p. 1 | JUST THINK OF THIS! by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 15, 1874

JUST THINK OF THIS!

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

Taking the Sacramento Weekly Union, for Aug. 1, 1874, I had the curiosity to look it through, and mark every item touching all manner of crimes and unnatural phenomena. Though I was prepared to see a long list, yet I was astonished to find, when I was through, every page all marked up. Indeed, it seemed to be but one long list of murder, robbery, suicide, and wickedness.

To give the reader some idea of this terrible record, I will simply give a list of the crimes committed. Remember that this is only the record of one week, and simply of one paper; and these are only the more notable cases which have attracted public attention. Of course, a large number pass undiscovered. If this is the record of one paper for one week, away on the Pacific Coast, what must it be, putting all these items together, for one week all over the country from Maine to California, from Florida to Minnesota? But now listen:—

W. B. Bourne committed suicide. A Chinaman murdered. A woman stabbed. J. Leonard attempted murder. A shoe factory fired by an incendiary. Showman arrested for crime. A shop-keeper strangled, and his shop robbed in daylight. A shooting affray, in which one man is killed. Corona, a bandit, arrested. Lugo convicted of man-slaughter. A suit for libel. An officer shoots a prisoner. A case of forgery. A sad case of insanity. Another case of burglary. A man stabbed and killed. A Senator arrested for corruption. Five men killed by the Indians. Railroad train assaulted by a gang of thieves. An arrest for forgery. A thief caught. Another burglary. A ship's crew arrested for mutiny. A case of highway robbery. A woman kidnapped and outraged. Jewelry store robbed. A mob resists the law and overpowers the officers. An incendiary arrested. Express wagon robbed. Another express wagon robbed. A fight in the theater. Another suicide. Man arrested for embezzlement. Another suicide. Another case of embezzlement. Attempted murder. Attempted robbery. A woman outraged and the villain killed. Two men murdered. A case of black-mailing. A stage robbed. Man sentenced to death. A safe robbed. A man stabbed. Two masked men rob another stage. Another suicide. Another burglary. Man commits bigamy and absconds. Another forger arrested. A boy shoots his brother. A man convicted of burglary. A man convicted of forgery. A woman found murdered. A man sentenced to be hung. A boy stolen. Twenty men arrested for perjury. Another suicide. Elopement. A man murdered. A whole family murdered. A man cuts his throat. Arrest for man-slaughter. A man becomes insane. Another case of insanity. A man sentenced for villainy. Attempt to poison. Another suicide. A boy shot. A man sentenced for larceny. Arrested for house-breaking; another for stealing. Another case of burglary. A case of adultery. A shooting affray. Another suicide. A forger arrested. A diabolical attempt at incendiarism. Fraud in election. A man kills his child and then commits suicide. Two criminals arrested. One man stabs another.

There, reader, what do you think of that for a list of crimes for one week, picked up by one paper, most of these cases being confined to the Pacific Coast? This hardly looks like the dawn of the millennium.

The Carson Tribune advocates the formation of a vigilance committee in that town. The Tribune says: “In this little country town not a night passes but some hoodlum endeavors to force his way into private residences. Complaints of the kind are brought to us, and we can suggest no remedy beyond the free use of cold steel and leaden pills. Let the people get together and organize themselves into a protective society.” This indicates how bold and lawless ruffianism is becoming.

RECENT STORM IN NEVADA.

The Carson City Tribune says of the recent storm:—

It would seem as if cloud bursts were an epidemic at this time and also that the disease of the air, or whatever it may be called, is not confined entirely to the arid regions of Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. On Saturday afternoon there was a rain of ten minutes’ duration at Truckee, such as was never seen before.

TERRIBLE STORM IN ARIZONA.

The Prescott Miner, of July 17, devotes a large portion of its space to a terrible storm which visited that Territory on the 9th instant.

WATER-SPOUT IN NEVADA.

Great flood at Eureka, Nevada, and loss of life—terrible scenes—thirty houses carried away.

A water-spout burst over the railway track near Toano yesterday evening, doing much damage to the road. An emigrant train was thrown from the track and five passengers were killed.

The past few days, says the White Pine News of July 25, have been prolific of thunder storms, accompanied with immense quantities of rain, visiting us nearly every day. Late intelligence from Washburne’s informs us that one day last week the inhabitants of that locality were placed in much peril from the effects of a cloud-burst. The water emptied out so suddenly upon the earth, swept down the ravines and creeks, carrying away bridges and everything in its course.

Kentucky suffered much damage from a great storm on Sunday night. Corn was injured to the extent of $100,000. A storm also fell on the country about Columbus, Ohio, doing much damage.

SALT LAKE.—A dispatch dated at Salt Lake, July 23, says:—

During a heavy storm this afternoon, the Catholic church was struck by lightning and badly damaged. A cloud also burst, inundating the streets and private residences. Such weather here at this season is unprecedented in the recollection of the oldest residents. It is still raining.

HEAVY RAINS AND DAMAGE ABOUT COLUMBUS, OHIO.

COLUMBUS, JULY 27.

Heavy rains last night, and much damage by water, destroying property stored in cellars. Two barns east of the city were struck by lightning; one was entirely destroyed, with much valuable property.

STEAMER LOST.

NEW YORK, JULY 24.

Nassau advices state that the Pacific Mail Company’s steamer, City of Guatemala, Capt. Hildreth, from New York for Aspinwall, was lost on the north-east point of Walling Island, Thursday, July 16, at midnight.

LONDON, JULY 27.

A special to the Times, describing the storm in Moravia, says the town of Azagra was destroyed by a torrent; sixty-four houses were demolished and few inhabitants escaped with their lives. The railways were badly damaged in every direction.

The States in the Upper Mississippi Valley were visited with a violent storm of wind and rain on Friday night.

At Sarnia, Ont., a terrific thunder storm passed over the city on Sunday morning, doing great damage to property.

What a list of terrible storms in so short a time! Commenting on them the Union says:—

On a wider field they had also their cloud-burst in Ohio and Kentucky some hours after the catastrophe at Pittsburg. It was a storm, but one, in places, closely resembling water-spout, and attended by terrible scenes and great destruction of property, as also, it is to be feared, of life. All over the country these storms have been of unusual frequency and dreadfully destructive this year. The lightning, the hurricane, the water-spout, number their victims this summer in the Western States by hundreds. And in many parts of Europe the same phenomena prevail, with a sprinkling of earthquakes in places where the earthquake is hardly ever felt. The cause is a mystery. The comet theory is not worth considering. Greater comets have come nearer to us and gone out again into the illimitable fields of space without affecting the atmosphere of the earth, or producing any appreciable effect in the weather. We must search for the cause in other directions. Surely, there is one; and where the effects are so astounding and so general, it ought not to remain undiscovered. We hope the astronomers, assisted by “Old Probabilities,” will busy themselves in unfolding the mystery and informing the world as to the real cause of the weather phenomena now and for some months astonishing and alarming the world.

Again it remarks:—

The occurrence of three such phenomena all within the space of an hundred hours and distributed over so wide a part of the world, must be regarded as among the most remarkable weather-wonders of record.

Here follows its record of other calamities:—

The steamer Altoona brings Yokohama dates to July 4. The Japanese steamer Tai Q. Maru was lost on the fifth of June on the west coast. Twenty-seven lives were lost.

Six persons were killed by a stroke of lightning near Louisville, Ky., on Saturday.

Fort Wayne, Indiana, was visited by a very destructive storm on Friday. Much property was ruined.

An entire village in Navarre, Spain, has been covered by a land-slide, and over 200 persons were killed.

EARTHQUAKE AT VIENNA.

VIENNA, JULY 26.

A shock of earthquake was felt here to-day violently.

Prince’s Dock, Liverpool, was damaged by fire yesterday to the extent of $1,000,000.

Fire at Newburg, N. Y.; loss, $75,000.

Fire at Vicksburg, Miss.; loss, $40,000.

Fire in New York; loss, $20,000.

Fire at New Orleans; loss, $40,000.

Losses by the water-spout at Eureka aggregate $150,000 at that one place. To which must be added a list of lives lost, the number not yet being fully known.

Cholera is increasing in parts of India.

A GREAT DROUGHT IN SONORA.—

A correspondent at Guaymas, Sonora, under date of June 25, says the times are very dull, and prospects bad for anything better. Everything is dried up; no rain last year and none this year so far. Fountains and fountain-heads, never dry before, are now dry. Fresh water is sold as a luxury. The only life is the arrival of a San Francisco steamer every twenty days. The State Congress has been in session at Ures since May 26.

Several fields of potatoes at Tomales have been nearly destroyed by grasshoppers.

The appearance of caterpillars in the interior of South Carolina is the cause of great apprehension among cotton planters for the safety of the crop.

A STRANGE DISEASE IN MEXICO.

TLALENANGO, JUNE 23.—A most singular and unaccountable disease, commonly known as the “bursting sickness,” has broken out in this vicinity, and already has spread to many of the neighboring villages and cities. The people are in consternation by reason of the many deaths which have occurred. The doctors—wretched medical men at the best—are at a loss how to deal with the trouble, and the priests have their hands full. Tlalenango, Bolanos, Cartagena, and even Sanceda Hac, are suffering more or less, and there is no telling where or when the disease is to stop. I am not an expert in describing sickness, but the trouble seems to be an unusual discharge of nerve force into the brain. The symptoms are sudden nausea, followed almost immediately by a severe and sharp pain along the spine, proceeding from its lower extremity to the head, and described as feeling as though a blunt knife were scraping upward. There is then—when the pain reaches the back of the head—a sharp and poignant distress there which makes the patient delirious, although it never produces unconsciousness or loss of the right use of the senses. The eyes are bloodshot and wild, with pupils greatly contracted. The sensitiveness to light is intense, so that even in paroxysms of excruciating agony the patient will rise and seek a dark place. This state lasts commonly not more than from thirty to forty minutes, during which the patient feels as though his head were splitting; and when this condition lasts for about half an hour the cranium actually bursts open at the sutures, as is sometimes the case with infants whose heads split thus after death from water on the brain. The sound produced by this rending asunder of the bones of the skull can plainly be heard full ten feet from the patient. It is said that in some instances the disruption is extremely sudden, and accompanied with a noise still louder. This occurs, too, at a moment when the sufferer is in full consciousness, and it is most terrible to witness. The disease broke out at the silver mining region at Bolanos about two weeks ago, and the cause is unknown. About 300 persons, generally adults, have already died of it, and it is yet spreading. The sickness is, so far as I know, as unique as it is singular.—Correspondence New York Graphic.

There, reader, that completes the terrible list in one number of one weekly paper! Does this look like the near approach of the millennium? Does it not look more like the condition of Sodom on the eve of its overthrow? and are not these terrible calamities evidence that the judgments of God are coming on the land? As we see how anxiously men are watching these things, it reminds us of the words of Jesus describing the last days: “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” Luke 21: 26.

Santa Clara, Cal.