The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-11-26

IRKUTSK, Siberia, July 12.-At 10
o'clock on the night of July we landed
at Listveintchaia, on the western shore
OF Lake Baikal, and n anticipation we're
In Irkutsk, forty-two miles away. In
few moments we were reminded that one
is never actually out of the woods in
Siberia. dapper young officer came
forward, touched his hat and said he
would inspect our traps. With MIN was
a burly soldier wearing an AK in his belt.
1t took solid hour to unchain, unite, .un
lock, unstrap and repack our things. The
search was as rigid as If we were pass
ing from one country to another, instead
of merely crossing a district line. The
officer was extremely cautious, and as we
looked through a window into the bag
gage room and saw other peoples things
tumbled about we thought ourselves
lucky. Now and then an CD innate lock
or tough knot yielded to a soldiers ready
AK and it struck us that the authorities
were looking Tor some special thing. The
pier has gate opening on the main
street. and here W&s;an array of carriag IS
and carts. We had sent to the taun' os
station for horses and by the time the
inspection was over the team was hitch
ed. We rode along the river road for
half mile. Listveintehsia stretched along
the Angara-cOmiag tc a gate, where we
showed the Clearance paper given us by
/ the inspecting officer. This paper was
large and flimsy, after the name" CT Of
fetal papers and tickets in the Russian
empire, where pasteboard IS rarely used.
We drove through long, shambling,y
wooden station, lighted by Pickering oil
lamps, TO emerge INTO q searching fog.
The night was cold and gave Us cur fest
and only touch of chilling weather in ST.
IBERIA. At each station we took copious
o'clock, the air grew milder, and az 6,
when we were within eighteen miles of
Irkutsk, the sun was in, a melting mood
: As we neared the city we passed,
through three gates Ill the space of a
mile No soldiers were in evidence, aEd
we were not asked for our papers. The
gatemen were old and had the look of
pensioners. AS a rule elderly men per
form this service in Siberia. At last we
caught sight of church towers by the
dozen and their size and style told us we
were about over the rough part of our
Siberian journey.
There are two leading hotels in Itkutsk,
the Deko and Russia. We had been fold
by Sibe1ians that one was as bad as the
other. That one is thoroughly bad we
can testify. We drove % the Deko, Sc
cured rooms. and. after the Siberian
fashion, unloaded our tarantas in the
courtyard and left them there man in
a dirty blouse escorted us up a flight Of
dirty stairs into a dirty hall, and to 4
room flooded with sunshine. Every ray
of light accented the rncleanlinesS of
the apartment. The floor was unSwept,
scattered with paper and dus-, the tables
bore water, bser and food marks, and the
chairs, three of which We're unusable be-
cause of broken legs, were thick with
dust The looking glass was f1yspecked
and griny and the curtains, hung out Of
reach, were for ornament, not use. The
single iron bed had its broken wire mat
tress replaced by two boards, these sup
porting thin, dirty, hard mattress. No
pillows or belclothes for which we gave
our, usual thanks. In one corner a w o /
en- stool that had never known cleansing
cloth since the day of its ms alladoa, held
a big tin basin and pitcher, both much
the worse for wear. A tin 5lop bucket
that an American stable would not own,