Ilya Markovich

A baptized Jew (\textit{vykrest}) at a station near the Tom River crossing, at whose house Chekhov stays the night after the river crossing by boat. Chekhov reports that "the peasants here worship him," and Ilya Markovich provides the horses that carry Chekhov the rest of the way into Tomsk the next morning; his hospitality is interrupted overnight by the drunken arrival of a district police assessor and his clerk (\S24, \S26). Treated with warmth and respect in the text, in contrast to the letter's slur usage for other, unnamed Jewish figures encountered en route -- see the glossary note on \textit{жид}/\textit{жидовка} usage in this letter.