The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-11-11
THE WONDERS OF THE
WORLDS WICKEDEST CITY

What San Francisco was in 40.
when it flourished as the gilded cap
ital of Western America, Irkutsk, the
largest town of Siberia, metropolis of
the Asiatic gold fields, is today-with
additional trimmings.
Residence in Irkutsk is not quite a
rest cure for the nerves. With a pop
ulation of 100000, crammed into a
couple of square miles on a pictur-
esque bend in the Angara river, it
produces some hundred murders or
murderous assaults in the course of
year, with ten arrests or so, and
four convictions with sentences of a
matter of a few years residence in
Jail. Those are last years figures
and with a throb Of civic pride the
natives tell you that 1910 was quite
an off year.
'In the spring a young mans fancy
lin Irkutsk) lightly turns to thoughts
of blood" One fine day in May last
year there were twenty-five assorted
murders and attempted murders with
in the city limits. Then the street
cleaners and insurance agents voiced
protest, and there was talk of re-
viving the old vigilance committee
that citizens, up to a few years ago,
1cnH tp fhprngnIyrpc
after the manner of Frisco in it's
prime,
Missing Gold.
The vigilance committee that once
held sway in Irkutsk was not alto
gether a success. The scheme pro
iected by a handful of law-abiding
citizens was enthusiastically received
by ex-convicts and delegates of the
murders. They rolled up in their doz-
ems and volunteered for service. The
governor granted them exceptional
powers, and they made the best use
of them While the police were
! Eribed into passivity, wealthy mer-
chants were shot down In broad day.
/ light as suspects" and under the
cover of "house raiding" and spun
itary confiscation,' burglary bios
somed out into intolerable proper
tons. That is why the vigilance com
mittee idea is no longer as popular
| in Irkutsk as it might be. Still,
though vigilance committees are ban
ished to the limbo of the past, the
police and the Cossocks manage to
keep life pretty lively.
A few years ago all the gold mined
in Eastern Siberia had to pass
through the government laboratory at
Irkutsk. AS a matter of fact, only
about 40 per cent of it did The other
/ 60 per cent went to the city's Chinese
dealers in tea" and journeyed back
/ to the Celestial Empire in many and
devious ways, quite quantity packed
in the corpses of coffned Cinnamon
being returned to the East for burial
among their ancestors.
Shots at Random.
Well, in spite of that leakage, q
good deal of gold dust found its way
into the laboratory, and having beer
cast into ingots was stacked up il
tempting array awaiting transporta
ton to Russia and the Imperial Mint
After several night watChmen at the
institution had met with accidents
the authorities began to perceive tht
coincidence and appointed force o
/ Cossacks to come in each evenini
and stand guard over the treasure
All went well for a time Then, ont
dark night, the Cossack guard brewe,
itself a glass of hot "chai,' lit it
cigarettes, turned up its overcoat co
lars. and completely disappeared wit
every single ingot of gold on tn
premises Since the Cossacks, a
civil authority, have shared Irkutsk
feelings toward vigilance committees
There are other aspects of the pref
ervation of law and order
Irkutsk of which the ordinary Anne
lean citizen would not altogether al
prove. For the last eighteen month
the city has had a rudimentary stree
lighting system, but the residents
thoroughfares, a stones throw frol
the main shopping streets, are le
in pitchy darkness. Naturally, the
form the burglars happy huntin
ground Not infrequently, as you pa'
down one Of these streets late
, night, YOU will be startled by an g
. plosion over your head and the viii
tie of spreading bird shot past yo'
ears. For the timid householder
I without the slightest objection bell
l. raised by the police, fire a shotg'
from the bedroom window, beto
u tur,,i,g IN for tho night inst To she