A passage from the book...Leonid Andreyev (1871-1919), a Russian playwright and short-story writer, led the Expressionist movement in Russian literature. After he was discovered by Maxim Gorky, and his stories began appearing in the Moscow Courier, his literary career began. He became one of the most prolific writers in Russia, producing short stories, sketches and dramas. He spent his last days in bitter poverty, addressed manifestos from his house in Finland against the Bolsheviks, and died from heart failure.This short story offers sharp psychological insight as Andreyev depicts each of the tragedies of the "Seven Who Were Hanged." Andreyev stated: "My task was to point out the horror and the iniquity of capital punishment under any circumstances."