The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-10-23
RUSSIAN DEBAUCHERY.


I1pte5aI 0abls Dsspafeh to TIE SUN
LoNpoN Dot 22.-The correspondent OF
the Lnily Telegraph at st. Petersburg sends
come lurid pictures Of matters at the front.
At Harbin, where the troops rest In order to
prepare for active work, vodka, cards
and coarse pleasures, he says, are the prep
parations that most Of them make. He
quotes a general order Of the day issued
by, Gen. VolkofY, which says Drunken
soldiers are met at every handle turn on
the streets as well as at the railway sta
ton. Many who have been insolent and
disobedient have been oourt-martialled.
A Russian correspondent thus fills In
the Generals sketch Il had scarcely
quilted the train at Liaoyang when the
wounded began to arrive. Gradually the
moaning Of the bleeding soldiers grew
In volume till It deadened the din OF the
station More and more the atmosphere
became saturated with the peculiar smell
of blood known only on the battlefield.
But this melancholy picture had no
SOLDERING eject upon group OF elegant,
dAndif1ed Cossack officers who had just
arrived from st. Petersburg. Five PAGES
from the dead and dying they sat merrily
drinking champagne and favoring it with
obscene jests. Only in war are such con-
trasts possible. Here men cease to wear
masks and show themselves as they are.
You note the arrival Of officers who are
lean and wasted from hunger and hard
ships, and cheek by jowl with these you
witness the orgies Of half drunken men
fauIblessly dressed, hear the pop of cham
payne bottles, the laughs that greet ribald
jests and the requests Of painted women
who even at this supreme moment try to
wheedle upsy officers out Of their last
rubles."
1T Is to he regretted" writes M.
Danchenko, the leading Russian CORE
spondent, that some officers on the way
to Join their regiments go 20 far as to treat
sisters Of charity as they are accustomed
to treat women Of the class that follows
the rear OF an army"
The correspondent OF the Telegraph goes
on to cay that the commissariat is sup
posed to be better than during the Turkish
campaign but judging from private letters
from officers and the revelations Of corre-
spondents it could hardly be worse. The
correspondent Of the Viedemosi tells the
following incident: For three days we
have had nothing to eat, said soldier to
! the correspondent. Here, take your FILL"
replied the correspondent. Il annot eat
here said the soldier. why not9" asked the
| corresp pendent. -There is an officer with
me who is worse than myself, replied the
soldier. We'll, call him. too said the
correspondent. He won't come" said
the soldier. "He il ashamed. but II you
let me take him food he will be grateful
An officer writes that it is members OF
the Red Cross and other societies that are
succoring the wounded who have frequently
to feed the soldiers on active service The
head delegate OF the Red Cross Society
states in a letter received Of st. Petersburg
that the troops at the front are suffering
horribly from lack Of victuals and clothing.
The Red Cross Society distributes bread
and tea and timed meats to soldiers In
battle, and boots and overooats come from
the same source and not from the com.
missariat. %" \
In letter to his wife Captain at thd
front says, sWe, officers cannot lie down
\ svnight even after day Of killing fatigue.
A-r~-.-.e...as>.s.Ss