ITEMS OF NEWS AND NOTES.
By Editor
-The shipment of specie from Europe to this country continues. -Ninety-seven thousand miles of submarine telegraph cable are now in working order. -Hopeful efforts are being made by means of the audiphone to teach deaf mutes to speak. -The revision of the census by Special Agent Sawyer makes the population of St. Louis 333,577. -The Irish Wesleyan church has experienced a diminution in twelve months of 1023 members. -The supposed Benders had a preliminary examination at Oswego, Kansas, and were discharged. -Aug. 12 a mass of earth in a landslide at Vieux-port, near Poitiers, France, buried twenty persons. -Three or four thousand workmen in the Tyne shipyards have struck for an advance of ten per cent in wages. -Heavy rains have fallen at Wilmington, N. C. Some persons estimate that the cotton crop is damaged 50 per cent. -The Banker's Convention adopted a resolution, asking Congress to stop the coinage of silver dollars, and one in favor of a bankrupt law. -A report from Whitehall, N. Y., Aug. 12, says: "A fire at Sherlock's mill burned his steam mill, and store, and twenty dwellings. The loss is heavy." -China has officially informed the Government of the removal of foreign trade restrictions upon her own subjects, and of her intention to push her enterprise to America. -An accident occurred Aug. 10, on the Midland Railway, between Leeds and Lancaster, England, where a passenger train left the rails. Seven persons were killed and twenty injured. -The steamboat Connie Lee, from New Orleans for the Red river with 250 tons of assorted merchandise, has been blown up and sunk at Lone Wall Landing. The boat is a total loss. Seven persons were drowned. -Aug. 12, the telegraph operator at Quitman, Texas, says: "Indians are all around us. It is impossible to get word to General Grierson. The Indians are driving off the stock and murdering everything along the route." -Burglars blew open a safe at Clarksville, Bergen county, N. J., Aug. 10, and obtained securities of the St. Joseph and Pacific Railroad Company, and of the Kansas and Nebraska Railroad Company, valued at $250,000. -Advices from Candahar to the 9th instant, through native sources, report that Ayoob Khan intends to attack Candahar as soon as his preparations are completed. Large numbers of tribes continue to flock to his standard. -The Aurora, the Pope's paper at Rome, announces the formation of a new association for collecting money for the necessities of the Pope, the amount of daily tribute demanded from all Catholics being one centum, or six sous per month. -The officers of the burned steamer Seawanhaka have been indicted for manslaughter, because proper provision was not made for the safety of passengers. Also the local steamboat inspectors whose certificate she carried, have been indicted. -A Baptist paper says there are 22,000 Baptists in Burmah, and 70,000 in Virginia, not including the colored churches. That the Baptists of Burmah last year gave more for missionary and educational purposes than the Baptists in Virginia. -Considerable excitement has been occasioned by the presence of small-pox among the Chinese at the jute mills near Oakland, Cal. In a recent case the doctors decided that it was contracted by smoking cigars made in an infected shop! -A telegram from Aden reports that the steamer Jeddah, from Singapore, foundered off Guardiana on the 8th inst., with 953 pilgrims for Jeddah. All on board perished, except the captain, his wife, the chief engineer, chief officer, and an engineer, and sixteen natives. -Detroit was startled by an unexpected business failure Aug. 14—that of Thomas McGraw, the firm of Walker, McGraw, & Co., who is President of the Michigan Savings Bank, and a prominent tobacco-nist and wool buyer of that city. Liabilities, heavy; assets, $260,000. -Some of the Japanese think that Christians are too narrow. They will admit that Christ is divine, and Christianity is true, but want the missionaries in turn to admit that Japanese gods are divine, and their religion also true. This is much after the fashion of "liberal Christianity" in this country. -Advices from Pottsville, Pa., say that night and day forces have been working at the Keely Run Colliery, trying to subdue the fire raging inside, but cannot approach any nearer than about a hundred yards of the fire, on account of the gas. A great many men were prostrated from the effects of the gases. -A sensation has been created at Santa Fe by the announcement of a rich mining strike in the Mexican village of Los Placitas, about thirty miles distant. The foundations of the town are of rock. The prospector who discovered the gold "located" the street of the village, from which ore has been taken assaying from $4,000 to $6,000 per ton. -A freight train on the St. Paul and Duluth Railway was wrecked near Pine City, Aug. 12, by a broken rail. Nine cars were thrown from the track. Three boys who were "stealing a ride," were killed. -Letters received at Winnipeg, Manitoba, state that a tribe of Indians in North-western Territory, 1500 strong, which refused to enter into treaty relations with the Canadian Government, have seized the store at Duck Lake, and committed other depredations of a character unusual in that country. The savages are said to be starving. -The Shah of Persia has notified the Rev. J. L. Potter, missionary of the Presbyterian church, through the British Minister at Teheran, that he objects to his giving religious instruction to Mussulmen, and that if he continues to do this he will not be permitted to reside there, and Mussulmen attending meetings held by him will be arrested. -A dispatch from Quettah says: Candahar is surrounded by a large number of tribesmen, who do their utmost to intercept letters, rendering communication with the garrison very difficult. It is possible an attack is meditated on Chaman Choki, as Ayoob Khan is reported to have detatched troops who are going in that direction. -Aug. 13, an explosion occurred at the Red Hill station, Col., the cause of which seems to be yet a mystery. The ground on which the depot, freight-house, eating-house, saloon, and forwarding house stood, is now bare. The buildings were blown into splinters. Not one stick on another remained of five buildings. All who were about the place were severely injured. -News from Indianola and Castroville, Texas, report a heavy wind-storm; the water of the gulf rose to a depth of three feet in Indianola on the 12th. On the morning of the 13th the water rose very rapidly, and the wind reached the rate of 75 miles an hour. The track and ties of the Morgan Railroad were literally lifted from the bed and carried half a mile by the wind. -A serious collision occurred on the Southern Pacific Railroad, Aug. 10. The freight train from Arizona was lying at Cucamonga station on time, when the freight train going east became uncontrollable and dashed down the grade at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour, plunging into the stationary engine and train, destroying both engines and thirteen cars, and the mammoth water tank at the station. Strange to say, nobody was seriously injured. -According to reports from Bucharest, 45,000 Russians are concentrating near the border, so as to be ready in the event of the action of Bulgaria. Transportation of munitions, horses, commissary stores, and troops, is continually going on near the Roumanian frontier. A steamer arrived at Gantz recently with Russian artillery and ambulances destined for Bulgaria. It is also stated that the Russians are concentrating at Radzcuiloff, on the Austrian frontier. -An excursion train from Philadelphia left Atlantic City, N. J., Aug. 11, in two sections. At May's Landing the first section of 16 cars took the side track, and the second section of 8 cars came up on speed, the locomotive telescoping the rear car. As the locomotive forced its way into the car, the cylinder heads were forced open and a dense cloud of steam poured through the car, scalding nearly every passenger in it. Seventeen deaths are reported, and many more injured.