons called her Lady Monkey. The actress loved luxury, and the girl loved her too. Sheindlya decided to change her name to Sophia.
Pastrana passed away at the age of 26 during childbirth. Sophia was left alone. She only had charm and admirers in reserve. For example, a young Greek from a wealthy family. Sophia accepted his offer with the condition to get money and go abroad. But the couple quickly parted ways as soon as the money ran out. The Greek returned home, and Sonya returned to Odessa.
“I want to be rich!” – dream come true
She had a firm intention to become rich and independent. It seemed to her that the easiest way to achieve this dream is by stealing. In 1864, she stole a wallet from the merchant Isaac Rosenband. She was caught red-handed at the crime scene, but the victim did not have time to call the police.
Sonya charmed him in a few minutes and instead of a pre-trial detention center and interrogations, she got married. A sweet daughter Sura-Rivka was born in the family. Sonya was a wife for 18 months, but she quickly got bored with a calm, measured life. She left her daughter to her husband, took 500 rubles. and left for the capital.
Although the first pancake turned out to be a lump, Sonya did not lose interest in theft, but changed her tactics. She now worked on trains. I bought a ticket for the 1st class carriage and began to lavish charm. At night Sonya took her fellow travelers’ luggage and went to the nearest station.
Sometimes the fellow travelers did not want to sleep, then Sonya had to resort to the help of opium. The banker Dogmarov, who was hurrying from Odessa to Moscow, was also a victim. When the banker left, Sonya introduced opium into the candies, and then treated her fellow traveler to them. In the morning, the banker discovered that 23 thousand rubles had gone missing. Of course, Sonya was no longer on the train.
In 1866, Sonya stole a suitcase from the cadet Mikhail Gorozhansky, who, like others, was fascinated by his fellow traveler. This time she was unlucky again. Juncker called the police. During the interrogation, Sonya feigned bewilderment and swore that the thieves had stolen 300 rubles from her, and she took the suitcase by mistake …
The crime actress played this episode masterfully and was released. Juncker retired and under the pseudonym Reshimov performed at the Maly Theater. Sonya also attended one of the performances. She gave the artist a bouquet, a gold watch and a note “from the first teacher.”
In 1868 she married a wealthy old man, Shelom Shkolnik. She did not stay as a wife for long. Six months later, she ransacked the apartment and disappeared without a trace.
Conscientious thief
Slightly changing the nature of their activities, Sonya, together with Mikhail Brenner, robbed the dachas of wealthy Muscovites. Once they stole from a widow with two children all her savings – 5 thousand rubles.
When Sonya found out about the situation of this woman, she secretly returned her money and added some of her own. In a note attached to this amount, Sonya gave advice on where to hide the money so that thieves would not find it.
According to legends, there were several such cases in Sonya’s life. Once she entered someone else’s hotel room and accidentally saw a letter on the table. In it, a young man, who was sleeping at that moment, asked forgiveness from his relatives for the waste of 300 rubles spent on the treatment of his sister. There was a pistol nearby. Sonya put 500 rubles on the letter. and quietly left.
Great actress
In fact, there were only a few such actions. Sometimes Sonya committed crimes, after which people ended their lives by suicide. The talented Sonya prepared real scenes from theatrical life.
For example, in Saratov, the head of the gymnasium, Mikhail Dinkevich, resigned and sold everything, deciding to return to Moscow. Sonya easily met him, posing as a countess who wants to sell a luxurious mansion.
She rented this building from residents of Moscow who were to leave for Italy. The role of the notary was played by Isaac Rosenband, the ex-husband of the Golden Hand, to whom she promised a good reward. Sonya received 122 thousand rubles, and Dinkevich shot himself.
In the 1870s. Sonya could often be seen in St. Petersburg hotels. She rented expensive numbers, applied makeup and various wigs. The next step was to find wealthy guests.
Early in the morning Sonya in slippers went into the room and quickly freed the guest of all valuable things. Sometimes these were large sums. From the room of the gene. Frolov, she stole a suitcase with 240 thousand rubles.
Of course, Sonya took a risk, but she had a win-win option in reserve. Finding that the guest was not sleeping, she began to take off her things, as if she had made a mistake with the door.
Before that, she drank a glass of brandy: the smell of alcohol was a confirmation that the woman had gone too far, and therefore she was mistaken. She was so sincerely perplexed that it was impossible to suspect her of malice.
Sleight of hand and jewelry
Sonya loved jewelry stores. She bought a dress with large secret pockets, and threw jewelry there. In 1869 she robbed a store in Odessa on the street. Richelieu, having stolen jewelry for 11 thousand rubles. The police were unable to find her or the stolen jewelry.
Sonya grew her nails, which made it possible to hide diamonds under them. Once in a store she played the role of an interested lady. She dropped a diamond on the floor, and together with the seller for 30 minutes they searched for it on the floor.
Then the distressed Sonya left the jewelry store with a falling diamond adhered to the soles of the oil.
The scam with the jeweler Karl von Mehl in 1883 became a legend of the investigation. Sofia Andreevna, the wife of a famous psychiatrist, entered his shop. She carefully examined the display case and chose a luxury jewelry set from Paris. These jewelry cost 30 thousand rubles.
The lady explained to the jeweler that her husband would buy these jewelry if he brought them to their home. Von Mehl drove immediately. In the front door he was met by the “mistress”: she took the jeweler to her husband’s office and asked him to put on a headset to show him to her husband. The jeweler gave her the jewelry and opened the door to the study …
The doctor was expecting this visit and poor von Mehl was immediately taken to the clinic by the orderlies. Everything was opened only a few hours later. The day before visiting the jeweler, Sonya came to the doctor and asked for an examination of her husband, who was obsessed with jewelry. The doctor appointed them an appointment hour … The Golden Pen could not be found.
Sonya loved to arrange a vacation for herself – she left for Pyatigorsk or the Crimea, visited European cities. She knew that someday she would be caught and therefore sometimes spent tens of thousands a night at a prestigious restaurant.
Red Jack Club
In 1872, Sonya was admitted to the “Jacks of Hearts Club” – a criminal group, where only the chosen authorities of the underworld were admitted. According to another legend, she also created her own “Club”, which included her men and famous thieves. All of them were her assistants, more often than not, distracting attention.
From Mikhail Bluestein, she gave birth to two daughters – Tabba and Mikhailina. The mother did not take part in their upbringing, but sent money, and later paid for education in France. The girls became theater actresses, but they hid their kinship all their lives.
“How much rope does not twist, but the end will be”
In 1880, 20-year-old gambler Wolf Bromberg handed over 34-year-old Sonya to the Odessa police. She was tried in Moscow and sent to serve time in Siberia. Sonia escaped five months later.
She was arrested again in Smolensk in 1885. At the trial, she was added 3 years of hard labor. Even then Sonya did not lose her main weapon – charm. One of the guards in 1886 arranged for her to escape. He was fired, and Sonya was found 4 months later in Nizhny Novgorod and sent on a stage to about. Sakhalin.
Shackling the “Sonya Golden Hand” in shackles, 1888
In 1891 she tried to make a new escape. She was shackled. A.P. Chekhov came to see the legend of the criminal world. He saw an aged 44-year-old woman.
last years of life
In 1899, Sophia converted to Orthodoxy. She was baptized under the name Mary. After serving time, she remained on the island and fell in love again. It was a cruel criminal Nikolai Bogdanov, he often beat Sonya. In 1902 she decided to run away from him, but during her escape she caught a cold and died. Feiga also became a thief, but did not deserve such fame as her sister.
Additional information on the topic “Sonya Golden Handle: biography”
- Sonya died at an advanced age. Buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery in Moscow;
- after her death, Odessa, Neapolitan and London swindlers ordered a monument from Milanese masters and delivered to Russia.
😉 If you liked the article “Sonya the Golden Handle: biography of the Queen of Thieves”, share in the social. networks.