p. 503 | ITEMS OF NEWS

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 10, 1881

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 7, No. 42.

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ITEMS OF NEWS.

—The steamer Great Eastern was recently sold for $150,000.

—A famine is feared in Northern Russia. The crops are a failure.

—The expenditures of Japan last year were $12,000,000 less than the revenues.

—Statistics show that ninety-eight per cent. of inebriates use tobacco in some form.

—The first complete train passed through the St. Gothard tunnel, under the Alps, in fifty minutes.

—Severe cold weather is reported from the East. Snow has fallen to the depth of a foot in some parts.

—The railroad bridge over the Licking river at Cynthiana, Ky., was burned on Friday night, Nov. 4.

—The State of Pennsylvania has sued the Standard Oil Company for over $3,000,000 in taxes and penalties.

—Heavy snow storms and gales are reported in England. In parts of the midland counties two feet of snow are on the ground.

—The Upper Mississippi lead fields include 2,000,000 acres; 200,000 in Iowa, 400,000 in Northern Illinois, and 1,400,000 in Wisconsin.

—A dispatch from Oshkosh, Wis., says: Lake Winnebago is rising constantly. The damage to business is estimated at $5,000 per day.

—It is estimated that the Michigan fire swept over a surface of 1,800 square miles, and that the destruction of property amounts to $2,346,000.

—George W. Green, sheriff of San Mateo county, Cal., and a companion, were drowned in a creek leading into Halfmoon bay, Sunday, Nov. 6.

—The number of cattle reported in Texas for 1881 is 4,464,000 head, valued at $39,640,320; the value of the sheep there is estimated at $13,800,000.

—Dr. Robert Young, author of the "Analytical Concordance," has been ordered by his physicians to abstain from all literary labor for one year.

—A Galveston jury recently convicted William Petty of stage robbery, and fixed the penalty at imprisonment for ninetynine years in the penitentiary.

—The number of poor persons for which the municipality of Paris had to provide last year, was 353,812, while in London the number was only 105,000.

—The Illinois brewers have contributed a fund of $5,000, to be used in "disseminating information tending to popularize lager beer as a harmless beverage."

—A prominent tobacco manufacturer is reported to have said: "Nothing ever goes into tobacco as deleterious or injurious to the human constitution as tobacco itself.

—Advices from Mecca to the end of October are to the effect that the number of cases of cholera averaged fifteen daily. The number of pilgrims in the city is 100,000

—November 5, the Eagle docks, at Hoboken, N. J., and two full cargoes of merchandise, were totally destroyed by fire. The loss is about half a million dollars.

—A "crank" called at the White House recently, for the purpose of killing President Arthur. He claimed to have a commission direct from Heaven, for that purpose.

—Quite a number of cases have been already tried in the Irish Land Court. In all cases sweeping reductions have been made in the rents, each party paying its own costs.

—In 1842, the United States produced only 2,000,000 tons of coal; last year the amount mined reached 70,000,000 tons. The United Kingdom produced in the same time 135,000,000 tons.

—By denying themselves tobacco, and by the sale of trinkets which they made, the convicts in the Ohio penitentiary raised $100 for the Michigan sufferers. Many not in prison might profit by their example.

—It is said that since the decision of the Supreme Court in regard to the Sunday law, the business men and saloon keepers of Mokelumne, Cal., have signed an agreement to observe the law to the fullest extent.

—William L. Gibson, former cashier of the Citizens' National Bank, of Flint, Mich., has voluntarily surrendered himself to the officers, who were seeking to arrest him for the embezzlement of $17,000 of the bank funds.

—In a recent terrible storm at Manzinillo, Mexico, four large vessels and all the small craft in the harbor were lost. The Custom House and several stores, the American Consulate and others were completely destroyed.

—A merchant who has just arrived from Spanish Honduras says that 500 lives were lost by the recent floods there. The loss of live stock and the damage to the fruit interest and to the railroads is estimated at $20,000,000.

—The mammoth ferry-boat, Solano, which plies between Benicia and Port Costa, Cal., is in need of repairs, there being a large amount of grass on her bottom, but there is no dock in the State large enough to receive her.

—Floods in Dalmatia and Croatia have caused the River Kerks, in Hungary, to burst its bounds. Houses have been inundated, crops damaged, roads submerged and postal communications suspended. The rain continues and water is rising.

—Governor Cullom by proclamation prohibits the importation into Illinois of any cattle from the various infected districts of the Eastern States. The penalty is from $1,000 to $10,000 and payment of all losses resulting from such importation.

—Another warning to boys who steal rides, has just been given in San Francisco, but will probably be unheeded. A little boy five years old attempted to jump on a truck, but fell, the hind wheels passing over his chest. He lived but a few hours.

—The Irish Times states that a company is being formed, with a capital of about $15,000,000, at the head of which will be a member of the royal family, for the purpose of purchasing waste lands in Ireland, to be reclaimed and let or sold to tenants for cultivation on easy terms.

—Chief Justice Hunter, of Utah, has decided that George Q. Cannon, the Mormon delegate to Congress has not been legally naturalized, and is, therefore, not entitled to his seat. Allen G. Campbell, the gentle candidate for the position has gone to Washington to press his claims.

—A serious accident occurred at Keokuk, Iowa, on the 4th inst. The steamer War Eagle, going south, ran against a span of the Keokuk and Hamilton bridge, breaking it into fragments. The damage to the bridge was about $150,000. The steamer, valued at $40,000, was a total wreck. Several persons are missing, but no bodies have been found.

—The English railroads in 1880 carried 540,669,175 passengers—twenty times the population of the country. Of these passengers, 32,097,645, or only 6 per cent., traveled first class, 57,894,129 second class, and 450,677,401 third-class. The first-class passengers, however, paid 16 per cent. of the total fares.

—Judge Mayhew, in the Superior Court at Marysville, Cal., has issued an order restraining the working of the hydraulic mines in Nevada county, until further action of the court. This is in consequence of the violation of the order to prevent mining debris from flowing into the Yuba river or its tributaries.

—A smoke-consumer is being tried in Chicago. That city has an ordinance requiring all persons using large quantities of soft coal to effectually consume the smoke, so as to prevent its issuing from the smoke-stacks, to the great annoyance of the public. The new apparatus is said to prevent the smoke and saves one-third in fuel.

—The Supreme Court has recently decided that the Sunday law of California is Constitutional. The Grand Lodge of Good Templars has issued a large number of circulars containing extracts from the law, together with directions for bringing prosecutions before Justices' Courts, against its violators, and is urging its strict enforcement. A "League of Freedom" has been organized for the purpose of resisting all attempts to enforce the law.

—A letter from London says that the desire to get away from Germany is shown by the statistical register of the two towns of Hamburg and Bremen, which forwarded last year 106,790 persons, viz., Hamburg 42,787, and Bremen 64,003. During the last six months however, the emigration from these two places has been so large that it is to be feared Germany will lose at least more than 800,000 people in the course of the present year.

—The Mechanics' National Bank, Newark, N. J., has suspended in consequence of the defalcation of the cashier, O. L. Baldwin, who has been using the bank funds for some time, until more than $2,000,000 are gone. Baldwin gave himself up to the authorities, confessed his crime, and stated his willingness to spend the remainder of his life in jail. He has a family, has been connected with the bank from boyhood, and was regarded by all as above suspicion.

—Col. W. B. Smith, of Omaha, Neb., clerk of the United States Circuit Court, was murdered at his office on the night of the 4th. The Colonel was a prominent business man, and highly respected. He had been quite active in enforcing the law compelling saloons to pay $1,000 license, also compelling them to close on Sunday. This has caused a bitter feeling against him, among the saloon men, and it is thought that they are responsible for the deed. Several threatening letters, which he had received, tend to strengthen this view. Over $5,000 reward has been offered, by the citizens, for the arrest and conviction of the murderer.

—Last Sunday was the first Sunday since the decision of the Supreme Court, declaring the Sunday law Constitutional. In many of the interior towns the saloons and business houses were closed. In Stockton, the saloon keepers decided to hold open and resist the law, and most of them did so. No arrests have been made at this writing, but doubtless will be. In San Francisco and Oakland the law was not observed at all. Much difficulty is expected in enforcing the law in these places, but the Good Templars, who are the leaders in the movement, are carefully laying their plans. The editor of the Rescue, the Good Templars' organ, said that they meant business, and hoped eventually to close up not only the places where liquor was sold, but all other places where business was transacted contrary to law. He said they had the law on their side, and numbers of the most influential citizens had promised aid in the matter.