News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 7, 1911

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— On the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railroad, August 26, a train was wrecked near Kingsway, Ohio. Ten persons were seriously injured. The train was trying to make up lost time.

— In a terrific storm which raged along the South Atlantic seaboard, August 28, seven persons were killed at Charleston, S. C., and more than $1,000,000 worth of property was destroyed.

— A tribe of people has been discovered in the arctic regions of North America, whose members had never before seen a white man or an Indian. They seem to belong to the race of Eskimos, but are Scandinavian in appearance.

— By the explosion of a powder-magazine in San Jose, West Indies, August 26, fifteen persons were killed. The explosion is said to have been caused by a soldier who lighted a fire with which he melted lead for casting little images of saints, which he sold to add to his scanty pay.

— In a wreck on the Lehigh Valley Railroad near Manchester, N. Y., August 25, thirty-two persons were killed and sixty injured. A broken rail caused the disaster. Two cars of the train plunged off the trestle, striking against the stone embankment, and dropping to the bed of the Canandaigua outlet, forty-five feet below. This is one of the most serious wrecks that ever occurred on this road.

— August 26, Harry N. Atwood made the long-distance record of the world in an aeroplane, traveling from St. Louis to New York. He covered the distance of 1,365 miles in flying time of 28 hours and 31 minutes. He received a reward of $10,000 from a Washington man for his achievement.

— In a panic caused by the explosion of a film in a moving-picture machine at Canonsburg, Pa., August 26, twenty-five persons were killed and scores were more or less injured. A cry of fire was raised when there was no fire in the building. The result was the terrible disaster which ensued.

— Recent statistics show that many are deserting the rural districts for residence in the city and town. During the past ten years the percentage of people living in cities or other incorporated places of more than 2,500 inhabitants increased from 40.5 to 46.3 of the total. Twenty years ago only 36.1 per cent of the total population lived in such incorporated places.

— William A. Pinkerton, head of the famous detective bureau, is quoted as criticizing some of the moving-picture shows because they give exhibitions of train-robbing, pocket-picking, kidnapping, and other crimes, thus exerting a bad influence on the minds of impressionable boys. During two weeks recently, sixty-eight boys disappeared from their homes in Chicago to lead lives of adventure, and their action is attributed partly to this cause.

— By order of the War Department, issued August 28, vaccination against typhoid fever was made compulsory for every officer and enlisted man under forty-five years of age in the United States army. The only exceptions allowed by the department order are those who have had the disease, or who have already been vaccinated. This will necessitate the treatment of nearly sixty thousand soldiers. It is claimed that the vaccination secures immunity from the disease for three years.

— One of the world’s greatest dreadnaughts, if not the greatest, was launched at Quincy, Mass., August 26. This vessel has a displacement of 26,500 tons, 500 tons more than that of the “Arkansas” or the “Wyoming,” the largest American dreadnaughts. Its length is 585 feet, and its breadth, 98 feet. Its armament consists of twelve 12½-inch guns, twelve 8½-inch guns, twelve 4½-inch guns, and two 21-inch submerged torpedo tubes. This boat was built for Argentina, and will fly the flag of that country.

— Two English scientists claim to have discovered the human aura, or life rays, which emanates from the living body. In demonstrations before physicians and scientists in Philadelphia, August 26, it is claimed that the aura was distinctly visible. The rays could be seen passing from one body to another as the persons came in contact with each other. It is claimed that the aura follows the contour of the body, and in diseased portions becomes weaker. In this way diseased places can be located the same as by X-ray examinations. Whether or not all that is claimed for this new discovery can be practically demonstrated, or what particular value will come from it, only the future can tell.