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News and Miscellany

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California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists · Oakland, Cal. · Mar 11, 1875

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 1, No. 18.

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News and Miscellany.

"Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth." Luke 21: 26.
ILLICIT SPIRITS.—The Los Angeles distillery was recently taken possession of by government officers on suspicion of fraudulent practices. While digging about the premises the officers struck a pipe which led to the discovery of concealed tanks containing 60,-000 gallons of grape brandy. The search is not ended. It is characteristic of the liquor traffic that there are more frauds on the revenue department, committed by this, than by all other branches of business combined.
A GREAT SEA HORROR.
As near as the public can ascertain, the loss of the Pacific Mail Company's ship Japan, in which more than 400 passengers lost their lives, was owing to the inefficiency of both captain and crew. The captain left the ship early, without making provision for the safety of the passengers; and the crew was largely composed of cheap Chinese seamen, who were utterly demoralized by the danger. A great crime rests on somebody, and will rest, while large companies calculate for their own gain instead of providing for the lives committed to their care.
DEATH OF GENERAL LORENZO THOMAS.
WASHINGTON, March 2.—The late Adjutant-General Lorenzo Thomas died in this city to-day in the seventy-second year of his age. He was sick about three weeks ago with a slight attack of pneumonia, from which he had so far recovered that this morning he was walking through the hall of his house when he was taken with a congestive chill which lasted two hours, and resulted in death. General Thomas was Secretary of War during the administration of Andrew Johnson.
A TERRIBLE SHIPPING DISASTER.
LONDON, March 4.—The steamer Gothenburg has been wrecked on one of the Fourneaux Islands in the straits between Van Dieman's Land and Australia. She had on board eighty-five passengers and a crew of thirty-five. Of these only four persons are known to be saved. Three boats filled with passengers and crew are yet to be heard from. The steamer had a large cargo, which included 3,000 ounces of gold.
SNOWSTORM AT ST. LOUIS.
ST. LOUIS, March 3.—A furious snowstorm commenced here about 1 o'clock this morning, and raged the remainder of the day. The snow now lies about a foot deep. The roads are blockaded, and traffic of all sorts is much impeded. All the railroads are more or less blocked, and trains are much behind time. No such storm has prevailed here for eleven years.
THE FLOOD IN TENNESSEE.
NEW YORK, March 3.—A special from Knoxville, Tennessee, says the water in the Holstein river rose five feet yesterday, inundating the town, and causing $40,000 damage to property. The gas works are damaged, and the city is in darkness. The East Tennessee floods have been terrific, the loss being $200,000 in Cook county alone. There are twenty-five breaks on the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad, between here and Chattanooga.
THE LOUISIANA COMPROMISE.
NEW YORK, March 3.—A Washington special says: D. P. Penn, of Louisiana, had an interview with the President yesterday by invitation. Penn was assured of the intention of the Administration to use all its influence to compel compliance with the compromise. The President said: "You carry out your part of the compromise, and there will be no difficulty about the other side." Penn thereafter telegraphed to New Orleans that he thought it advisable for the Conservative members to take their seats, which was done accordingly. An adjustment of the difficulties now seems certain.
BERLIN, March 3.—The North German Gazette says that the French government has ordered the purchase of 10,000 cavalry horses in Germany, and hopes that the German authorities will take steps to prevent such purchases.
—A case of death by wall-paper poisoning has occurred in Louisville, and examination showed that the paper on the deceased's bed-chamber contained two grains of arsenic to the square foot.
VIRGINIA'S DECISION REVERSED.
The martyrs died as felons, and it was reserved to history to do them justice. The memory of John Brown is being rescued from the reproach of Virginia's courts, as appears from the following:
"Some time ago a subscription was opened in Paris to commemorate—by a medal to be presented to John Brown's widow and sons—the event of his honorable death as a martyr in the cause of liberty. The Franco-Prussian war and its consequences delayed for a considerable time the accomplishment of this object; but at length a fine and exquisitely modeled gold medal was prepared by M. J. Wurdur, of Brussels. It bears on one side an excellent likeness of John Brown, and on the reverse the inscription: 'To the memory of John Brown, judicially murdered at Charlestown, in Virginia, on the 2d of December, 1859, and in commemoration also of his sons and comrades, who, with him, became the victims of their devotion to the cause of negro emancipation.' This medal weighs nearly five ounces, and has only recently been received."
—A fire occurred in Homer, N. Y., March 1, which destroyed eight business houses, with Post Office and telegraph office. Loss, $150,000.
—About two-thirds of Port-au-Prince, Hayti, was burned Feb. 10-12. 800 to 1,000 houses were burned, and several lives lost. The city contains 25,000 inhabitants, and 1,000 families are left homeless. The fire originated with the explosion of a kerosene lamp. Loss, $2,000,000.