p. 21 | Current Mention

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 29, 1902

Current Mention

— Frank R. Stockton, the noted novelist, died suddenly in Washington, D. C., April 20, of apoplexy, being sixty-eight years of age.

— One hundred and fifty buildings were destroyed by fire in Kansas City, Mo., the evening of April 20, sixty of the buildings being cottage homes.

— The report comes from St. Petersburg of serious disturbances in Southern Russia, which are ominous of an attempt at revolution. The trouble extends over three provinces.

— Two towns in Western Guatemala are reported destroyed by earthquakes which occurred April 17. It is rumored that in one of the towns five hundred people were killed.

— A negro named Butler, living in Chicago on the south side, poisoned himself, and his family, consisting of a wife and five children, because he was unable to provide them decent support.

— A phenomenal heat wave prevailed over Nebraska and neighboring States south and east, April 20, the mercury in some places showing a temperature of 100° in the shade. Overcoats had been worn only the day before.

— Reliable news of the condition of Queen Wilhelmina is not given in the official bulletins posted at The Hague, according to dispatches from that city. It is said the reports are made favorable in order to avoid raising the question of a regency.

— A dispatch from Vienna states that a student in Warsaw attempted the assassination of the governor-general of Warsaw on the night of April 17, firing three shots at him, two of which took effect, though causing only slight injury. This is the third shooting of Russian officials by students within a week.

— The German liner “Deutschland” steered the last portion of a voyage ending at Plymouth, England, April 23, without any rudder, this having been lost in a storm four hundred miles east of the Scilly Islands. The ship’s course was controlled by her twin screws, and but little diminution of speed was made after the accident.

— The strict enforcement of the Sunday law in New York City, which prevailed for two or three Sundays recently, appears to have come to a sudden end, the conditions to which it was due being of a peculiar and temporary nature. Sunday, April 20, the saloons were mostly wide open, and no attempt was made to interfere with persons engaged in secular work, either in this or other lines of business.

— An experiment is being tried by officials of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway, which will be watched with much interest by railroad men and the general public. The overland express on that road has been equipped with telephones, which connect not only the several cars of the train, but can be connected with local and long-distance wires at any station along the line. If successful, the experiment will demonstrate the feasibility of communicating by telephone from a moving train.

— A French company is constructing a railway line in Syria, which will reach to the ruins of Baalbec, running through the mountains of Lebanon.

— Attorney-general Knox has begun proceedings against the beef trust, which it is believed is responsible for the recent abnormal rise in the price of meat.

— What appears to have been one of the greatest earthquakes within recent years occurred April 17, affecting a large part of Mexico, and reaching down into Central America. In one Mexican city the damage done to property amounted to a million dollars.

— The editor of the North China Daily News says that war between Russia and Japan is considered inevitable both by the Japanese and the Russians and other residents along the Siberian border. Gigantic preparations are being made by both sides for a coming conflict.

— The war in the Philippines is now mainly confined to the island of Mindanao, where some Moro murderers are in hiding. The United States forces demand the surrender of these criminals, and will conduct a vigorous campaign against the inhabitants if their demand is not complied with.

— The United States is soon to have a gigantic bank, ranking with the Bank of England, Bank of France, and other large European banks. This will be accomplished by increasing the working capital of the National City Bank, New York City, to $40,000,000, which will make it by far the largest financial institution in the country.

— A soldier’s barracks in Managua, on the shore of Lake Nicaragua, was blown up by an explosion of tons of dynamite and powder stored within it, April 16. About two hundred soldiers and officers who were in the building were blown to pieces. The damage caused by the disaster is estimated at 5,000,000 pesos (Spanish dollars).

— One of the worst disasters to river steamboats ever known in this country occurred on the Ohio River a few miles from its junction with the Mississippi, April 20. The “City of Pittsburg” caught fire about daybreak, and in a few moments’ time was enveloped in flames. About a hundred passengers were on the boat, and as these were roused from sleep, a terrible panic ensued, which the officers were powerless to control. About seventy persons were either burned to death or drowned.

— At a meeting of the Central Federated Union of workingmen held recently in New York City, the following resolution was submitted as a means of dealing with the situation created by the recent heavy rise in the price of meat: “Resolved, That we recommend workingmen and women in New York City to refrain from buying or eating beef or mutton for one month from May 1.” Similar action was taken by 2,000 employees of the Chicago and Alton shops at Bloomington, Ill. This would be an excellent way of reaching the beef trust with the force of public sentiment, and would greatly benefit the majority of those practicing this abstinence, since they would adopt a more wholesome diet than that of animal flesh. Many would no doubt be surprised to see how easily and comfortably they could get along without the use of meat.

— Marconi promises that wireless telegraphy between America and England will be in regular operation within four months’ time.

— Archbishop Corrigan, one of the leading Catholic prelates in this country, is reported to be dangerously ill with pneumonia at his residence in New York City.

— The light in the torch of the statue of Liberty in New York harbor, which was extinguished some time ago because no money appropriation had been made by the government for it, will be maintained hereafter by the War Department, which controls the island on which the statue is placed.

— All previous operations in the formation of trusts are eclipsed by a gigantic “merger” now reported as practically completed under the direction of J. P. Morgan, embracing the great transatlantic steamship lines, English, American, and German. The Cunard line is said to be not yet included in the deal, but it is believed that this line will not be able to stand out against the competition of the trust, and will be forced to join it at an early date. English steamship lines in this trust are not merely controlled by the syndicate, it is affirmed, but have been bought by it outright. Sixty per cent of the interests of this great combine will, it is said, be in the hands of Americans. Besides this combination of steamship lines, it is reported that Mr. Morgan is buying up English trunk railway lines, which, together with leading American railways, will be operated to carry on the business of the trust. Considerable alarm is expressed by English newspapers over the situation.