p. 215 | News and Notes by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 4, 1882

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 8, No. 18.

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News and Notes.

By Editor

—Three inquests on suicides were held in San Francisco, April 29.

—The estimated reduction of the public debt for April is $14,000,000.

—It is reported that half the children in Eureka, Cal., are afflicted with small-pox.

—The number of immigrants that arrived in New York last month was over 70,000.

—Dr. Lamson, for whom the United States interceded with England, confessed his crime.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson died at his home in Concord, Mass., April 27, of acute pneumonia.

—The bill to restrict Chinese immigration passed the Senate by a vote of thirty-two to fifteen.

—J. G. Vanmeter, an old citizen of Oroville, Cal., died suddenly, April 27, from the effects of a bee-sting.

—The present annual consumption of all classes of distilled liquors in the United States is about 70,000,000 gallons.

—Chicago has but 300 churches to 5,242 liquor saloons, and 8,000 of its 100,000 buildings are used for immoral purposes.

—The lowest percentage of illiteracy in the United States is found in Nebraska, and the highest in South Carolina.

—A large part of the news of the day is contained in accounts of crimes, such as we cannot admit to our columns.

—The effort to restore the franking privilege is reported "a dismal failure." The dismal part would have been its success.

—A fire at Eau Claire, Wis., April 24, destroyed sixty-three buildings, causing a loss estimated at not less than $250,000.

—The Indian war in Arizona is assuming rather large proportions. The government is preparing to engage in it vigorously.

—Lieut. Danenhauer, of the Jeannette, has arrived at St. Petersburg. He is convinced that the Captain De Long party will never be found.

—A mass meeting in Clay Co., Missouri, near the home of the James boys, indorsed Governor Crittenden in his warfare against the bandits.

—The steamer City of Sanford was burned near Jacksonville, Florida, April 25. Nine persons are known to have perished in the flames.

—A grand plan to blow up the Kremlin at the time of the coronation of the Czar, has been discovered. Three hundred arrests have been made.

—A bill has passed in the Senate, to appropriate $5,000,000 for the improvement of the Mississippi River, and $1,000,000 for the Missouri River.

—Pinkeye is raging in Santa Clara county. The San Jose Times says thirteen horses died of this disease on the San Martino ranch, near Gilroy, recently.

—The severest earthquake ever known in Western Washington occurred at 10:45 on the evening of April 30. Mount Ranier has emitted smoke since the shock.

—Heavy fighting is reported between the natives on the west coast of Africa. More than 2,000 persons were killed. The English inhabitants are alarmed for their safety.

—The Herald’s London special says: The House of Commons has passed the bill authorizing the construction of an electric railway at Charing Cross, under the river to Waterloo Station.

—In San Jose, Cal., on the morning of April 30, a house burned and a man and his wife were burned in it. The papers say they used intoxicating liquors. Nobody to blame, of course.

—It is stated that in spite of orders from St. Petersburg for the prompt punishment of the persecutors of the Jews, several notorious offenders have been released from custody. Fresh outrages are taking place constantly.

—There was a riot at Frankford, County Kings, Ireland, on Saturday, April 29. A number of persons, reported to have paid rents, were fearfully beaten. The police arrested thirty persons and cleared the streets at the point of the bayonet.

—Last week a Whitehall gentleman, viewing the St. Patrick procession in New York, overheard a footman say: "Bedad, the whisky sellers roides the horses, and the whisky drinkers goes afut." N. B. No news in this item. It was always thus.

—Two foreign dispatches read: "London, April 30. A full-rigged ship is ashore at Swanage. All on board have been drowned. The gale has been very heavy." And "Aberdeen, April 30. The loss by the fire in the New Market buildings was $100,000. Three persons were killed."

—A dispatch from Boston, May 1, says: "The steamer Glamorgan, from Liverpool, arrived badly scratched by ice. The vessel steamed 160 miles on the southern edge of an ice field and passed fully 100 large icebergs, on which were Polar bears and many seals. Several sailing vessels were sighted, ice-bound."

—An unusually severe wind, amounting to a hurricane, visited London and the southern and western parts of England, April 29. At Dover, Swansea, Brighton, Portsmouth, Plymouth, and other places on the coast, great damage was done and many lives were lost. Many disastrous wrecks are reported, though reports are yet partial.

—Some fellow of nihilist tendencies recently made an attempt on the lives of Wm. H. Vanderbilt and Cyrus W. Field, by sending them packages of explosives. The plan failed only because one of the packages exploded in the mail-bag. Another infernal machine was sent in New York, to Police Superintendent Walling. It is now generally agreed that this is the work of German socialists.

—The following note from a San Francisco paper of recent date will be of interest to meat eaters: "Vento Palmer, a dairyman near the Presidio, was arrested by officer Christie yesterday on a charge of slaughtering within the city limits, a charge of selling diseased meat being held in reserve. On the afternoon of the 18th inst. Palmer slaughtered a sick cow, which evidently had but a few hours to live, and on the following day attempted to dispose of the meat. The person making the complaint states it to be a weekly occurrence for dairymen and stock-owners in the outlying districts to kill diseased cattle, and sell the flesh to meat-peddlers and sausage-makers."

—The following is from Nature, the leading scientific journal of England. Under date of April 6th, 1882, it says: "Our Paris correspondent inspected a few days ago, at Fiel’s workshop, the large flint-glass disk which has been cast for the Lick Observatory in California, and purchased by the Trustees for $2,000. It is now on its way to Clark’s for polishing. Its diameter is 38.34 inches, its thickness, 21.65 inches; its weight, 374.85 pounds avoirdupois. This casting took place in four days, during which eight tons of coal were consumed. The cooling took thirty days. On the optical tests being made the glass was found perfect in all its parts. The crown-glass disk has been cast and is cooling."