The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1902-01-16

~ of 10000 souls. A high
H6@MSNV hill of solid rock, skirting
US@N@RI the right bank of the An
- CARA, serves as a splen-
did position for it's churches, crowned
by a high cathedral, and for it's houses,
built in picturesque disorder along it's
slopes.
Seen from a certain distance, from
the top of the mountain which runs
along the great Siberian route at a dis
lance of some twenty versts, with its
domes and belfries, it's graceful spires,
like those of minarets, it's spiral dOmes,
it has a somewhat oriental appearance.
But that oriental appearance vanishes
from the eyes of the traveller from the
moment he enters the town. The town,
half Byzantine, half Chinese, becomes
at once European by it's macadamized
streets, bordered with sidewalks, with
their rows of gigantic birch trees, by
it's brick and wooden houses, some of
which have several stories, by it's many
splendid e~quipages-in fine, by the
whole body of it's inhabitants being
very advanced in the progress of civ
11lAdIlOh, " "hISA LIZ AoSA
ions of Paris are not at all strangers.
At that epoch Irkutsk, refuge for the
Siberians Of the province, was crowded.
1t abounded in resources Of every kind.
Irkutsk is the emporium for all that
countless merchandise which is ex-
changed between China, central Asia
and Europe. They did not fear to
draw there, the peasants from the val
ley of the Angara, the Mongols-Khal-
kas, people from Toungouze and Bou-
ret, and to allow the wilderness to
stretch out between the invaders and
the town.
Irkutsk is the residence of the gov
ernor general of eastern Siberia. I'm
der him is a civil governor, in whose
hands is concentrated the administra-
ton of the province, a head Of the po-
lice, who has a great deal to do in a
town where eXiles ABOUND, and lastly
a mayor, one of the leading merchants,
an important parsonage by his i'm
mense fortune and by the influence
which he has over his fellow citizens.
The garrison of Irkutsk was then
composed of a regiment of foot Cos
sacks, which numbered about 1000
men, a body of foot gendarmes, who
! wore the helmet and blue uniforms
striped with silver.
Besides, it is known that on account
of particular circumstances the brother
Of the czar had been shut up in the
town since the commencement of the
invasion.
That situation must be given in de-
tail.
1t was a journey Of political impor-
lance that had led the grand duke into
those distant provinces of eastern Asia.
The grand duke, after having visited
the principal cities of Siberia, travelling
in military rather than princely style,
without any %retinue, escorted by a de-
tachment Of Cossacks, had gone even
as far as the countries beyond the Bal
kan mountains. Nicholaevsk, the last
Russian town which is situated on the
shores of the sea of Okhotsk, had beer
hOnored by his visit.
Having reached the boundaries of the
immense M%uscovite empire, b grand
duke was returning to IrKutsk, from
whence he would soon return to Eu-
rope, when the news reached him Of
that invasion, which was as sudden as
it was menacing. He fastened to re-
enter the capital, but when he arrived
there communication with Russia had
been cut off. He still received a few tel
grams from st. Petersburg and Mos
cow. He could even answer them.
Afterward the wire was cut under he
circumstances already known to the
reader.
Irkutsk was isolated from the rest Of
the world.
The grand duke could do nothing but
organize resistance, a thing which he
did with that frmness and GOODNESS of
which he had given under other cir
cumstances incontestable proofs.
News of the taking of Ichim, of
Omsk, of Tomsk, came successfully to
Irkutsk. They could not count on be-
ing soon relieved, but they must pre-
VEN at all price the occupation of the
capital of Siberia. The few troops scat
tered wei the province Of Amur and
1 InOSe ~ the government u 1Thulsh
could not arrive in sufficient numbers
to arrest the Tartar columns. Besides,
since Irkutsk could not possibly escape
! being invested, it was of the utmost
importance to put the town in a posi-
ton to sustain a siege of some length.
Those works were begun on the day
on which Tomsk fell into the hands of
the Tartars. At the same time as that
last news the grand duke learned that
the emir Of Bokhara and the allied
khans were directing the movement in
person, but what he did not know was
that the lieutenant Of those barbarous
chiefs was Ivan Ogaref, a Russian off,
! Ger whom he himself had cashiered.
From the first, as has been seen, the
inhabitants Of the province Of Irkutsk
had been ordered to abandon the towns
and villages. Those who did not seek
refuge in the capital were compelled to
retire beyond Lake Baikal, to where
the invasion would not likely extend its
ravages. The crops Of corn and forage
were requis;tioned for the town, and
that last rampant Of Russian power in
the extreme east was prepared to re-