The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1919-06-20
OmSk Progresses In
Spite Of BolShevikS

ISOLATED Press)-American readers of
the great Russian novelist, Dostoiev-
sky, who, eXiled for a political crime,
spent four years at hard labor, in the
fortress prison of Omsk, would hard
ly recognize in the Omsk of today
the terrible conditions which he de-
picted in his book, "Recollections of
the House of the Dead" 1t was in
1S49 that Dostoievsky began his term
of exile and passed through the ex-
periences which he so powerfully
pictured later. The house of the
dead" no longer exists at Omsk. 1t
has passed to give room for the build
ing of a more modern and more hope
full city.
1t is difficult to realize how the
present half million population of
Omsk lives. The normal population
is one hundred thousand but the con-
slant influx of refugees from the
centers of Bolshevism has swelled
the number of inhabitants. To find
a house or apartment is not to be
thought of in the present day Omsk,
chosen as the capital of the provision
al All-Russian government. The most
without the Intervention of friends or
the hello of the authorities who do
not hesitate to requisition rooms in
case of urgent need. The city is
withou. electricity except in a few
sections and the streets at night are
in o6scurity. For hat reason few
cloc1 because of the possible danger
or robbery or worse. Public safety
has, however, greatly improved in the
past two months.
Imposing Buildings Seen
Outsk in it's main thoroughfare has
1lany finely a pointed Office buildings
and some modern apartment houses.
The residential section consists of
low-built houses CT wood or mortar.
There are several fine views due to
the presence of many domed churches
and the long expanses of space affort-
ed by the rivers Irish and On which
meet in the very heart of the city. AT
forty below zero few women are seen
in the streets, but the advent of a
day when the mercury rises nearer
zero brings out a large number of
ladies who look very attractive in
their great-coats of varied colored
furs and their overshoes always
p~rettily bordered with mink or hare.
The Siberian hare's fur is utilized in
the fashioning of warm and attractive
hats with long streamers covering the
ears and tying under the chin. Hare
are so plentiful that theee hats are.
within the financial reach of almost
everybody.
1t is the orthodox cathedral, dedi-
Gated by the late Emperor Nicholas
in 1891, which looms up, vast and
imposing, as the dominating struc-
ture of the capital. On m side is
the former residence of the civil gov
ernor of Omsk, now used by the
foreign office, and on the opposite
side of the square is the imposing
Ministry of Justice, as yet uncom-
pleted. The cathedral, which is call
ed the Church of the Ascension of
the Saviour, is a vast edifce capable
of holding 1000 persons. During the
Saturday night and Sunday morning
services the brilliant and g%littering
auditorium is crowded with people,
all standing in accordance with Rus
sian custom. The cathedral has a
great dome surrounded by several
turrets and has on one side a high
tower of finely sculptured stone sur
mounted by a spire.
In 1714, Peter the First sent a COM
mission to the Omsk region to erect
a small fortress on the bank of the
river ON, from which the city later
took its name. In 1865, began the
COHSIIuCllOH VI d new anu llOIe SOllu
fortress. 1t was in the form of a
polygon with five bastions. Beside it
was erected later the wooden prison,
surrounded by a high palisade, which
served to imprison Russian political
eXiles, and in which Dostoievsky
spent his four years for having been
in the Pougatchof riots. This wa
the Dead House" which he later de-
scribed to the world in protest of the
horrors of Siberian Punishment.