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Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 8, 1881

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 7, No. 34.

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ITEMS OF NEWS.

-The estimated value of railroad property in the United States is $4,416,510,847.
-Ten hundred and fifty-one emigrants from Europe arrived in New York on September 1.
-Lorenzo Delmonico, proprietor of the famous New York restaurant, died Sept. 2, aged 68 years.
-Europe has a population of 145 inhabitants to the square mile, while the United States has only 16 1/8.
-Quite heavy showers, accompanied in some instances by thunder, have visited Shasta and Siskiyou counties.
-Ex-Secretary Stuart, of the Brooklyn, N. Y. Board of Education, has been arrested on a charge of embezzling $107,500 of funds.
-The Oregon stage was robbed near Yreka, Cal., on the morning of the 31st ult. The express box and nine mail sacks were taken.
-Five hundred delegates were present at the national convention of free-thinkers, which was held at Hornellsville, N. Y., on the 2d.
-The French Government has granted a subsidy of $100,000 a year for ten years to a new steamship line to run between Montreal and Rouen.
-By the falling of a huge mass of rock into the Jobel, a small river in the canton of Gusos, Switzerland, the valley has been converted into a lake.
-The coinage of the United States mints during the month of August amounted to $11,565,500. The decrease in the public debt was $14,181,121.
-Two naval officers were instantly killed on the 29th ult., in Newport bay, R. I., by the unexpected explosion of a torpedo with which they were experimenting.
-Reports from New Mexico state that there is good reason to believe that the recent outrages, by which so many lost their lives, were committed, not by Indians, but by disguised white men.
-Bradlaugh has issued a fresh manifesto to the English people, announcing his intention to go to the House of Commons again at the next session of Parliament, and asking them to protect him against unlawful violence.
-Extensive forest fires are raging in the vicinity of Toronto, Canada, and in the Ottawa valley. It is estimated that already farm property to the value of $150,000 has been destroyed and some sixty families rendered homeless.
-Saginaw, Michigan, is now the largest salt-producing district in the United States. The amount produced last year was 13,000,000 bushels. The product of the salt works at Onondaga, N. Y., for the same time was 8,000,000 bushels.
-Georgia, which has hitherto been a fertile field for Mormon missionaries, has taken an active stand against them. The Legislature of that State has passed a bill making it a felony to propagate Mormonism or to attempt to make converts.
-Paul Berts, a lecturer on educational topics, in a recent lecture in Paris, made a violent attack on the Catholic religion and its system of education. It is considered as quite significant that Gambetta, the French leader, was present and lauded the speaker.
-The Union mail steamer Teuton with 200 souls on board was wrecked a few days since off Algoa bay, South Africa. The vessel struck a rock, but floated off and was in the act of putting back to port when she sank. Only twenty-seven persons were saved.
-A severe drought is reported from New York and neighboring States. "Late potatoes are utterly ruined, many fruit and shade trees are dying, wells and cisterns are drying up, and stock requires feeding. Fires are spreading in many directions, and the air is filled with smoke."
-The Arabs in Algeria have been setting fire to the forests, and a large extent of country is in flames. A great deal of damage has been done, and it is impossible for the soldiers to extinguish the flames. The most valuable of the cork trees, which form the wealth of the country, were destroyed.
-It is reported that gold in paying quantities has been discovered in Georgia, in the beds of the Chestatic and Chattahoochie rivers. Gold lies in great quantities in the mud, and can be easily mined. A dredging boat is in process of construction which is confidently expected to take out $1,000 worth of bullion from the beds of the rivers in a day.
-The standing armies of Europe number over 2,100,000 men, besides the still more numerous reserves who may be called out at any moment. More than one in every 110 of the population is a soldier in active service. Reckoning one able-bodied man to every five inhabitants, each twenty-two men sustain one soldier. The United States' army is only 25,000 strong, or one soldier to 2,000 inhabitants.
-Although one-sixth of the peace force of the French army is now in Africa, more troops are being sent. Typhoid fever is raging, the mortality in some regiments being 148 out of 1,000. The Bey of Tunis has no authority over his tribes and soldiers, and Europeans dare not stir out of the coast towns. Altogether, France will doubtless have ample employment in its self-imposed task of protection. Those acquainted with the situation, calculate that it will take three years to subjugate the country.
-An attempt to wreck the express train bound East on the Central Pacific was made near Colfax, Placer county, on the night of the 31st ult. The engines and cars were thrown from the track, but no serious damage was done, and the train was delayed only eight hours. The object of the outrage is supposed to have been robbery, as the express car carried several hundred thousand dollars' worth of bullion. For some unaccountable reason the robbers fled without securing any plunder. A large reward is offered for their arrest.
-A St. Petersburg dispatch says that a most important Russo-Chinese Convention has just been signed. China has agreed to allow telegraphs to be laid down across the celestial empire, and Russia has already intrusted the work to the Danish company, which laid down her own wires, and which is virtually, though not ostensibly, a Russian enterprise. When the line is completed it will be possible to transmit messages from France to the Pacific without their passing through Germany. The English monopoly will thus, to a great extent, be destroyed.
-An engagement recently took place in Arizona, between the troops under command of General Carr, and the Apaches, which resulted in the massacre of the whites. Seven officers and over one hundred men were killed. The massacre is due to the treachery of the scouts, who led the troops into an ambush. A general up-rising of the Indians is feared. The Apache country is quite densely settled by the Mormons, and it is thought that there is an understanding between them and the Indians. Several companies of soldiers have been sent to Arizona from San Francisco.
-One of the most terrific gales ever known, took place on the Atlantic coast last week. Great damage was done to life and property on the ocean. At Savannah, Georgia, the storm was especially severe. A dispatch from there says: "A terrific tornado burst from the northwest on Savannah, Saturday, at dark. In a few minutes the city was in darkness, and the parks, streets and squares were rendered impassable by falling trees and houses. Every wire leading out of the city was prostrated. Fully one hundred dwellings, stores and warehouses lost their roofs, and many had their walls blown in." Between forty and fifty lives were lost.