person
Shelaputin
also: Шелапутин
A wealthy Moscow man ("московский богач") on whose estate an outbreak of anthrax ("сибирская язва") is reported to Chekhov just as he writes -- named only in passing, as a fresh item of Moscow news picked up on Chekhov's return from Nizhny Novgorod province. Likely a member of the prominent Moscow merchant Shelaputin family (patrons of education and industry in this period), but not otherwise identified or elaborated on in this letter.
Reading notes
- To A. S. Suvorin, 22 January 1892. Moscow. §9 У московского богача Шелапутина сибирская язва
"Сибирская язва" ("Siberian ulcer") is the standard Russian term for anthrax, a livestock-borne bacterial disease periodically epidemic among Russian herds and endemic to certain regions; Chekhov, as a physician, registers the report of an outbreak on the estate of a named wealthy Moscow figure as passing but noteworthy news, appended to the letter's run of miscellaneous items rather than elaborated on.