Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 3, 1908

— A fire destroyed the hoisting apparatus and cut off air from the men in an Oklahoma coal-mine, and thirty-nine miners perished as a result.

— The announcement is made that Governor Cummins, of Iowa, has decided to call a special session of the legislature to elect a successor to the late Senator Allison.

— All employees on the Arkansas division of the Rock Island Railway have been notified by a bulletin that cigarette smoking will not be permitted, and that the violators of the order will be discharged.

— A recent despatch from St. Petersburg stated that Count Leo Tolstoi was dying in his country home in the province of Tula. His last utterance was a defiance of the czar and a demand for vengeance upon him.

— Hon. John Worth Keen, the democratic candidate for vice-president, was formally notified last week of his nomination, by the chairman of the committee appointed for that purpose, and accepted the honor in a speech delivered to fifteen thousand persons assembled on the State fair-grounds at Indianapolis. Hon. William J. Bryan, the democratic candidate for president, was present, and spoke at length on the subject of trusts.

— A fire which broke out August 23 in the Stamboul quarter, the Mohammedan part of Constantinople, destroyed fifteen hundred houses and shops, burning for more than six hours.

— The Methodists of Nebraska have commenced an organized campaign for the defeat of W. H. Taft for the presidency, on the ground that he is a Unitarian, and does not believe in the divinity of Christ.

— Both North Carolina and South Carolina were visited by a very heavy rain-storm last week, as a result of which about forty lives were lost, and property valued at several million dollars was destroyed. No such flooded condition has prevailed in those States since 1840.

— Baron Speck von Sternburg, the German ambassador to the United States, died rather suddenly in Heidelberg, Germany, last week. The immediate cause of his death was inflammation of the lungs, although he was seeking medical aid for another malady at the time.

— A case of leprosy has appeared at Washington, D. C. The unfortunate victim served as a soldier in the Philippines, where it is more than likely he contracted the disease. Before the nature of his trouble was discovered, he had exposed a large number of persons.

— A financial flurry in Wall Street last week was followed by the failure of a large brokerage firm, with liabilities estimated to exceed one million dollars. The firm's indebtedness to other brokers and to stock-exchange houses is greater than that resulting from any failure of previous years.

— The little daughter of an Italian rag-dealer in Philadelphia was kidnapped last week, and the father afterward received a letter in Italian, signed “Black Hand,” in which he was told that he would never see his child again unless he deposited two thousand dollars in the place designated in the letter.

— As a result of recent political changes in Turkey, the Turkish minister to the United States, Mehmed Ali Bey, was deposed. Sensational charges have since been made against the Turkish minister, who, it is stated, appropriated three thousand dollars belonging to the legation, and left many unpaid bills in Washington.

— A retired Presbyterian clergyman, who at one time occupied a leading position in Chicago, committed suicide in New York City last week. Five years ago he attracted general attention by a vigorous defense of the Higher Criticism, at the time when Dr. Charles A. Briggs was on trial for heresy. He made full preparation for the suicide, and wrote letters to his children and a special friend.

— George W. Fitzgerald, formerly assorting teller in the subtreasury of the United States in Chicago, has been arrested, charged with having stolen $173,000 from the subtreasury about a year and a half ago. Suspicion was directed against Fitzgerald some time ago, but in the absence of any proof he was discharged from government employ for culpable neglect in permitting such a theft to be committed. An effort to pass several one-thousand dollar bills led to his arrest.