Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-19
IN kARAKUMD DESERT
Where the Turkoman Is Found
in His Savage Glory.
SUSPICIOUS OF RUSSIANS
Object to Presence Of Tourists in
Turkestan.
WATCHFUL OF FOREIGNERS
0mcials Apprehensive Of the Efforts
of England to Find Out the
Secrets of the Country.
OF FOREIGNERS
BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
ASkAHBAD. Turkestan, June IS, 1910.
The railway station at Krasnovdsk Is
a handsome building Of truly oriental
and therefore appropriate design, with
arabesue treatment of the roof, and built
of alternate courses of dark and light
gray stone There is a wide terrace, with
a balustrade overlooking the tracks, and
wooden seats painted green, where the
public gather daily to see the trains go
out. It Is the one diversion Of an other
wise barren town. The express train for
Tashkend leaves at 8 o'clock in the even
ing, local time and a convenient hour
for everybody. The men folks have fin
ished their work and eaten their suppers
and it is not yet time to put the babies to
bed So they all come down, men,
women and children, to gossip and watch
the strangers and spend an hour or so
in the cool twilight on the terrace that
overlooks the bay.
do not understand why the railway
management makes up it's schedules on st.
Petersburg time, for there are two hours
difference, but for the convenience of
the public the clocks in the station
houses are rugged with two sets of point
ers, one painted black. which represents
the railway. and the other red, which in
dictates the local time.
Several years ago, while riding about
the city OF Savannah, during wait OF
couple of hours between trains, ] hap
pened to look up at the clock in church
minutes to spare before my train left, and
directed the old colored driver to hurry.
He replied that we need not hurry, for we
had more than an hour to spare, and in
answer to my inquiry said:
we has two kinds of time in Savannah,
boss; de standard time, and the -meditar-
ranean time. De cyars runs by the stan
dard time, but the people OF de town
gifts up and goes to bed by the mediter-
ranean time, which am the time of the
sum-
In Turkestan there is similar prac-
tice, the inhabitants rise and shine by
meridian time and the railway trains run
by st. Petersburg time.
A Suspicious subaltern.
There is an excellent restaurant in the
station at krasnovodsk, where we were
eating a very satisfactory dinner, when
an imperious young oficer, in the uni
form of the gendarmes, or imperial
Russian police, stepped up to US and in
an arbitrary and insolent manner asked
who we were and where We were goins,
az il we were tramps and he policeman
We told him we were Americans on our way
to Bokhara simply as tourists and show
ed him our passports and permit, which a
very courteous senior omcer In charge OF
that business had pronounced regular and
satisfactory. But this subaltern evidently
suspected that we had designs upon the
peace and tranquility Of Turkestan and
was determined to avert the danger II
possible We made an enort to satisfy
him of our innocence and respectability.
but he looked very distrustful as ne lett
the dining room.
The Central Asia railway. as have ex-
planned, is primarily q military road. to
transport troops and supplies to the Rus
sian possessions in central Asia, and to
one can pass over it without special
permit. in addition to the regular pass
port. which a foreigner can only obtain
through his ambassador at st. Petersburg
from the ministry of war. The ministry OF
the interior has jurisdiction over or
railway is outside its jurisdiction and
under the control of the war department.
No one can go aboard steamer on the
Caspian sea or buy a railway ticket or
enter a train in Turkestan without an
octriti lista. as the permit is called. and
even then it must first be compared with
a duplicate which is. forwarded to the
police bureau at Krasnovodsk, whenever
one is issued at st. Petersburg.
Suspicious Continue.
Our passports and our permit had been
inspected, approved and returned to US by
the officials in charge of such matters,
and this young subaltern was informed
by the senior officer in charge that every
thing was satisfactory; but his suspicious
had been aroused by something about our
conduct or appearance, and after we had
purchased our tickets to Tashkend he
came around again to inquire why we
had done so, when we had just told him
that we were going to Bokhara, which
is only a little more than half way. We
explained that, having found the train
SO comforts bic, we had concluded to con-
tinue our journey to Tashkend and to
stop at Bokhara OIL our return, but he
seemed to consider this a suspicious cir
cumstance and made himself very OBJ
noxious by his inquisitiveness. An officer
who had been at the same hotel with us
at Baku and had crossed the caspian on
the same steamer put in good word for
us, but the young captain refused to be
convinced and, as We learned the next
day, telegraphed his suspicious to the
chief Of the political police at Askhabad,
which occasioned an exciting little cpl
sode.
The regulations are very strict about
strangers. The Russian government does
not want tourists to come to Turkestan
and evidently the officials make 1t as dis
agreeable as possible for them. All for
eigners are unwelcome; commercial trav-
elers from every other country are eX-
cluded: no German or Frenchman or
EnRlishman can sell goods in Turkestan,
and the trade is protected in thorough
and arbitrary manner for the merchants
and manufacturers Of Moscow and other
Russian cities There are Russian agents
of foreign commission houses buying
wool, cotton hides. skins and other prod
ucts Of the country and they are never
interfered with, because the products of
Turkestan must find a market outside of
Russia to a certain extent, but Russia
can supply all the needs Of the people
without the aid Of foreigners.
Watched by Train 0mcials.
The train consisted Of six carriages,
one first, one second and two third class,
with a primitive dining car similar to
those used by the bosses Of construction
trains on American railroads, and a sep
arate kitchen car which was very much
like an American caboose. The locomotive
was an oil burner, and tank car Of oil
was attached to it in addition to the
tender The first-class cars are very
comfortable. divided into compartments
for two and for four passengers, and ar
ranged so that the backs Of the long
couches used for seats can be lifted and
ia stened in a horizontal position to make
an upper berth. The beds, made up this
way, are Just as comfortable as those OF
a Pullman sleeper. But we had to bring