Verified textPlace for a 60-kopeck revenue stamp.
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seventh year, on the tenth day of February, in the city of St. Petersburg, Moskovskaya part, 2nd district, in the house of the second-guild merchant Zhivotov, which stands on Ligovka, I, the undersigned, met the daughter of titular councillor Marya Alekseevna Barabanova, 18 years old, of the Orthodox faith, literate. Having met the said Barabanova, I felt an attraction to her. Since, under Article 994 of the Code of Punishments, unlawful cohabitation entails, besides church penance, the costs provided for by that article (see: the case of the merchant Solodovnikov, 1881, Collection of Decisions of the Cassation Department), I did offer her my hand and heart. I married, but did not live long with her. I fell out of love with her. Having recorded all her dowry in my own name, I began wandering through taverns, livadias, and eldorados, and wandered for five years. And since, under Article 54 of Volume X of the Code of Civil Procedure, a five-year unexplained absence gives the right to divorce, I have the honor most humbly to request, your Excellency, that you intercede for my divorce from my wife.