Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 20, 1908

—Five men were killed and three injured by the explosion of a mixer in a starch factory at Providence, R. I., February 12.

—Two buildings of the Standard Express Company near Vaudreuil, Quebec, were destroyed, February 11, by an explosion which killed nine workmen.

—A meteor five feet in diameter buried itself six feet in the earth near a farmhouse twelve miles from Eureka Springs, Ark., the night of February 11. The shock was sufficient to cause the belief, before the real cause was known, that an earthquake had occurred.

—A tornado struck Tyler, Tex., February 14, leaving in its wake twelve wrecked buildings, about as many persons killed, and forty others injured. On the same day three small hamlets in Jones County, Miss., were demolished by a tornado. Seven persons were killed.

—Masked and armed night riders to the number of 150, invaded Fredonia, Ky., the night of February 8. Capturing the telephone operator, they cut off all means of communication, and imprisoned several citizens in a drug-store. A large guard was left in the town while others of the riders went five miles to View, where two tobacco warehouses belonging to non-union men were burned, inflicting a loss of $10,000.

—Prominent citizens of the anthracite coal region met at Wilkesbarre, Pa., February 11, to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the first burning of anthracite coal by Judge Jesse Fell, who successfully conducted the experiment. Twelve years after his discovery only 365 tons were shipped from the mines in a year. The present annual output amounts to 72,000,000 tons, with a value at the mines of $166,000,000.

—The United States Circuit Court of Appeals on February 12 confirmed the decision of the circuit court, holding the captain of the ill-fated excursion steamer “General Slocum” guilty of criminal negligence, on the occasion of the burning of that vessel, June 15, 1904, when about 1,000 lives were lost. He was found guilty, and sentenced, Jan. 27, 1906, to ten years at hard labor in Sing Sing. The case was appealed, and the captain was released on $10,000 bail, waiting the decision which has just been rendered.

—Following attempts to blackmail the son of the late Senator Quay, the police of Pittsburg, Pa., arrested eight alleged members of the black hand society. The police claim that a school to train young men in extortion and in the best methods of taking human life was in session when they reached the rendezvous.

—The cabinet council of the king of Portugal has resolved not to rescind the dictatorial decrees of Premier Franco, promulgated during the last days of King Carlos’ reign, except those considered offensive to the public dignity. This unexpected action of the cabinet has caused the utmost astonishment.

—The annual flood of the rivers and small streams of western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and West Virginia has partially inundated many cities and towns in those sections. It is estimated that fully 20,000 men are out of employment as one result, and the property loss will be many millions. In the Pittsburg district alone the loss last year was $10,000,000.

—Three men connected with ice companies of Toledo, Ohio, were found guilty of conspiracy in restraint of trade, and each was sentenced to six months in the workhouse and $25,000 fine. The case was appealed, and the Supreme Court of the State has just rendered its decision of six months in jail and costs of first trial. In the numerous trust cases prosecuted in Ohio this is the first where the convicted men have been sent to jail.

—On February 12 an attempt was made to wreck the New York-Chicago express on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, near Girard, Ohio; but the obstruction was discovered by the section boss just in time to prevent disaster. Two days later dynamite was used near Thurmond, W. Va., in an attempt to wreck a fast train from New York to Cincinnati on the Chesapeake and Ohio. A slight miscalculation alone thwarted the plot, as the explosion occurred about one minute after the train had passed.

—A new arbitration treaty between the United States and France was signed February 10, by Secretary of State Root, and the French ambassador, Mr. J. J. Jusserand, and will soon be submitted to the Senate for ratification. This treaty is practically the same as the conventions which France has negotiated with several European nations,—Great Britain (October, 1904), Italy, Spain, and Holland. These treaties provide arbitration for disputes, except those affecting the vital interests, the independence, or the honor of the nations involved, or the interests of a third state, not a party to the treaty.

—A company of women on February 11, resorted to strategy in their attempt to deliver in person to the British House of Commons a resolution protesting against the “unconstitutional action of the government in refusing a vote to women tax payers.” About thirty of them were hauled to the entrance in a furniture van, but their rush for the door was intercepted by the police, who found it necessary to lock up about fifty of the most refractory members of the company. They were released on bail about midnight, but at the trial next day all but two chose the jail sentence of one month in preference to paying the fine imposed.