Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-05-02
oMsK A BUSY CITY.
Former "House Of the Dead" Replaced
by More HopefuI City.

by More Hopeful City.
Omsk, Siberia, Feb. 25-American
readers Of the great Russian novelist,
Dostoievsky, who, exiled for a politi-
cal crime, spent four years at hard la
Dor in the fortress prison Of Onisk,
would hardly recognize In the Omsk
Of today the terrible conditions which
he depicted in his book. Recollections
of the House of the Dead" It was
in 1849 that Dostoievsky began his
term Of exile and passed through the
experiences which he 30 powerfully
pictured later. The house Of the dead"
no longer exists at Omsk. It has pass
ed to give room for the building Of
more modern and more hopeful city.
1t is difficult to realize how the pres
ent half million population Of onsk
lives. The normal population Is 100,-
900 but the constant influx Of refugees
from the centres Of Bolshevism has
swelled the number Of inhabitants.
ITO find house or apartment Is not
to be thought Of in the present-day
Omsk, chosen as the capital Of the
Provisional all Russian government.
The most humble room Is not to be
obtained without the intervention Of
friends or the help Of the authorities.
who do not hesitate to requisition
rooms in case Of urgent need. The
city is without electricity, except In q
few sections, and the streets at night
are in obscurity. For that reason few
persons go out after s or o'clock be-
cause of the possible danger Of rob-
berry or worse. Public safety has, how
ever, greatly improved in the last two
months.
Omsk in its main thorou8hfare has
many finely appointed Office buildings
and some modern apartment houses.
The residential section consists OF low
built houses Of wood or mortar. There
are several fine views due to the pres
,ence of many domed churches and the
long expanses Of space afforded 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 q day when
the mercury rises nearer zero brings
out a large number Of ladies, who look
very attractive In their great-coats
of various colored furs' and their over
shoes, always prettily bordered with
mink or hare. The Siberian hare's fur
is utilized in the fashioning OF warm
and attractive hats with long stream
ers covering the ears and tying un-
der the chin. Hare are so plentiful
that these hats are within financial
reach of almost everybody.
It Is the orthodox cathedral, de-
dicated by the late Emperor Nicho-
las In 1891, which looms up, vast and
imposing as the dominating structure
Of the capital. On one side is the for
meh residence of the civil governor OF
omsk now used by the foreign office.
and on the opposite side Of the square
is the imposing Ministry Of Justice
as yet uncompleted. The cathedral
which is called the church Of the as
cension of the Savior, Is a vast edifice
capable of holding 1000 persons Dur
ing the Saturday night and Sunday
morning services the brilliant and gilt
tering auditorium is crowded with peo-
pie, all standing in accordance with
Russian custom. The cathedral has
great dome surrounded by several tur-
rets and has on one side a high tower
of finely sculptured stone surmounted
by spire.
In TIA, 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 it's name. In 17s6, began the con-
struction of a new and more solid for
tress. It was in the form OF poly
eon with five bastions.1 Beside 1t was
erected later the wooden prison, eur
rounded 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 was the
"Dead House" which he later descri-
bed to the world in protest OF the nor
rors of Siberian Punishment.