The Wickedest City in the World.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVI, Issue 18, 1 November 1911, Page 57

The Wickedest City in the World.

night life IN iukvtsk. Which is the fastest city in the wot Id. An American banker, Mr Woodruff, who is a globe trotter of renown, plumps for Irk utsk, the capita! of Eastern Siberia. H-‘ is familiar with Paris, London, Budapest. Vienna, New York, and oilier capitals, hut he declares that for genuine wickedness they are outclassed by likutsk. “Irkutsk is not only the wickedest, but It is the fastest city in the world,” said Mr Woodruff, soon after bis return to New York. “There is more night life in that little town of lOO.tHM people than there Is In nil Paris or New York. In one of the gambling houses there I saw ns much as 1OO.(KM) dollars staked on the turn of a card a dozen times in an even lug. Why, the gambleis av Monte Carlo are spikors compared with those r the sporty citizens of Irkutsk. In the <fes 1 saw gay parties drinking bottle after bottle of wine at £4 per bottle. Ju all my travels I have never seen so many beautiful and well dressed women and women of all national ties. The opera there is almost as brilliant as the Opera In Paris. Duels, stiicidefi, murders, aie of weekly occurrence, but a formal reception nt St. Petersburg could not boast of any more culture than is to be found at a amart entertainmeut in one of the fashionable homes in this Siberian city. If anyone imagines New York is swift, a visit to Irkutsk will open his eyes. The quintessence of vice Is to be found there.” Irkutsk has among Its clti rens MORE MILLIONAIRES than any city of its size in the world, and they have to spend their money in the city, for the reason that they are not allowed to leave the province. Most of them —es peclally the rich ones are convicts wh ♦ have amassed fortunes in gold mining. The Baikal Mountains, near Irkutsk, are filled with rich veins of gold, and it is no exng- . gcßitivn to say that of mon in this comparatively small town in the heart of Siberia have become rich beyond the dreams of avarice. The flood of gold has naturally attracted al! the luxuries of the world, and, ns usual, the luxuries have brought vices. The Monastery of St. In nocent, which cost upwards of 7,000,000 d 'llars, is one of the finest specimens of ar chiteetiHe in the world. The city has in »ro public institutions than any city its size in the world. Its cathedrals vie with any to be found in Russia, St. Hasil’s alone ex cepted. Its opera house is eclipsed only by the Opera in Paris. With these refine meats came GORGEOUS HOTELS AND C AFES. The principal cafe In Irkutsk is as good as Anything in New York, and its prices are at least four times as high. Ail the deli ■cacies of the world are to be had, including the rarest wines, and at prices that would stagger Pittsburg millionaires. As the city is a capital, it is well stocked with officials, the Governor-General and Civil Governor having each no Jess than three substitutes. Gilded youths from St. Petersburg ond /Moscow are sent there -for discipline, and the demi-monde from all over Europe and Asia are there in large numbers. Irkutsk Is a meeting place for the vicious from all quarters of the globe. There is nothing secret about any of the vice.

•very type of beauty le to be found—beautiful geiaba girls in native costumes hieing with Viennese and Parisian women In the latest creations. All the gambling bouses are wide open, the more important eonducted under police protection. The eafe* never close, and it. Is between tho hours of midnight and four in the morning that they are at their liveliest. Everyone drinks; most uf the Russian women ■moke cigars, leaving their Parisian sisters to enjoy a cigarette. Tragedies, as might be expected, are frequent, and suicides are •o tiumorons that scarcely any attention is pa ill to them except by the immediate friends or relatives.

THERE IS EXTREME POVERTY In certain and there is a larg« class of poor exconvicts who make trouble from time to time. A regiment of 1000 soldiers, as well as 200 mounted Cossacks, k> needed to preserve order, and when disturbances arise they make arrests by the wholesale. As long as these rich residents of Irkutsk content themselves with being fleeced in the gambling halls, robbed by women from Paris and Vienna, with drinking themselves to death or even murdering each other, the JRussian authorities don’t care. The only thing the officials insist upon is that tho residents do not

leave the province. Every road Is carefully guarded, and no one is allowed to board a train on the Trans-Siberian Railicad iu either direction, having his passport scrutinised by at least half a dozen officials. A native of Irkutsk has to make the betst of his life there. ESCAPE IS IMPOSSIBLE. Even the nearest city, Krasnoyarsk, fa 670 miles away. During the season, which, as in all Russian cities, is during the winter, ail sorts of festivities are In progress. In addition to the opera, there are theatre*, concerts by famous musicbans, and halls of almost Viennese brilliance. The most

costly favours are distributed at these balls, and daring dance# are almost invariably given for the entertainment of tb e guests. There. are scores of homes i a Irkutsk which costs upward of a million dollars, nearly all of them with private ballrooms ahd picture galleries? Not'nutd everyone has drunk so much champagne that the servants have to assist them boms is an event of this kind concluded. Strange as it .may seem, the demimondaines s<xin to be received on a basis of equality n-tli the so-called respectable element. Tho very air seems sure barged • with talk of •beautiful mistresses, duels, and . favours won.