The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-12-01
KUROPATKlN
SVEN HEDIR,S IMPRESSIONS or
 THE RUSSIAN GENERAL.

or With Which He Directed the Af-
 fairs of His ProTInee-An Interesting
 Insight Into the Czar's Methods of
 andIing Reports.
 The first time personally had the honor to meet Gen. Kuropatkin he was yoyenniy natchalnik. or military com
 mander. of the new province of Trans caspia. That was in October, 1890. and at Askabad. where he had his head
 quarters. When I called upon him my
 overcoat was taken charge of by a
 Cossack and was ushered into a large
 hall, where I was received and my
 visit announced by an aide-de-camp.
 The walls of the noble apartment were
 adorned with Asiatic weapons, ancient
 and modern, and with portraits of the
 Imperial family. After I had waited a
 little, the general entered, dressed in
 full uniform, for he was about to pre-
 side at a meeting of some sort. He is
 a short but strongly-buiIt man, with
 black beard and small but kindly and
 Intelligent eyes. I was then just set
 ting out on my first journey to
 Kashgar, and KuropatIin gave me a
 good deal of information about the
 dangerous pass of Terkedayan. AL
 though expected to find it buried in
 snow, he did not attempt to dissuade
 me from the journey; a Northerner
 would not permit himself to be deterred
 by either snow or cold. When let fall
 the remark that upon my return
 home intended to write book about
 Turkestan, Kuropatlzin replied, humor-
 usly, that there were no secrets in
 Ashabad. I was at perfect liberty to
 go where I liked; might freely visit
 all the institutions in the town, might
 count the soldiers in the barracks, as 7well as the big guns, the rifles and the cartridges in the magazines, sketch whatever I though fit, and, he added, you may even write articles about it all to the Times if you like. If met with any difficulty had only to report the matter to him and he would see me lighted
 It was interesting to observe with what energy and vigor Kuropatzin Directed the military and even the civil affairs of his province. Everything worked like clockwork, with the greatest regularity and punctuality. Every Tuesday he directed the man peuvres of his troops, not seldom COW bring a march of twenty five miles On the following day he called his officers together and criticised the evolutions bf the preceding days march. Tn his Cossacks, their troubles, their wishes, ' heir needs, he took 8 direct personal Interest and always liked to see happy Rnd contented faces about him. But on Y he other hand, he maintained rigid military discipline, and would tolerate aeither laxity nor weakness.
 \ In November, 1890, I saw Kuropatkin \ &gain in Samarkand. remember, as we'll as if it were yesterday, witnessing ] he arrival at. the railway station Of he governor general, Baron Vrevsky. I zuropatkin met him at the train. The wo distinguished men took their seats h an open carriage, and away they Ealloped behind a troilza of coal-black
 orses to the governors palace. Tn ront and behind the carriage was es- s orted by a troop of Cossacks bearing bng pennoned lances. The people N lade way and greeted respectfully as he cortege swept along in a cloud of ust between the bef1agged facades of :, he houses. On the following day I was lvited to military dinner with the overnor-g general Among the officers resent at the table there were three rho have especially distinguished themselves in the history of Russian urkestan. The first was Kuropatkin iinself; the second Grodekoff, who, 1878 undertook the famous ride to Eerat and described the conquest of he Turcoman country by the Russians; nd thirdly Rasgonoy, who was a
 lember of the mission that was sent I 1878 to the Ameer shere Ali at Kabul mission which at the time caused a i bod deal of uneasiness in England
 Since then have had several ocs5 Rsions of meeting Gen. Kuropatkin, 8 nd when journeying to and from Asia ave never failed to call upon him, ther at his house in St. Petersburg or his datcha, or villa" on one of the
 lands of the Gulf of Finland but on
 he other hand, although have been
 vited to visit him on his estate at
 erijoki in Finland, have never been Af ple to do so. His villa, which is only
 yenty minutes drive outside of St $2k stersburg, is severely simple, not a
 g lace of luxury about it; a well-to-do ] le hinovik would hardly be able to ab- . q lain from turning up his nose at it. hd yet the general is a millionaire; : # Hit he is too honest and too proud a Ian to employ his wealth in minister ! a1 sg to his own selfish pleasure such a i tS Be for it he would look upon as absurd. l pI Ke has consistently set his face against e bmps and ceremony, and endeavored, en while at the summit of honor and los swer, to preserve the simplicity of the B Al ldier indeed it has seemed to him a as nple matter of duty that the man , ae no has the leading of the army ought q t point of both conduct and manner of cl e. to set an example to the men un- rS gr his charge. And even now, when ce e destinies of Russia are in his hands, ag hen he is leading her armies through overs of shot and shell, when his d me is daily upon thousands and ousands of lips all the world over, l Sn d heads the columns of all the news ms pers in existence-even now he is af1 stinguished by the same outer sim Z Hcity; no recherche dishes, no choice