An advocate for women’s liberation and a strong supporter of the end of domestic violence, Madame Alexe Katherina Popova was a for-hire contract killer who murdered her clients’ abusive husbands for a small fee.

Madame Popova was born (date unknown) in Samara, Russia, where she lived her entire life. In the late nineteenth century, it was incredibly common for peasant wives to be trapped in their marriages to their abusive husbands, due to societal constraints and limited rights for women.

Distressed by this common practice as a victim of her own abusive marriage, she volunteered an inexpensive yet deadly remedy. For thirty years before her arrest and execution in March 1909, she ran a small ‘disposal’ business for her female neighbors, charging only spare change for her services.

She ran her business for thirty years before she was caught and put to death. Her main method of murder was to become acquainted with her victim, then poison their food or drink with arsenic.

Business was going well for Popova until one former client, suddenly remorseful, turned her in to the authorities. Madame Popova proudly confessed to “liberating” over three hundred women in her career. While in custody, she boasted that she “did excellent work in freeing unhappy wives from their tyrants”.

While acting in her own defense, Madame Popova told the authorities that she had never killed a woman. Despite this, a vengeful mob still sought to burn her at the stake, but Czarist soldiers intervened to perform her execution themselves. Popova was unrepentant and unapologetic about her actions all the way to the end, even while standing before the firing squad who eventually executed her.

As admirable as Popova’s intentions were, murder is, in fact, still a crime. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, choose the much more legal solution of contacting a hotline. You can reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1 (800) 799-7233, or by texting START to 88788.