SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 3, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 21.

SECULAR.

—Vice-President Morton and his wife and daughter sailed for Europe on the 18th ult.

—The Lutheran Norwegian College at Decorah, Iowa, was destroyed by fire the night of the 19th ult.

—The English court is wearing mourning for three weeks on account of the late dowager queen of Bavaria.

—Prince Henry, of Prussia, has christened his infant son Waldemar Wilhelm Ludwig Friedrich Victor Heinrich.

—President Harrison emphatically declines to converse on political questions or transact any official business on Sunday.

—Twenty-one passengers were injured at Corbyville, Ontario, by an accident on the Modoc branch of the Grand Trunk Railway the 18th ult.

—The recent contest for supremacy in the Montana Constitutional Convention was very close, the Democrats having only a small majority.

—Edison is at present devoting his attention to the problem of turning heat from coal directly into electricity without the use of battery or dynamo.

—A Russo-American company has been organized for the purpose of constructing a railroad across Siberia to some point on the Pacific, where they can connect with San Francisco by steamers.

—Recent mail advices from Constantinople state that a serious palace conspiracy for deposing the Sultan has just been discovered, and as a consequence there have been many mysterious arrests.

—Thousands of disgusted and disheartened boomers are returning from Oklahoma, having found it far from the paradise it was reported, and some portions of it destitute of water and almost barren.

—Numerous suits against ex-convict James D. Fish, of the Marine Bank, which have been lying dormant during his imprisonment, are to be revived, and again brought forward into the courts against him.

—The most extensive mining contest ever engaged in on the Pacific Coast was begun in Los Angeles, Cal., recently. The suit involves $40,000,000, and concerns two of the largest companies doing business in the State.

—The British steamer German Emperor ran into another British steamer, the Beresford, while the latter was anchored on Goodwin Sands, the 20th ult. The colliding steamer sank instantly. Six of her crew are supposed to be lost.

—There is talk of incorporating a stock company in the United States, for the purpose of establishing a factory in Ireland, in which the evicted tenants can find employment. Boots, shoes, clothing, and underwear would be manufactured.

—The dead body of Dr. Cronin, the Irish-American who strangely disappeared from his home in Chicago a few weeks ago, was found some distance north of that city in a sewer on the 22d ult. It is conceded that Cronin was murdered.

—Fish in the Iowa River, from Marshalltown down, are dying by thousands, and it is believed the river is poisoned. The contamination extends for fifty miles. Some death of stock is also reported from the effects of drinking the water.

—The Executive Committee of the National Conference of Charities has decided to hold the next annual meeting at San Francisco, commencing on September 11. Representatives of all charitable and correctional institutes in the country are invited.

—George Bancroft, the aged historian, is failing very fast mentally, so much so, indeed, that he is no longer considered able to take care of himself even in conversation. No one besides his physician is permitted to see him, with the exception of intimate friends.

—Mrs. Winter, of Deptford, England, must be a modern Lucretia Borgia. It now comes to light that she is in the habit of insuring her relatives and then poisoning them to obtain the premium. Since 1885 she has insured twenty-seven individuals, five of whom she has since poisoned.

—The latest reports from the flooded districts of Austria show that the loss of life was much greater than was supposed. The rivers are still greatly swollen. The deepest distress prevails throughout the submerged districts, and steps are being taken to relieve the immediate wants of the sufferers.

—John W. Young, son of the late Brigham Young, and financial agent of the Mormon Church, has just completed the purchase of 70,000 acres in the northwestern part of the State of Chihuahua, Mexico, for $100,000. Many thrifty Mormons are already moving to the property, having despaired of the admission of Utah as a State.

—The first train over the new line of the Canadian Pacific Railway through the back-woods of Northern Maine had a novel experience recently. Millions of caterpillars covered the rails to such an extent that two locomotives were unable to do more than barely make headway through the squirming mass, which extended over a distance of eleven miles.

—A report was submitted to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church at New York, May 20, showing that, of the 1,800,000 colored children of school age in the South, only 800,000 attend school. It was asserted that illiteracy in that race was increasing, and that as the children grew up the number of illiterate voters grew. These voters, it was declared, were being used by unscrupulous politicians.

—The attorneys for the Toronto Mail, which was sued for libel recently by the Jesuits of Canada, have filed a bold preliminary plea in court asking that the case be dismissed. In this plea they assert that the members of the Society of Jesuits have no civil rights because of the vows they have taken. They declare that the object of the society is the propagation of the following doctrines: That the Church of Rome is superior to the State; that the Pope of Rome has the right to depose sovereigns, and that he has the right to absolve subjects from their allegiance; that the Legislature of the province (Quebec) and the Dominion Parliament are alike subject to the Pope in making marriage laws; that the Legislature cannot make laws relating to the civil rights of Roman Catholics, and especially of the Roman Catholic clergy and of the Jesuits, without the consent of the Pope; that in case of conflict between the civil laws and those of the Roman Catholic Church, the latter must prevail, and that the said church has the right to avail itself of force and to apply external coercion in order to enforce its doctrines. From these assertions in a legal document it is apparent that the libel suit in question is likely to be of vast interest and importance to the whole civilized world.—America.